Qu'ran translations

Plotinus · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:50 am Post subject: Qu'ran translations

This is just a general query to those who are interested in the relationship between Christianity, the Bible and the Qu'ran. I am wondering what translations people prefer or are familiar with.

The reason I raise this is that I recently worked through the Dawood translation and found it much easier to work with than some of the more traditional translations. The Qu'ran is famous for its compact elliptical remarks which are very difficult to understand. Translation scholarship on the Qu'ran tends to lean to the conservative because of the belief of Muslims that the Qu'ran is only inspired in its original version as Arabic poetry.

So most translations read like Young's literal translation or the NASB. Dawood's translation is much more readable and is more like the CEV in style.