The Meaning of the Glorious Koran: An Explanatory Translation

by Anonymous

Book is in good condition. Pages are yellowing which is normal for a book printed in 1961--this is the 9th printing. Front/back covers show signs of wear and tear; marks and residue of some sort but not a lot of it. There is a name written on the very first page. Nice, clean tight pages. We guarantee customer satisfaction, ship fast and include free delivery confirmation!

464 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1954

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Marcelle Warren · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I'm most certainly glad that I read what could be called an authoritative translation, it would be difficult to express how repetitive and monotonous this beast is without requiring the expectant reader to first watch a four hour video of a shadow rotating in real time. It's not that this translation is poorly written, mind you, and indeed, Pickthall does his best to try and recapture the magic of the King James Bible's style of writing, to some degree of success. The problem is that while the Bible can at least be said to be full of memorable expressions, parables, and imagery, the Quran simply does not have these advantages. Much of its content consists of open-ended commands (a healthy portion of which are abhorrent), regurgitation of previous scripture, and lame, sometimes bizarre revisionist versions of older tales (imposter Jesus being the most famous, I'm sure).

I understand that the sharp change in style sprang from the perfectly reasonable suggestion that one shouldn't mix the word of "God" with the stories of humans, but what a sacrifice of content. I can name at least three books from the Bible which I legitimately enjoyed, but I would be hard-pressed to think of even a single section of this worth revisiting. And to think there are oppressive theocracies where they suppress the reading of other books in order to impose this on people. What a goddamned tragedy.

[Josh Craddock]

From the perspective of a non-Muslim, I found it rather dull, repetitive, and uninspiring.

[Belle Meade School]

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