The Qur'an Translation (English only)

Rating:
Summary: God endorses domestic violence
Review: If the author of the Koran is God then he endorses wife beating. God considers the testimony of women to be worth half of the testimony of men. In addition to granting men the right to "marry" four women, God has granted Muslim men the right to sexually exploit as many slave women has a Muslim man may have on hand.
In the Bukhari Hadith Mohammed explained the provision which gives women's testimony half the weight of that of a man, he states "women are deficient in intellect."
Unfortunately this is a testable hypothesis which has been disproved.

Rating:
Summary: A simple no-frills translation
Review: Like many non-Muslims, I picked up the Qur'an in an effort to better understand Islam after the events of September 11th.
This translation satisfied my curiosity and gave me a better appreciation of Islam and it's followers.

This particular translation reads very much like a King James Bible. Repetitious entries, odd wordings, and strange terms permeate this translation. This makes sense as the author (M. H. Shakir 1866-1939 CE) was translating this for a 19th century English reader in mind. And while, at times, this makes for difficult read, it in no way detracts from the central message of Islam. The lack of any footnotes or commentary is the greatest flaw of this translation.

This isn't the translation I would recommend to the casual reader, I would suggest Pickthall's translation, but it is more than adequate for the study of basic Islamic ideas. The included index, while short, covers most of the topics a non-Muslim would be looking for in the Qur'an.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre translation
Review: People who did not grow up in a muslim environment will find a large quantity of Koranic material--whether in the original Ancient Arabic or in modern-language translation--that is objectionable from a theological and/or moral point of view. Nevertheless, students of comparative religions may wish to consult this translation in order to compare with other English-language translations.

Better translations are:

1) M.A.S. Abhel Haleem (Oxford University Press)
2) N.J. Dawood (Penguin Classics)

Rating:
Summary: you should have come to it with an open mind
Review: The Holy Quran is without a doubt, the greatest single literay work ever written. It is simply a must read for every singe person on this planet.

I really can not say wether this translation by Shakir is the best or not. But I do think it is adequate, and I do not see any huge difference between this and Yusuf Ali's or Pickthall's. This is true when it comes only to the translation and not the commentary (I especially like Yusuf Ali's commentary)

But unlike the others, this book comes at an extremely fair price and it is also in a small size which means you can take it anywhere you go. That is why it is perfect for almost anyone; those who have never read the Book before or for those who are simply looking for a handy version of it they can take to work or school.

I have read many books, and I did not exaggerate in my initial comment. If you doubt what I say, get this book and find out for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This review is not meant to offend religious people or to be a slap in the face to their religion... This book is very, very repititious, and its insights about God seem outdated to say the least. I read the Qur'an hoping to gain a deeper understanding about Islam and to maybe even learn something about the nature of any diety that might be out there, but the Qur'an helped in neither of these areas. This particular version has no footnotes of any kind to assist the reader. Believe me when I claim that unless you grew up in a culture that accepts this book as the word of God, you will have a difficult time reaching that conclusion by reading it. The two major themes are: (1) God (Allah) is wonderful, generous, and merciful; and (2) you will burn in Hell forever if you don't immediately agree that number 1 is absolute truth... While I am bashful about completely panning a book that millions find to be wonderful, the honest to God truth is that reading the entire the Qur'an probably isn't worth your time.