English Translations of the Holy Qur’an: A Bibliography

Abstract

This paper attempts to illustrate that besides the practical impossibility of exact rendition of Sacred Texts, especially those belonging to a totally different cultural background, the exact translation of the Holy Qur’an poses yet another difficulty, i.e. the speculative impossibility of rendering a Sacred Text that proclaims itself to be the Word of God. For this very reason, in some translations, it is explicitly stated in the introductory essay or highlighted in the title, that what is at hand is nothing but an interpretation or a reading of the original text. Moreover, the author has tried to shed light on some typical errors made by Muslims as well as non-Muslims, in their handling of Quranic translations. A comprehensive bibliography of English Quranic translations has been amended for those interested in this area of linguistic studies.