The Quran: Basic Teachings

by Thomas Ballantine Irving

An English translation of selected portions of the Qur'an. Modern standard English aids this title in easy comprehension for the normal English-speaker, opening and unlocking the Holy Qur'an's masterful language to a broader audience. This book is an anthology of passages from the Qur'an selected and arranged in such a way that it may give a total view of the essential message of the Book, initiate the reader into its worldview and values, capture some flavour from its style, bring the reader's imagination into vivid contact with the vision of the Qur'anic model of man and society and bring him closer to God. The contemporary English translation suits the majority of the English-speaking world.

396 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1979

Reviews

[Tamim Mostafa]

This is a great book compiling the core essence of the Holy Qur'an. It can act as a guidebook to anyone who wants to know about the basic teachings of Qur'an so that s/he would know how to live one's life according to the qur'an. This book lacks detail discussion though. Perhaps it wants the reader to interpret rather than presenting other human interpretations. I think the purpose of this book is to ignite the urge to know more about the Holy Qur'an, and the book definitely serves it's purpose.

[Evan]

I was expecting a bit more from this book. While it's nice to have a categorized list for certain aspects of Islamic belief and practice, it would have been nice if instead of just compiling the verses, the book chose a few meaningful pieces of evidence and provided some commentary. The categories helped me read the verses a bit differently, but I still lacked the deeper understanding I was searching for.