Quran translations

[USResident]

Which quran translations have you found the most useful or accurate. Most of us have read on of the three i.e. Yusuf Ali. Shakir or Pickhtall. Asad has gained some popularity as well. However there are a slew of other translators now such as Laleh Bakhtiar, Maududi, Aisha bewley etc etc.

Which one do you recommend as the most accurate among all the ones you have read?

[pinks]

Re: Quran translations

I am in no position to say which is the most correct, a student of the Arabic language would be a better judge of that… but I personally like Maududi’s the best (and for some reason, the urdu version much more then the english).

[Mirch]

Re: Quran translations

If you are just trying to get fundamental knowledge and guidance then any one of those is good enough. But if you want to go into the depth of the words and concepts then remember the translation are also done with certain preconceived notions. For example Tafheem ul Quran by Moulana Moududi is laced with mention of how important it is to create an Islamic party and be a member of it and how this party should strive to bring everybody to the right path he goes to the extent that he calls the sahaba of Rasool Allah (SAW) collectively a Islami Jamaat ( get it ? Jamaat a Islami was the name of his party)
Moulana Asad’s translation and tafseer is laced with western upbringing. Some word or some concepts will be translated with certain mindset by someone.
So the answer is there is not one translation which should suffice if you are going deep , so it is better to read as many as you can and try to learn the Quranic Arabic yourself , trust me it is not difficult to learn it if you have Urdu background.
I have found our that there are about 3000 words in Quran which are repeated in the entire Quran 1200 of those words are used in Urdu so it leaves you with 1800 new words to learn. Then there are some basic Arabic grammar rules , they are very easy to learn too.

Here is a link on in depth discussion on the subject of translations of Quran.
A Survey of English Translations of the Quran

[Submission_To_Peace]

Re: Quran translations

I think Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (In Urdu)

[psyah]

@Mirch

If you are just trying to get fundamental knowledge and guidance then any one of those is good enough. But if you want to go into the depth of the words and concepts then remember the translation are also done with certain preconceived notions. For example Tafheem ul Quran by Moulana Moududi is laced with mention of how important it is to create an Islamic party and be a member of it and how this party should strive to bring everybody to the right path he goes to the extent that he calls the sahaba of Rasool Allah (SAW) collectively a Islami Jamaat ( get it ? Jamaat a Islami was the name of his party)
Moulana Asad’s translation and tafseer is laced with western upbringing. Some word or some concepts will be translated with certain mindset by someone.
So the answer is there is not one translation which should suffice if you are going deep , so it is better to read as many as you can and try to learn the Quranic Arabic yourself , trust me it is not difficult to learn it if you have Urdu background.
I have found our that there are about 3000 words in Quran which are repeated in the entire Quran 1200 of those words are used in Urdu so it leaves you with 1800 new words to learn. Then there are some basic Arabic grammar rules , they are very easy to learn too.

Here is a link on in depth discussion on the subject of translations of Quran.
A Survey of English Translations of the Quran

Peace Mirch bro

I totally agree. The part of the bias in translation is very much true also. We should also be open to the idea that more than one meaning could be correct at the same time also. Which makes it even more interesting, in that two people with consdierably differing opinions could both be rewarded by Allah (SWT) in their sincerity towards their understanding.