The Qur'an: A Verse Translation [Hardcover]

This monumental feat of translation, the product of a ten-year-long collaboration between one of our most respected scholars of Islam (Bruce B. Lawrence) and a poet and scholar of literature (M. A. R. Habib),Islams founding text, rendered for the first time in flowing English verse. This poetic rendition of the holy text will appeal to nonbelievers, too . . . The new translation is much more succinct and is rendered in language that is natural and limpid and, as the authors claim, reads like English verse while retaining the deep structure of the Arabic text. Whether Habib and Lawrences translation becomes a standard for English-speaking Muslims like me remains to be seen. Nonetheless, their work should be of interest to everyone for the way in which it provides clarity, context, and beauty to  and renders into poetry  one of civilizations most important texts. [The Qur'an] instructs believers to recite its words slowly and distinctly, or, in Habib and Lawrences version, in clear, rhythmic measure. This deliberate and steady cadenceno thrilling rhapsodies hereis what creates the Qurans characteristic mood, the slow-moving grandeur of the Arabic. Capturing the form of the original without distorting the content. Given that the Quran is recitative, meant to be read or chanted out loud, Habib and Lawrence chose verse instead of prose in short lines that amplify the succinct power of the words. They took care to suggest the pauses and cadences of the Arabic with repetitions that are not redundant but amplify the meaning of the words. As they explain, their versification transcends the flatness of linear thinking, allowing the text to be registered on several levels: cognitive, sensible, psychological, and spiritual. The God heard here isnt speaking the language of fundamentalism but in allusions of infinity. Habib and Lawrence aspire to producing a faint echo of the Quranic voice. However faint the echo might be, it is clear enough to enrich lÓg