The Qur'an: A New Translation (Tarif Khalidi)

This English rendering of the meanings of the Qur'an is by Tarif Khalidi, professor of Islamic studies at the American University of Beirut, and appeared in Penguin Classics in 2008. ¹

It succeeded N. J. Dawood's translation, first published by Penguin in 1956 and republished many times, which in Ziauddin Sardar's view had been a source of discomfort for Muslims, who saw distortions in it. ¹ For Sardar the change begins with the name itself, from "Koran" to "Qur'an", and with the sura titles. ¹

Sardar writes that Khalidi captures the text's allusiveness and something of its tone, conveys its shifts from narrative to sermon and parable, and is the first translator to try to capture both the rhythms and the structure of the Qur'an. ¹ Khalidi sets out to show how the style changes with each of its modes, command, prohibition, glad tidings, warning, sermon, parable and narrative: narrative and legislative passages appear as prose, dramatic and metaphysical ones in verse form. ¹ He gives no context for the verses and no footnotes, treating the Qur'an as a bearer of diverse interpretation. ¹

Sardar called it a magnificent achievement and a quantum leap beyond the old Penguin version, praised how it brings out the gender-neutral language of the original, and compared its poetic sections with Arberry's; he faulted the non-consecutive verse numbers in the margins, the unnumbered chapters and the lack of an index, and found Abdel Haleem's translation more helpful for context. ¹

• Ziauddin Sardar, "A redeeming take on the Qur'an", Mail & Guardian, 23 July 2008. ¹