Excerpt from the Introduction

Most of the world’s Muslims, including the majority of those who live outside the Arab world, learn the Qur’an in Arabic. For them, the sense of some extraordinary power and beauty in its language is readily recognized. Generations of Qur’anic commentators have tried to account for the compelling nature of the composition, articulation, or voice of the Qur’an in Arabic. But the fact that there was something special about it for the commentators and their contemporaries was assumed: It was apparent from the love of people for the Qur’anic voice; from the intertwining of the Qur’anic allusions and rhythms in the rich fabric of art, literature, and music; from the way the Qur’an is recited at great occasions and in the most humble circumstances of daily life; and from the devotion people put into learning to recite it correctly in Arabic. The sound of Qur’anic recitation can move people to tears, from ‘Umar, the powerful second Caliph of Islam, to the average farmer, villager, or townsman of today, including those who may not be particularly observant or religious in temperament.

Yet for Westerners who do not read or speak Arabic, the effort to get even a basic glimpse of what the Qur’an is about has proved frustrating. The Qur’an is not arranged in chronological order or narrative pattern. Indeed, the passages associated with the very first revelations given to Muhammad, those learned first by Muslims when they study the Qur’an in Arabic, are placed at the very end of the written Qur’an. After a short prayer, the written Qur’an begins with the longest and one of the most complex chapters, one from Muhammad’s later career, which engages the full array of legal, historical, polemical, and religious issues in a fashion bewildering for the reader not immersed in the history and law of early Islam. For those familiar with the Bible, it would be as if the second page opened with a combination of the legal discussions in Leviticus, the historical polemic in the book of Judges, and apocalyptic allusions from Revelation, with the various topics mixed in together and beginning in mid-topic.

This volume is an attempt to approach the Qur’an in two senses. First, in the translations and commentary I have tried to bring across some sense of that particular combination of majesty and intimacy that makes the Qur’anic voice distinctive. Second, I have sought to allow the reader who is unfamiliar with the details of Islamic history to approach the Qur’an in a way that allows an appreciation of its distinctive literary character. The selections presented here are the short, hymnic chapters or Suras associated with the first revelations to Muhammad, most of which appear at the end of the written text and are commonly reached only by the most resolute reader. These short Suras are the sections learned first by Muslims in their study of the Arabic Qur’an. They also comprise the verses most often memorized, quoted, and recited. They contain some of the most powerful prophetic and revelatory passages in religious history. And they offer the vision of a meaningful and just life that anchors the religion of one-fifth of the world’s inhabitants.

Excerpt from Translations with Commentary

1. The Opening

In the name of God the Compassionate the Caring

Praise be to God
lord of the worlds
master of the day of reckoning
5To you we turn to worship
and to you we turn in time of need
Guide us along the road straight
the road of those to whom you are giving
not those with fury upon them
10not those who have lost the way

Translator’s Commentary

Because of its eloquent statement of devotion and the manner in which it pervades religious life, The Opening has been called the Islamic equivalent of the Lord’s Prayer in Christianity.

The word translated “opening,” fátiha, means the opening in the sense of the opening of a chapter or a story. Unlike the other early hymic Suras, The Opening occurs not at the end of the Qur’anic written text, but at the very beginning. It is the most recited of all Qur’anic Suras, not only in prayers and liturgy, but also in everyday life. After business transactions, for example, The Opening is recited by both parties as a mark of good faith and a solemn affirmation of the responsibilities affirmed by each partner.

The Opening is the only Sura in which the phrase “In the Name of God the Compassionate the Caring” does not occur before the Sura, but is actually considered part of the Sura itself. Just as that phrase is woven into the patterns of simple activities as a form of reminder so “Praise be to God” (al-hamdu li lláh) has become part of everyday speech. It is used after any good news or any praise, and as a response to the greeting “How are you?”

The two qualifications of God are “lord of the worlds” (the creator deity) and “master of the day of reckoning” (the deity who brings finality to all acts and all lives). The response for those hearing or reciting The Opening is to turn toward God in worship and for refuge.

The “the road straight” frequently is translated as “the straight path.” The term rendered here as road, sirát, would have been connoted something grand to the inhabitants of the Arabian peninsula. There are many words in Arabic for paths; the Arabs of Muhammad’s time traveled through the desert on barely discernible paths. By contrast, the word sirát means a paved road, such as the roads of the Romans which the Arabian travelers might come across in their journeys.