Abdur raheem kidwai biography of george
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Kidwai is of all praise for Hammad for brining such a wonderful translation, which so well caters the needs of English speaking people.
In a similar view, Kidwai lauds Khattab for bringing out a useful and timely translation, particularly for his “laudable concern to address the issues agitating the mind of the present day Muslims, especially those settled in the West” (p.
Moreover, Muslims being a minority community in so many countries should be all the more sensitive to this issue. Lacking in any distinctive feature, Kidwai writes “the only noteworthy aspect of this English translation is twisting the Quranic message peculiar to Qadyani belief.
Sectarian and Deviated Trends
In this categorization, Qur’an translations of sects like Shia and Barelvi, and other modern deviated groups and individuals such as Feminists and Pseudo-Muslim Orientalists are evaluated and discussed.
The Qur’an with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2004) by Ali Quli Qarai, an Iranian Shia scholar, according to Kidwai, is a “balanced and moderate on sectarian issues” as compared to the earlier translations of Shia scholars.
Kidwai briefly evaluates the translation and puts that the editors, apart from concealing their Qadyani identity and affiliation, have done “gross misrepresentation” of the meaning and message of the Qur’an; it rejects “miracles and the existence of angels, jinn and the joys of Paradise” (p. 147-151).
When Islam came, a lot of misconceptions were straightened out. When these visiting Christians expressed their desire to perform their prayer, the Prophet ﷺ told them: “You are followers of the one True God, please come, pray inside my mosque. How he set the first laudable instance of building the bridge between Christians and Muslims comes out from this report.
His depiction in the oral literature, romances and in both ecclesiastical and popular literature has been in terms of his being an archfiend or a son of Satan, heresiarch, anti-Christ, false idol, and god of the villains, murderer, morally degenerate person and impostor. In Chapter 1 he identifies several incidents related to Sirah, which underscore the Prophet’s unflinching commitment to tolerance and peaceful coexistence, with a pointed reference to his meeting with the Christian delegation from Najran, his pact with the Christian monks of Mount Sinai and the early Muslims’ hijrah under his instructions to the Christian state of Abyssinia (pp.
17-27), interlaced with his biographical anecdotes, is very instructive: how as a 16 year old student in a purely Christian setting of a small town, Needham in Massachusetts, US, he learnt first about Islam/Muslims through the traumatic and deplorable 9/11 tragedy. 52). Kidwai takes great pains, meticulously analyses and explores both its negative and positive sides.
Here the author gives a brief, but a useful introduction about the history of the English translations of the Qur’an besides he succinctly presents the weaknesses and strengths of these translations. For convenience, I would briefly explore under different categorization the trends in translation works Kidwai presented in the book.
Orientalist Trend:
Kidwai evaluates three Orientalist translations of the Qur’an: 1) Thomas Cleary’s The Qur’an: A New Translation (2004); Alan Jones’ The Qur’an Translated into English (2007); and A.
J. Droge’s The Qur’an: A New Annotated Translation (2014). Kidwai says that after 1971, Qadyani produced only a single English translation: The Holy Qur’an: Arabic Text and English Translation (2005) by Omar and Amatul Rahman. Since, out of 32 translations presented in the book, only three are written by the Orientalists, and 1 by a Qadyani scholar.
11).
Equally gratifying are the noble objectives behind his writing this book: “to build stronger bridges of understanding and peace between Christians and Muslims, to uplift our common humanity, and to defend the honour of Prophet Muhammad, who has been depicted by many Christians throughout history as the anti-thesis of Jesus.
Kidwai clarifies that a reader should not take each translation as final and for granted. Women are to be honored and respected.
✨Overall the book is designed in such a way that the Quran verses, commentary and hadith are not overwhelming to read. Kidwai further says that this trend of ideology by Muslim bearing names is credited to Rashad Khalifa (1935-1990), an Egyptian apostate who gained notoriety with his writings, particularly his clam of the presence of a mathematical structure in the Qur’an based on number 19 (p.
However, Droge’s also claim in the Qur’an has a problematic text, posses many lacunae, obscurity, and uncertainty of meaning.