The Koran Interpreted: A Translation Paperback – December 11, 1996

I am not worthy to judge the Koran of Islam, no more than I am worthy to judge the Torah of the Jews, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Psalms, etc... as these are clearly the written word of God. As for this translation of the Koran by Arberry, I am not able to translate Arabic. Like any translation, some meaning may be lost or misinterpreted. I read this Koran from cover to cover and believe this as God's word for Islam. I enjoyed His word and it brings me closer to Him. It is a good and Holy Book. I suspect Arberry's translation of the Holy Koran is not without flaws....again, this translation, not the Koran itself as God's word. For this reason, I assigned 4 stars to the translation, but a perfect score to the Holy Word of God as written in the Koran.Be that as it may, OUR God is a merciful, compassionate, forgiving, and loving God. He is the God of Islam; the God of the Jews-His chosen people; the Father God of Jesus Christ as the way for Christians. Our Father God has found ways to bring All His creation to Him. Father God has a way through the religion He assigns to us, for All His people to worship Him through His religions. They are All religions of One Faith in Our Father and Creator. One God! It is Our shared Faith in God that is important to glorify Him alone. We worship in different ways assigned to us by Him. I am a believer in our God. We are All His creation and His children. Our compassionate and merciful God wants us to love and forgive eachother as He loves and forgives us. We all sin and fall short of His Glory. He knows All our faults and sins and He alone will be the Judge of our fate. It is not up to us to judge one another for Him.As a Christian, I am "supportive" of other religions as that people's way to have faith in One God. We All believe in the same God as my Father who sent His Son, Jesus Christ - the Word of God, as the way for me to God. Like me, if you believe in God, He has provided you a religion and way to worship and Glorify Him. God gives us all a way to repent and be forgiven, for we All have sinned. As believers, w are brothers and sisters as God's children is faith. Let's live in peace. Please. God wants peace.Now I will read and study Islamic sacrid law...Reliance of the Traveller. Peace!

Since I believe that every literate person ought to be familiar with the Bible and the Koran, I struggled for decades to finish the Penguin Classics edition translated by N.J.Dawood. After several decades of false starts, I finally completed it; however, I had to agree with Thomas Carlyle who wrote the following in Heroes & Hero Worship: "I must say it is as toilsome reading as ever I undertook. A wearisome, confused jumble, crude, incondite, endless iterations, long windedness, entanglement...unsupportable stupidity in short. Nothing but a sense of duty could carry any European through the Koran." The Dawood edition re-arranged the 114 chapters from the original order. It does have a chronological table of the basic events in Mohammed's life. It does not have numbered verse lines which makes it difficult if not impossible to check on citations, such as Koran 24:2. Therefore, I was in search of another edition which permitted quick verification by chapter and line. Since I do not read Arabic, it made no sense to get a dual language edition. I scouted about to learn what was generally deemed a good English translation - A.J. Arberry was often cited. So, I looked at a copy to satisfy myself that checking on references would be easy to accomplish. That's what I wanted, so I bought a soft backed edition. This edition has volume I, suras 1-20, and volume II, suras 21-114, bound together with prefaces for each volume. Arberry's affection for the work as well as his expressed desire to match the English to the poetry of the Arabic makes the Koran more understandable. Perhaps even Carlyle might modify his opinion. Or, he might not.

It is a somewhat difficult read and does not give a whole lot of insight into the Muslim religion as it appears to be practiced today. As I understand it, the Koran, as it is written in the origional Arabic, is very poetic, and Arberry did his best to convey this in his translation. It is worth reading if just to gain a little insight into the beliefs of Muslims as compaired to Christians and Jews. I was quite suprised at the frequent references to Jesus, Mary, Moses, Abraham and numerous other individuals found in the Old Testament.

Thank you. The Koran interpreted by Arthur Arberry is an amazing translation of the Quran into English. In fact the Arberry interpretation is undoubtedly one of the finest. A scripture revealed to Muhammad the Messenger of God (Peace be upon him) requires a sincere heart and mind;and Mr. Arberry has certainly delivered.May God be pleased with him.Thank You

I have just started reading "The Koran Interpreted" a translation by A. J. Arberry, first published in 1955. Unlike other English translations I read, this translator joined together individual verses into groups (paragraphs?) in order to enable readers to discern "how the discourse originally ran". The inclusion of idiomatic expressions made me feel much closer to and more appreciative of the early believers.

super well made and nice to have

The best English translation of the Koran available to non-Arabic speakers. Excellent for those who want to read this important religious text.

thick book. I am thinking it will never be finished anytime in anyone's lifetime in this house. Probably use it as a reference. To sit down with it as a novel would be daunting.