The Koran

Hairat Dehlawi (b. ~1850 – d. ~1929), was an eminent personality in the cultural, educational, literary, political and religious arena of the Muslim society of Delhi, India. He was a contemporary of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, an Islamic reformer and philosopher of nineteenth century British India. Hairat published in 1916 a three-volume translation of the Quran presented in chronological order. Being one of the earliest English translations by Muslims, this work has a historical value. Four years earlier in 1912, Hairat wrote a Quran commentary in Urdu with a critical review on translations of the Quran done by orientalists. This had led to some confusion about when the English translation of the Quran was first published and some wrongly attributed it to the year of the Urdu commentary of 1912 rather than the correct 1916 publication of the first edition. The translation is published in three books each covering one volume (volume 1, chapter 1 to 9; volume 2, chapter 9 continued to 24; volume 3, chapter 24 continued to chapter 114). First published in Delhi, its intention to offer “a complete and exhaustive reply to the manifold criticism of the Koran by various Christian authors, such as Drs. Sale, Rodwell, Palmer, and Sir W. Muir”, however Hairat (and his associates), did not possess the requisite level of scholarship to reply to all the claims. It has no explanatory notes. The language employed in the work is archaic and biblical.