islam

This book shows an amazing miracle. The Quran is mathematically composed far beyond human capabilities. This miracle is not only found in the Quran, but in everything of God's creation. This book does not only show the verses in the Quran CLEARLY showing to follow it ALONE (being complete, perfect, and fully detailed 6:19, 38, 114, 115; 50:45) and worship God ALONE in prayer by mentioning His name ALONE (39:45) but has a great miracle to prove it. Of course, some people falsely ask their scholars (who they treat as idols) what is right (42:21, 9:31, 33:67) and fail to give up old traditions (54:3) despite the great miracle presented (54:2) and clear verses in the Quran that oppose their actions. -If you are a sincere seeker to the path of God you will find that this translation is by far the clearest translation clearly presenting the message of the Quran using modern English (unlike many translations that use archaic English that does not present many commandments in the Quran they way they should be, to the point of covering up the message) and has an amazing miracle to prove the Quran as the word of God.

This is the best English translation available of the Quran. I have compared it to other translations and done my homework on the Arabic and the other translators are biased by Hadith and Sunnah (traditional laws), to the point where they actually don't represent the actual Arabic that is being translated (they omit words completely or choose the wrong meanings). This happens because they do not worship God ALONE. They set up their leaders and traditions as idols and don't even realize they are doing so.

Rashad Khalifa (the translator) openly says in the Introduction as well as the Appendices that he advocates God ALONE, and Quran ALONE, since it is God's word, and infallible, while the Hadith and Sunna are not. Hadith and Sunnah contradict each other as well as the Quran. The Quran has NO CONTRADICTIONS in it.

I encourage you to read this translation for yourself and compare it to others in your search for the Truth. Any sincere seeker will be guided by God, as promised in the Quran.

The title and presentation of this book are very misleading. Whether or not this was intentional on the part of the authour and/or publishers, I cannot say. However, some hard truths about this book are:

This is not the Quran, and its claim to be the "Authorized English version" is seriously misleading. Yes, this is a translation of the Quran, and yes, it is in English, but the word "Authorized" in the title should in certainly not be taken as an indication that this translation is in any way canonical, or even widely-accepted. Serious questions have in fact been raised about the legitimacy of many of the translations. HOWEVER, as no translation is perfect, this is no reason to discard this book out of hand. It is in fact, as the publicity states, very readable and clear, while avoiding overly-modern language which would have detracted from the "sacred" nature of the text.

Thus I would have recommended it to those looking for an easy-to-read translation of the Quran - but for the second major deception practiced by the authour, being the whole "mathematical miracle" theory, which pervades the book in the form of numerous footnotes and an appendix. This aspect of the book completely ruins it for me. Claims of "mathematical miracles" and hidden codes in Holy scripture abound, and while they all seem credible engouh, anyone who has seriously and rigourously investigated these matters will quickly discover that the "miracle" this authour claims to have discovered has no more scientific or mathematical basis than any of the many similar claims that have been made throughout history. One might be inclined to pardon the authour his spurious scholarship were it not for the fact that he then uses it as the basis of his claim to prophethood, which is to be found in several of the footnotes. This leads me to seriously doubt his intentions, to the point of questioning the reliiability of his translation.

So, all things considered, I would recommend that this book be approached with a great deal of caution. Inasmuch as it presents many of the core principles of Islam in a relatively accessible manner, it is doubtless of value as a source of ideas for those interested in questions of religion and spirituality. However, the abovementioned faulty scholarship seriously undermines the authour/translator's credibility, and makes it difficult for me, personally, to take him seriously.

As a final word to those who are interested in how my personal beliefs may have skewed the opinions expressed here (and because it seems that everyone who criticises this book is instantly labelled as misguided, ultra-conservative or blindly atheistic), I would like to point out that (1) I am not a Muslim, nor am I affiliated with any other religious or spiritual sect. (2) I agree with the authour's contention that misguided application of the principles of the Hadith has been responsable for much wrong-doing in the past, and still is today. (3) I believe that the true "mathematical miracle" to be found when one delves into the endless complexity, subtlety and beauty of pure mathematics (as opposed to the relatively simple and arbitrary numerical manipulations presented in this book) IS an indication of intentional design by a sentient creator.