Let us hope that Professor Haleem has time to address such issues in the future.ĭr Philip Lewis is Consultant on Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations to the Bishop of Leeds. Even though slavery is largely banned today, it has deeply coloured attitudes to marriage (see Kecia Ali’s Sexual Ethics and Islam). For example, the Qur’an allows slave concubinage, the hadith evidences such activities, and Sunni law regulates it. The other gap in the study is the matter of addressing sensitive issues raised by Islamic feminists. If Qur’anic jihad is only defensive, how does one explain the explosive early Islamic conquests - underpinned by an ideology of conquest, based on a particular reading of jihad and understood as the “unceasing quest” to make God’s word supreme through military expansion, which is “a collective duty for the Muslim polity according to all Sunni schools of law” (see Jonathan Brown’s Misquoting Muhammad: The challenge and choices of interpreting the Prophet’s legacy)? Haleem’s admirable study creates new interpretative problems, of course. While the divinity and crucifixion of Christ are denied, the Qur’an does not claim that only Muslims will enter paradise. There is insightful material on how the Qur’an understands Jews and Christians.
The general reader will learn how best to read the Qur’an, and which English translations to avoid, and why. There is much distilled wisdom here - not least, the need to approach the Qur’an as a book of religious guidance rather than of history, science, or literature.
When it comes to fiqh punishments of death for apostates, and stoning for adultery, he argues that both run counter to the teaching of the Qur’an, and depend instead on often weak or misunderstood hadith. The Quran, believed by Muslims to be the word of God, was revealed to the. Haleem wants to privilege the Qur’an over hadith. Buy The Quran Quran Translation by M.A.S Abdel Haleem in Petaling Jaya,Malaysia. It is evident throughout the essays that interpretation can be a matter of life and death. Haleem is able to remove the sting from such texts, and offers plausible and more eirenic interpretations. In the first part, the essays address contentious issues head-on: the “sword” verse cited to justify militant expansionism the “tribute” verse associated with subjugating Jews and Christians and jihadists presented as enjoying priority access to paradise. This is especially true with regard to the more technical essays on Qur’anic style - for example, how the Noah narratives or divine oaths are deployed. Those who have some background in Islamic studies will benefit most from this collection, and will be able to locate the essays within the larger context of scholarly debate. These failures are evident, not just in the writings of anti-Muslim polemicists and Muslim extremists, but also entrenched in the classical tradition of exegesis ( tafsir) and Islamic law ( fiqh). He is the author of Understanding the Qur'an: Themes and Style, also published by I.B.Tauris, and his major new translation of the Qur'an, with. Professor Haleem’s objective is to retrieve “the true nature of the Qur’an”, which, he holds, is obscured by “literalism, atomism and the disregard for the context and of what the Qur’an says to explain itself”. Muhammad Abdel Haleem is King Fahd Professor of Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and one of the world's leading authorities in Qur'anic studies. The book comprises 13 essays, five of them published here for the first time, which are organised in three categories: teaching, style, and impact. *Please note that this does not contain any Arabic, only an English translation.THE author, a professor of Islamic Studies at SOAS University of London, is an authority on Qur’anic studies. The message of the Qur'an was directly addressed to all people regardless of class, gender, or age, and this translation is equally accessible to everyone.
Archaisms and cryptic language are avoided, and the Arabic meaning preserved by respecting the context of the discourse. This new translation is written in a contemporary idiom that remains faithful to the original, making it easy to read while retaining its powers of eloquence. Recognized as the greatest literary masterpiece in Arabic, it has nevertheless remained difficult to understand in its English translations. It has been one of the most influential books in the history of literature. It is the supreme authority in Islam and the living source of all Islamic teaching it is a sacred text and a book of guidance, that sets out the creed, rituals, ethics, and laws of the Islamic religion. The Qur'an, believed by Muslims to be the word of God, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad 1400 years ago. 'Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful one who taught by the pen, who taught man what he did not know.'
This English translation of the Qur'an is written in contemporary language that remains faithful to the meaning and spirit of the original, making the text crystal clear while retaining all of this great work's eloquence. English Translation by M A S Abdel Haleem, Oxford University Press UK, paperback, 512 pages