quran

The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)
$12.95
I began reading books about Islam to understand more about it but ended up getting nowhere since most books are just either bashing Islam or trying to prove an irrational point that was irrelevant to anything I was trying to discover, until a muslim friend of mine told me I should just pick up a copy of the Qur'an and most of my questions would be answered. He was absolutely right.

I was born in the United States and lived here my entire life and I don't speak or read Arabic, so finding a book with the best interpreted translation was going to be needed for a decent understanding of a book that is worshiped by almost billions of people around the world. It starts off with an introductory (which is definitely recommended if you know little about Islam)that will basically explain how the Qur'an was written as it is broken down into 114 Suras (chapters) and no real chronological order, which is very different from the Holy Bible. After the introductory and the suras begin, there are also footnotes on the bottom to help the reader understand what they mean by certain verses, which is imperative to help clear up MANY misconceptions that come upon Islam.

Coming from a Christian family, I had my doubts and fears of reading a Qu'ran but it is very welcoming for those who want to seek a different way or just want to research it; but I recommend you come to read it with an open heart to truly get a good understanding of it all. It was unbelievable how ridiculous some of the accusations against Islam came from my family's mouth when they knew absolutely nothing and it was an extremely satisfying feeling to correct them and at least acknowledge it if they don't want to believe it. In the media come many misconceptions and I believe reading this copy of the Qu'ran truly helped me clear them up and have my own understanding of everything.

While the book is full of such knowledge, it also looks more like a regular soft-covered book so reading it in public really won't seem like a big deal rather than reading a black hardcover covered in arabic clearly showing that you are reading something that is religious (I personally like it because it builds a comfort zone for someone who isn't very open about being religious)

Anyway from my own personal experience, the Qu'ran was the best book I've ever read and this version was completely welcoming and after talking to many muslim friends, I am familiar with almost any verse they pull out, proving (to me at least) that this version of the Qu'ran is translated at its highest quality and i definitely recommend it to everyone with any open heart.

The Message of the Qur'an
$55.00
How does one translate the untranslatable? This is the eternal conundrum facing honest translators of the Qur'an. Thus, it is almost always said that 'translations' of the Qur'an are not really translations at all, but rather 'interpretations'. This is true, and yet, one does not want merely someone's opinions on what a text is saying. Muhammad Asad admirably treads this fine line between the impossibility of translation and the undesirability of mere interpretation. Indeed, this is one of the best line-by-line interpretive translations of the Qur'an available in the English language. Asad was fluent in both English and the Arabic of the bedouin people (whose Arabic remains closest to the the Arabic at the time of revelation). It is a 'modernist' text in the sense that Asad gives interpretations to some of the supernatural references that sit more easily with the modern mind. Nonetheless, for the most part, Asad draws upon both the early and classical mainstream commentators to support most of his interpretations. The special virtue here is that Asad does not seek to hide the sources of his interpretations by pretending that they are self-evidently 'in' the text. The style of writing mixes the modern with the (mildly) archaic. This sometimes gives the lines a poetic quality, but other times seems awkward. That said, unfortunately, one will probably not find a better interpretive translation in the English language. (The book is banned in Saudi Arabia. Draw your own conclusions about that fact.)

The Holy Quran
$3.95

The Meaning Of The Holy Quran
$24.95
I'm satisfied with the seller. I got very quick service at a good price. My only quibble is that the book was described as like new and with the dust jacket. The actual book had no dust jacket and was detached a little from the binding. But I didn't complain because I plan to read it a lot and generally am hard on books. It does look new.