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Sectarian and ideological bias inMuslim translations of the Qur'anNeal Robinson aa Department of Theology and Religious Studies , TheUniversity of Leeds , Leeds, LS2 9JT, UKPublished online: 18 Apr 2007.

To cite this article: Neal Robinson (1997) Sectarian and ideological bias in Muslim translationsof the Qur'an, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 8:3, 261-278

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Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1997 261

Sectarian and Ideological Bias in MuslimTranslations of the Qur'ān1

NEAL ROBINSON

ABSTRACT In this article, an attempt is made to identify the main types of sectarian andideological bias that are encountered in English-language translations of the Qur'an whichhave been produced by Muslims. The article covers Shīcite interpretations; the enhancement ofthe Prophet's status associated principally with Barelwis; Ahmadi interpretations; the legacy ofMuctazilism; the influence of the scientific rationalism of Sayyid Ahmad Khan; 'scientificexegesis'; and traditionalist and modernist approaches to the Sharīca. Under each of the aboveheadings a selection of key āyas are discussed. Only translations which have a wide circulationare included in this survey, but the, analysis should enable the reader to assess the theologicaltendency of other translations which are not mentioned.

IntroductionThere are over forty English-language translations of the Qur'an2 and the flood showsno sign of abating. I shall exclude from this survey translations which are rare collector'sitems, and concentrate on those which have a wide circulation. I shall, moreover,deliberately leave to one side translations produced by Christian and Jewish scholars,because these merit a separate study.3 Rather than discussing each translation in turn,I shall discuss the principal sectarian and ideological tendencies that are encountered.The earliest Muslim translation to gain wide acceptance was PickthalFs TTte Meaning ofthe Glorious Qur'an. Although it contains a number of inaccuracies, it generally gives afairly literal rendering of the Arabic. I shall therefore use it as the basis for comparison.

Shrite InterpretationsThere are two well-known translations of the Qur'an by twelver ShTites, the one byS. V. Mir Ahmed Ali and the other by M. H. Shakir. If we disregard the notes whichaccompany some editions,4 there are very few passages in the text of either which areindicative of a confessional bias. I shall limit my observations to what I consider the fourmost striking instances.

The first passage is Q.2:124, in the course of which God confers an important roleon Abraham. Pickthall, renders the key sentence as follows: 'Lo! I have appointed theea leader for mankind.' The Shrite translators, on the other hand, retain the Arabicword imam and give it an initial capital: 'Verily I make thee Imam for mankind' (MirAhmed Ali); 'Surely I will make you an Imam of men' (Shakir). By doing this, theyhighlight the Shrite belief that the Imamate conferred on 'All, and his designatedsuccessors, was of the same status as that exercised by Abraham. Of the Sunnitranslators, only Yusuf Ali and the Zidans retain the Arabic word in this way. Yusuf

0959-6410/97/030261-18 © 1997 CSIC and CMCU

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Ali's father was an Ismaill Shrite.5 As he taught his son Arabic and saw to his earlyreligious education, we may perhaps detect his influence here. Nevertheless, Yusuf Ali'sfootnote shows that at the time when he published his translation the word imam nolonger had Shrite connotations for him. We shall see later that the Zidans relied heavilyon Yusuf Ali's work. Hence, the wording of their translation at this point may beincidental. The other Sunni translators all agree with Pickthall in rendering imam as'leader', thereby ruling out the possibility of a ShI'ite interpretation.

The second passage is Q.33:33, which contains a sentence which Pickthall under-stands to mean: 'Allah's wish is but to remove uncleanness far from you, O Folk of thehousehold and cleanse you with a thorough cleansing.' Sunnls suppose that Muham-mad's wives belonged to the 'Folk of the household'. Since the previous ayas make clearthat some of them were capable of desiring the life of this world and of open indecency,the statement that Allah wished to remove uncleanness from them is understandable.Shrite commentators point out, however, that there is a sudden change of gender in thepronouns, the masculine plural 'you' being introduced when the 'People of the House'are addressed. They surmise that this revelation is not in its original context and thatit refers exclusively to Muhammad's close relatives: 'All, Fatima, Hasan and Husaynwho, according to ShI'ite dogma, were kept free of sin from the moment of their birth.Hence, whereas Pickthall and other Sunni translators seem to imply that thepurification involved the removal of actual uncleanness, the ShI'ite translators indicatethat it consisted of protection from potential uncleanness: 'Verily, verily God intendeth butto keep off from you (every kind of) uncleanness O ye the People of the House, andpurify you (with) a thorough purification (S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali); 'Allah desires only tokeep away the uncleanness from you, O People of the House! and to purify you a(thorough) purifying' (Shakir).

The third passage is Q.42:23, which Pickthall translates as follows: 'Say (O Muham-mad unto mankind): I ask of you no fee therefor save loving kindness among kinsfolk.'His rendering of the crucial expression al-mawaddata ft 'l-qurba as 'loving kindnessamong kinsfolk' is so literal that the meaning is not immediately obvious. Most Sunnitranslators take the aya to mean that the only fee that Muhammad was to request fromthe Quraysh was that they should stop persecuting him and treat him with the affectionwhich was due to him as one of their kinsfolk. The Shrite translators, on the otherhand, construe it differently: 'Say thou (O Our Apostle Muhammad!): "I demand not ofyou any recompense for it (the toils of the apostleship) save the love of (my) relatives" '(S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali); 'Say: "I do not ask of you any reward for it but love for my nearrelatives" ' (Shakir).

By inserting the possessive pronoun 'my', they imply that what is required is affectionfor the kinsfolk of the Prophet, rather than for the Prophet himself. Moreover Shakir,by translating al-qurba as 'near relatives' (my emphasis) further implies that thereference is more specifically to 'the Folk of the household'.

The fourth passage, Q.5:55, occurs immediately after a warning against apostasy.Pickthall renders it: 'Your friend can be only Allah; and His messenger and those whobelieve, who establish worship and pay the poor-due, and bow down (in prayer).' Incompany with other Sunni translators, he understands wa-hum rdki'un ('and bow down(in prayer)') as a co-ordinate clause which continues the definition of 'those whobelieve'. However, ShI'ite commentators make much of the fact that, whereas yuqimuna('keep up') and yu'tuna ('pay') are finite verbs, rdki'un is a participle. Hence, wa-humrdki'un could be a temporal cause meaning 'while they are bowing'. That is how bothShI'ite translators understand it: 'Verily your guardian is (none else but) God and His

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Apostle (Muhammad) and those who believe, those who establish prayer and pay thepoor-rate, while they be (even) bowing down (in prayer)' (S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali); 'OnlyAllah is your Vali and His Apostle and those who believe, those who keep up prayersand pay the poor-rate while they bow' (Shakir). The notion of someone paying zakatwhile bowing down may seem rather strange but ShTites detect here a reference to aspecific incident in the life of CA1I. It is reported that while he was praying in the mosqueat Medina, a beggar entered and no one heeded him. The beggar was about to go awaydejected when 'All, who was in the bowing position, held out his finger so that he couldtake his ring as charity.6 In addition Shrites attach particular significance to the wordwait, which Pickthall simply translates as 'friend'. The word is used by them of theImam in his role as spiritual friend or guardian of the believers. According to awell-known Hadlth, the Prophet said, ''All is from me and I am from 'All. He is theguardian (wait) of every believer after me.' By retaining the Arabic word (as pro-nounced by Urdu and Farsi speakers) and beginning it with a capital letter, Shakirimplies that it is to be understood in its technical sense.

Enhancement of the Prophet's Status

The Prophet Muhammad has always had a central position in Islam, but some Muslimgroups are noted for their extreme devotion to him. This is especially true of theBarelwis. They are named after Bareille in Uttar Pradesh, which was the home of ShahAhmad Raza Khan (1858-1921), who sought to preserve the popular devotionalaspects of Islam as practised in the rural areas of India. In 1910, he published an Urduparaphrase of the Qur'an under the title Kanzul Iman. This has recently been renderedinto somewhat defective English by Shah Faridul Haque.

The most noteworthy characteristic of Kanzul Iman is the enhanced status whichit ascribes to the Prophet. When Allah addresses him directly in the secondperson singular, the translator frequently inserts the words 'O beloved'7 (Q.2:150,186,243,246; 33:3; 107:1 etc.) or 'O beloved prophet!' (e.g. Q.2:137), despite theabsence of anything corresponding to them in the Arabic text. Similarly, in Q. 103:1,the oath wa-'l-'asr, which means 'By the age' or 'By the late afternoon' (Pickthall 'Bythe declining day'), is rendered 'By the time of the beloved (Prophet)'. Barelwis believethat Muhammad has been given knowledge of the Unseen, and this belief is reflectedin the phrase 'the communicator of unseen' (e.g. Q.33:l) or 'the Communicator ofunseen news' (Q.33:45,50,56 etc.), which is frequently inserted without anyjustification. They also attach great importance to commemorating the Prophet'sbirthday and his mi'raj, detecting an allusion to the latter in Q.53:l. Pickthall'stranslation of this dya—'By the star when it setteth'—gives the literal meaning of theArabic. Following Raza Shah, who was in turn relying on a traditional Sufi interpret-ation,8 Faridul Haque renders it: 'By the lovely shining star Muhammad when hedescended from the Ascension.' More contentious is the Barelwi treatment of Q.55:l-4. Once again, Pickthall may be relied on for a literal translation of the Arabic:

The Beneficenthath made known the Qur'an.He hath created man.

He hath taught him utterance.

Compare this with the rendering in Kanzul Iman:

The Most Affectionate

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Taught the Quran to His beloved.He created Mohammad, the soul of humanity.He taught him speech regarding whatever had already happened and whateverwill happen. (Q.55:l-4)

Here, in a passage which is usually held by Muslims to refer to God's beneficence tohumankind as a whole, we encounter a cluster of Barelwi doctrines. As well as readinginto the text the Prophet's name, his status as the 'beloved' and his knowledge of theUnseen, the translation seems to imply that he is the pre-existent archetypal man.9

In addition to enhancing the status of the Prophet by the paraphrasic devices notedabove, Kanzul Iman renders other ayas in a way which guards against the readerinferring that the Prophet ever erred.10 Twice in the Qur'an, he is instructed to '... askforgiveness for thy fault' (Q.40:55, 47:19). These ayas are rendered:

'O beloved ... beg forgiveness for the sins of your owns (sic)' (Q.40:55) and'O beloved, ask forgiveness for the sins of your near ones' (Q.47:19).

Similarly, an dya which literally means 'that Allah may forgive thee thy former and thylatter faults' (Q.48:2) is construed 'that Allah may forgive the sins of your formers andof your latters' (sic) on account of you.'

Even more ingenious is the rendering of Q.93:7. Whereas Pickthall translates it, 'Didhe not find thee wandering and direct (thee)?', he renders it, 'And He found you drown(sic) in His love.'

Although at first sight this seems to be far removed from the literal meaning of theArabic, it finds some support in classical exegesis. The word ddll, which Pickthalltranslates 'wandering', is the present participle of the verb dalla. From the same verbwe get the noun dalldl, an error, wandering or straying. This noun is found at Q.I2:95,where the people accuse Jacob of being in his old wandering because of his declarationthat he can smell the scent of Joseph, whom they wrongly assume to have died manyyears previously. Baidawi glosses the phrase 'in thy old wandering' as 'in excessive loveof Joseph and overmuch remembering of him.'11

Commenting on Q.93:7, RazI gives no less than twenty interpretations; in thefourteenth he links it with this dya:

dalldl in the sense of love, as in His saying 'thou art in thy old wandering'[Q. 12:95] that is thy love. Its meaning is that thou wast a lover so We guidedthee to the paths in which thou wouldst be drawn nigh to the service of thyBeloved.12

Unfortunately, RazI does not name his source, but the interpretation has a decisive Sufiring to it.

Not content with guarding against the possible inference that the Prophet was attimes at fault, Raza Khan seems to have been at pains to deny that he was evenpotentially capable of sin or doubt. Thus, two passages which are normally understoodto have been addressed to the Prophet are construed as being addressed to theindividual Muslim: 'And (O listner (sic) whoever he may be) if you should follow theirdesires after the knowledge that has been given to you, then at that time you shall surelybe of the transgressors' (Q.2:145), and '(O Listner) It is the truth from your Lord (orthe truth is that which is from your Lord) then beware! doubt not' (Q2:147).

The only other translations in which I have detected an occasional tendency to treatthe Prophet in the above manner are those by Shrites and Ahmadis. S. V. Mir AhmedAli renders Q.40:55, '... and seek protection for thy (followers') shortcomings ...'.

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Zafrulla Khan on the other hand avoids the problem of this aya in a different way byrendering the key clause '... and ask forgiveness for those who wrong thee ...'. S. V. MirAhmed Ali renders Q.48:2 '(So) that (O Our Apostle Muhammadf) God, may grantprotection for thy sake (against) that which has gone before of thy (followers') shortcom-ings and that which hath to come later ...'. Similarly, his fellow Shi'ite, M. H. Shakirconstrues it as 'That Allah may forgive your community their past faults and those tofollow ...'. Finally, Zafrulla Khan paraphrases Q.93:7 as 'and find thee enamoured ofthy people and in search of guidance for them.'

How to Spot an Ahmadi Translation

The self-styled Ahmadiyya Muslims are the followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1839-1908), who was born in Qadian in the Punjab. As they are now generally regarded asnon-Muslims, a detailed discussion of Ahmadi interpretations would be out of place inthis article. Nevertheless, there is at least one translation on the market which mayreasonably be described as crypto-Ahmadi. Zafrulla Khan's Arabic-English Qur'an isbilled by his highly respectable English publisher as a work of Islamic scholarship. Theback flap of the dust-cover mentions the translator's distinguished career 'not only asa foremost expounder of Islam' but also in public life as Foreign Secretary of Pakistan,leader of the Pakistan Delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations, andJudge of the International Court of Justice at the Hague. On the front flap thetranslation is said to combine 'a depth of Arabic scholarship and Islamic learning witha happy and felicitous command of the English language, whilst it is strictly faithful inmeaning to the text.'

It is contrasted with earlier English renderings which 'retain the impress of the Arabicidiom' and consequently 'have needed to be fortified with explanatory notes'. Finallywe are told, 'Without doubt this will remain the most acceptable English version formany years to come.' In short, there is nothing to warn the unsuspecting reader thatthis a highly tendencious work of sectarian propaganda.13

There are many peculiarities of this translation, one of which was mentioned in theprevious section and others which will be mentioned later. However, the translator'sspecifically Ahmadi bias may best be shown by comparing his rendering of Q.4:157ffwith a literal rendering such as Pickthall's. This qur'anic passage bristles withdifficulties but Muslims have traditionally understood it to mean that: (1) the Jewsmistakenly thought that they had crucified Jesus, whereas the person whom they killedwas in fact a look-alike substitute; (2) Jesus was made to ascend alive into God'spresence, whence he will return to kill the Antichrist; (3) before Jesus eventually dies,all the People of the Scripture will come to believe that he was a prophet. (Or eachmember of the People of the Scripture will, before he or she dies, come to believe thatJesus was a prophet).14

Pickthall's rendering preserves most of the ambiguities of the Arabic. It is thereforecompatible with the traditional Islamic interpretation while leaving the English readerto reflect on other possibilities:

And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah Jesus son of Mary, Allah'sMessenger—They slew him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them;and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have noknowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain.But Allah took him up unto Himself, Allah is Mighty, Wise. There is not oneof the People of the Scripture but will believe in him before his death, and onthe Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them. (Pickthall)

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The Ahmadiyya, on the other hand, believe that: (1) Jesus was in fact crucified; (2)he was not made to ascend alive into God's presence but was nonetheless exalted byGod in the sense that he was saved from the ignominy of actually dying on the cross;(3) he was taken down alive from the cross and made his way to Kashmir, where hedied and is buried.

Zafrulla Khan's rendering, which is almost one and a half times the length ofPickthall's, twists the Arabic so as to make it compatible with these sectarian beliefs:

And their saying: We did kill the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messengerof Allah; whereas they slew him not, nor did they compass his death on thecross, but he was made to appear to them like one crucified to death; andthose who have differed in the matter of his having been taken down alivefrom the cross are certainly in a state of doubt concerning it, they have nodefinite knowledge about it, but only follow a conjecture; they certainly didnot compass his death in the manner they allege; indeed Allah exalted him toHimself, Allah is Mighty Wise, and there is none among the People of theBook but will continue to believe till his death that Jesus died on the cross, andon the Day of Judgement Jesus will bear witness against them.

There is nothing in the Arabic corresponding to 'like one crucified to death', 'in thematter of his having been taken down alive from the cross', 'in the manner they allege'and 'that Jesus died on the cross'. Moreover, wa-md salabuhu, which means 'they didnot crucify him' is implausibly rendered 'nor did they compass his death on the cross';qabla which means 'before' is wrongly translated 'till'; and the pronominal suffix -hi,which is traditionally understood in this context to mean 'him' and taken to refer toJesus (or more rarely Muhammad), is understood to mean 'it' and is paraphrased 'thatJesus died on the cross'.

The Ahmadiyya link this passage with Q.2:71f, which orthodox Muslims havetraditionally interpreted as a reference to how God miraculously brought a murderedman to life in Moses' time by instructing the children of Israel to smite his corpse withpart of a sacrificed cow. Pickthall's translation is on the whole literal, although nafsmeans 'soul' or 'living person' rather than 'man':

And (remember) when ye slew a man and disagreed concerning it and Allahbrought forth that which ye were hiding. And We said: smite him with someof it. Thus Allah bringeth the dead to life and showeth you His portents sothat ye may understand.

Zafrulla Khan, on the other hand, following earlier Ahmadi translators, construes thepassage as referring to the crucifixion:

Call to mind also when you claimed to have brought about the death of aPersonage and then differed among yourselves concerning it, and Allah wouldbring to light that which you concealed. So We said: Test the crucial questionby putting together other incidents relating to the affair. Thus does Allah planto preserve alive those considered dead and shows you His signs that you mayunderstand.

There is no justification for translating qataltum as 'claimed to have brought about thedeath of, yuhyi as 'plan to preserve alive' or al-mawtd as 'those considered dead'. Theverb daraba can have other meanings besides 'strike', but to translate idribuhu bi-ba'dihaas 'Test the crucial question by putting together other incidents relating to the affair'is fanciful.

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The Legacy of Mu'tazilism

Mu'tazilism was a theological movement which originated during the first half of theeighth century and flourished until the middle of the eleventh.15 It put great stress onGod's unity and justice. Although for a brief period it was the official theology of thecaliphate in Baghdad, Sunn! Muslims later came to regard it as heretical. After thedemise of the movement, Mu'tazilite doctrine continued to be influential amongstShrites, and in the modern period it has occasionally found favour with Sunn!intellectuals.

The Mu'tazilites insisted that God is not merely numerically one but that he is asimple essence. This led them to deny that he has a body or any of the characteristicsof bodies such as colour, form, movement and localization in space. Hence, in theirview, the qur'anic anthropomorphisms such as the references to God's throne, face andhands, must be figures of speech. Some of the later Ash'arites adopted this view but themajority of Sunnls hold that the anthropomorphisms should neither be dismissed in thisway nor understood to imply that God has a body like human beings, and that thebeliever has simply to accept the qur'anic statements as true without seeking tounderstand how. For the sake of brevity, I shall only examine how the translators dealwith the qur'anic references to God's throne.

There are twenty-two dyas in which the word carsh appears to denote God's throne.In ten of them it is part of a title: 'Lord of the Throne' (e.g. Q.21:22), 'Lord of thetremendous Throne' (e.g. Q.9:129) etc. In seven others the word occurs in theexpression istawa 'ala 'l-'arsh, which Pickthall usually translates as 'He mounted theThrone' (e.g. Q.7:54). In a further three instances there is a reference to angels roundthe Throne or to those who carry it (Q.39:75; 40:7, and 69:17). Finally, Q.ll:7 statesthat God's Throne was upon the waters. In addition to these twenty-two references toGod's 'arsh, there is the celebrated 'Throne verse' (Q.2:255), where the Arabic word iskursi. Here, Pickthall translates the key clause as 'His throne includeth the heavens andthe earth'.

Shakir eliminates the reference to the Throne in most instances. When the word 'arshis part of a title, he usually renders it as 'Power' or 'Dominion'; for example 'Lord ofPower' (Q.7:42 etc.), 'Lord of Dominion' (Q.21:22 etc.), although at Q.85:15 he has'Lord of the Arsh'. On five occasions he renders the expression istawa ala 'l-'arsh as 'Heis firm in power' (Q.7:54 etc), although twice he gives a more literal translation(Q.25:59; 32:4). He retains the reference to the angels around the throne (Q.39:75),but eliminates the references to the throne-bearing angels by rendering 'arsh as 'power':'... those who bear the power' (Q.40:7); '... eight shall bear ... your Lord's power'(Q.69:17).

At Q.I 1:7, in his translation, it is God's 'dominion' that extends on the waters andin Q.2:255 he translates kursi as 'knowledge'.

S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali, who is a Shrite like Shakir, occasionally translates 'arsh as'Throne' but usually simply transliterates it as 'Arsh' and follows it with a parentheticalgloss or adds a marginal note to the effect that it means 'throne of Power, Knowledgeand Authority'. At Q.81:20, however, he glosses it as Universe, and at Q.40:15 he hasa footnote stating that it could be conceived as the State of Absolute Divinity. AtQ.2:255, he translates kursi as 'Throne' but adds a marginal note explaining it as thecomprehensive seat of his authority and knowledge.

Several Sunn! translators also appear to have Mu'tazilite leanings. For instance,Asad replaces the divine throne titles with abstract expressions such as 'in awesome

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almightiness enthroned' (Q.27:26 etc.) and invariably translates istawa. 'aid 'l-'arsh as'established on the throne of His almightiness'. At Q.39:75 he has a note explainingthat the throne of almightiness is a metaphor for absolute dominion over all that exists,and at Q.69:17 he has another stressing that the expression must be metaphoricalbecause God is infinite in space and time. He translates Q.l:7 as 'the throne of Hisalmightiness has rested on water', but states in a footnote that this is a symbolicreference which seems to point to the God-willed evolution of all life out of water. InQ.2:255, he translates kursT as 'eternal power' although he explains in a note thatliterally it means 'His seat [of power]'.

It is surprising to find a similar (although admittedly weaker) tendency in Khatib, forhis translation is the only one to have been authorized by al-Azhar, the principal Sunnicentre of learning. He renders istawa 'aid 'l-'arsh as 'He took hold of the Throne' or 'Hetook control of the Throne' relegating the literal meaning 'He mounted or sat on theThrone' to footnotes. At Q.32:4 he has a note indicating that the Throne is a figurativeexpression for the Kingdom of God, and in a note on Q.I 1:7 he states that theKingdom of God was entirely water before the creation of the universe.

Ahmed Ali (not to be confused with S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali) seems to alternatebetween literal and Mu'tazilite renderings. When 'arsh is part of a title he usuallytranslates it as 'throne' but at Q.40:15 he has 'Lord of power', and at Q.43:82 'Lordof all power'. When translating istawa 'ala 'l-'arsh he eliminates the reference to thethrone in four instances out of seven. He retains the references to the angels round thethrone and to those bearing the throne, but he translates Q. 11:5 as 'has control over thewaters of (life)'. Finally in Q.2:255 he translates kursT as 'seat'.

Yusuf Ali's translation has occasional traces of Mutazilism. He invariably renders'arsh as 'throne', but in seven instances (Q.I0:3 etc.) he glosses it with the words 'ofauthority' which are enclosed in brackets. Accompanying Q.7:54 there is a note statingthat it is 'of course metaphorical, a symbol of authority, power and vigilance'. Similarly,at Q.I 1:7 there is a note to the effect that the throne of God's authority is metaphori-cally expressed as over the waters 'i.e. as regulating all life'; and at Q.69:17 there is anote explaining that the description of the throne is symbolic. In Q.2:255 he translateskursT as 'Throne', but explains it in a footnote as 'seat, power, knowledge, symbol ofauthority'. In the posthumous revision of the translation published by the AmanaCorporation in 1989, the glosses are retained but the references to metaphor andsymbol have been excised from the footnotes. In the independent revision published thefollowing year in Saudi Arabia, the glosses have been omitted as well.

Before leaving the issue of God's throne, we should note how it is treated by theAhmadi translator, Zafrulla Khan. He is not entirely consistent for he translates 'arsh as'throne' in twenty-one instances but he eliminates the reference to the throne in Q.I 1:5where he renders the key phrase as 'He originated life from water'. Moreover, inQ.2:255 he translates kursT as 'knowledge'.

In addition to championing the unity of God, the Mu'tazilites stressed his justice. Intheir view, God would be unjust if the human beings whom he rewarded and punishedin the hereafter had not been endowed with free will in this life. Therefore, the Qur'anshould not be interpreted as implying predestination. For the purpose of this study, Ihave selected two texts which are typical of those which the Mu'tazilites foundproblematic. They are Q.3:8 and Q.6.-125.

At 3:8 there is a prayer which Pickthall translates literally as 'Our Lord! Cause notour hearts to stray ...'. Most other translators try to avoid the implication that Godcould ever actually cause believers to go astray: 'Let not our hearts swerve ...', Asad;

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'Let us not go astray ...', Ahmed Ali; 'Suffer not our hearts to perverse (sic) ...', S. V.Mir Ahmed Ali; 'Let not our hearts become perverse ...', Zafrulla Khan, the Zidans,Faridul Haque; 'Do not let our hearts falter ...', Irving; 'Let not our hearts deviate ...',Yusuf Ali, Hilali and Muhsin Khan; 'Suffer not our hearts to deviate', Daryabadi.

A similar problem is posed by Q.6:125, which Pickthall translates as follows:

And whomsoever it is Allah's will to guide, He expandeth his bosom unto theSurrender, and whomsoever it is His will to send astray. He maketh Hisbosom close and narrow as if he were engaged in sheer ascent. Thus Allahlayeth ignominy upon those who believe not.

A number of translators try to avoid implying that God actually wills people to go astray:'... those whom He willeth to leave straying ...', Yusuf Ali; '... whoever He wishes toleave astray ...', the Zidans; '... those He allows to go astray ...', Ahmed Ali; '...whomsoever He intendeth to leave straying ...', S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali. In addition,Yusuf Ali has 'those who refuse to believe' (my emphasis) instead of 'those who believenot'.

The Impact of Scientific Rationalism

The pro-British Indian modernist Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) was influencedby the Mu'tazilites and like them he sought to interpret the Qur'an in the light ofhuman reason. He was particularly concerned to avoid a clash between Islam andscience, and argued that Revelation and Creation ('the Word of God' and 'the Workof God') are in perfect harmony. This conviction led him to infer that the Qur'an doesnot countenance miracles that are contrary to the laws of nature.16 He also alleged thatwe cannot be certain that the Arab lexicographers always recorded the meaning ofwords found in the Qur'an. Hence, he suggested that the jinn were not invisible spirits,as is generally held, but rather the bedouin and other uncivilized peoples.17 During hislifetime, Sayyid Ahmad was vehemently criticized by eminent Muslim scholars. Never-theless, his writings have continued to influence members of the Western-educated elitein the Indian subcontinent, and his attitudes to miracles and the jinn are shared byseveral translators of the Qur'an.

A key text for those who wish to dispose of the qur'anic miracles is Q.3:7, whichmentions the existence of dyas which are mutashdbihdt. From the context, we shouldprobably understand this word to mean 'ambiguous' or 'unclear'. However, SayyidAhmad Khan took it to mean 'allegorical', which is how it was subsequently translatedby Pickthall, Yusuf Ali, Muhammad Asad, Zafrulla Khan, Ahmed Ali and the Zidans,despite the fact that this interpretation has no basis in traditional exegesis. It iswell-established that although Pickthall was not an Ahmadi he sometimes made use ofan Ahmadi translation by Muhammad Ali.18 It seems likely that in rendering muta-shdbihdt as 'allegorical', he was simply following Muhammad Ali uncritically. YusufAli's version of the whole dya resembles Muhammad Ali's in many respects and ittherefore seems likely that he too borrowed the translation of this term from him.(Yusuf Ali's revisers replace 'allegorical' with 'not of well-established meaning' (1989)and 'not entirely clear' (1990).) The Zidans in turn probably copied Yusuf Ali, for weshall see later that they certainly made use of his translation at other points. In any case,there is no evidence that Pickthall, Yusuf Ali or the Zidans understood the qur'anicmiracles merely as allegories. On the other hand, Muhammad Ali, Asad, Zafrulla Khan,and Ahmed Ali, were all enthusiastic allegorizers, as I will now show.

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In Q.3:49, the angels announce to Mary that God will make Jesus a messenger to theChildren of Israel and that Jesus will say,

Lo! I come unto you with a sign from your Lord. Lo! I fashion for you out ofclay the likeness of a bird, and I breathe into it and it is a bird, by Allah's leave.I heal him who was born blind and the leper, and I raise the dead by Allah'sleave ...

At least that is how Pickthall renders this part of the aya, adhering closely to the literalmeaning of the Arabic. The earlier translation by the Ahmadi scholar Muhammad Aliwas likewise fairly literal, but it was accompanied by extensive notes explaining that themiracles are to be understood figuratively: the story of the bird is a parable of how bybreathing the truth into his disciples Jesus made them rise above their earthly cares; thestatement about the healing of the blind and the leper refers to healing of the spirituallyblind and sick; and the statement about raising the dead refers to reviving the spirituallydead. Muhammad Asad^and Ahmed Ali went one step further than Muhammad Aliand eliminated the miracle of the bird altogether, by translating ta'ir as 'destiny' on theflimsy pretext that it can mean 'omen' as a well as 'bird':

I have come unto you with a message from your Sustainer. I shall create foryou out of clay, as it were the shape of [your] destiny, and then breathe intoit so that it might become [your] destiny by God's leave: and I shall heal theblind and the leper, and bring the dead back to life by God's leave ... (Asad)

I have come to you with a prodigy from your Lord that I will fashion for youthe state of destiny out of mire for you, and breathe (a new spirit) into it, and(you) will rise by the will of God. I will heal the blind and the leper and infuselife into the dead, by the leave of God ... (Ahmed Ali)

In addition they both indicated in their notes that the healing of the blind and the leperand the raising of the dead should be understood metaphorically. Earlier, however,Zafrulla Khan had gone even further than either of them and rendered the wholepassage as if it were self-evidently a series of figures of speech:

I have come to you with a Sign from your Lord, that for your benefit, in themanner of a bird, I shall fashion, from among persons who are capable ofreceiving an impress, shapes and shall breathe into them a new spirit, thenthey will begin to soar like birds by the command of Allah; and I shall declareclean the blind and the leprous and shall bestow life on the spiritually dead ...(Zafrulla Khan).

A detailed analysis of all the passages which these translators allegorize would bebeyond the scope of the present article. One further example must therefore suffice. Aliteral rendering of Q.27:16-44 gives the impression that Solomon was endowed withextraordinary miraculous powers. He is depicted as having armies of jinn and birds athis command and as understanding the speech of birds and ants. Moreover, a hoopoebrings him news of the Queen of Sheba and an Hfift of the jinn offers to bring him thethrone from her distant realm in an instant—literally 'before thou risest up from thyplace'. Muhammad Ali retains the references to the armies of 'jinn' and 'birds', butexplains in his notes that the former were mountain tribesmen whom Solomon hadsubjugated, whereas the latter were probably his cavalry who were called 'birds' becauseof their swiftness. Solomon's knowledge of the speech of the birds is explained as ametaphor for his use of birds for conveying messages. His ability to communicate withthe ants is disguised in Muhammad Ali's translation because the words 'the valley of

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ants' and 'ant' in v. 19 are rendered as 'valley of the Naml' and 'a Namlite' respectively,and there is a note suggesting that the reference is to a tribe. Similarly the Arabic wordfor 'hoopoe' is simply transliterated as Hudhud and treated as the name of a person.Finally, there is a note arguing that the 'ifrit of the jinn was probably 'one of theAmalekites who were men of large stature' and that he did not offer Solomon to bringhim the throne before he had time to stand up but before he could march from theplace where he was.

Like Muhammad Ali, Zafrulla Khan retains the references to the armies of'jinn19 andbirds, but eliminates the references to the ants and the hoopoe by transliterating theArabic terms and treating them as proper names. He adopts his interpretation of theoffer made by the Hfrit of the jinn and modifies the translation accordingly to read, 'Apowerful chieftain from among the people of the hills said: "I shall bring it to theebefore thou move camp".' Asad exercises more restraint. He translates the whole ofQ.27:16-44 literally, although instead of 'jinn' he speaks of 'invisible beings' and heexplains in a note that the 'legendary story' of the birds and ants refers to Solomon's'understanding and admiration of nature' and his 'loving compassion for the humblestof God's creatures'. Ahmed Ali retains the references to the jinn, but in other respectshis translation plays down the miraculous element even more than Muhammad Ali'sdoes. Like him, he treats Naml and Hudhud as names; in addition, he transliterates theArabic word for birds as Tair, and explains in a note that they were a people whomSolomon had conquered and whose language he had learned.

The Fashion for 'Scientific Exegesis'

While Sayyid Ahmad Khan was endeavouring to show that the Qur'an was compatiblewith modern science because it did not require belief in supernatural miracles, hisyounger contemporaries in Egypt were busy formulating a different response to theshock produced by contact with the technologically superior Europeans. In effect theyargued that the Qur'an was scientific in the sense that it mentioned things unknown toMuhammad and his contemporaries—things which were only discovered by Europeanscientists many centuries later. For had God not said, 'We have neglected nothing inthe Book' (Q.6:38), and 'We have revealed the Book to thee as an exposition of everything ..." (Q.16:89)? Thus modern science, far from posing a threat to Islam, actuallystrengthened the case of the Muslims by furnishing an additional proof of the Qur'an'ssupernatural origin. The roots of this movement, which is generally known as 'scientificexegesis' (tafsir Hlmt), reach back to the Middle Ages, but in the modern era its originsmay be traced to two Egyptians: a physician by the name of Muhammed b. Ahmadal-Iskandaranl and a Minister of Education called 'Abdallah Fikhri Basha, both ofwhom published books on the subject in the last decades of the nineteenth century. InEgypt in recent years, the movement has lacked neither fervent advocates nor vigorousopponents. The latter have argued that the Qur'an claims to be a clear messageaddressed to the Arabs in Muhammad's day and age, and that it must therefore havebeen perfectly intelligible to them—which would hardly have been the case if it bristledwith references to modern scientific discoveries. They have also pointed out that theclassical exegetes understood the two alleged proof texts to mean something ratherdifferent: they took the 'Book' in Q.6:38 to be the heavenly archetype of the Qur'anrather than the revelation vouchsafed to Muhammad, and they assumed that 'anexposition of everything' referred to the religious and legal obligations imposed on theMuslims.20 Nevertheless, despite these criticisms, scientific exegesis continues to play a

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part in popular Islamic apologetics and has influenced a number of translators of theQur'an, most notably Dr and Mrs Zidan.

The introductory material to the Zidans' translation does not give any informationabout them and I have not received a reply to my letter to the publisher. I hazard aguess, however, that Dr Zidan is an Egyptian and that his doctorate is in a subject otherthan Islamic Studies, for his transliterations of the sura headings occasionally indicatehow they would be pronounced by an ordinary Egyptian rather than by a religiousscholar: Sura 15, al Higr (for al-Hijr), Sura 22 al Hag (for al-Hajf), Sura 85 al Buroog(for al-Buruj), Surah 86 al-Tareq (for al-Tdriq), and so on.

In their Preface, the Zidans state that many previous translations have contained'grievous errors' and that some non-Muslim translators have intentionally distorted themeaning of the Qur'an. They claim that they themselves aimed to produce '... anaccurate and uncomplicated rendering of the meaning' (p.5), In actual fact, they seemto have depended quite heavily on Yusuf Ali. Consider, for instance, this sentence fromQ.2.19 where their translation is identical to his: 'yafaluna asabi'a-hum fi adhani-himmin al-sawd'iqi (They press their fingers in their ears to keep out the stunningthunder-clap ...). The verb ja'ala means to 'place' or 'put' rather than to 'press'; thepreposition min, 'from', here has the meaning 'by reason of rather than 'to keep out';there is nothing in the Arabic corresponding to the adjective 'stunning'; and the nounsawawd'iq is in the plural, and hence means 'thunder-claps' rather than 'thunder-clap'.Yusuf Ali's translation reads well and captures the spirit of the original, but the oddsare against the Zidans having independently chosen precisely the same words as him.There are a number of other phrases in the same sura which point in a similar direction:in Q.2:65, khasi'in is translated 'despised and rejected', despite the fact that the formeradjective would suffice; and in Q.2.105, dhii H-fadli 'azvn, which literally means 'Ownerof Great Bounty', is translated by the curiously Christian-sounding phrase 'Lord ofGrace Abounding'. The similarity between the two translations is not always as markedas this, but my general impression is that the Zidans have often taken Yusuf Ali as thebasis for their own work and then striven to turn it into simpler and slightly moremodern English.

There is, however, one important respect in which the Zidans' translation differsradically from Yusuf Ali's and Pickthall's and other relatively literal translations: whendealing with passages which refer to the signs of God's power and beneficence in hiscreation, the Zidans give them a scientific ring. Even here, however, they seem not tohave made an original contribution, for their translation often closely resembles thatproposed by the French surgeon Maurice Bucaille.21 Three examples must suffice.First, Q.I6:66 which refers to the provision of milk:

And lo! in the cattle there is a lesson for you. We give you to drink of thatwhich is in their bellies, from betwixt the refuse and the blood, pure milkpalatable to the drinkers. (Pickthall)

The pagan Arabs would have known, from slaughtering domestic animals for food, thatthe bodies of cattle contained entrails full of faeces and that the entrails were sur-rounded by blood vessels. They are here encouraged to reflect on and marvel at theremarkable fact that God provided them with palatable milk which exuded from the'bellies' of these same animals while they were alive. Bucaille and the Zidans, however,read into the text a physiological explanation of how milk is actually produced:

And surely in the cattle there is a lesson for you, We give you to drink fromwhat is inside their bodies, coming from a conjunction between the contents

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of the intestine and the blood, a milk pure and pleasant for those who drinkit. (Zidan & Zidan cp. Bucaille p. 195)

My second example is Q.86:6f, which refers to the creation of man from seminalfluid: 'He is created from a gushing fluid that issued from between the loins and theribs' (Pickthall). The word sulb, which Pickthall translates 'loins' occurs only here. Itprobably means backbone, although the plural is found in Q.4:23 where it does seemto mean 'loins'. The word tard'ib, which he translates as 'ribs', is likewise a hapaxlegomenon. Although there is some doubt about the precise anatomical features to whichthese words refer, the general purport of the dya is clear: human beings are invited toreflect on the fact that they are created from seminal fluid which comes from some-where inside the abdominal cavity of the male. This is not scientifically accurate,because the seminal fluid is actually made in the testes which are suspended outside thebody. Hence, Bucaille and the Zidans force the text to mean something rather different:

(Mankind) was created of a liquid poured out. It issues (as a result) of theconjunction of the sexual area of the man and the sexual area of the woman.(Zidan & Zidan cp. Bucaille p. 206)

For my third example, I have chosen Q.51:47 where God relates how He created thesky. This should be read in conjunction with the following dya, Q.51:48, in which Goddescribes how He spread out the earth. Here is Pickthall's translation followed by myown even more literal rendering:

We have built the heaven with might, and We it is who make the vast extent(thereof).And the earth have We laid out, how gracious was the spreader (thereof).(Pickthall)

And the sky, We have constructed it with [Our] hands. Verily its extender areWe!And the earth, We have spread it as a carpet. An excellent spreader are We!(Literal translation)

As the two ayas are in parallel, samd' should be translated 'sky' rather than 'heaven'.The words bi-aydin may be an idiom meaning 'with might', but their literal meaning is'with hands'. My choice of 'spreader' and 'extender' makes my translation ratherunwieldy but I wished to preserve the parallelism between the two ayas, for in bothinstances the Arabic has a present participle. The language is highly anthropomorphic;God describes his creative activity as if he were a desert Arab relating how he erecteda tent with his own hands, extending wide its roof and spreading out the beddingbeneath it. The translation proposed by the Zidans is rather different:

The heaven, We have built it with power. Surely We are expanding it.The earth. We have spread it out. How excellently We did that! (cp. Bucaillep. 167)

Note that it is only by obscuring the parallels between the two ayas that they are ableto read into this passage the modern cosmological notion of the expanding universe.

Traces of 'scientific exegesis' are occasionally found in other translations. Asadtranslates Q.96:2 'created man out of a germ-cell', which sounds much more scientificthan Pickthall's 'createth man from a clot'. He renders the second half of Q.51:47 '...it is We who are steadily expanding it' and states in a note that this foreshadows themodern notion of the expanding universe. Similarly commenting on Q.21:30 he alleges

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that 'the unmistakable reference to the unitary origin of the universe ... strikinglyanticipates the view of almost all modern astrophysicists.' Ahmed Ali translates Q.96:2'created man from an embryo' and at Q.2:29 he avoids what might be thought anembarrassing reference to 'seven heavens' by having God proportion 'several skies'.Even Khatib translates Q.51:47 'We shall expand it wide' and slips in a note referringto the recent discovery that the universe expands as a result of built up gas.

Traditionalist and Modernist Approaches to the Shari'a

Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) laid down a strict procedure for qur'anic commentators tofollow:22 a passage should first be interpreted in the light of other qur'anic passages;next, one should turn to the Sunna as recorded in the sound Hadlths; if neither theQur'an nor the Sunna are any help, one should have recourse to interpretationsattributed to the Companions; failing that, the interpretations of the Successors shouldbe taken as authoritative provided that they are in agreement; finally, if the Successorsdisagree, or are silent on the matter, the meaning of the text should be determined onthe basis of the Arabic language. This approach is still favoured by Sunni traditionalists,but it is rejected by modernists who question the authority of the Companions andSuccessors, and who sometimes distance themselves from the Sunna as well. Mod-ernists have, as we have seen, often championed novel interpretations of the Qur'an inthe name of scientific rationalism or scientific exegesis. Nevertheless, it is over theinterpretation of ayas which have a bearing on the Shari'a, that the clash betweenmodernists and traditionalists has been most marked. I propose to illustrate this byexamining two ayas which mention women.

Q.4:34 stipulates how men should treat fractious women. Pickthall translates thepassage as follows: 'As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them andbanish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a wayagainst them.' This is a literal rendering, except that 'scourge' is too strong a termbecause the verb daraba simply means 'hit'. Daryabadi, Zafrulla Khan, S. V. MirAhmed Ali, and Shakir likewise adhere closely to the literal meaning of the Arabic. Thetraditionalist understanding, however, is somewhat different: a wife is only to bebanished from your bed if admonishing her has no effect: and hitting her is definitelya last resort. This is why Yusuf Ali translates the crucial section as he does

Admonish them (first),(Next) refuse to share their beds,(And last) beat them (lightly).

Similar translations are proposed by the Zidans, Asad, and al-HilalT and Muhsin Khan.Irving has 'and [even] beat them [if necessary]'; Faridul Haque has 'beat them(lightly)'; and Khatib has an explanatory note. Ahmed Ali is alone in giving neither aliteral rendering nor one which reflects the traditional interpretation. On the dubiousgrounds that daraba may be a euphemism for having sexual intercourse, he eliminatesthe reference to hitting and offers the following fanciful translation:

As for women you feel are averse, talk to them suasively; then leave themalone in bed [without molesting them] and go to bed with them [when theyare willing]. If they open out to you, do not seek an excuse for blaming them.

The second passage is Q.24:31. It instructs women how to behave in public. Here isPickthall's version: 'And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest,and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils

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over their bosoms ...'. Once again, he has given a fairly literal translation. Note,however, that the phrase which he renders 'be modest' means 'guard their genitalia',and that the Arabic word khumur may mean 'head-coverings' rather than 'veils'. Apartfrom these two points, there is not a lot to choose between Pickthall's translation andthose proposed by Khatib, S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali, Shakir, Faridul Haque and AhmedAli. The traditionalist understanding of this passage is hinted at by Yusuf Ali, Darya-badi and the Zidans, who substitute 'what must appear' (my emphasis), or some suchphrase, for 'that which is apparent'. In addition the Zidans insert the words 'aroundtheir garments' immediately after 'veils'. For a full-blown traditionalist interpretation,however, we must turn to al-Hilall and Muhsin Khan who give the following para-phrase:

And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbiddenthings), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts etc.) and notto show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like palms ofhands or one eye or both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer dress likeveil, gloves, head-cover, apron etc.), and to draw their veils all overjuyubihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms, etc.)...

Asad and Irving, on the other hand, break with tradition to give a modernist interpret-ation. According to Asad, in pre-Islamic times Arab women wore their head-coveringsloosely, often leaving their breasts exposed. Hence, all that is required here is amodicum of decency:

... tell the believing women ... not to display their charms [in public] beyondwhat may [decently] be apparent thereof; hence, let them draw their head-coverings over their bosoms.

In a similar vein, Irving has them instructed to 'fold their shawls over their bosoms'.Irving's modernist rendering of Q.24:3 is out of character, as is Ahmed Ali's literal

rendering of the same passage. In general, when dealing with ayas which containlegislation, the translators represent a spectrum of opinion ranging from al-Hilall andMuhsin Khan, who can invariably be relied on for an ultra-traditionalist interpretation,to Ahmed Ali, whose approach is usually ultra-modernist. Asad also has modernistleanings but is less extreme. Most of the others opt for a literal rendering, with YusufAli and Daryabadi being the most likely to furnish a traditionalist gloss. Hilali andMuhsin Khan are alone in translating fitna in Q.8:39 as 'disbelief and worshipping ofothers along with Allah', which is how it has traditionally been understood. The resttake it to mean 'persecution', 'oppression', or something similar. For example, Pickthallrenders the dya: 'And fight them until persecution is no more ...'. Ahmed Ali, on theother hand, is alone in eliminating the reference to amputation in Q.5:38 and inappearing to interpret Q.2:223 as recommending family planning! Asad is alone inconstruing Q.5:33f as a blood-curdling description of what unbelievers were doing toeach other rather than as stipulating the Islamic penalties for sedition. Finally, whereastraditionally Q.2:106 and Q.16:101 have been interpreted as referring to the abrogationof one qur'anic commandment by another, Ahmed Ali, Zafrulla Khan and Asad takethem to refer to the Qur'an's abrogation of commandments in previous scriptures.

Conclusion

Although, I have not discussed all the extant Muslim translations of the Qur'an, I havedrawn attention to the principal sectarian and ideological tendencies which are likely to

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be encountered in them. When faced with a translation which I have not dealt with, thereader should therefore be able to identify the theological position of the translator byexamining his treatment of a selection of the ayas mentioned in each of the abovesections. Of the translations which I have discussed, S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali and Shakirgive specifically Shrite renderings of several ayas and also have Mu'tazilite leanings.Faridul Haque has an exaggerated reverence for the Prophet, although some of thepeculiarities of his translation can be traced to classical Sufi sources. Hilall and MuhsinKhan aspire to convey the meaning of the Qur'an as understood by SunnI traditional-ists. Zafrulla Khan's translation is a vehicle for Ahmadi propaganda; it is also heavilyinfluenced by scientific rationalism and tends on occasion to enhance the status of theProphet and to eliminate anthropomorphisms. Ahmed Ali and Muhammad Asad areboth scientific rationalists. They are also modernists in their approach to the Sharia',although Asad is the more cautious of the two. In addition, Asad occasionally shows apenchant for scientific exegesis, a tendency which is taken to extremes by the Zidans.The translations by Pickthall, Yusuf Ali (and his revisers), Daryabadi, Khatib, andIrving, are all reasonably literal although they vary in accuracy and consistency as wellas in the quality and style of the English.

TRANSLATIONS OF THE QUR'AN

Translations mentioned in the article are listed below. The date on the left is that of thefirst edition.

(a) By Muslims

1930 MARMADUKE PICKTHALL, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (New York,Dorset Press, n.d.)

1934 ABDULLAH YUSUF ALI, The Holy Qur'an: translation and commentary (Leicester,Islamic Foundation, 1978)

1957 MAWLANA ABDUL MAJID DARYABADI, Holy Quran with English Translation(Karachi, Taj, 1970)

1964 S. V. MIR AHMED ALI, The Holy Qur'an: text translation and commentary (NewYork, Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an, 1988)

1968 M. H. SHAKIR, The Qur'an (New York, Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an, 1988)1974 Dr MUHAMMAD TAQT-UD-DIN AL-HILAU & Dr MUHAMMAD MUHSIN KHAN,

Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Koran in the English Language, 4th edn(Al-Hidaayah, Birmingham, 1994)

1980 MUHAMMAD ASAD, The Message of the Qur'an (Gibraltar, Dar al-Andalus,1980)

1984 AHMED ALI, Al-Qur'an: a contemporary translation, Revised definitive edition,third printing with corrections (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1990)

1988 Professor SHAH FARIDUL HAQUE, The Holy Qur'an: an English translation from'Kanzul Iman' (Karachi, Darululum Amjadia, 1988)

1989 ABDULLAH YUSUF 'ALJ, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, new edition withrevised translation and commentary (Brentwood, USA, Amana Corporation,1991)

1990 Presidency of Islamic Reasearches IFTA, Call and Guidance, The HolyQur-an: English translation of the meanings and commentary (Medina, King FahdHoly Qur-an Complex, 1410 H) = Revision of Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1934

1990 Dr M. M. KHATIB, The Bounteous Qur'an (London, Macmillan, 1990)

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1991 Dr AHMAD ZIDAN & Mrs DINA ZIDAN, Translation of the Glorious Qur'an(London, Ta-Ha Publishers, 1991)

1992 Dr THOMAS B. IRVING, The Noble Qur'an (Amana Books, Vermont, USA,1992)

(b) By Ahmadiyya

1917 MUHAMMAD A U , The Holy Qur-an, containing the Arabic text with Englishtranslation and commentary (Woking, Islamic Review Office, 1917)

1971 MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN, The Quran: Arabic text, English translation 3rdedn (London, Curzon, 1981)

NOTES

1. This article offers the justification for the brief statements about translations of the Qur'an madein N. Robinson, Discovering the Qur'an (London, SCM, 1996), 4f. & 291.

2. See J. D. Pearson, Bibliography of translations of the Qur'an into European languages, in:A, F. L. Beeston et al. (Eds), The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Arabic literature to the endof the Umayyad period (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983), 502-520; M. H. Khan,English Translations of the Holy Qur'an: a bio-bibliographic study, Islamic Quarterly 30(4) (1986),82-108; and E. Ihnsanoglu, World Bibliography of Translations of the Meanings of the Holy Qur'an:printed translations 1550-1980 (Istanbul, Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture,1986), 65-175.

3. Six Christian scholars have produced complete translations: Ross (1649), Sale (1734), Rodwell(1861), Palmer (1880), Bell (1937-9) and Arberry (1955). In Pearson's bibliography the Jewishtranslator Dawood (1956) is wrongly listed as a Christian.

4. Shakir's translation is available in paperback without notes.5. See p. viii of the 1989 revision of Yusuf Ali's translation. I am grateful to Dr A. R. Kidwai for

drawing my attention to this.6. Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Tusi, Al-tibydn fi tafsir al-Qur'dn (Maktab al-A'lam

al-Islami, 1309 AH), 3. 559.7. In Barelwi mosques, Muhammad is greeted with the words yd habib alldh ('O beloved of Allah')

in a special litany after the Friday prayers. See N. Robinson, Friday Prayers at the Mosque (Leeds,Leeds University Television, 1993) audiovisual tape with booklet.

8. See al-Qushayri (1981) Lata'if al-ishdrat (Cairo, Markaz Tahqlq al-Turath, 1981), 3. 480.9. Barelwis believe that as the pre-existent 'light of Muhammad' the Prophet was the primal creation.

This view can be traced back at least as far as the Sufi Sahl al-Tustari (d. 896). See A. Schimmel,And Muhammad is His Messenger (Lahore, Vanguard, 1988), 123-143.

10. Most Muslims hold that Muhammad was sinless and argue that when he prayed for forgiveness hedid so in a representative capacity. Nevertheless, this belief does not usually affect the way in whichthey translate the Qur'an.

11. See A. F. L. Beeston, Baidawt's Commentary On Surah 12 of the Qur'dn (Oxford, OUP, 1963), 48.12. Fakr al-Dln al-RazI, Al-tafsir al-kabtr (Beirut, Dar al-Fikr, 1978) 8. 425.13. Pearson op. cit. wrongly classifies this translation as by a Muslim. Those familiar with the history

of Pakistan would of course be aware that there were anti-Ahmadi demonstrations in 1953demanding that the government dismiss Zafrulla Khan from his post as foreign minister.

14. See the detailed discussion in N. Robinson Christ in Islam and Christianity (London & Albany,Macmillan & SUNY, 1991), 127-141.

15. See N. Robinson (forthcoming) Mu'tazila & 'Ashariyya in: E. Craig (Ed.) The Routledge Encyclo-pedia of Philosophy (London, Routledge).

16. See M. D. Rahbar, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan's principles of exegesis translated from his Tahrir fiusul al-tafsir, The Muslim World, 46 (1956), 104-112, 324-335.

17. C. W. Troll, Sayyid Ahmad Khan: a ̂ interpretation of Muslim theology (New Delhi, Vikas, 1978),19f, 182.

18. See W. G. Shellabear, Can a Moslem translate the Koran? The Moslem World, 21 (1931), 287-303.19. But see p. xviii where he alleges that the word denotes gentiles in this instance.

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20. See J. Jomier, L'exegese scientifique du coran d'apres le Cheikh Amin al-Khouli, Melanges deI'Institut Dominicain d'etudes orientales du Caire, 4 (1967), 269-280.

21. M. Bucaille, The Bible, the Qur'an and Science (Delhi, Taj, 1990).22. Ibn Taymiyyah, An Introduction to the Principles of Tafsir (Birmingham, al-Hidaayah, 1414/1993).

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