The renowned scholar and Sufi master, the late Dr
Martin Lings (Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din) was working
on a full translation of the Qur'an when he passed away.
The Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, who had
commissioned Dr Lings to translate the Qur'an, and the
Islamic Texts Society were granted access to his papers.
The Publishers extracted from these previously
unpublished writings, and from all his other
publications, his translations of verses from the
Qur'an. These are here presented as 'The Holy Qur'an:
Translations of Selected Verses' accompanied by the
original Arabic text on facing pages. Among the
translations are the all-important first chapter of the
Qur'an (al-Fatihah); full translations of the Chapter
'The God of Mercy' (ar-Rahman) and ten other Chapters
including the often-repeated last three; the Verse of
Light (ayat an-Nur); verses from the Chapter entitled Ya
Sin which is regarded as 'the heart of the Qur'an'; and
numerous other verses from seventy-six other Chapters.
In addition, there is an appendix of Dr Lings'
translation of the Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God
with the original Arabic and transliteration; and a
cross-referenced index which is intended to work as a
minor concordance. For all those wishing to learn about
the Qur'an, for non-Arabic-speaking Muslims, for
students of Arabic and translation, for scholars of
Islamic studies, 'The Holy Qur'an: Translations of
Selected Verses' is a short and accessible introduction
with the additional benefits of the profound learning of
an eminent scholar and the beautiful language of a
published poet. Dr Martin Lings is the author of among
others 'Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest
Sources', 'What is Sufism?', 'A Sufi Saint of the
Twentieth Century', 'The Book of Certainty' and 'Sufi
Poems'. |
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