Best translations?

[wanderer]

Hello everyone. As I shared in my last post, my knowledge of Arabic is limited, and while I am working on learning it, in the meantime, I must rely on translations. Right now, I am using the Sahih International one, which is OK, but I want a better one, so it would be great if you guys could share your thoughts on a variety of English translations, telling me which ones you think are the best, and which ones I should steer clear of. Thanks!

[Amira]

Assalamu Alaikum,

I use Yusuf Ali. It's the translation I see used most often. Unfortunately, some of the language in it is so old-fashioned that a lot of Quranic narratives (like the story of Joseph as a child) are incomprehensible. So for those narratives I use a more modern, sometimes reformist translation (there are lots of them online). I check their translations against Yusuf Ali. However, I would caution against using "modern" translations for more than isolated passages since they're often inaccurate.

I haven't found any awesome, totally accurate translations yet. Brother Joseph should make one.

[wanderer]

Yes thank you sister Amira, I too have tried Yusuf Ali's edition but it is near incomprehensible, thanks to his Victorian Era prose. Anyone else?

[Amira]

Brother Joseph recommends Pickthall. His translation is more direct, but it seems really haphazard and annoys me. It might work well for others though. Taqi Usmani, though not well known, is also pretty easy and direct.

[wanderer]

Pickthall?? Hmm, all right, I will check it out, but I have heard very negative things about it though. What about Muhammad Asad and Laleh Bakhtiar's editions? I have heard positive things about them.

[munir rana]

Dear Wanderer
Salam

Like Amira and others, I haven't also found any totally accurate translations yet. In each translation there are some mistranslations/personal interpretations of original Arabic words. Its very disappointing.

An example is the translation of 7:31 (part)
" O Children of Adam! wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer" (Yusuf Ali),
O children of Adam! attend to your embellishments at every time of prayer (Shakir).
But I think its simple translation is, "O Children (of) Adam! Take your adornment at every masjid,"
Dont know why some translators included "time" or "every time of prayer".
Pickthal and some other translators (like Arthur John Arberry, N J Dawood ) also translated it to the point.
On the other hand, in translation of 9:97 Pickthal translated the word 'al arabu' as "the wandering Arabs". Many others translated it as bedouin which is baseless. But its simple meaning is " Arab' people" irrespective of where they dwell.

When needed I follow the following link which includes all renowned translation of a particular verse at a glance.
http://www.islamawakened.com/index.php/qur-an.

To be more specific of the meaning of any verse I take a deeper look into a word by word translation.
http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?

I think, in addition, a Dictionary and Concordance will be a great help also.

[good logic]

Peace wanderer.

Any translation will do to start with.  The more translations you read ,the better.It does not really matter,why?

Qoran needs to  be studied from cover to cover, and as one is going through the study,we start getting familiar with the original language "Arabic". GOD said:
29:49
...بَل هُوَ ءايٰتٌ بَيِّنٰتٌ فى صُدورِ الَّذينَ أوتُوا العِلمَ

The "Giver " of that knowledge is GOD Alone:( Al-Rahman) 55:1-4)

عَلَّمَ القُرءانَ
خَلَقَ الإِنسٰنَ
عَلَّمَهُ البَيانَ

Yes ,not only GOD teaches Qoran,GOD also teaches " The sincere" how to distinguish truth from falsehood.
I feel the right attitude to tackle the study of Qoran is not "which translation", but "what frame of mind".
GOD also said:
38:87
إِن هُوَ إِلّا ذِكرٌ لِلعٰلَمينَ

It does not matter what language,what race what.. A message.to all races and languages.

Here is GOD s advice about Qoran:
20:114
فَتَعٰلَى اللَّهُ المَلِكُ الحَقُّ وَلا تَعجَل بِالقُرءانِ مِن قَبلِ أَن يُقضىٰ إِلَيكَ وَحيُهُ وَقُل رَبِّ زِدنى عِلمًا
Do not rush...Say my Lord increase my knowledge.

In fact taking the step of "GOD Alone" as the teacher pays off.

 We go back to HIm "singular" no helper,no intercessor ,no intermediate...

Study /read lots of different translations and choose the best from each, you have the internet accessible at a touch of a button ,what a blessing for this and future generations and best of luck with your study.
 Keep checking with your Lord and asking for His help when you have confusion/doubt.

Remember 17:36 and most importantly only trust in GOD Alone:
6:94
وَلَقَد جِئتُمونا فُرٰدىٰ كَما خَلَقنٰكُم أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ وَتَرَكتُم ما خَوَّلنٰكُم وَراءَ ظُهورِكُم وَما نَرىٰ مَعَكُم شُفَعاءَكُمُ الَّذينَ زَعَمتُم أَنَّهُم فيكُم شُرَكٰؤُا۟ لَقَد تَقَطَّعَ بَينَكُم وَضَلَّ عَنكُم ما كُنتُم تَزعُمونَ

No one will be there to help us at GOD s.
May the Lord guide you towards your studies of His scripture.
GOD bless you.
Peace.