Review of Qur’anic Research, Vol. 4 no. 6 (2018)

In the latest installment of the Review of Qur’anic Research (Vol. 4, no.6), David S. Powers (Cornell University) reviews The Study Qur’an: A New Translation and Commentary edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Caner K. Dagli, Maria Massi Dakake, Joseph E. B. Lumbard, and Mohammed Rustom (New York: HarperOne, 2015).

In his review, Powers writes… “Following in the footsteps of the Harper Collins Study Bible and the Jewish Study Bible, The Study Quran is a welcome addition to the field of qurʾānic studies. In response to a proposal from the publisher, the distinguished Islamicist Seyyed Hossein Nasr agreed to serve as the Editor-in-Chief and general supervisor of the project on the condition that the team of scholars who carried out this monumental task would include only Muslim scholars who accept the Qurʾān “as the word of God and an authentic revelation” (xl)…The three General Editors have produced a new translation of the Qurʾān that seeks to convey what the Arabic text actually says rather than what later commentators and/or translators said that it means (xlii). The stated goal of the commentary is to clarify difficult passages, to explain the inner meaning of the text, “when necessary,” and, generally, to provide a “reasonable account” of what Muslim authorities have said about the text as it relates, inter alia, to ritual, law, theology, ethics, metaphysics, spirituality, and sacred history (xliii)…”

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