The video compares The Study Quran to two English translations of the Quran: I compare "The (new) Study Quran" by Harper Collins (Edited by Dr. Sayyed Nasr), The Meaning of the Quran" by Muhammad Asad, and "The Holy Quran: Text and Commentary" by Yusuf Ali.

Reviewed by Mark Sequeira

Another Review by Caner Dagli

Approaching The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary

The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary - Review by Cambridge University Press

The Study Quran is an impressive volume intended for scholars and teachers in various fields, as well as for students and general readers, both Muslim and non-Muslim. It is a vital addition to the existing translations of the QuranFootnote* and to the not-so-vast body of commentaries on the Quran in the English language. The volume contains a comprehensive English translation and an extensive commentary on the entire Quran, as well as several essays on a range of topics, including Quranic ethics and law, branches of theology, death and dying, and art in the Quran. It includes useful appendices on hadith citations, a timeline of major events specified in the Quran, biographies of the commentators and the authors, a solid index, and a number of maps illustrating the ancient world and Arabia in the early years of Islam.

The volume is a great resource for students and scholars in the fields of theology and religious studies and can be a useful reference in other fields of the humanities. It is an essential resource for scholars, teachers, and students of Islam, both graduate and undergraduate. It provides students interested in reading the Quran in greater depth access to the rich commentary tradition in a single volume. Study of the Quran for those not familiar with Arabic or Persian (the major languages of the commentarial tradition) has presented quite a challenge. I often refer my students to online sources, as the print sources are at best piecemeal; a university or college library in the United States, for example, might have one or two volumes translated into English out of a massive twenty- or thirty-volume commentary. The Study Quran fills the void by providing an in-depth analysis of verses, Quranic phrases, and a variety of topics while incorporating multiple commentaries, among them the most prominent and influential works of tafsir (interpretation).

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, the editor in chief, is a world-renowned scholar of Islam and comparative religion. He is a leading proponent of religio perennis, an ideology that perceives all religious traditions as sharing a single universal truth as a basis of the development of various doctrines. That perspective can find its rationalization in the Quran and its call to universality of revelation, particularly in its reference to Abraham and Jesus as muslims, “submitters.” This point is taken as a prelude to the beginnings of the development of Religionwissenschaft as it appears in the works of Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (d. 422/1048) and the theories of inner unity of religions in the works of Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 638/1240) and Jalal al-din Rumi (d. 672/1273). Nasr is also the shaykh, “spiritual master,” of the independent branch of the Sufi Shadhiliya-Alawiya order—namely, the Maryamiyya. The general editors, Caner Dagli, Maria Massi Dakake, and Joseph Lumbard, and the assistant editor, Muhammed Rustom, are all Muslim scholars of Islamic studies. All have studied with Nasr and were recruited by him for this project. The nine-year project was intended as a Muslim effort rather than a Western or an Orientalist approach to the Quran, even as all the editors of the volume, including Nasr himself, are Western-educated with grounding in Islamic traditional teachings. The volume is not limited confessionally, ethnically, or geographically.

The Study Quran avoids fundamentalist or modernist approaches to interpretation developed in the past two centuries. Its goal is to be faithful to traditional interpretations and to be universal. It contains both Sunni and Shi'a commentaries. The essay contributors include scholars from various geographical and ethnic backgrounds (American, Egyptian, Iranian, French, Pakistani Canadian, and others). The contributors also represent different schools of Islamic thought and Islamic law. Some are Sunni, others are Shi'a (Twelver, or Isma'ili). Some have leanings toward tasawwuf (Sufism), and others place emphasis on linguistic, political-philosophical, or ethical perspectives. (credit)

Also worth Noting: The Study Quran: A Review at Muslim Matters