/lit/ - Literature

That translation is terrible and shilled by the British government. Stick with Arberry's

https://pastebin.com/CKbsaqE0

Masterpiece is not even appropriate, it is the Mizan

https://pastebin.com/CKbsaqE0

It's pretty good, Arberry for the style of the Qur'an, that for practice

Islamic /lit/ pastebin

https://pastebin.com/CKbsaqE0

>>17523783
Arberry translate better in terms of the rhythm and texture

>>16511592
Secondly, the use of rhyme in the Qur'an can give the impression that it's poetry. Well, this device was common in Arab rhetoric, it lended a sort of formality to words (notice in Shakespeare's earlier plays, like Richard II, lofty speech uses rhyme), and it also aided memorization, this is vital in a largely illiterate society, and the Qur'an itself is fundamentally an oral work. Also Arabic rhymes much more easily than English, which is why it's not a good idea to ever try to mimic that aspect of it in English. So other than that what's the English that best imitates the Arabic style? That would without a doubt be Arberry's (pic related). Some confused souls would assert Pickthall or Ali, but that is incorrect as there is a significant difference between a "literary" translation, and a translation that actually seeks to imitate the Qur'an's style. Ali and Pickthall are beautiful stylists but it's not going to give you an idea of the Quranic style. Let's compare Arberry and Nasr (the author of The Study Quran) to give a couple of example from al-Fatiha (the first Surah, or chapter) of Arberry's attention to style. There's a phrase for Allah, Rabbee al-'alaameen (if you are interested in more precise pronunciation, a guide to Arabic alphabet pronunciation will be in the pertinent thread): Arabic uses quantitative stress, like Greek and Latin (think of Roman Catholic cantillation used in high mass), rather than qualitative like English, here it's pronounced Rabbeel 'alameeeen (the definite article is typically either turned into a contraction, as with al-Shams letters--contracted as as-Shams--or pronounced as the last syllable of the preceding words, as in what you see here, called al-Qamar). The Study Quran renders this Lord of the worlds. Arberry renders it The Lord of "all Being" (this is actually a fair translation of العلمين which in this context refers to everything), which we can see more neatly reflects the sound of the Qur'an. Another phrase is Yowmee al-Deen (pronunciation of the definite article is both attached to the end of the first word and al-Qamar, which renders it silent here; Deen is extended in tajweed to deeeeeeen). This phrase refers to judgement day, The Study Quran translates it as the Day of Judgement. Arberry opts for the Day of Doom, using Doom in its older sense of judgement or reckoning (ultimately comes from Old English for fate but by Middle English meant judgement), and indeed this day was referred to be Christians as Doomsday. Certainly Doom functions more like Deen in rhythm and sound. Deen in Arabic refers etymologically to debt, it's the word for religion but also the word for reckoning as here, connoting the settling of accounts. If you're interested in seeing more about how Arberry approached translation see his introduction.

In future threads in this series I will go over other English tafsirs of the Qur'an, including the Study Quran, so stay posted.

Questions and comments welcome.

>>16083731
Arberry's translation is undoubtedly the greatest in English at imitating the style and rhythm of the Qur'an, his introduction explains how important this was in his work, it's very elegant. Biggest drawback is no commentary
For commentary I recommend....

While Arberry (pic related) does the best job of capturing the rhythm and style of the Qur'an, the Hilal-Khan is definitely the best translation for commentary. It's accused of being Wahhabi but it doesn't actually use Ibn Abdul Wahhab, it cites Hadiths and classical scholars for its parentheses. These however apparently trigger reformists because it stresses jihad. But that's just faithful. For example it says "those have incurred your anger (the Jews)"in the first Surah, al-Fatiha, but at the bottom of the page it quotes the Hadith that says this is what this surah means and hence the parenthetical

>>16061055

>>16055059
This translation comes as close as English can to the style and meter of the Arabic while still being literal

>>15574113
Arberry's. A professor of Arabic literature, as he explains in the introduction he sought to capture the Arabic's cadence, alliteration and syllables (no one else does this) while being faithful to the text. He couldn't really manage the rhymes like he said but does a good job, or as good as can be done in English.