Salsabil: A Translation of the Meanings of the Great Qur'an (Aslan Arkhestov et al.)

Salsabil is a Russian rendering of the meanings of the Qur'an whose first part appeared in 2022, marked on its cover as an "experimental edition", with a second edition in 2023. ¹

Its editor-in-chief and project director is the preacher Aslan Arkhestov, known as Abu Islam al-Sharkasi, born in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, in 1979 and educated in Saudi Arabia, with five assistant editors, four of them women; it is published by the Rayhan Institute, a virtual organisation run through Telegram groups, and sponsored by a Saudi donor. ¹ Elvira Kulieva describes the group behind it as of an "old-school" Saudi Salafi orientation, concerned with da'wa and correct creed, with no political or jihadi aspirations. ¹

The first edition runs from al-Fatiha and stops abruptly at 9:93; the second includes the whole of al-Tawba; both carry the Arabic text. There is no introduction and no notes, only a few short bracketed additions. ¹ Kulieva reads the "experimental" label, the team authorship and the quick re-editions as ways to forestall criticism, and the lack of paratexts as possible caution about Russian censorship of Islamic books. ¹

• Elvira Kulieva, "Qur'an translation of the week #161", The Global Qur'an, 2023. ¹