page_title: Quran translations
section_title: English
hierarchical_section_title: Quran translations / History / European languages / English
caption_attribution_description: English: A drawing of en:Muhammad in The Life of Mahomet, by A. du Ryer, published 1719. Source: Mohammed Image Archive
context_page_description: Translations of the Qurʻan are interpretations of the scripture of Islam in languages other than Arabic. The Qurʻan was originally written in the Arabic language and has been translated into most major African, Asian and European languages.
context_section_description: The earliest known translation of the Qurʻan in any European language was the Latin works by Robert of Ketton at the behest of the Abbot of Cluny in c. 1143. This translation remained the only one until 1649 when the first English language translation was done by Alexander Ross, chaplain to King Charles I, who translated from a French work L'Alcoran de Mahomet by du Ryer. In 1734, George Sale produced the first translation of the Qurʻan direct from Arabic into English but reflecting his missionary stance. Since then, there have been English translations by the clergyman John Medows Rodwell in 1861, and Edward Henry Palmer in 1880, both showing in their works a number of mistakes of mistranslation and misinterpretation, which brings into question their primary aim. These were followed by Richard Bell in 1937 and Arthur John Arberry in the 1950s.
  The Qurʻan (1910) by Dr. Mirza Abul Fazl (1865–1956), a native of East Bengal (now Bangladesh), later moved to Allahabad, India. He was the first Muslim to present a translation of the Qurʻan into English along with the original Arabic text. Among the contemporary Muslim scholars, Dr. Abul Fazl was a pioneer who took interest in the study of the chronological order of the Qurʻan and drew the attention of Muslim scholars to its importance.
  With the increasing population of English-speaking Muslims around the start of the 20th century, three Muslim translations of the Qurʻan into English made their first appearance. The first was Muhammad Ali's 1917 translation, which is composed from an Ahmadiyya perspective, with some small parts being rejected as unorthodox interpretation by vast majority of Muslims. This was followed in 1930 by the English convert to Islam Marmaduke Pickthall's more literalist translation.
  Soon thereafter in 1934, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, a Bohra Ismaili, published his translation, featuring copious explanatory annotation – over 6000 notes, generally being around 95% of the text on a given page, to supplement the main text of the translation. This translation has gone through over 30 printings by several different publishing houses, and is one of the most popular amongst English-speaking Muslims, alongside the Pickthall and Saudi-sponsored Hilali-Khan translations.
  With few new English translations over the 1950–1980 period, these three Muslim translations were to flourish and cement reputations that were to ensure their survival into the 21st century, finding favour among readers often in newly revised updated editions. Orientalist Arthur Arberry's 1955 translation and native Iraqi Jew N. J. Dawood's unorthodox translation in 1956 were to be the only major works to appear in the post-war period. A. J. Arberry's The Koran Interpreted remains the scholarly standard for English translations, and is widely used by academics.
  The English translation of Kanzul Iman is called The Treasure of Faith, which is translated by Farid Ul Haq. It is in simple, easy-to-understand modern-day English. Explanations are given in brackets to avoid ambiguity, provide better understanding and references to similar verses elsewhere.
  Dr. Syed Abdul Latif's translation published in 1967, regarded highly by some. He was a professor of English at Osmania University, Hyderabad. It was nevertheless short-lived due to criticism of his foregoing accuracy for the price of fluency.
  The Message of the Qurʻan: Presented in Perspective (1974) was published by Hashim Amir Ali. He translated the Qurʻan into English and arranged it according to chronological order. Dr. Hashim Amir-Ali (1903-c. 1987) was a native of Salar Jung, Hyderabad State in the Deccan Plateau. In 1938, he came under the influence of Dr. Abul Fazl and took a deep interest in the study of the Qurʻan and was aware of the significance of the chronological order of the passages contained in it.
  Another Jewish convert to Islam, Muhammad Asad's monumental work The Message of The Qur'an made its appearance for the first time in 1980.
  Professor Ahmed Ali's Al-Qurʻan: A Contemporary Translation (Akrash Publishing, Karachi, 1984, Reprinted by Ox
caption: An engraving of Muhammad in The Life of Mahomet, containing an English translation of the Qurʻan derived from the French translation L'Alcoran de Mahomet, initially published in 1649. Edition dating to 1719.
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