The Meanings of the Inimitable Quran: A Lection-Based Rendering in English

This is the first integral English translation of the Qur'an that aims to give the lay reader access to the ten canonical, mass-transmitted readings known as the qira’at or lections. The readings of the Qur'an are one of the windows on the inexhaustible multiplicity of meanings and absolutely unique style that typify the Book of Allah. Such aspects are among the bases on which the Ummah's understanding of its miraculous inimitability is founded.

This work is a rendering of the meanings of the Qur'an based on its celebrated commentary by al-Baydawi (642-691/1244-1292). The discipline of Qur’anic translation is rightly affirmed as one of the well-considered avenues of exegetical renewal. The greatest hope of Qur'an translators is thus the same as that of exegetes: for the Qur'an to pour something of its revelational and sapiential provisions on their endeavours. A faithful interpretation of its meanings therefore aims to ground itself in a trusted tafsir and adhere to its guidelines.

Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad holds scholarly licenses (ijazat) from two hundred Shaykhs and has authored four dozen books and hundreds of articles on Islamic hermeneutics, doctrine, Hadith, sufism, biography and heresiology. He has completed an annotated complete translation of Imam al-Baydawi's Tafsir, the first-ever in any language. He lives in Brunei Darusalam with his family.