2017 08 The Light August 2017

August 2017 The
Light 4
of the text will be very handsome, those readers
who know Arabic will be much pleased
with Arabic writing all done by hand. The
Book, besides its precious and holy contents,
will form an ornament to any library, and will
be a unique work of its description. In the
next number of the REVIEW we shall be able to
give the specimen pages, which will be exactly
as in the Book when ready. The price of
the Book cannot now be lower than One
Pound, which, considering the increased expenses
and the expensive material used, will
be nothing. We have no doubt that when the
compilation reaches the hands of the public
they will fully appreciate the labour of love
done over it by our esteemed brother Maulvi
Muhammad Ali, M.A., LL.B.”
The following year this much-awaited book
was out of the press by September. In the Islamic
Review, September 1917 (p. 393), its announcement
appeared under the heading:
The First English Translation and commentary
of the Holy Quran by a Muslim
Theologian
It ran as follows:
“THE Maulvi Muhammad Ali, M.A., LL.B., has
prepared, after a labour of about nine years,
an English translation, with necessary notes
and commentary, of the Holy Quran, which
has been printed in England and has just
come out after unavoidable delays caused by
the war. Each copy contains about 1,400
pages, and includes a
comprehensive preface
showing the special
features of Islam
as preached in the
Holy Book, and an exhaustive
discussion of the authenticity of the
Holy Book, its original purity and incorruptibility,
in which the Maulvi definitely proves
that the Holy Book as it stands today is exactly
as it was arranged by the Holy Prophet
Muhammad himself. Elaborate indexes are
also given. The whole cost has come up to
£1,500. The price of a leather-bound, giltedged
copy on good India paper is 20s., to be
had of the ISLAMIC REVIEW Office, The Mosque,
Woking, Surrey.
To those who know the learned
translator his very name would
be a guarantee to them that the
translation is scholarly . . .
I Shall Love All Mankind.
Although it has increased the expense
greatly, it was thought very necessary that
the original text in Arabic, written by expert
calligraphists in India, should also accompany
the translation of each verse, as can be seen
on the sample pages.
The translation is very faithful. The notes
and commentary are fully comprehensive
and explanatory, and every objection of
Western critics has been met and answered.
The mistakes of European translators and
commentators have been corrected on the
authority of old commentators as well as expert
Arabic scholars. The relation of one
chapter to the other and the connected context
of the verses of each chapter have been
fully established. An abstract of both chapters
and sections is also given.
To those who know the learned translator
his very name would be a guarantee to
them that the translation is scholarly, and the
commentary is based on the authentic traditions
of the Great Prophet as interpreted by
the authentic Muslim savants. For the benefit
of strangers the selection of the sample pages
has been such as to give out the characteristics
of the translation of the whole, so that the
reader of these pages should be able to form
some idea of the nature of the whole volume.
It would but be superfluous to dilate
upon the need of an English translation by a
person who has not only
a command over the
English language but
also over the original
(i.e. Arabic) text of a
book which holds the most unique position in
the world of literature.”
The price of the book, in top quality and
leather bound, is given above as 20 shillings,
which is £1 (one UK Pound). We can get an idea
of what £1 would be in the year 1917 by noticing
that the price of the above issue of the Islamic Review
was 7 old pence. This means that the price
of the book is about 35 times the price of one issue
of this magazine (as £1 consisted of 240 old