The Koran: Interpreted (Oxford World's Classics) Paperback – 11 Sept. 2008

Arberry's masterpiece is the only translation to date that captures something of the majesty of the original. You will have to have good, classical taste in English literature, but if that is no problem for you, definitely go for this book. You might want to read Abdel Haleem's translation simultaneously, as Arberry's can be very literal, whereas Abdel Haleem puts everything into clear idiomatic English. But for poetic power, Arberry's translation soars far above Abdel Haleem's rather utilitarian effort.

Satisfactory

I met Arberry when I was a student, and read his translation of the Koran from cover to cover. Then I lent it to somebody who was marrying a Muslim, and never got it back. So it is good to have it on my shelves again. It is the most fluent of the English translations, and I hope it will lead to better understanding between the English-speaking and Muslim worlds.

Very good but it would be better to read sahih international and this one simultaniously

Beautiful edition. It kind of begs to be a hard cover, though.

Very good product.

Best avoided.

While a discussion of the various merits and demerits of the content of a religious text is highly inappropriate for an Amazon review, there is scope for commenting on the quality of the translation.I bought this book unseen having flicked through the Penguin Classics version and was somewhat disappointed. The Penguin version is (for someone with no prior Koranic knowledge such as myself) an engaging and accessible translation which expresses the text in contemporary (but not colloquial) English.By contrast, and despite assurances by the translator that he attempted to avoid the 'Biblical' style translations of many of his predecessors, this Oxford World's Classics version is translated into rather dry and laborious language which can confuse and seems bereft of the nuances that one expects were present in the original Arabic.This is not altogether surprising in as much as the translation itself is some 50 years old, and so both the target audience and the approach to translation might well have been expected to have changed. Nevertheless, it does not make for as easy a read as one could have hoped (even for a religious text). I would recommend the Penguin Classic version over this one and will probably buy it myself as a replacement for this edition.