The Study Quran

The Study Quran (hereafter SQ) is an impressive undertaking that took severalscholars years to complete. It consists of a general introduction, a translationof the Qur’an, a synopsis/adaptation of certain Quran commentaries,and a series of essays that seek to explain the sacred text’s place in Islamiclife and thought. These latter range from “How to Read the Quran” and“The Islamic View of the Quran” to “Quranic Ethics, Human Rights, andSociety” and different aspects of the text’s interpretation, such as “TheQur’an and Sufism” and “Quranic Commentaries.” The project includesmaps that reconstruct the position of important events such as the Battle ofBadr and the Conquest of Makkah. Several of the essays are written by excellentscholars, and the project as a whole is grand in its scope. The entirework, including introductions and maps, exceeds 2,000 pages.It is difficult to review such a work as a whole, because there is somuch of it and at almost every level it represents a construction of particularvalues and views. From the choice of the editors and their approach to themanner of translating the text, the commentaries that are included, and eventhe maps – each of these elements has been chosen by the editors as a partof an overall vision of what it takes to understand the Quran correctly ...