ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books An Introduction to the Glorious Quran Preface By John Cooper The Holy Qur'an, the scripture of the Islamic religion, was first translated into English by Alexander Ross in 1649, after a French version by Andre du Ryer. After three and a half centuries, and many subsequent transla­tions, however, it still remains a closed text to most English readers.

Many reasons can no doubt be found for the apparent difficulties encountered in efforts to engage with the Qur'an in English; some of these will be to do with problems of language, others with more complex matters of religious, social, and political history and their influence on a particular translator's motivation and the individual's response to the Book, as the Qur'an calls itself.

It is rarely a comfort for the reader to be told that there exists a vast learned literature, composed by Muslim scholars down through the centuries, devoted to the genre of tafsir , or commentary on the Qur'an; this can be rather more intimidating than comforting.

Moreover, the twentieth century has witnessed a growing literature in English on the Qur'an, written both by Muslims and non‑Muslims, but which is also more often than not directed at the scholarly reader, and can leave someone wishing a simple introduction in a state of frustration.

What is very often needed by a person coming to this scripture for the first time with a sincere desire to penetrate its meaning is some guide as to how it influences the ordinary believer, how it exerts its effect on his or her life, and how it penetrates the deepest layers of a Muslim's conscience. This work by Bahram Samii marks a significant effort to give just such an introduction.

The author has avoided an academic style, and has instead concentrated on a simple exposition of the way in which the Qur'an presents itself in its own terms and how this can be disclosed through a careful reading of the text.

It cannot, of course, be done without some knowledge of the Arabic in which the Qur'an was revealed to The (SA) over four­teen centuries ago, and this terminology has been explained to a sufficient degree for the non‑expert to understand the sometimes very different meanings which such a vocabulary has when compared to its contempo­rary English translations.