Islam’s founding text, rendered for the first time in flowing English verse.
This monumental feat of translation, the product of a ten-year-long collaboration between Bruce B. Lawrence, one of our most respected scholars of Islam, and M. A. R. Habib, a poet and scholar of literature, The Qur’an: A Verse Translation offers readers the first rendering in English to echo, in accessible and fluent verse, the sonorous beauty of the Arabic original as well as the complex nuances of its meaning.
Those familiar with the Qur’an in Arabic—especially the faithful who each day hear the text recited aloud—know that it is a sublime blend of sound and sense, music and meaning. While no translation can perfectly capture the inimitable virtues of the original, Habib and Lawrence, have come closest to a readable, clear and fluid English Qur’an that all readers, regardless of their faith or familiarity with the text, can read with pleasure, gaining a deeper appreciation of the book and the religious tradition it inspired.
Rendering the entire text of the Qur’an into verse may seem initially to be a controversial move—after all, the Qur’an itself explicitly says that it is not poetry, and it warns Mohammed that some of his contemporaries may dismiss his revelations as “mere poetry” in an attempt to discredit Islam. But Lawrence and Habib have spent considerable time and effort over the last decade making the case on countless campuses and at various gatherings of scholars and experts of Islam that the ‘out loud’ virtues of the Qur’an in Arabic deserve to be honoured in English. The result is an English edition that strikes a perfect balance between sound and sense that reproduces the inimitable majesty and beauty of the Qur’an’s Arabic.
A rich and informative introduction situates the Qur’an in its cultural context and describes its unique structure and history. A note from the translators explains their painstaking efforts to address the many challenges that any translator must face when rendering the Qur’an into English. Extensive notes and explanatory apparatus will help all readers—whether they are familiar with the original or coming to the text for the first time—to read (and hear) the Qur’an with fresh understanding and insight.
M.A.R. Habib is Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University. His impressive body of work includes a volume of poetry, Shades of Islam: Poems for a New Century. M.A.R. Habib’s unique position as a poet and scholar of English literature allows him to capture the cadences and sound structures of the Arabic text in fluid English verse.
Bruce B. Lawrence is the Marcus Family Humanities Professor of Religion Emeritus at Duke University and an adjunct professor at the Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul. He has authored, co-authored, or edited sixteen books about Islam, including The Koran in English: A Biography. Lawrence is widely recognised as one of the most esteemed scholars of Islam, well-regarded both inside and outside of the Arabic-speaking world.
THE QUR’AN: A Verse Translation by M.A.R. Habib and Bruce B. Lawrence
(ISBN: 9780871404992; Price: $39:99; Pub: 2/13/24; Pages: 752)
