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. In this 2nd edition, Sells introduces important new translations of Qur’anic suras and a new preface that addresses the ongoing controversy over teaching about Islam and the Qur’an in American universities. 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.
For impressions of howApproaching the Qur’án has been received by the academic community, be sure to click on Reviews below.
Excerpt From the Book all upon it will disappear the face of your lord endures forever majestic and giving all on earth and all in the heavens implore his favor each new day a dispensation
“All upon it” (upon the earth, the seas, the cosmic spheres) will pass away or disappear. The created world that results from the action of the Compassionate is fleeting (f'nin). Only “the face of your lord” endures. The next verse proclaims that “all on earth and in the heavens implore him.” Earlier, verse 6 had alluded to “the stars and the trees bent low in worship,” with the implication that the sun and trees stood for all created beings in ceaseless prayer, grateful for their existence. Here, in verse 27, the prayer is one of petition and in each new day the Compassionate responds with a new “dispensation” (sha’n). These verses took a specific importance in Islamic theology, poetry, and mysticism. Theologians saw them as affirming that God creates the world anew every moment; that the created universe in constantly oscillating between annihilation (fana’) and recreation. Poets read the verses as indicating that in every moment the divine beloved approaches the human love and in every moment departs, leaving the love in a constant state of longing, caught between the joy of union and the sorrow of separation. Sufis read the verses as indicating the passing away or annihilation of the ego-self and the subsequent remaining of the vision of God in the heart of the Sufi. In this regard, Sufis quoted a hadith in which God announces: “When I love my servant, I become the hearing with which he hears, the seeing with which he sees, the hands with which he touches, and the feet with which he walks.” For some Sufis interpreters, the divine state dispensation in every new day signifies the constant transformation of the deity within its manifestations and actions in the world, the constant passing away and recreation of the Sufi in contemplation of the divine, and the need of the servant of God to be open to each new divine command, appearance, and form of self-manifestation in each new moment.
Endorsements 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, Professor of Islamic Studies, 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 be 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, Associate Professor, Religious Studies, University of Cape Town, Visiting Professor, Stanford University, editor of a posthumous volume of the late professor Fazlur Rahman, Revival and Reform, and author of a forthcoming book on the thought of al-Ghazali.