The order of the chapters makes no sense...Sura 1 is burried in the middle...everything is upside-down and backwards. I wish I had bought a different version.

OK, I have an Arabic speaking friend who criticizes all English translations of the Koran. Because Dawood wasn't available online, as are Pickthal, Shakir, and others, I bought a copy, and as far as translations go, it's probably as good as you're going to get in English. Yusuf Ali is *soft* in his rendering, and you're going to need supporting books like the Tafsirs, Hadiths, and Sira to get as much understanding of Mohammad as possible. Make no mistake, Islam is Mohammad and his belief system. Know the man behind the cloak of this religion, and you'll have a far better understanding of the images coming out of Islam on a daily basis. A Koran might be a gateway, but it will not bring you to understand Mohammad's character; that will be more clearly revealed by his Sunnah.

Good luck, and fasten your seatbelts; it's a very bumpy ride.

I am not an expert in Arabic, but I have read two different translations of the Koran, one by A. J. Arberry and the Penguin classic edition translated by N. J. Dawood. The Penguin edition is far superior in readability, although the basic teachings of the Koran can be recognized from either translation.
Most striking to me is how disjointed and random the teachings seem to be in comparison to the Bible (with which I am far more familiar). "Love your enemies" and "Turn the other cheek" from the Bible stand in contrast to the more militaristic tone of the Koran which encourages adherents to "Make war on them [the unbelievers] until idolatry shall cease and God's religion shall reign supreme" (The Spoils, 8:40; see also Prohibition, 66:9). Heaven is pictured as a place of sensuous delights designed especially for men, who "shall sit with bashful, dark-eyed virgins, as chaste as the sheltered eggs of ostriches" (The Ranks, 37:48). Although women have some protection and rights in the Koran, God has made men superior to women and given men permission to "beat them" (Women, 4:34 or 4:38 in other translations).
There are numerous allusions to people whose names appear also in the Bible, but always with a different slant. Abraham's significant son becomes Ishmael instead of Isaac, and Jesus is mentioned, but his relationship to God as the Son of God is denied (The Believers, 23:91). In stark contrast to the biblical emphasis on salvation by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), the Koran teaches that salvation comes to those whose good deeds weigh heavy on the scales. Those whose deeds are light forfeit their souls and abide in Hell forever (The Believers, 23:104). In the Koran, the earth is created in two days instead of six. Revenge is acceptable. In divorce, he gets the children! Most disturbing, perhaps, are instructions on what to do with those who abandon Islam and have become disbelievers. "Do not befriend them," "Seize them and put them to death wherever you find them" (Women, 4:90). The Koran does, indeed, make for significant reading.

I bought this for my Kindle, and the digital version (Marked with a blue and white cover that says "[...]") has no working table of contents (the TOC is present, but it's not hyperlinked), so there is no internal navigation at all. Very difficult to use on a eReader of any sort.

To Kindle owners: There are three digital versions of the Koran available from Amazon that allow you to download a sample chapter (there are versions that have no samples at all - can't speak for those), and one of the three has a working Table of Contents. I suggest you download the sample chapters, check for a working table of contents and buy that version.

The Koran (Penguin Classics)

I am a non-arab Muslim and I was searching for a good and linguistically modern translation of the Koran.

This translation by N.J. Dawood, published by Penguin Classics is hands-down the absolute BEST translation that I have come across. It is very readable, coherent and limits the use of archaic and intimidating language.

This is a very important book for everyone to read whether you are muslim or not. If you have read this book I think you should read "Detained Differences" by J. Robert Rowe. Find out how real muslims truly are, and muslims beware, you wont like the brutal honest look you get from Detained Differences.

this book provides nice and comprehensive rendering of the qur'an. it has the most authoritative rendering of qur'an i have ever read. best for the first time reader of qur'an and regular readers as wel.

This book is the purloining of judaism, the rendition of judaism by a madman, living in a cave and trying to hide his murderous evil intent behind a made up "religion". From the begininning , there was nothing of the good to be found in this tract. It is hateful and in the end pure evil. These are the lunatic ravings of a mandman, intent on stealing the blessing the g-d bestowed upon the jewish people . It is a shame that Amazon or anyone carries this sadistic tome.

A good translation of the texts of the most evil and intolerant religions in the history of man. You have heard Islam is a religion of peace and love. It is not read the Koran. Islam is a religion that teaches Hate, Intolerance, War and Murder.
According to Islam Non believers (anyone who is not Muslum) have only three choices, 1. Conversion to Islam, 2. Subjugation (slavery) and 3. Death.
The Koran teaches Hate and intolerance on every page. Muslums are tought to hate and distrust all non-muslums. Which of course makes it absolute folly to try to engage Muslums in any kind of negotiation or contract.
Dont listen to the Muslums, and the politically correct Muslum apologists
READ THIS BOOK AND LEARN THE TRUTH YOURSELF. ISLAM IS A RELIGION OF HATE!!

Great book for understanding this religion. They are peaceful people. Good to read if you really want to know what Islam is supposed to be about.

To anybody wanting to understand Islamic fundamentalism, the Koran is a must read. Once you have read it you will understand why they can be called Fundamentalists, they are just following the revelations from the archangel Gabriel gave to Muhammad over a 20 year period.

Bear in mind in chronologically order, the earlier verses are actually at the end of the book and later ones at the start of the book. There is a doctrine in Islam that the chronologically latter verses cancel out the earlier verses.

I recommend this version above the others, because the language is in Plain English, easy to understand and does not sugarcoat the passages, since the translation was done by a Non-Muslim.

The book can be bit diffcult to read at times, however I would recommend keep on reading it until you have finished. To have a better understanding of Islamic theology and how the Sharia came to be developed read the Hadith's which are a Collections of sayings and acts of Muhammad and the first Muslims. One written by Sahih Bukhari is seen as the most accurate, also read is the life of The Life of Muhammad by I. Ishaq, as translated by A. Guillaume.

Credit can be given to this Koran for it is generally available in western, non-Islamic bookshops - in my experience anyway, making the Koran available to non-Muslims and spreading the message and salvation of Islam despite what you may think of this translation. More credit can be given to the good introduction of this book which is informative to those who aren't acquainted with the divine nature of this Koran or Quran, as well as the simple and effective blurb on the back of the book.

This Koran translation/interpretation reads like a good novel and is likely to spark more interest for the first time reader than some of the more detailed interpretations/translations of the Koran because of this. If you wish for a more detailed version of the Koran/Quran in English than I suggest you go for "The Holy Koran Interpreted by S.V. Mir Ahmed Ali" or "Quran: The Final Testament, Authorized English Version with Arabic Text, Revised Edition IV by Rashad Khalifa" as these two versions capture the scientific knowledge [proof of divine authorship] of the Quran as these translations were performed with the foresight of knowing about modern day science and it being contained in the Koran/Quran. This is lacking (scientific interpretation) in Abdullah Yusuf Ali's outstanding but some what dated translation.

Despite what the academics say about this translation it is published by a western publisher and will find its way into the hearts of non-Muslims probably more readily than most other copies of the Koran as it is also available in a Penguin classics version [some bookstores have an entire shelf dedicated to Penguin classics] with parallel Arabic text.
It was my first copy of the Koran which I obtained when I was in year 3 and will always be special to me [back then it had a different cover and was the only available copy in the country]. The Koran/Quran is also mathematically composed as further evidence that it is a speech from God/Allah.

P.S: Rashad Khalifa left out two verses in Surah/Chapter 9:128-129 of the Koran/Quran for good reason. I was always taught that two false verses were injected into the Koran/Quran by bad people and his translation provides evidence why they don't belong there. I was taught this before seeing Dr. Khalifa's evidence.

If you have ever read the Koran than this book is of little difference!!!

When I say this is a good translation, I'm guessing because I don't read Arabic. The reason I feel confident that it's a good translation is that in comparing passages here with passages in other translations, I see no significant divergence.

The typical American reader, however needs to undersand the Muslim concept of a translation of the Koran (or Quran) as it's more commonly transliterated. Westerners tend to look for a good readable translation of a classic. In the case of a religious text as this we naturally compare it to the Bible, which is the standard religious text of the Western World. To a Muslim, this is ridiculous, as the Quran is not meant to be translated and studied systematically the way we do the Bible. In Arabic, Quran means "recitation." Thus the Quran is to be recited in a manner similar to the way a passage of the Psalmody might be recited in a liturgical church. This recitation then serves as a basis for mediation, but it's useless to recite a translation because it doesn't have the same spiritual impact.

Even given the prejudice that Muslims would view our systematic study of the Quran to be, in this day and age such a study is important for the non-Muslim. In this regard, this is a fairly good readable translation. I personally don't care for the way the translators almost reversed the surah order, but it does make for a more readable text.

I give it three stars because, while it's a first rate translation, an objective, systematic study of the Quran shows it to be a markedly inferior text to the Bible. While such comparisons are not politically correct in our "tolerant" society, an honest reader should admit that this is the purpose of studying systematically the sacred texts of Christianity and Judaism versus that of Islam.

I admit that, as a Christian, I am biased in favor of the Bible, but I would also confidently assert that any objective reader given the choice between the two Books would arrive at the same conclusion.

Obviously an organized plan to demolish Christianity at the time. Begun by Kabbalistic magicians and Gnostics. I have read and studied it thoroughly.

I thought I had ordered the hard back version but got the paper back. I was ordering a NIV version of the bible at the same time and got the hard back version of that.

I thought I had ordered the hard back version but got the paper back. I was ordering a NIV version of the bible at the same time and got the hard back version of that.