I
Preface to the First Edition, 1934
The Holy Quran's Translation in English by Abdullah Yousuf Ali
I do not wish to write a long Preface. I wish merely to explain the history of my Project,
the scope and plan of this work, and the objects I have held in view.
In separate introductory Notes I have mentioned the useful books to which I have
referred, under the heading! Commentaries on the Quran; Translations of the Quran; and
Useful Works of Reference. I have similarly explained the system which I have followed in
the transliteration of Arabic words and names; the Abbreviations I have used; and the
principal divisions of the Quran.
It may be asked: Is there any need for a fresh English Translation? To those who ask this
question I commend a careful consideration of the facts which I have set out in my Note on
Translations. After they have read it, I would invite them to take any particular passage
in Part I, say ii. 74 or ii. 102, or ii. 164 in the second Part and compare it with any
previous version they choose. If they
find that I have helped them even the least bit further in understanding its meaning, or
appreciating its beauty, or catching something of the grandeur of the original, I would
claim that my humble attempt is justified.
It is the duty of every Muslim, man, woman, or child, to read the Qur-an and
understand it according to his own capacity. If any one of us attains to some knowledge or
understanding of it by study, contemplation, and the test of life, both outward and
inward, it is his duty, according to his capacity, to instruct others, and share with them
the joy and peace which result from contact with the spiritual world.
The Quran-indeed every religious book-has to be read, not only with the tongue and
voice and eyes, but with the best light that our intellect can supply, and even more, with
the truest and purest light which our heart and conscience can give us. It is in this
spirit that I would have my readers approach the Quran.
It was between the ages of four and five that I first learned to read its Arabic words, to
revel in its rhythm and music, and wonder at its meaning. I have a dim recollection of the
Khatam ceremony which closed that stage. It was called "completion": it really
just began a spiritual awakening that has gone on ever since.
My revered father taught me Arabic, but I must have imbibed from him into my innermost
being something more, --something which told me that all the world's thoughts, all the
world's most beautiful languages and literatures, are but vehicles for that ineffable
message which comes to the heart in rare moments of ecstasy. The soul of mysticism and
ectasy is in the Quran, as well as that plain guidance for the plain man which a world in
a hurry affects to consider as sufficient. It is good to make this personal confession to
an age in which it is in the highest degree unfashionable to speak of religion or
spiritual peace or consolation, an age in which words like these draw forth only derision,
pity, or contempt.
I have explored Western lands, Western manners, and the depths of Western thought and
Western learning, to an extent which has rarely fallen to the lot of an Eastern mortal.
But I have never lost touch with my Eastern heritage. Through all my successes and
failures I have learned to rely more and more upon the one true thing in all life-the
voice that speaks in a tongue above that of mortal man.
For me the embodiment of that voice has been in the noble words of the Arabic
Quran, which I have tried to translate for myself and apply to my experience again and
again. The service of the Quran has been the pride and the privilege of many Muslims. I
felt that with such life-experience as has fallen to my lot, my service to the Quran
should be to present it in a fitting garb in English. That ambition I have cherished in my
mind for more than forty years. I have collected books and
materials for it. I have visited places, undertaken journeys, taken notes, sought the
society of men, and tried to explore their thoughts and hearts, in order to equip myself
for the task. Sometimes I have considered it too stupendous for me,-- the double task of
understanding the original, and reproducing its nobility, its beauty, its poetry, its
grandeur, and its sweet practical reasonable application to everyday experience. Then I
have blamed myself for lack of courage,-- the spiritual courage of men who dared all in
the Cause which was so dear to them.
Two sets of apparently accidental circumstances at last decided me. A man's life is
subject to inner storms far more devastating than those in the physical world around him.
In such a storm, in the bitter anguish of a personal sorrow which nearly unseated my
reason and made life seem meaningless, a new hope was born out of a systematic pursuit of
my long-cherished project. Watered by tears, my manuscript began to grow in depth and
earnestness if not in bulk. I
guarded it like a secret treasure. Wanderer that I am, I carried it about, thousands of
miles, to all sorts of countries and among all sorts of people. At length, in the city of
Lahore, I happened to mention the matter to some young people who held me in respect and
affection. They showed an enthusiasm and an eagerness which surprised me. They almost took
the matter out of my hands. They asked for immediate publication. I had various bits
ready, but not even one complete Sipara.
They made me promise to complete at least one Sipara before I left Lahore. As if by magic,
a publisher, a katib (calligraphist to write the Arabic Text), an engraver of blocks for
such text, and a printer were found, all equally anxious to push forward the scheme.
Blessed be youth, for its energy and determination. "Where others flinch, rash youth
will dare!"
Gentle and discerning reader! what I wish to present to you is an English Interpretation,
side by side with the Arabic Text. The English shall be, not a mere substitution of one
word for another, but the best expression I can give to the fullest meaning which I can
understand from the Arabic Text. The rhythm, music, and exalted tone of the original
should be reflected in the English lnterpretation. It may he but a faint reflection, but
such beauty and power as my pen can command
shall be brought to its service. I want to make English itself an Islamic language, if
such a person as I can do it. And I must give you all the neccessory aid which I can. In
rhythmic prose, or free verse (whichever you like to call it), l prepare the atmosphere
for you in a running Commentary. Introducing the subject generally, l come to the actual
Surahs. Where they are short, I give you one or two paragraphs of my rhythmic Commentary
to prepare you for the Text. Where the Surah is long, I introduce the subject-matter in
short appropriate paragraphs of the Commentary
from time to time, each indicating the particular verses to which it refers. The
paragraphs of the running Commentary are numbered consecutively, with some regard to the
connection with the preceding and the following paragraphs. It is possible to read this
running rhythmic Commentary by itself to get a general bird's-eye view of the contents of
the Holy Book before you proceed to the study of the Book itself.
The text in English is printed in larger type than the running Commentary, in order to
distinguish, at a glance, the substance from the shadow. It is also displayed differently,
in parallel columns with the Arabic Text. Each Surah and the verse of each Surah is
separately numbered, and the numbers are shown page by page. The system of numbering the
verses has not been uniform in previous translations. European editors and translators
have allowed their numbering to diverge considerably
from that accepted in the East. This causes confusion in giving and verifying references.
The different Qiraats sometimes differ as to the punctuation stops and the numbering of
the verses. This is not a vital matter, but it causes confusion in references. It is
important that at least in Islamic countries one system of numbering should be adopted. I
have adopted mainly that of the Egyptian edition published under the authority of the King
of Egypt. This will probably be accepted
in Egypt and in Arabic-speaking countries, as those countries generally look up to Egypt
in matters of literature. I am glad to see that the text shortly to be published by the
Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam of Lahore is following the same system of numbering. I
recommend to other publishers in India the same good example. If once this is done we
shall have a uniform system of numbering. I have retained the numbering of Sections, as it
is universally used in the Arabic copies, and marks a logical division of the Surahs. I
have supplied a further aid to the reader in indicating sub-divisions of the Sections into
paragraphs. They are not numbered, hut are distinguished by the use of a flowery initial
letter.
In translating the Text I have aired no views of my own, but followed the received
Commentators. Where they differ among themselves, I have had to choose what appeared to me
to be the most reasonable opinion from all points of view. Where it is a question merely
of words, I have not considered the question important enough to discuss in the Notes, but
where it is a question of substance, I hope adequate explanations will be found in the
Notes. Where I have departed from the literal translation in order to express the spirit
of the original better in English, I have explained the literal meaning in the Notes. For
example, see ii. 104 n. and ii. 26 n. In choosing an English word for an Arabic word a
translator necessarily exercises his own judgment and may be unconsciously expressing a
point of view, but that is inevitable.
Let me explain the scope of the Notes. I have made them as short as possible consistently
with the object I have in view, viz., to give to the English reader, scholar as well as
general reader, a fairly complete but concise view of what I understand to be the meaning
of the Text. To discuss theological controversies or enter into polemical arguments I have
considered outside my scope. Such discussions and arguments may be necessary and valuable,
but they should find a place in separate treatises, if only out of respect to the Holy
Book. Besides, such discussions leave no
room for more important matters on which present-day readers desire information. In this
respect our Commentators have not always been discreet. On questions of law, the Quran
lays down general principles, and these I have explained. I have avoided technical
details: these will be found discussed in their proper place in my book on
"Anglo-Muhammadan Law." Nor have I devoted much space to grammatical or
philological Notes. On these points I consider that the labours of the vast body of our
learned men in the past have left little new to say now. There is usually not much
controversy, and I have accepted their conclusions without setting out the reasons for
them. Where it has been necessary for the understanding of the Text to refer to the
particular occasion for the revelation of a particular verse, I have done so briefly, but
have not allowed it to absorb a disproportionate amount of space. It will be found that
every verse revealed for a particular occasion has also a general meaning. The particular
occasion and the particular people concerned have passed away, but the general meaning and
its application remain true for all time. What we are concerned about now, in the
fourteenth century of the Hijra, is : what guidance can we draw for ourselves from the
message of God ?
I spoke of the general meaning of the verses. Every earnest and reverent student of the
Quran, as he proceeds with his study, will find, with an inward joy difficult to describe,
how this general meaning also enlarges as his own capacity for understanding increases. It
is like a traveller climbing a mountain : the higher he goes, the farther he sees. From a
literary point of view the poet Keats has described his feeling when he discovered
Chapman's Homer:-
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken,
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Paciflc,-- and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise,--
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
How much greater is the joy and sense of wonder
and miracle when the Quran opens our spiritual eyes! The meaning which we thought we had
grasped expands. New worlds are opened out. As we progress, still newer, and again newer
worlds "swim into our ken." The miracle deepens and deepens, and almost
completely absorbs us. And yet we know that the "face of God"-- our final
goal-has not yet been reached. We are in the mulk of Sulaiman (Q. ii. 102), which the evil
ones denied, belied, and even turned into blasphemy. But we can ignore blasphemy, ridicule
and contempt, for we are on the threshold of Realities, and a little perfume from the
garden of the Holy One has already gladdened our nostrils.
Such meaning it is most difficult to express. But where I can, I have indicated it
in the Notes, in the Commentary, and with the help of the rhythm and the elevated language
of the Text.
The Arabic Text l have had printed from photographic blocks made for me by Master Muhammad
Sharif. The calligraphy is from the pen of Pir' Abdul Hamid, with whom I have been in
touch and who has complied with my desire for a bold round hand, with the words clearly
separated, the vowel points accurately placed over or under the letters to which they
relate, and the verses duly numbered and placed in juxtaposition with their English
equivalents. Calligraphy occupies an
important place in Muslim Art, and it is my desire that my version should not in any way
be deficient in this respect.
I have been fortunate in securing the co-operation of Professor Zafar Iqbal in looking
over the proofs of the Arabic Text. In connection with the Anjuman's edition of the Arabic
Quran he has devoted much time and thought to the correct punctuation of the Text, and he
has also investigated its history and problems. I hope he will some day publish these
valuable notes. I have been privileged to see the Anjuman's Text before its formal
publication. I consider it the most carefully prepared Text of any produced in lndia, and
I have generally followed it in punctuation and the numbering of verses,-- the only points
on which any difficulties are likely to arise on the Quranic Text.
It has been my desire to have the printing done in the best style possible, with new type,
on good glazed paper, and with the best ink procurable. I hope the result will please
those who are good enough to approve of the more essential features of the work. The
proprietors of the Ripon Press and all their staff, but especially Mr. Badruddin Badr,
their Proof Examiner, have taken a keen interest in their work. The somewhat unusual
demands made on their time and attention they have met cheerfully, and I am obliged to
them. The publisher, Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf, has thrown himself heart and soul into his
work, and I hope the public will appreciate his efforts.
My plan is to issue each Sipara as it is ready, at intervals of not more than three
months. As the work proceeds, I hope it will be possible to accelerate the pace. The
paging will be continuous in the subsequent volumes. The final binding will be in either
three or two volumes. It is my intention to provide a complete analytical Index to the
whole. I hope all interested will sign the publisher's subscription order in advance.
One final word to my readers. Read, study, and digest the Holy Book. Read slowly, and let
it sink into your heart and soul. Such study will, like virtue, be its own reward. If you
find anything in this volume to criticise, please let it not spoil your enjoyment of the
rest. If you write to me, quoting chapter and verse, I shall be glad to consider your
criticism, but let it not vex you if I exercise my own judgment in deciding for myself.
Any corrections accepted will be gratefully acknowledged. On the other hand, if there is
something that specially pleases you or helps you, please do not hesitate to write to me.
I have given up other interests to help you. It will be a pleasure to know that my labour
has not been in vain. If you address me care of my Publisher at his Labore address, he
will always forward the letters to me.
LAHORE
A. YOSUF 'ALI.
4th April, 1934
18th of the month of Pilgrimage, 1352 H. |
