The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'an (Pickthall), Best Speech Society revised edition

This is a revised edition of Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall's English translation of the meanings of the Qur'an, issued by the Best Speech Society of Cairo and distributed free; Johanna Pink found it in May 2023 on the free-book shelf at the entrance of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. ¹

Pickthall's translation was first published in London in 1930 as "the first English translation of the Qur'an by an Englishman who is a Muslim", in an archaic King James style; it is generally considered respectable by Sunni Muslims and is now out of copyright. ¹

The editor, Khaled Mohammad Fahmy, says he replaced archaic wording with modern English to aid understanding and revised the translation for doctrinal accuracy, drawing on commentaries and on the translations of Yusuf Ali, Hilali–Khan, Saheeh International, Muhammad Ali, Abdel Haleem, Asad, Irving, Talal Itani and Khattab. ¹ Pink notes changes at word level in almost every verse, usually towards the most mainstream contemporary Sunni rendering, some helpful and some unnecessary, while Pickthall's introduction and notes were left untouched. ¹

Pink sees the edition as showing how Qur'an translations travel and are reworked; it may look like plagiarism in a world that prizes individual authorship, but it is not unlike the tafsir tradition's stream of commentary, selection and amendment. ¹

• Johanna Pink, "Qur'an translation of the week #159", The Global Qur'an, 2023. ¹