In Islamic theology, it is believed the Quran was a miracle revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Study Quran was also found controversial for omitting the original Arabic text in its already thick translation. It has however been argued that previous interpretations of the Quran, especially Hilali-Khan, have been responsible for the current strain of Islam that is hostile and combative to adherents of other religions, and espouses a spread of Islamisation and Islamism.ĭr Ahmad Farouk Musa of local group Islamic Renaissance Front, argued in a forum on December 2014 that the Hilali-Khan translation nurtured Muslims to treat non-believers as second-class citizens and see them as not equals, through the interpreters’ insertion of a Salafi worldview. His preferred translation? “Mainstream and safe” translations such as Sahih International by three American converts that was published by a Saudi publishing house and one by British editor of the Journal of Quranic Studies, Muhammad AS Abdel Haleem. “It doesn’t just have mistakes, it’s actually dangerous,” Abu Eesa warned. It is no wonder then that the The Study Quran is being panned by some scholars, including British Abu Eesa Niamatullah, who advised his nearly 200,000 followers on Facebook to “avoid it like the plague.”
The translation was said to provide rich commentary drawn on various interpretations that allegedly have never before been available in English, including according to author Mobeen Vaid, even from the mystic sect of Sufism, to the rebel defectors Khairijites.Īs such, it was seen as rejecting the orthodox translations and interpretations of the Quran that was perhaps influenced by the Saudi-backed export of Salafism, including the widely-read Hilali-Khan version officially sanctioned by the Islamic superpower. Since its publication in November last year, an English translation of the Quran called The Study Quran has allegedly caused a stir among ultra-conservative Salafists for its wide-ranging interpretation of the holy book, or so American site The Daily Beast reported.