Translations?

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As a person living in a very strong Christian house hold I am used to "translations" like NKJV/ NSV blah blah blah but translations for the Qur'an confuse me I am now faced with things like this

"The Holy Quran

English translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Urdu translation by Maulana Fateh Jallendheri"

uhhh what?
 
It may benefit you to know that the Qur'an doesn't have any versions. Qur'an is version 1.0 and that's it.

The names 'Abdullah Yusuf Ali' and others are just names of the people who have made translations of the Qur'an. Thats all it means.
 
'Abd-al Latif said:
It may benefit you to know that the Qur'an doesn't have any versions. Qur'an is version 1.0 and that's it.

The names 'Abdullah Yusuf Ali' and others are just names of the people who have made translations of the Qur'an. Thats all it means.
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But with all translators their will be someone who does not do so well. How do you tell which translations of the Qur'an is best and most accurate?
 
Any translation from any language is essentially the translator's interpretation of the original text, so minor differences are bound to occur. This is why only the Arabic Quran is considered the true holy book, translations are there merely for non arabic speakers to get an idea of what the verses mean.

2 reliable translators are Yusuf Ali and Pickthall.
YusufAli can be found here-http://www.islam101.com/quran/yusufAli/
Pickthall here-http://www.islam101.com/quran/QTP/index.htm
 
INsearch said:
But with all translators their will be someone who does not do so well. How do you tell which translations of the Qur'an is best and most accurate?
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Learning the language of The Qur'an would be the best way!

failing that read biographies of translators to find out whether they were born Muslims and experts in Qur'anic Arabic and language of translation or not.

then you have to find out whether they are Muslim, ahmadi, sufi, bekhtashi, saudi, shia or some other variant (each of them will see things differently than the other)
 
There isn't a single translation of the Qur'an that is 100% accurate. The arabic language is increadibly rich, and no matter what the translator choses, some meaning is still lost.

That's why when I'm seriously studying the Qur'an, I read from multiple translations.

Let's take for example 113:4

Shakir - And from the evil of those who blow on knots,
Pickthall - And from the evil of malignant witchcraft,
Asad - and from the evil of all human beings bent on occult endeavours.

The arabic literally translates as "blow on knots," but to someone who's not familiar with arabic turns of phrases, they're confused. Blowing on knots. What the heck does that mean? :enough!:

So while Shakir translates it literally, Pickthall, Muhammad Asad and several others chose to translate the meaning. But even though the meaning is clear in those translations, we're missing the original phrase that Allah (swt) chose to reveal in the Qur'an.

What I'd love to see if a translation that does one of two things:

1. Translates the arabic phrases literally, and then explains the meanings in the footnotes
2. Translates the meaning of the arabic, and then explain it's literal translation in footnotes.



So, what do I read? I have more than a dozen english translations of the Qur'an. If I'm just reading for the sake of reading, I'll chose the saheeh international version, or the Bewley Translation because the english is plain, clear and easy to read in both(a lot of translators use "old english" style, which can be distracting to me).

When I'm doing study, I'll lay all of these out on the table, read through the same section in each, study, compare, and really try to grasp it in it's entrity:

  • Saheeh International
  • Bewley translation
  • Muhammad Asad - excellent footnotes, although there are some problems in them
  • Thomas Cleary - translates things quite differently from the norm.
  • Shakir - the first Qur'an I ever got. He tends to translate things more literally
 
Hey there INsearch :)



http://www.altafsir.com/

^ that site contains interpretations of the Quran according to the understanding of the past scholars. I have referred to Tafsir Al-Jalalayn many many times, its very clear and explains the Quran as Allaah intended it for those less well versed in Arabic!

If only we knew arabic, we would understand it more clearly..
 
thank you :) I wonder if their are any sites that offer free Qur'an ? of course it would be better for me to go to a store and buy it but.... meh.
 
^ lol im sure there are! because my bro got some :D , sorry dont know which ones though :-[
 
:) I guess I will give a quick explanation right here why I always inquire into free stuff :) I am 17, and dont have money :) and I am blessed with wonderful parents :) but only one problem I have. My whole family (brothers, sister, mom, dad,) are super, super, super, super fundamental Christians! I am talking about strict! they got made at me for looking into Catholicism a while back O.o so I got to do this whole Islam very silently or else.... well lets say home life for me will not be happy :(
 
^ wow!! i know someone else in your EXACT same situation! infact his waiting to leave home just to become muslim. Once his parents found some islamic material in his house and he had to say that its from his "R.E" classes lol, his such a top man :D !



Look what i found :D:

http://www.freequran.com/html/order.htm



^ if for whatever reason this doesnt work out let me know, i'll personally buy one and have it sent to your house :)



every true believer goes through hard trials after islam... one companions mother practically disowned him, another got tortured by family, another lost all wealth, i mean even in this day and age i know people who have been chased out of homes, humiliated etc... everyone has their challenges.. its what they do to get nearer to God and far from evil... for paradise..
 
Mz said:
^ wow!! i know someone else in your EXACT same situation! infact his waiting to leave home just to become muslim. Once his parents found some islamic material in his house and he had to say that its from his "R.E" classes lol, his such a top man :D !



Look what i found :D:

http://www.freequran.com/html/order.htm



^ if for whatever reason this doesnt work out let me know, i'll personally buy one and have it sent to your house :)



every true believer goes through hard trials after islam... one companions mother practically disowned him, another got tortured by family, another lost all wealth, i mean even in this day and age i know people who have been chased out of homes, humiliated etc... everyone has their challenges.. its what they do to get nearer to God and far from evil... for paradise..
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:eek: Thank you very much:D
 
I could send you a copy of the Qur'an, if you'd like. Of course, your parents may wonder why you're getting all these packages, so be prepared with an answer. I know what it's like to deal with cranky parents - my 'rents are more on the liberal side of things theologically, but they freaked about islam - and I was 21 and moved out of the house!

Another place to look at - http://www.explorethequran.org/ - where you only have the pay shipping. If you can't pay, I'd say email them and ask if they'd waive the fee. And ask them to send it in an unmarked package ;-)
 
INsearch said:
:) I guess I will give a quick explanation right here why I always inquire into free stuff :) I am 17, and dont have money :) and I am blessed with wonderful parents :) but only one problem I have. My whole family (brothers, sister, mom, dad,) are super, super, super, super fundamental Christians! I am talking about strict! they got made at me for looking into Catholicism a while back O.o so I got to do this whole Islam very silently or else.... well lets say home life for me will not be happy :(
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Ohhh Brother... imsad

If only you were in England I would personally bring you a copy.

If you don't find one please let me know and I will try to send you one. I will do what I can to help a Brother who genuinely wants to know about Islam.

May Allah bless you for turning to him at such a young age. I wish I had the same willingness at your age.

Peace my Brother :thankyou:

P.S. I really like the Picthall translation. Yusuf Ali is really good too.
 
Hamayun said:
Ohhh Brother... imsad

If only you were in England I would personally bring you a copy.

If you don't find one please let me know and I will try to send you one. I will do what I can to help a Brother who genuinely wants to know about Islam.

May Allah bless you for turning to him at such a young age. I wish I had the same willingness at your age.

Peace my Brother :thankyou:

P.S. I really like the Picthall translation. Yusuf Ali is really good too.
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Thank you :) I am going to be trying really hard to find one :) at least for now I have the online version :)
 
INsearch said:
Ha! your sister sends Qur'ans to random people!! thats awesome!
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Well they ask her for them, Qurans can be expensive. Especially to the places she gave them out. It's weird how total strangers over forums can ask you for one, Islam has grown so much, I wish all my freinds become Muslims! I have many Non-Muslim friends but I can honestly only remember her once giving it out to someone in the UK. The rest were all over, subhanAllaah!
 
AnonymousGender said:
Well they ask her for them, Qurans can be expensive. Especially to the places she gave them out. It's weird how total strangers over forums can ask you for one, Islam has grown so much, I wish all my freinds become Muslims! I have many Non-Muslim friends but I can honestly only remember her once giving it out to someone in the UK. The rest were all over, subhanAllaah!
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WAT?

i got dibbs on it first!


if INsearch cant find a Quran im sending it !
 
I am going to be printing out a few pages of the Qur'an to carry along with me :) would it be wrong to fold it up and put it in my pocket? (I am still working on figuring out how to order a free Qur'an without getting in trouble)
 

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