The Meaning of the Illustrious Qur'an: English Translation with Introduction

It may be asked: Is there any need for a fresh English translation? To those who ask this question commend a careful consideration of the facts which I have set out in my Note on Translation. After they have read it, I would invite them to take any particular passage, say 2: 74 or 2: 102, or 2: 164 and compare it with any previous version they choose. If they find that I have helped them even the least bit further in its meanings, or appreciating its beauty or catching something of the grandeur of the original, I would claim that my humble attempt is justified.
It is the duty of every Muslim, man, woman, or child, to read the Qur'an and understand it according to his own capacity. If any one of us attains to some knowledge or understanding of it by study. contemplation, and the test of life, both outward and inward, it is his duty, according to his capacity, to instruct others, and share with them the joy and peace which result from contact with the spiritual world. The Qur'an-indeed every religious book-has to be read, not only with the tongue and voice and eyes, but with the best light that our intellect can supply, and even more, with the truest and purest light which our heart and conscience can give us. It is in this spirit that I would have my readers approach the Qur'an.
It was between the age of four and five that first learned to read its Arabic words, to revel in its rhythm and music and wonder at its meaning. I have a dim recollection of the Khatm ceremony which closed that stage. It was called "completion": it really just began a spiritual awakening that has gone on ever since.