The Quran

As part of compiling Bibliography of the Translations of the Meaning of the Glorious Quran into English 1649–2002 (Madina, Saudi Arabia, King Fahad Quran Printing Complex 2007), I had an apparently simple task of categorising the English translators of the Qur’an under such faith/ideological labels as Muslim/Christian/Jew/Qadiyani and Orientalist. However, I came across three translations carried out by Rashad Khalifa, AMK Pathan, and Edip Yuksel who, notwithstanding their Muslim sounding names, did not qualify for their inclusion in the category of Muslim in the face of their outright rejection of certain fundamental articles of Islamic faith, ranging from the divine origin of the Qur’an to the integrity of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). I had to place them under a new category, “Others”. Most regrettably, the Qur’an translation under review falls into the same category. Rather, it surpasses those earlier reprehensible ventures for being the most audacious and odious. The present translator’s profile itself betrays his sacrilege of all Islamic sanctities: Kader Abdolah is a Leftist Iranian political refugee settled in Holland, after having ‘tried and failed three times to get to New York on false passports’ (The Independent, 10 February, 2016). Below are some of his bizarre ravings and rantings about the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), which the Guardian (4 July 2016) gleefully brands as ‘the honourable intent’ of ‘this leading voice in the liberal Netherlands.’...