Reddit reviews The Message of the Qur'an

So I went through a phase where I studied the Quran quite thoroughly for a few years. I read a bunch of English translations.

Hands down the best English translation, the one that opened my eyes to a lot of what was going on under the surface, was The Message of the Quran by Muhammad Asad.

Muhammad Asad was born in Austria as Leopold Weiss, the son of a rabbi. He moved to Palestine, and then to Saudi Arabia where he lived with bedouins. He learned Arabic fluently, converted, married a Saudi woman, and wrote several books on Islam.

His translation of the Quran is mainly made up of his footnotes, and they don't always follow mainstream Islamic views. But it's definitely worth a read. I always recommend that English speakers stay away from the translations authorized by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs and refer to this one instead.

I have this one:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Message-Quran-Muhammad-Asad/dp/1904510000

It's pricey, but very nice. A great translation, and some additional tafsir to go along with the ayahs alongside the arabic.

Yeah, there's plenty of translations haha, but I'd recommend Muhammad Asad's translation in your case(not being familiar with the Qur'an), since he provides context with his commentaries.

It really is awesome!! :)

Seeing some of your responses gives me the impression that you have the intention to argue the case that the violent acts against non-believers for the sole fact that they are not believers is supported by the Quran. It is in fact not supported. I recommend that you get a copy of The Study Quran or Mohammad Asad's The Message of the Quran and look up those verses and read the commentary by the translators and scholars on each of those verse. And if you have doubts on the expertise of the scholars then please read the preludes/prefaces in these texts. If you are wanting a discussion in good faith and on the basis of having read the Quran, then I believe the knowledge therein is a prerequisite.

Edit:

This Wikipedia article is a start I guess

Also,
>I would argue that according to the Quran the radical Muslims are the ones actually living out their religion!

So amazing how all of a sudden in the last decade, people in the west are claiming this. This is completely and utterly false; a conclusion that only one who entertains only the ideas of "experts" like Robert Spencer and the like. It's not Islam that keeps arguing for the idea of an inevitable "clash of civilizations" which is essentially a self-fullfilling prophecy.

These are all excellent recommendations. A couple more:


Approaching the Qur'an by Michael Sells

Free copy of the intro online (PDF link).

Message of the Qur'an by Muhammad Asad, widely acclaimed as one of the best English translations in publication.

Free copy of Message of the Quran by Asad (PDF link)

And you can check out some more recommendations here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/islam/comments/11wl21/lets_make_a_book_list_for_people_interested_in/

M. Asad, for sure

Yes. I read Asad's translation spot-checking remarkable passages with ... I think it was Khan's translation. By comparison, Asad white-washes various passages that Khan appears to give a more literal rendering.

It was the most disturbing read I've ever had. Those who think the Bible is like the Quran either haven't read both or don't understand either. For examples: The Bible is a collection of books; the Quran a disarray of sayings. The Bible's threats of damnation and punishment are specific to crimes and relatively sparse; the Quran's threats of damnation and punishment are specific to groups of people and disbelief specifically and are repeated ad nausea. It felt like the Quran was trying to bully me into believing it.

Are you referring to the one mentioned by /u/Doctor_Yi?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Message-Quran-Muhammad-Asad/dp/1904510000

Recommended:

MAS Abdel Haleem

Mohammad Asad

Bewley & Bewley