Egypt's January 2011 uprising spurred millions to action with a cacophony of demands—including the call to address Egypt's education crisis and adult literacy rates. Read in the Name of Your Lord traces the push for universal literacy as a project caught between revolutionary activism and Islamic reformism in post-Mubarak Egypt. Despite their many disagreements, religious reformers, revolutionaries, and state actors converged on literacy as the first step toward realizing aspirations of the revolution. They invoked the verse Muslims believe was the first to be revealed, "Read in the name of your Lord," to teach literacy as a religious duty and the foundation for the country's future. Nermeen Mouftah unravels how this religiously inspired push for universal literacy was born of twenty-first-century scripturalism and simultaneously went beyond the Quran, to make reading and writing virtuous acts of the liberal state. While revolutionary literacy campaigns soon vanished and adult literacy rates remained stubbornly low, their efforts revealed the importance of recognizing alternative modes of text processing and the personhood and knowledge of nonliterate people. Read in the Name of Your Lord demonstrates how the rise in modern scripturalism underpinned literacy activism, blurring the binary between secular and religious knowledge.
Perhaps the best Quran English translation. It is clear, easy to read, and very faithful to the Arabic original. It closely follows the Arabic text, and often reminds the reader of the Arabic original. It uses today's English language, and today's English vocabulary, thus it is easy to read and understand. The flow is smooth, the sentence structure is simple, the meaning is clear. This Quran translation has no interpretations, no footnotes, and no explanations. It is a pure translation of the Quran, from Arabic to English, and it does not try to emphasize any school of thought. The text purely and accurately translates the Holy Quran, from Arabic, into contemporary English. It was translated by a Muslim, who saw firsthand the miracles inside the Quran. His native language is Arabic; his everyday language is American English. For 15 years, he studied the Quran. For many years, he translated speech between his mother and his wife. For a living, he develops quality software. This Quran translation is available in two editions. This edition (A) uses the word "Allah" to refer to the Creator. Edition (B) uses the word "God". Quran Sura 91. The Sun. ash-Shams. In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. 1. By the sun and its radiance. 2. And the moon as it follows it. 3. And the day as it reveals it. 4. And the night as it conceals it. 5. And the sky and He who built it. 6. And the earth and He who spread it. 7. And the soul and He who proportioned it. 8. And inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness. 9. Successful is he who purifies it. 10. Failing is he who corrupts it. 11. Thamood denied in its pride. 12. When it followed its most wicked. 13. The messenger of Allah said to them, "This is the she-camel of Allah, so let her drink." 14. But they called him a liar, and hamstrung her. So their Lord crushed them for their sin, and leveled it. 15. And He does not fear its sequel. The Quran is the last Book from the Creator. It contains guidance, mercy, and healing. The Quran is a blessing, within reach.
Reading the Sacred Scriptures: From Oral Tradition to Written Documents and their Reception examines how the scriptures came to be written and how their authority has been constructed and reinforced over time. Highlighting the measures taken to safeguard the stability of oral accounts, this book demonstrates the care of religious communities to maintain with reverence their assembled parchments and scrolls. Written by leading experts in their fields, this collection chronicles the development of the scriptures from oral tradition to written documents and their reception. It features notable essays on the scriptures of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Daoism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Shinto, and Baha'i. This book will fascinate anyone interested in the belief systems of the featured religions. It offers an ideal starting point from which undergraduate and postgraduate religious studies students, teachers and lecturers can explore religious traditions from their historical beginnings.
Christians and Muslims both have an abundance of names for God. The Bible provides Christians with a rich array of names for God, and the ninety-nine Names that Islam gives traditionally to God are drawn from the Qur’an. Praise the Name of the Lord is an offering of texts, from the Qur’an and Bible, meant to lead to meditation and prayer. To pray starting from the texts of another religion can help us to acquire a better appreciation of that religion. It is possible that we will find different echoes that can capture our attention and may nourish our prayer, encouraging dialogue with the persons among whom we are living.
To some, the concept of having faith in a higher power or a set of religious beliefs is nonsensical. Indeed, many view religion in general, and Christianity in particular, as unfounded and unreasonable. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek argue, however, that Christianity is not only more reasonable than all other belief systems, but is indeed more rational than unbelief itself. With conviction and clear thinking, Geisler and Turek guide readers through some of the traditional, tested arguments for the existence of a creator God. They move into an examination of the source of morality and the reliability of the New Testament accounts concerning Jesus. The final section of the book deals with a detailed investigation of the claims of Christ. This volume will be an interesting read for those skeptical about Christianity, as well as a helpful resource for Christians seeking to articulate a more sophisticated defense of their faith.
In the Qur'an, a pious Muslim hears God's voice guiding and encouraging, consoling and reproaching, promising the righteous mercy and eternal bliss, while threatening the wicked with wrath and eternal torment. For Muslims, the Qur'an is the word of God, which has entered human time to shape history. According to Muslim sources, the Angel Gabriel revealed himself to Prophet Muhammad in 610 CE while he was in prayerful retreat in a cave on Mount Hira, outside Mecca. It is said that in this initial meeting, the Angel Gabriel pressed Muhammad so vehemently that he felt he was being choked. The Qur'an states that the angel then commanded: Recite in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a blood clot. Recite, for your Lord is most magnanimous - who taught by the pen; taught man that which he did not know. (Qur'an 96:1-5)Muslims claim that God warned Prophet Muhammad: We shall surely lay upon you weighty speech, and enjoined him to rise up through most of the night in prayer, and remember fervently what he was told to be, "the Lord of the east and the west" (Qur'an 73:5 and 73:8). For Muslims this "weighty speech" marked Prophet Muhammad as the last Messenger of God to humankind; this event was to have a great impact on the course of human history.The Qur'an is said to have been communicated to Prophet Muhammad in two ways. Muslims believe that it was communicated through the Angel Gabriel. These communications were revealed in small portions: single verses, groups of verses, and entire chapters or suras over a period of twenty to twenty-two years. The Qur'an for Muslims is not only words that can be uttered, heard, and recorded; it is also the heavenly archetype of which the recited and written Qur'an is only an earthly copy. The Qur'an in its heavenly archetypal form is for Muslims the source of divine revelation throughout human history and is eternally preserved by God. It is the covenant of God with humankind which He established with the children of Adam when they were but ideas or essences in the divine realm. Prophet Muhammad also professed to have experienced this heavenly Qur'an, in addition to having been the recipient of revelation. He would experience a profound spiritual state, shivering on a hot summer day or sweating on a cold winter day, hearing sounds like the ringing of a bell. These sounds transformed themselves in his consciousness into human words, which he memorised and had recorded.Muslims also believe that the Qur'an was also sent down in part, to Prophet Muhammad's heart on the "night of determination" (Qur'an 44:3 and 97:1), a blessed night for all Muslims. This event sanctified his life and made Prophet Muhammad an example for Muslims to follow. In the Qur'an, God asked: Am I not your Lord? and those who chose to worship God affirmed as Lord responded with the words: Yes, we bear witness... (Qur'an 7: 172). The Qur'an is the seal and testimony to this covenant. Its message is, for Muslims, a powerful affirmation of divine lordship and Muslim commitment.The Qur'an as an earthly text has been inextricably bound to Muslim history. It served as an answer to the problems of the Arab society in Prophet Muhammad's time. The Qur'an was also a response to Prophet Muhammad's questions about the meaning of human life and the mystery of creation, and was closely linked to the history of the nascent Muslim community in Mecca and, later, in Medina. Many of the Qur'anic verses are said to have been revealed in answer to specific questions or life situations. The answers given are seen by Muslims to be general principles, moral imperatives, or precepts applicable to all times and places. The family of the Prophet, which the Qur'an directly addressed (see Qur'an 33:32), is seen by Muslims to be a model for all families and all societies in the world.
The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.
Bridges' translation aims to help non-Arabic readers in pondering the Qur'an (tadabbor). The translators focused not only on translating what God meant to say, but also on translating how He spoke. There are three main new features in this translation that make it unique: 1. It is the first translation which includes the ten Qira'at (modes of recitation). The main text is written in accordance with the Qira'a of Asem, narrated by Hafs. Variations from that are presented in footnotes denoted by 'Q'. The translation presents around 30% of the variations of the Qira'at--those which affect the meaning. 2. It is the first translation that takes into consideration the Qur'anic phenomenon of grammatical shifts, whether in verb tenses, numbers, or pronouns. These are a great source of pondering for the reader. 3. To denote whether a pronoun like 'you' or an imperative verb like 'say' is plural, dual, or singular, the translators did not impose their understanding on the reader by adding text between brackets like (O Prophet) to denote singular form, or (O mankind) to denote plural form. Rather, this distinction was achieved by adding a superscript after pronouns and imperative verbs. For example: youpl is used for a plural pronoun, yousg for a singular pronoun, and youdl for a dual pronoun.
Approaching the Qur’an presents brilliant translations of the short, hymnic chapters, or Suras, associated with the first revelations to the Prophet Muhammad. These early Suras contain some of the most powerful, prophetic, and revelatory passages in religious history, offering the vision of a meaningful and just life that anchors the faith of one fifth of the world’s inhabitants. In addition to these translations, Michael Sells provides an introduction to the Qur’an, commentaries on the Suras, a glossary of technical terms, and discussions of the auditory nature and gender aspects of the Arabic text. An ideal resource for students and interested lay readers, this third edition also includes a new full Sura and associated commentary, a new preface, and a thoroughly updated bibliography.
