The Holy Qurān: The Arabic Text and its Translation in the English Language (Houssein Nahaboo)

This English rendering of the meanings of the Qur'an was self-published in Mauritius in 1987 by Houssein Nahaboo, after his Creole translation, with his French translation appearing at about the same time. ¹

After the success of his Creole translation, Nahaboo wanted to reach readers beyond his island, and argued that knowing the Qur'an's contents would protect Muslims from "new sects" that quoted it for their ideas; the reviewer thinks he meant the Ahmadiyya, strongly present in Mauritius since 1915. ¹

It is written in modern English rather than the then-dominant King James style, with just enough notes to understand the text and no "deep philosophical discourse"; it draws on Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation, at times reading like a simplified modern version of it, while making exegetical choices of its own grounded in the tradition. ¹ He seeks to harmonise opinions: verses on God's attributes are rendered literally with a metaphorical reading in a note, and on the raising of Jesus he follows the majority view and notes the Ahmadiyya reading. ¹

Lacking access to publishing networks, his translations never found readers beyond Mauritius and are now hard to obtain. ¹

• Johanna Pink, "Qur'an translation of the week #152", The Global Qur'an, 2023. ¹