A translation with excellent notes
If
you are an English-speaking Muslim, your mosque library will have a
copy and you don't need this review. If you are not a Muslim (I'm a
Jew) you may well want to know something about the Koran. Frankly, most
translations are not at all helpful to a non-Muslim. The translation
here is OK, but the real point of the book is the verse-by-verse notes.
Jews will recognize the format immediately, the same as study versions
of the Chumash (Torah): Arabic text upper right, English translation
upper left, notes and comments below and at chapter ends. The author -
I think he was Pakistani - is better at explaining things to English
speakers than the prepared-in-Arabia commentaries I have seen.
At a time when a US President seems to be determined to make war on
Muslims, and so many Americans know so little about Islam, it is important
to visit your local mosque, if you possibly can, and get more of an
acquaintance with the religion. In my neighborhood, the local Muslims
are as welcoming as the local Methodists, and at least as reasonable.
