Literary CornerThe Holy Quran: Text translation and commentary [Archives:2005/900/Culture]
By Abu Al-Kalmah Al-Tayyibah
Author: Abdullah Yususf Ali
Language: Arabic & English
Publisher: Amana Corporation, Brentwood Maryland
Year Published: First Edition – 1934;
Edition Under Review: 1989.
Number of Pages: 384 pages
The literary genius of mankind has crossed the ages with great works of art and history, that to this day of audio visual magic, still make the written word the most revered medium for absorbing knowledge and information, as well as for indulging in all the pleasures of the mind. In the magnificent age of the offset machine, the written word still commands the ability to move individuals as well as nations to pursue a destiny that is for the most part unknown and truly unpredictable. A friend of this critic once asked, “How did you learn English so well?” I did not take long to respond when I answered him with one word: “Reading!” Yes, the mastery of any language can only be achieved if one devours the intricate ways that its letters or characters combine to express the workings of the mind and quite often the feelings of the heart. After learning the English alphabet at the age of 11 years old, I could not bring myself not to read any word that ever crossed my eyes, whether it was written in a box of cereals or an encyclopedia. This writer recalls that the greatest pleasure for many years living in New York at those early years of life was to walk in to the New York Public Library branch on 100th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues in Manhattan and surrender the limited number of books one was allowed to take per month and bring home another eight to enjoy – all free and without anyone asking, what are you reading? But then as the English language became so well embedded in the mind of, it was clear that another language was going to be lost gradually approaching meaningless. The native language of this critic was certainly going to be doomed if it was not giving its due attention and interest. My father, a learned scholar in his own right and also voracious reader, to this day at the age of 95 – or so – and with only one eye still functioning while he wiles away most of the hours of the day reading and researching whatever matter would still deserve the attention of a seeker of the truth, would help save the day.. To people addicted to the printed word, reading is the ultimate pleasure and is irreplaceable as the medium for seeking knowledge and the expansion of the horizons in thoughts and in freeing the convolutions of the mind from the vast realm of ignorance that one is certainly born with.
Thus, I begin this look into perhaps the ultimate of all printed and recited concoction of letters, words and phrases, in one literary assembly, aptly titled: the Holy Qur'an or “Reading” as I would like to translate it. The book that has captured all the mastery of literary genius and spiritual thought for 1500 years interestingly enough was introduced to its revealer to mankind, the Prophet Mohammed (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, with the Devine Command of “Read!”. I have always been fascinated by the fact that the first Devine order for mankind from heaven should be to read – not to pray, not to fast, not to give alms to the poor, not to fight against oppression and tyranny – and injustice (which is what jihad really entails and not the misguided misrepresentations that many modern Moslems have taken the word to mean). Yes, the Holy Qur'an starts off the delivery of the spiritual delivery of mankind by the three letter word in Arabic, Iqra, or Read! The three letters happen to be the root form of the name that God has chosen for His greatest creation. Certainly, to the mostly illiterate tribesmen of the Arabian Desert and the few oasis that dotted the challenging terrain they have decided to call home, such an instruction would seem insulting, and out of place in a world that relished in the killing of any girl infants, or in which usury and slavery were common cultural traits that society insisted to impose on itself as ignorance defied all forms of cultural and spiritual enlightenment. So, Mohammed (PBAUH) read, or recited the Qur'an to his people. Almost from the outset, the magic of the flowing words of poetic mastery and sheer spiritual delight was to capture the ears and souls of those who heard them. Even the worst opponents of the Prophet, as he painstakingly sought to bring his people of the abyss of ignorance and the realm of demonic pleasure, sacrificing much that could have easily come his way in terms of wealth and splendor and all the pleasures that that era could produce for any man, could not but be drawn into the magic of the Qur'an as its rhythmic and powerful versus reached their ears.
The Qur'an is indeed the magic book of all ages able to lead one to vast open fields of thought and contemplation with its continuous insistence that mankind refer to their minds and conscience, if they truly want to be free from the torture of ignorance and contrived social orders that could never outdo the Lord. It is this simplicity that adds to the magnificence of this great literary masterpiece and which has allowed the Holy Book of Islam to keep its original format unscathed by corrupt priests and medicine men, who would not hesitate one bit to instill their mastery of spiritual beholding of people to eke out whatever they can profit and fulfill their mundane desires, and who have over the ages also corrupted the previous Heavenly edicts to ensure that they are in command of men's spiritual inclinations, even at the expense of compromising the very rules and statutes they were supposedly expected to uphold. For Islam, there was no clergy and thus no grounds for any men to insist that they are the median to reach the Lord by when times get tough and a further guarantee that the beautiful and incorruptible words of the Lord Al-Mighty would remain intact for not just 1500 years, but for all the rest of the ages that man shall reign supreme in this Planet Earth.
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