The Qur'an

Haleem, Oxford

honestly though if you're reading it in English you're so alienated from what actual muslims would read its just silly to be picky. Being pedantic about the authenticity of of the translation is like fact-checking the mini version of Paris they built in disney world

>>8600964
Why? It shouldn't be a grand mystery. We're dealing with language, tangible finite things. If the Arabic says one thing (or is even using a word that can mean several things but Muslims actually understand it to say x) then choose the best possible word and provide a footnote that explains the ambiguity.

I just don't want something that is clearly trying to "make a Westerner think the religion is more peaceful than it is" or which "is biased to make Islam seem more violent than it is."

I just want to read the book, a standard version that a person who wants to read the Qur'an would read.

>>8600980
Fuck you, motherfucker!

>>8600980
Learn arabic or get memed, son.

>>8600980

Disregard most of what the other guy said. At least tens and more likely hundreds of Muslims don't read the Qur'an in Arabic.

The best way to read it is with a commentary, whilst you can probably get away with reading the Bible without one because Biblical references permeate our culture, it's absolutely not the same for the Qur'an.

I used the Oxford translation along with the Cambridge Companion and I'd recommend that.

>>8601013

My bad, that should read tens/hundreds *of millions*.

>>8600980
holy... I want more

>>8601013

Considering how prevalent illiteracy is in southwest asia hundreds of millions of muslims aren't reading it in any language.

I bought ISBN 1853267821
Thanks for nothing you useless postmodernists.

>>8601041

You're right. That said, it's not even supposed to be read, "qur'an" means "recitation" after all.

It's common to "read" it in our culture because we aren't exposed to endless recitation competitions etc most kids in the Muslim world go through.

>>8601041
This is your answer ohpee, you don't need to read the Quran, just ask some of those bearded faggots at your local mosque and he'll give you the full islamic experience.

>>8600911
One of my mates read it, he said it was shit, it repeats itself constantly and huge chunks of it are plagiarised from the torah

File: Mehmed II, Gentile Bellini - Copy.jpg (4MB, 2381x3212px) Image search: [Google]

4MB, 2381x3212px

>>8600911
Mohammedans have a strong veneration for their holy book. The very idea of textual variation in the original Arabic in any form is repugnant to them; how much worse then must be a translation, which replaces all the familiar words of God with unauthorized ones? Couple this with a belief in Arabic's holiness and the general lack of understanding of linguistics among the plebs of all nations and you'll find every pleb with a vitriolic, superstitious opinion on every translation's unworthiness.
Also I'd therefore imagine lots of less scholarly translations are probably in really poor style- copying Arabic syntax and leaving in untranslated words &c..
Just buy one by a good scholar and in a good style and read it. Unless you plan on engaging in heavy study for religious or literary scholarship what you get of that should be enough- and if you do you really are going to have to learn Arabic anyway. The same reverence that leads to every translation being condemned should also lead to every translation's general faithfulness.
The Koran I have is a fucking Ahmadiyya edition, of probably is one of the most ridiculous and despised sects of the whole silly religion. Oh well, I got it since it's bilingual with the original Arabic facing.

t. pseud taking first year Arabic out of interest in Egyptology and Assyriology

>>8601041
As it should be. Literacy is what caused Moslems to split into sects and anti science to arise. Golden age Islam had low literacy rates and the intellectuals interpreted the texts for others.

>>8600980
No translator of repute would be insensitive to those issues. A biased tranlsation wouldn't go unnoticed. You also have absolutely no idea how the process of translation works and you shouldn't speak about it again

>>8601157
Apparently they are, since most of those translations appear to be biased and unreliable.

That is how translation works and I'll speak about it as much as I want. Fuck you

>>8601050
>endless recitation competitions
luckily not

>>8601057
>huge chunks of it are plagiarised from the torah

Yeah, this basically is a established facts at this point.

>>8600911
>911
>Isn't there a standard edition? What is the typical Qur'an that people would read?
i dont know

>>8601157
What the fuck are you talking about. SHUSH

>>8600911

Yusuf Ali is the best translation out of several I've read, M. Pickthall is the second best.

I recommend you read multiple translations, at least of verses that particularly interest you. Disregard the fools ITT who say that one translation is as good as another: they vary greatly, because the Qur'an is closer to poetry than prose, and translating poetry with any degree of accuracy is incredibly difficult, and impossible according to some. I ran into similar problems when studying the works of Homer.

>>8601041
>>8601050
Sure, but don't most of them not even understand it in its oral form?

>>8601169
kill yourself and die
if you're terrible at picking translations that's not my fault
people study translation for years and years in order to be qualified. you can't sum it up in a few sentences. you should recognize that discrepancy and shut your stupid fat mouth

>>8601297
ITT:
>wah imma wittle boom boom baby butt

>>8600911
Abdullah Yusuf Ali would be the non-sugarcoated version.

>>8600911
There's a part where Mohammad describes Muslims who question him as having "a sickness of the heart" which is usually whitewashed as "pedophiles" or "criminals" or the like in bad translations.

>>8601057
>supposed to be a correction for the incorrect bibles
>largely similar
what shock

>>8601222
Isn't it only harder to translate poetry if you're doing a verse translation?

BTW, has anyone done a rhyming translation? Seems like it'd be good for a laugh.

>>8600980
Many Muslims don't even believe that a non-Arabic Quran is a Quran
By the way, I'm pretty sure that the surahs/chapters in the Quran are sorted by length and not chronology
Honestly mate just watch some James White videos on Youtube because he reks Islam and doesn't engage in the same kind of dishonest tactics that Muslims use

>>8601057
U sure he hasnt read the bible by accident? :^)

>>8603074
mohammed was illiterate

>>8603083
> mohammed was an epileptic, murdering pedophile.
fix'd it for you.

>>8603074
The Bible contains the Torah you numbnut

>>8601477

So this is the power of /lit/.