And with the truth We have sent the Qur'an down, and with the truth it has descended.
- the Qur'an 17:105
Truly in that there is a reminder for one who has a heart, or he who listens attentively and is a witness (of Truth).
- the Qur'an 50:37
This is the Luminous Revelation in which there is no doubt, guidance for those who consciously guard themselves for (the sake of) Allah, those who have faith in the Knowledge of Unseen, and establish the ritual prayer (salah) and spend (on others) from what We have provided for them, and those who have faith in what has been revealed to you (Revelation of the Qur'an) and what has been revealed before you (Gospel, Torah and previous Revelation). And they have certainty in the Final World. (It is) they who have Guidance from their Lord, and ( (in reality it is) they who are successful. -The Qur'an 2:1-5
The Tajwidi Qur'an by Shaykh A. Nooruddeen Durkee is a Guide for non-Arabic readers to the Pronunciation of the Original text and to Understanding some of the Meanings revealed in The Glorious Qur'an. The presentation of the Arabic text along with it's corresponding line by line translation in English is one of the best available among all the available Quranic translations today. Also for correct pronunciation of elegant Arabic language, the method used here is excellent. The structure of the translations are such that being fully faithful to correct English structure, it is rendered in such a way that helps relate with the original Arabic much closely, which in turn helps a reader over time, to grasp individual meaning of the language up to individual words. Thus Tajwidi Qur'an is not only a guide for correct pronunciation and translation, but also to learn Arabic vocabulary. The presented of the edition is in two facing page, Arabic on right, English Transliteration and Translation on left - corresponding verse by verse. The Tajwidi Qur'an is available to order or to send as gift to anyone in the world. Please follow the link at the end of this post to know where and how.
I am sharing some highlights here from the notes and introduction of Shaykh A. Nooruddeen Durkee, may Allah bless him and grant him goodness, on the Tajwidi Qur'an which, I hope will shed light on the inspiration and aspiration behind this transliteration and translation of the Qur'an.
In the Name of Allah, The Mercy Full, Bestower of Mercy. Thanks be to Allah and Peace and Blessings be upon our liege-lord Muhammad, the Unlettered Messenger and Seal of the Prophets
By Way of Personal Note to the Original Edition of the Seventh House
I am writing this in Alexandria, Egypt, some eighteen years after disembarking in the Red Sea port of Jeddah off a long haul freight out of Detroit in the Hijri Year 1396. I had then two abiding intentions. My first intention (niyah) was, ‘inshallah, to fulfill, along with my wife, the Visit (‘umrah) to the Ancient House, and if possible to stay and perform the Pilgrimage (hajj), a month or so later.
My second intention was, by permission of Allah, to learn to recite the Qur’an.
The original command sent by Allah to His Messenger, Muhammad, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him, via the Angel Jibril, peace be upon him, was ‘Iqra, meaning Read! or Recite! The import of this was not lost on me for, after three years as a ‘new’ Muslim, it was clear to me that unless I could learn to ‘read’ I would be forever dependent on secondary sources and translations for my knowledge and understanding of ‘Islam.
Allah granted us the blessings of both the ‘umrah and the hajj and added to those blessings the use of a house in Makkah just up the hill from the Ancient House and an opportunity to study at the recently founded Arabic Language Centre in the Makkan College of Religious Law (kulliatu-sh-shariah).
Alhamdulillah. I learned the rudiments of Arabic but although I studied at the centre for three years, I was still unable to recite the Qur’an as I so deeply desired. It was not that there was a lack of teachers at the Centre but the environment was just not conducive and the teachers in the Masjid al-Haram sadly had no experience in teachings an English speaking Muslim, though there were special classes for those with mother tongues such as Bahasa, Urdu, Turkic, Malay, Farsi – the other major Islamic languages.
I was greatly aided at this time by finding a book in English by Prof. S. Muhammad Tufayl or Woking, England,which set out in an understandable manner, the exact rules for the recital (tajwid) of Qur’an. I was also blessed to find in the Indo-Pakistani book suq of Makkah, a copy of the Holy Qur’an transliterated into Roman characters by M. Abdul-Halim Eliasi or Hyderabad. It was also in Makkah that I was given a copy of Tajwidi Qur’an published in 1391 Hijri by Mawlana Dhafar ‘Iqbal of Lahore. Over the years this has proved to be a great blessing especially when used in conjunction with Dr. Muqri Husayni’s work, Sahl Tajwid (Easy Tajwid).
With these books in hand and by listening carefully to the very best readers (qari’un) on tape and radio I began slowly to teach myself step by step to recite the Qur’an in accord with the canons of tajwid.
Years passed in this way with my leaning a little here and little there but in truth I never really learned to recite correctly. I, however, persisted as I knew, on so many levels, that tajwid was vital key to true understanding. In the winter of 1410, I found myself living in the old city of Alexandria where I was working on the translation of some Shadhdhuli texts. One day I asked a friend if he knew anyone in the city who might teach us tajwid.
He did – and one soft rainy afternoon an ‘Azhari shaykh of tajwid, ‘Ustadh Mahmud M. al-‘Azazi came to our house. When he was settled with some tea he asked me to read for him and I had recited about half of Surah Ya Siiin before he stopped me.
“We must,” he said, “begin from the beginning.”
When I asked him where that was, he replied.
“The Angel Jibril, peace be upon him, taught the Prophet, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him, to read directly from his mouth to his ear; from his heart to his heart. This is the only way to learn. I read, you listen. You read, I listen and correct. You read again and again I correct until all is correct.”
I have now spent four years with the Shaykh and I have no doubt he is right.
At the same time however I often received messages and letters from friends in the West asking me for advice. They lamented that they are unable to ‘read’ and unable to find anyone to teach them.
From my own stays in the West I know that there are very few qualified teachers to be found. Although Shaykh Mahmud is without any doubt correct in saying that the teaching and learning of Qur’an is an oral transmission both at heart and in essence, nevertheless there is a need for learning aids.
One day on the train to Cairo I was inspired to begin work on producing a book for those seeking to learn tajwid, ‘Inshallah through a combination of exacting transliteration, the special calligraphy of Mawlana Dhafar ‘Iqbal’s edition of the mushaf and easily available audio tapes of the qari’un, it might be possible to at least get the basics right.
… The work of Mawlana Dhafar ‘Iqbal is of inestimable value to the non-Arabic reader seeking to learn tajwid. His graphic synthesis is a major clarification for the learner even if the calligraphy is not as elegantly proportioned as that of the Azhar edition prepared under the patronage of King Fu’ad.
I am forever grateful to Shaykh ‘Ibrahim Battawi of al-Azhar, my teacher in shari’ah, tariqah and haqiqah; a patient and consistent Guide on the Way. I also thank Ahmad al-Husayn, Muhammad Munir, Ahmad Salah of Alexandria and Seyyed Nidhamu-Din Ahmad of Lucknow for their help in corrections. Lastly I must thank my wife, Hajjah Noura, and my family, who are, after Allah, my greatest support.
~ From one who is poor before his Lord,
And constantly enriched by His Blessings:
‘Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee ~
14 April 1994 – Alexandria – 03 Dhu-l-Hijj 1414
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| Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee, may Allah bless him and grant him hayat at-tayyiba |
Some Note for the First Edition of The Tajwidi Qur’an
All praise be to Allah Who Created us and revealed the Holy Qur’an, which is a source of advice, balm, light, guidance and mercy for those who have faith. Peace and blessings be upon the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad, the best of creation, the illuminator of hearts and the mercy to all the worlds. Peace be upon the pure people of his house, his loyal companions, his sincere followers, and their followers and upon us.
The Prophet said, “The best among you are those who learn the Qur’an and teach it.” (Shahih Bukhari 6:21:545)
This first edition of the entire text of the Tajwidi Qur'an is the completion of our ongoing work of the transliteration into Latin characters and the transfer into an approximate meaning in American English of the Words of Allah contained in the Qur'an.
.. This work is not sponsored or paid for by any government or anonymous charitable society; rather it is sponsored by individuals and local Islamic groups who are interested in directly and personally aiding in this process of transliteration and explanation of the Most Generous Qur'an by their own efforts or through their own halal wealth.
If you want to help put copies of this and other editions into the hands of Muslims whose mother tongue is English, or who were educated by means of the English language and have thus lost their ability to decipher Arabic through another language (e.g. Urdu, Farsi or Othmani), or if you are interested in joining in sadaqah jariyah and assuring your self of a trust that will survive your death, then we invite you to help sponsor this process of propagating the Qur'an.
In this context please note our address at the bottom if you would like further information.
.. We have rationalized some of our methods of transliteration so that the reader will, Inshallah, find a greater over-all consistency throughout the text as well as a greater ease in reading... to convey the subtle nuances of Qur’anic orthography, and it is our hope, bi'iznillah (by permission of Allah), that we have arrived at a more faithful rendering into Latin characters of the original hand-written Arabic text.
As we mentioned in our original notes, what we are aiming for is, at best, an approximation of the meaning and sound in Arabic. Having said this, we should also immediately say that this is, of course, an utter impossibility as the only real possibility for the serious student and lover of Qur'an is to learn Arabic, and specifically with the rules of tajwid from a fully qualified teacher.
However, from the response we have gotten since we produced the first edition of the Seventh House, we know that, alhamdulillah, many people have found the work helpful in their attempts to read the Qur'an. We also know that it has proven useful in a variety of circumstances, including weekend schools, prisons, Qur'an circles (halaqat) with a mixed company of Arabic and non-Arabic readers, and by individual students.
With all of this, in heart and mind we hope that you, the reader, will find some benefit in this and we ask that, 'inshallah, you will remember us in your prayers.
Sincere thanks to all the faithful servants and lovers of the Qur'an for their active and generous help in this work.
To contact us, please write: an-Noor Educational Foundation, 536 Pantops Center No. 129, Virginia 229111, or email: [email protected]
Why another Translation and what is its Basis?
A question has been raised by the community as to why we need yet another translation of al-Qur'an.
My own understanding is that al-Quranul Karim revealed by Allah in the pure Arabic tongue (lisanul arabiyyun) to His Messenger, the Seal of the Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah (s) cannot be adequately and truly translated into any other tongue or language.
For this reason I do not claim to have translated al-Quran. Rather, it is, as I clearly note in both Arabic and English, "A Guide to... Understanding some of the Meanings contained in the original Arabic text as set in early 21st Century American English."
Thus I am only presenting the reader with a guide to some - not all - of the many meanings contained in the original text. My claim is modest and I openly and gratefully acknowledge the help of my predecessors. As such this translation is close to being a compendium of shared understanding than a translation of an individual.
For the benefit of the reader I provide a list of translations I most frequently consulted. As I proceeded with my efforts I had open on my desk the following earlier attempts to convey the meaning of what Allah says in al-Quranul-Furqan.
1) Abdullah Yusuf Ali in the Sh. Muhammad Ashraf Edition, Lahore
2) Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall in the Hyderabad Edition, Deccan, Hyderabad
3) Muhammad Asad in the Dar al-Andalus Edition, Jebel Tariq - Gibraleter
4) Abu'l Qassim Publishing House in the Shaheeh International Edition, Jeddah
5) Abdalhaqq and Aisha Bewley in the Bookwork Edition, Norwich, UK
The following were not always open but I consulted them on many occasions:
6) Ahmed Ali, first edition, Princeton, USA
7) Mir Ahmad 'Ali, second edition, T.T.Q. Elmhust, USA
8) Ozek, Uzonglu, Topuzoglu and Maksutoglu, first edition, Istanbul, Turkey
[ One modern translation noticeably absent from this list is the Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an: An Abridged Version of at-Tabari, al-Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir with comments from Shahih al-Bukhari, summarized in One Volume by M. Hilali & M. Khan, published in K.S.A
I find it necessary to caution the reader about this translation. The brackets inserted in the text contain, not bridges to make the Arabic text clear, but heavily edited and selectively abridged commentary and tafsir. Additionally traditional sources are sometimes misquoted and contextually misrepresented; in fact it is very difficult for an unsuspecting student to read this 'interpretation' without winding up thoroughly confused as to what of this 'interpretation' is actually the Qur'an, what is ahadith, what is tafsir. This translation should be read critically and preferably, at the same time as several other translations for the sake of comparison.]
As a rule I always looked for the simplest possible word that is widely accepted in everyday usage. At all times I sought the generally agreed upon meaning of a word or term with the exception of a few words which I felt it is necessary to add to a list of untranslatable terms like Allah, as-salah, al-qur'an, az-zakat, as-sadaqah and others.
For some words I have give alternative translations such as "cover up [the Truth]" for kafara instead of more widely used "disbelieve", and in some cases I have given more than one translation in different places as in the case of dhulm, which has different meanings depending on the context in which Allah uses the word.
I have also retained the names of all the Prophets (peace be upon them all) in their original Arabic form and removed all ye's, thee's, thy's and other archaic English forms... we tried to bring the translation closer to the language of today than the more dated Pickthall text ... and whilst it is not aggressively modern ... it does reflect contemporary speech patterns.. We have tried to make the Tajwidi Qur'an more genuinely useful to the reader than the Eliasi version (of transliteration) and we of course hope that the reader agrees and benefits from our efforts.
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| Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee teaching in conversation with children, via Flickr |
+ > To learn more about the Tajwidi Qur'an visit this page.
+ > To learn about an appeal to contribute towards printing Tajwidi Qur'an please read this appeal here.
+ Official Website of Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee
Afala yatadabbarunal Qur’an?
Do they not then understand the Quran?
- 4:82
Alif Laam Ra. This is a Book whose Signs are perfected and then presented in harmonious clarity, from the One Who is Perfectly Wise and All-Aware.
- 11:01
Read the Qur’an, for verily it will come on the Day of Standing as an intercessor for its companions.
- Saying of the Messenger (s)
- Saying of the Messenger (s)
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