Approaching the Qur’án is a major event in religious publishing. Prof. Michael Sells has captured the complexity, power, and poetry of the early suras of the Qur’án, the sacred scripture of Islam.

Approaching the Qur’án presents brilliant translations of the short, hymnic chapters, or suras, associated with the first revelations to the Prophet Muhammad. Most of these early revelations appear at the end of the written text and are commonly reached only by the most resolute reader of existing English translations. These suras contain some of the most powerful prophetic and revelatory passages in religious history. They offer the vision of a meaningful and just life that anchors the religion of one-fifth of the world’s inhabitants.

Approaching the Qur’án is enriched by the inclusion of a compact disc recording of Quranic reciters chanting several of the early suras, allowing readers an opportunity to hear the Qur’án in its original form. The book includes Sells’ Introduction to the Qur’án, commentaries of the suras, a glossary of technical terms, and chapters discussing the sound nature and gender aspects of the Arabic text.

In praise of Approaching the Qur’an:

“Michael Sells is to be congratulated for making a major contribution to religious literature with Approaching the Qur’an, the best version of Muslim scriptures available in English. This is an important and illuminating work, one that will be welcomed by scholars, students, believers, and all who seek to better understand Islam and its sacred scripture.”
-- Carl Ernst is professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina and author of The Shambhala Guide to Sufism

“Approaching the Qur’an is a fluent and accessible text that flawlessly communicates the religious and literary verities of the Qur’an. Selected recitations by several internationally reputed Qur’an reciters in the accompanying compact disc only enhances the quality of this presentation. The reader-listener cannot help but being carried away by the ecstasy and rhapsody that both the aural and visual ‘texts’ produce. Every selection has a brief, lucid and, I dare say, seductive commentary that stimulates further exploration of the Qur’an. Both Muslim and non-Muslim audiences, beginners as well as advanced students of Islam will no doubt appreciate the many innovative facets of this extraordinary book. It is an indispensable aid for all students of religion and Islam, with Sells again at his best.”
-- Ebrahim Moosa is an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town and visiting professor at Stanford University. He is the editor of a posthumous volume of the late professor Fazlur Rahman, Revival and Reform and is the author of a forthcoming book on the thought of al-Ghazali.

“Approaching the Qur’an is a sensitive and unusually accessible first book on the Qur’an and its function as scripture for over one-seventh of the human race. For the reader who knows little of Islam and Muslim piety, this book opens up many facets of the special role that the Qur’an plays in Muslim life and thought. Dr. Sells is to be congratulated for a significant contribution to English-language materials on the Qur’an.”
-- William A. Graham is professor of the History of Religion and Islamic Studies at Harvard University, and author of Divine Word, Prophetic Word in Early Islam.

“Michael Sells’ Approaching the Qur’an is much more than a translation of the Qur’an. The work is a carefully considered introduction to a religious appreciation of the text from within a scholarly framework. By highlighting issues of the multiple levels upon which the text conveys its meaning to its readers and auditors, Sells manages to overcome the first impression that many people have of the Qur'an being a ‘difficult’ book. The structure of Approaching the Qur’an, with its parallel translation and commentary, will prove valuable both for interested general readers and for students studying the text within a classroom setting.”
-- Andrew Rippin is professor of Islamic and Religious Studies, University of Calgary, an associate editor of the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an, and editor of Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur’an.

“Scholars and students interested in the Qur’an are indebted to Michael Sells for his outstanding contribution to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Holy Book of Islam. His book, Approaching the Qur’an, with its scholarly introduction, its sensitive English translation of the early Suras, its insightful commentary on them, its analytical study of the auditory and literary aspects of selected Suras, its visually pleasing illustrations from the Arabic text of the Qur’an, and its accompanying CD is a veritable and enriching spiritual experience for everyone seeking a meaningful exposure to the Scripture of Islam.”
-- Issa J. Boullata is professor of Arabic Literature & Language, at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University. He is editor of Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur’an and former editor of The Muslim World quarterly.

About the author

Michael Sells is Professor of Comparative Religion at Haverford College and chairperson of the Haverford Department of Religion. He is author of The Bridge Betrayed: Genocide in Bosnia; Early Islamic Mysticism; Mystical Languages of Unsaying; Desert Tracings: Six Classical Arabian Odes; and is co-editor and contributor to the Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, Andalusia. Sells is founder and president of the Community of Bosnia Foundation, dedicated to supporting a multireligious Bosnia-Herzegovinia.

Author web site: http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/home.html

Islam / Scripture
224 pages
Includes audio CD of Quranic reciters

Hardcover
List Price: $29.95 / 1-883991-30-7

Original Trade Paperback
List Price: $21.95 / 1-883991-26-9

Excerpt from the Introduction

Excerpt from Translations
with Commentary