A Critical Review of a New Translation and Commentary of the Qur an

The Study Qur’an: A New Translation and Commentary is the culmination of a project which has been carried out by the publication of Harper Collins in 2015. This book for the first time provides its readers with a complete English commentary on the Qur’an. This is a comprehensive and inclusive book whose writers are a group of scholars of Islamic Studies who worked under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Seyyed Hossein Nasr, with the cooperation of Caner Dagli, Maria Dakake, Joseph Lumbard, and Muhammad Rustom. In both translation and commentary on the Qur’an verses, they draw upon a wide range of Muslim commentaries on the Quran, including Sunni and Shii commentaries; and generally deal with the principles of believes which are consistent with the dominant various kalāmi trends in Islamic thought. The present article is the translation of Mobin Vid’s article in which he provides a critical and almost comprehensive review of the Study Qur’an. At first, he briefly talks about the current outlook of the Qur’an translations, and then examines the features of the Study Qur’an. Finally, he notes some considerations about the book such as the withdrawal of consensus in stoning sentence, and religious pluralism.