Rating: 
Summary: THE BEST TRANSLATION AND NOTHING ELSE CAN COMPARE TO IT!!!
Review: I FIRST READ THIS TRANSLATION WHEN I WAS IN MY EARLY TEENS, AND EVEN THEN I FOUND A. YUSUF ALI TO BE ONE OF THE BEST THINKERS ALONG TRANSLATION LINES, AMONG ALL THE SCHOLARS OF HIS TIME. I STILL MAINTAIN THAT STAND TODAY, NEARLY 15 YEARS LATER, WHEN THERE HAS BEEN AN INFLUX OF BOTH MUSLIM & NON-MUSLIM TRANSLATORS OF THE HOLY QUR'AN, AAL AGREEING ON THE GENERAL CONTENT BUT THEN OTING TO GO FOR THEIR OWN "INNER THOUGHTS" FOR COMPLEX VERSES; I FEEL A. YUSUF ALI IS THE STANDARD FOR ALL ISLAMIC THEORISTS, JURISTS, THINKERS, ULEMA, STUDENTS AND TEACHERS WORLDWIDE. PEOPLE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES OR DIFFERENT SECTS MAY NOT BE SO LIKELY TO APPLAUD YUSUF ALI SIMPLY DUE TO NATIONAL BIASES, HUMAN PREJUDICES, SECTORAL DIFFERENCES, ETC...AND MAY PREFER THEIR OWN COUNTRY'S SMALLER TRANSLATORS OR THEIR SECTS VERSIONS (WHICH MAY BE HIGHLY INCORRECT, AS ONLY THE SUNNI SECT IS THE TRUE ADHERANT TO ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE, AND THE REST ARE DEVIANTS FROM THE MAIN LINE), BUT BARRING ALL THAT, THIS TRANSLATION MAKES FOR ONE OF THE FINEST READINGS.
Rating: 
Summary: Qur'an: Text, Translation
Review: I give this book 4 stars because I believe that the author did a great job for translating the Quran from the Arabic text. I disagree with some other reviewer saying that the translation cannot be perfect and the Quran lose its beauty if we try to write it in any other language rather than Arabic. After all, if we assume that the Quran is the words of mighty God. Is that making any sense if we say that God only wants to communicate with the Arabic people only through his words? God create the whole universe and all the people inhibited on it, with all the languages spoken. If the Quran is the words of god it should not lose any beauty or meaning if it translated to any language, after all it is a message of God to all the people whom created by him. Or maybe the problem is not in the translation itself.
Rating:
Summary: Really awesome!
Review: I love this version of the "Mas'haf"! Great translations, and pretty good footnotes. The Arabic print could be a bit bigger, but other than that, this is a great study resource for anyone, regardless of your beliefs.
Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor printing quality.
Review: I ordered this Koran translation for a gift, but it turned out that the quality of the printing was very disappointing. I wish Amazon would give better attention to the printing quality of books offered. I already have Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation of the Holy Koran, but from a different publisher. For this particular translation of the Koran, I personally recommend the one published by Saba Islamic Media, or by Amana Corporation. Apart from the printing quality, I strongly recommend this translation of the Holy Koran (by Abdullah Yusuf Ali) for English-speaking moslems or non-moslems who'd like to know more about Islam.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor reproduction of original text
Review: I wanted to read The Quran to gain a general, non-scholarly insight into the principle sacred text of one of the world's great religions that is Islam. This edition is a bi-lingual (Arabic-English) reprint of the 1934 original publication (1862 pages). While I cannot comment on the accurcacy of the English translation, or the soundness of the footnoted comments and elaborations (I don't read or write Arabic, I am non-Muslim), I was disappointed by the qualitative presentation of this reprint. The paper is very thin and of mediocre quality; therefore the text from the previous page shines distractingly through the open page in front of the reader. I found the footnotes to be too excessive (often more than half a page), for a general introduction. The font size (letter size) of the reproduced text (especially the footnotes) is too small, and too broken up for true reading enjoyment. Last but not least, I found it difficult to read the English text from back cover to front cover; true, it makes the Arabic text readable (since the language is written from right to left), but the English text is difficult to follow because you have to leave the bottom righ hand page and continue on the upper left hand page, skipping diagonally across two pages. The work was certainly a monumental task for the tranlator, and well worth it for the serious student of Islam. As a general introduction, I would probably choose a more basic version of higher print quality and better readability, with or without the Arabic text.
Rating: 
Summary: An obscure translation for the modern reader
Review: I would not recommend this translation. M.H. Shakir uses awkward sentence structures and he further complicates a readers efforts by failing to translate the meaning of certain Arabic words. Unfortunately, there are no footnotes to at least give a general explaination of the meaning of these words. I decided to write down the untranslated, unexplained words so I could find them in a dictionary however, after encountering several untranslated words and awkward phrases within the first 7 Suras I gave up. Apparently there is an earlier edition that contains footnotes but I'd rather spend my money on a different translation at this point. I've read translations of ancient texts (Odessey, Plato, Dante's Inferno and Purgatio (3 separate translations), The Aeneid, Parsifal) and I've never encountered this problem before. I began to wonder if the translater was deliberately trying to obscure the meaning of the text or confuse the reader. I've bought the Pickthall translation hoping to finally understand the Koran. Maybe, I'll be able to understand its meaning after reading and comparing the two separate translations.
Rating:
Summary: Nice try at sugar-coating the poison
Review: I'm always amazed when people try to portray this evil in a positive light. What irks me is that this book gives the false appearance of being well-researched, but it's really just a heavy regurgitation of the same reason-proof dogma that threatens the world today.
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Summary: I'm Arabic and I'm Muslim
Review: I'm Arabic and I'm Muslim, and the verse "Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them." do exist in the Holy Quran in (The Accessions -in Arabic: Al Anfal-):
[8.12] "When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them". The verse [8.50] in Holy Quran says: "And had you seen when the angels take the souls of the disbelivers (at death), smiting their faces and their backs, and (saying): Taste the punishment of burning". It is not "If thos couldst see, when the angels take the souls of the BELIVERS (at death), (How) they smite their faceds and their backs, (saying): "taste the penalty of the blazing fire". And it is not "And had you seen when the angels WILL CAUSE TO DIE those who disbelieve, smiting their faces and their backs, and (saying): Taste the punishment of burning". As the Holy Quran is the last god's book*, it covers the whole life. It covers the peace, the war, relations, worships, bidden and forbidden things, etc. * We Muslims belive in all prophets and thier books: From the prophet Adam to prophet Mohammed, including the prophet Abraham, prophet David, prophet Jacob, prophet Moses, and the prohpet Jesus. We Muslims condemned the attacks on september 11. As god said in the Holy Quran in (The Dinner Table -in Arabic: Al Ma'idah-): [5.32] ".. if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people, and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people..".
Rating:
Summary: Get a better Understanding
Review: If a person wants to get a etter understanding of Quran then this is the best translation of the meaning of Quran. Ihaveother copies bu this copy gives a much better understanding.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Work - Maybe the Best Translation
Review: Out of the several English translations of the Quran which I own, I most definitely consider this one to be the best one available on the market. It is also the best bilingual one that I have encountered. The translation is faithful, and never prone to flights of fancy. Students of Arabic can rely on being able to follow the English translation as being virtually literal, while still being literary; whatever confusion regarding meaning that there may be is virtually always explained clearly in the copious notes. I am gratified to learn that this translation is highly thought of in the Muslim world, although I'm not surprised. The other great feature of the book is the commentary. It was obviously written with the Western, specifically Christian reader in mind, and while you may not agree with everything Yusuf Ali has to say (personally, I'm not so sure that Protestant Christianity is the Christian group closest in spirit to Islam!) you will certainly feel that his opinions are well-founded. In fact, one might consider this book as a great primer on the beliefs of Islam for the non-Muslim, and not just another translation.
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