Exegetical Qur’an Translation: Theoretical and Practical Considerations
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Published
Jul 15, 2025
Copyright Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Objectives: This paper assesses the ongoing practice of Qur’an translation based on Arabic exegetical works and explores theoretical considerations and practical issues facing various projects. It aims to inform the approach of individual translators and state and non-state institutions that intend to use exegesis as a basis for accuracy and consistency.
Methodology: The study analyzes primary texts (Qur’an and tafsīr translations and their Arabic sources) and references secondary literature concerning the relationship between tafsīr and translation.
Results: The study demonstrates the value of “instructive” exegesis over the commonly used “paraphrastic” type. By identifying examples of errors caused by misreading of exegetical works, it highlights the necessity of assigning translators who are qualified to engage with both the Quranic text and the tafsīr genre.
Originality: The paper highlights problems not previously identified in the use of exegesis in translation and provides practical solutions of value to subsequent projects on an individual or institutional level.
Metrics
Metrics Loading ...
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Keywords
Qur’anTranslationExegesisTafsīrEgyptSaudi Arabia
References
Abdel Haleem, M.A.S. The Qur’an: English Translation and Parallel Arabic Text. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
____. “The Role of Context in Interpreting and Translating the Qur’an.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 20-1 (2018): 47-66.
Al Amri, Waleed Bleyhesh. “Lower-Plane Qur’an Translation: Exegetical Inroads into Translation.” Al-Tarjamah wa-ishkālāt al-muṣṭalaḥ 2 (2014): 23-38. https://www.academia.edu/13315758/Lower_Plane_Quran_Translation_Exegetical_Inroads_into_Translation
Ali, Maulvi Muhammad. The Holy Qur’ān: Containing the Arabic Text with English Translation and Commentary. Surrey, UK: The Islamic Review, 1917.
Al-Alūsī, Shihāb al-Dīn Maḥmūd. Rūḥ al-maʿānī fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm wal-sabʿ al-mathānī (in Arabic). 30 vols. Eds. Māhir Ḥabbūsh et al. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 2010.
Al-Bayḍāwī, Nāṣir al-Dīn ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar. Baiḍāwī’s Commentary on Sūrah 12 of the Qur’ān. Trans. A.F.L. Beeston. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
____. Tafsīr al-Qāḍī al-Bayḍāwī wa-maʿahu ḥāshiyat al-ʿallāmah al-Suyūṭī (in Arabic). 12 Vols. Ed. Māhir Ḥabbūsh. Beirut: Dār al-Lubāb and Maktabat al-Irshād, 2021.
____. The Light of Inspiration and Secret of Interpretation. Trans. Eric Bishop and Mohamed Kaddal. Glasgow: Jackson, Son & Company, 1957.
¬¬____. The Lights of Revelation & The Secrets of Interpretation: Ḥizb I. Trans. Gibril F. Haddad. Manchester: Beacon Books, 2016.
Al-Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿUmar. Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb (in Arabic. 16 Vols. Cairo: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 2012.
____. The Great Exegesis Volume I: The Fātiḥa. Trans. Sohaib Saeed. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 2018.
Al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abū Bakr. Al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān (in Arabic). 7 Vols. Ed. Markaz al-Dirāsāt al-Qurʾānīyah. Riyadh: Mujammaʿ al-Malik Fahd li-Ṭibāʿat al-Muṣḥaf, 2005.
____. Select Chapters of Itqān on the Language of the Qur’an. Trans. Sohaib Saeed. Glasgow: Ibn ʿAshur Centre, 2023.
____. Tafsīr al-Jalālayn. Trans. Feras Hamza. Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2008.
Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr. Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān (in Arabic). 10 Vols. Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 2012.
Al-Zurqānī, Muḥammad ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm, Manāhil al-ʿirfān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān (in Arabic). 2 Vols. Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 2006).
Arberry, Arthur J. The Koran Interpreted: A Translation. 2 Vols. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1980.
Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’ān. Trans. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus, 1984.
El Hamel, Chouki. Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Elkhatib, Abdallah. Tarjamāt maᶜānī al-Qur’ān al-karīm ilā al-lugha al-injlīziyyah: min ᶜām 1649 ilā ᶜām 2013 (in Arabic). Sharjah: University of Sharjah, 2014.
Fremantle, Anne, Loyal Enemy. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1938.
Hussain, Musharraf. The Majestic Qur’an: A Plain English Translation. Nottingham: Invitation Publishing, 2018.
Ibn ʿĀshūr, Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir. Tafsīr al-Taḥrīr wa-al-Tanwīr (in Arabic). 12 Vols. Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2021.
Kidwai, Abdur Raheem. “The Interfaith Dimension of Some Recent English Translations of the Quran.” Journal of College of Sharia and Islamic Studies 36-2 (2019): 161-70. https://doi.org/10.29117/jcsis.2019.0220
Lawrence, Bruce. The Koran in English: A Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein et al. Eds. The Study Quran. New York: Harper One, 2015.
Qutb, Sayyid. In the Shade of the Qur’an Vol. 2. Trans. Adil Salahi. Markfield: Islamic Foundation, 2000.
Saeed, Sohaib. “Intraquranic Hermeneutics.” PhD thesis. London: SOAS, 2018.
____. “The Digital Mufassir: Re-imagining the Tafsir of al-Alusi for a New Era,” 657-80. In Osmanlı’da İlm- i Tefsir. Ed. M. Taha Boyalık and Harun Abacı. Istanbul: İSAR Publications, 2019.
____. “Fights and Flights: Two Underrated ‘Alternatives’ to Dominant Readings in tafsīr.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 24-1 (2022): 46-88.
____. “The Untranslated Qur’an: Retelling the Surah of Joseph,” 279-302. In Retranslating the Bible and the Qur’an: Historical Approaches and Current Debates. Eds. Pieter Boulogne, Marijke de Lang and Joseph Verheyden. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2024.
Sale, George. The Koran, commonly called The Alcoran of Muhammed. London: J. Wilcox, 1734.
Sheikh, Nabeel Nisar. Tarjamat wa-tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm bil-lughah al-injlīzīyyah al-musammā “The Study Quran”: dirāsah taḥlīlīyah naqdīyah muqāranah. PhD thesis. Mecca: Umm al-Qurā, 2021.
Usmani, Muhammad Taqi. The Noble Qur’an: Meanings with Explanatory Notes. London: Turath Publishing, 2020.
Markaz Tafsīr lil-Dirāsāt al-Islāmiyyah. Al-Mukhtaṣar fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm. Mecca: Dār al-Mukhtaṣar, 2020, 6th ed.
____. English Translation of a Concise Commentary of the Noble Quran. Mecca: Dār al-Mukhtaṣar, 2020.
Wild, Stefan. “Muslim Translations and Translations of the Qur’an into English.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 17-3 (2015): 158-82.
Yakubovych, Mykhaylo. The Kingdom and the Qur’an. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2024.
____. “The Role of Context in Interpreting and Translating the Qur’an.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 20-1 (2018): 47-66.
Al Amri, Waleed Bleyhesh. “Lower-Plane Qur’an Translation: Exegetical Inroads into Translation.” Al-Tarjamah wa-ishkālāt al-muṣṭalaḥ 2 (2014): 23-38. https://www.academia.edu/13315758/Lower_Plane_Quran_Translation_Exegetical_Inroads_into_Translation
Ali, Maulvi Muhammad. The Holy Qur’ān: Containing the Arabic Text with English Translation and Commentary. Surrey, UK: The Islamic Review, 1917.
Al-Alūsī, Shihāb al-Dīn Maḥmūd. Rūḥ al-maʿānī fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm wal-sabʿ al-mathānī (in Arabic). 30 vols. Eds. Māhir Ḥabbūsh et al. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 2010.
Al-Bayḍāwī, Nāṣir al-Dīn ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar. Baiḍāwī’s Commentary on Sūrah 12 of the Qur’ān. Trans. A.F.L. Beeston. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
____. Tafsīr al-Qāḍī al-Bayḍāwī wa-maʿahu ḥāshiyat al-ʿallāmah al-Suyūṭī (in Arabic). 12 Vols. Ed. Māhir Ḥabbūsh. Beirut: Dār al-Lubāb and Maktabat al-Irshād, 2021.
____. The Light of Inspiration and Secret of Interpretation. Trans. Eric Bishop and Mohamed Kaddal. Glasgow: Jackson, Son & Company, 1957.
¬¬____. The Lights of Revelation & The Secrets of Interpretation: Ḥizb I. Trans. Gibril F. Haddad. Manchester: Beacon Books, 2016.
Al-Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿUmar. Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb (in Arabic. 16 Vols. Cairo: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 2012.
____. The Great Exegesis Volume I: The Fātiḥa. Trans. Sohaib Saeed. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 2018.
Al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abū Bakr. Al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān (in Arabic). 7 Vols. Ed. Markaz al-Dirāsāt al-Qurʾānīyah. Riyadh: Mujammaʿ al-Malik Fahd li-Ṭibāʿat al-Muṣḥaf, 2005.
____. Select Chapters of Itqān on the Language of the Qur’an. Trans. Sohaib Saeed. Glasgow: Ibn ʿAshur Centre, 2023.
____. Tafsīr al-Jalālayn. Trans. Feras Hamza. Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2008.
Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr. Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān (in Arabic). 10 Vols. Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 2012.
Al-Zurqānī, Muḥammad ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm, Manāhil al-ʿirfān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān (in Arabic). 2 Vols. Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 2006).
Arberry, Arthur J. The Koran Interpreted: A Translation. 2 Vols. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1980.
Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’ān. Trans. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus, 1984.
El Hamel, Chouki. Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Elkhatib, Abdallah. Tarjamāt maᶜānī al-Qur’ān al-karīm ilā al-lugha al-injlīziyyah: min ᶜām 1649 ilā ᶜām 2013 (in Arabic). Sharjah: University of Sharjah, 2014.
Fremantle, Anne, Loyal Enemy. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1938.
Hussain, Musharraf. The Majestic Qur’an: A Plain English Translation. Nottingham: Invitation Publishing, 2018.
Ibn ʿĀshūr, Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir. Tafsīr al-Taḥrīr wa-al-Tanwīr (in Arabic). 12 Vols. Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2021.
Kidwai, Abdur Raheem. “The Interfaith Dimension of Some Recent English Translations of the Quran.” Journal of College of Sharia and Islamic Studies 36-2 (2019): 161-70. https://doi.org/10.29117/jcsis.2019.0220
Lawrence, Bruce. The Koran in English: A Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein et al. Eds. The Study Quran. New York: Harper One, 2015.
Qutb, Sayyid. In the Shade of the Qur’an Vol. 2. Trans. Adil Salahi. Markfield: Islamic Foundation, 2000.
Saeed, Sohaib. “Intraquranic Hermeneutics.” PhD thesis. London: SOAS, 2018.
____. “The Digital Mufassir: Re-imagining the Tafsir of al-Alusi for a New Era,” 657-80. In Osmanlı’da İlm- i Tefsir. Ed. M. Taha Boyalık and Harun Abacı. Istanbul: İSAR Publications, 2019.
____. “Fights and Flights: Two Underrated ‘Alternatives’ to Dominant Readings in tafsīr.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 24-1 (2022): 46-88.
____. “The Untranslated Qur’an: Retelling the Surah of Joseph,” 279-302. In Retranslating the Bible and the Qur’an: Historical Approaches and Current Debates. Eds. Pieter Boulogne, Marijke de Lang and Joseph Verheyden. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2024.
Sale, George. The Koran, commonly called The Alcoran of Muhammed. London: J. Wilcox, 1734.
Sheikh, Nabeel Nisar. Tarjamat wa-tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm bil-lughah al-injlīzīyyah al-musammā “The Study Quran”: dirāsah taḥlīlīyah naqdīyah muqāranah. PhD thesis. Mecca: Umm al-Qurā, 2021.
Usmani, Muhammad Taqi. The Noble Qur’an: Meanings with Explanatory Notes. London: Turath Publishing, 2020.
Markaz Tafsīr lil-Dirāsāt al-Islāmiyyah. Al-Mukhtaṣar fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm. Mecca: Dār al-Mukhtaṣar, 2020, 6th ed.
____. English Translation of a Concise Commentary of the Noble Quran. Mecca: Dār al-Mukhtaṣar, 2020.
Wild, Stefan. “Muslim Translations and Translations of the Qur’an into English.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 17-3 (2015): 158-82.
Yakubovych, Mykhaylo. The Kingdom and the Qur’an. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2024.
How to Cite
Saeed, Sohaib. 2025. “Exegetical Qur’an Translation: Theoretical and Practical Considerations”. Journal of College of Sharia and Islamic Studies 43 (2). https://doi.org/10.29117/jcsis.2025.0424.
Section
Articles in English