T. B. Irving, The Qur’an: The First American Version; Translated and Commentary (1985)
contemporary English. My purpose is not to enter into theological controversy, nor to test the ancestry of ideas that can be found elsewhere; I will not indulge in refutation, especially of old chestnuts, but let the text and the message stand for themselves. This is a long and dignified tradition which should be made part of the world heritage in a universal age.
As with the Spanish poet Alonso de Ercilla in sixteenth century Chile, the Qurʾān was written down on whatever writing material was available: paper, leather, parchment, stones, wooden tablets, the shoulder blades of oxen, and the “breasts of men.” Where did they secure such a quantity of paper or parchment which was needed to make the final copies of ʿUthmān’s version?
The present and traditional order is not chronological, but arranged topically, as an editor has a right to do with any book in his hands. How to split up the corpus has always been a problem, especially for Western critics, but changing the order of the text has not bred believers in the West. The vaunted scientific method of investigating texts at first hand is not practised by Western experts when dealing with Islam. However, the urge to revise has worried Western critics and Orientalists like Rodwell, Bell and Dawood, as well as many others.
The Book itself consists of 114 chapters of varying size which are arranged roughly according to their order of length. Its paragraphs and sections have a very traditional order that is easily followed and by which the verses can be located. The present order in the Qurʾān was achieved two or three decades after the Prophet’s death, or about the year 650 a.d. The third caliph ʿUthmān ibn-ʿAffān (644-656) appointed a committee to achieve an authorized version of the Qurʾānic text. ʿUthmān’s committee was set up to publish the Qurʾān in a standard version, and the members naturally showed great conscientiousness in this respect. This committee fulfilled its task well, and so within a score of years after the Prophet’s death, a splendid job was accomplished.
If we follow the traditional order, then we receive the Prophet’s essential message; while if we use a revised order, then we follow his historical mission, I prefer to follow the traditional order, and state the message so that Muslim scholars can follow this without effort, and on this order I have elaborated the present work for contemporary English-speaking readers. Within Islamic circles we cannot now produce a good English prayerbook until this is based upon a reliable English version of the Qurʾān.1
The message of Islam does not come through in most contemporary textbooks used in our schools. Very few have been written by sincere Muslims, so that Islam is derided, and kept at a distance, when we need a clear explanation in our own language, devoid of strained syntax and one which can be read meaningfully and reverently in public. Thousands of Westerners who are now living in or visiting the countries of the Middle East as well as others who never expect to live or visit there, need nonetheless to understand the ethical system which prevails in the Islamic world. The crisis in Iran has shown that.
The present volume (i.e. the English translation) has been planned as an advance edition only. What has been accomplished till now has been done mostly with my own resources. Thanks to the generous help of the Aossey
