ENGLISH LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION OF THE HOLY KORAN: VERSION 2.0 (ASCII): TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY BY: ABDULLAH YUSUF ALI ADAPTED AND TRANSCRIBED TO COMPUTER FILES BY: WILLIAM B. BROWN RT#4 BOX 233 NEW HAVEN, MO. 63068-9772 314-237-2971 This Version Copyrighted:(c) 1993 The LHA High-Performance File-Compression Program V2.13 Copyright 1988, 1991: (c) Haruyasu Yoshizaki The complete program is supplied in accordance with the distribution instructions of the Author. See the manual (LHA213.doc) for more information. SHAREWARE NOTICE: This program is not free. You may use it without charge during a one month evaluation period. If at the end of that time you decide you do not want to keep this program, you must delete it from your hard drive and either erase the floppy disks or pass them on to someone else for evaluation. If you decide to keep this program, you are then required to register your copy with the author. If you obtained this program from a Shareware distributor, the fee you paid to the distributor is for the cost of the disks and copying. NONE of that money goes to the author. The registration fee is in addition to the fee paid to the distributor. If you obtain the program from the author then you are automatically registered. This is by far the easiest and cheapest way to obtain the program. Also you get the latest version. The registration fee helps pay for the equipment and materials used to generate this program and help pay for the ongoing revision and expansion of the programs in this Islamic series. Please help support our work by registering your copy of this program. You are encouraged to copy and distribute this program as long as it is kept intact. Do not delete or change the material contained in this program. ALSO AVAILABLE: In addition to this ASCII version of the HOLY KORAN there is also available a version in the IRIS BOOKREADER format. This format does not require a word processor to read the text. It allows paging back and forth through the text. You can jump directly from the Table of Contents to the text. It allows printing of selected text. A place save feature acts as a bookmark and allows you to save your place in the text for return during the present or future sessions. A notepad allows you to take notes that are keyed to the text where the notes were made. A comprehensive Table of Contents is included with this version. A comprehensive index is available to registered users. The Index is not included with versions obtained from Shareware distributors, you will receive a copy of the Index by return mail when you register. The IRIS program is included by licence from the Author and Copyright holder. IRIS Copyrighted by: Ted Husted UserWare 4 Falcon Lane East Fairport, NY. USA. 14450-3312 JUST RELEASED: We worked with Mr. Larry Pierce of Timnathserah Inc. in Ontario, Canada to adapt the Holy Koran to the Online Bible program format. The Online Bible is probably the most famous Bible program ever released as Shareware. It allows the selection of Book, Chapter and Verse (Sura and Ayat) at the touch of a key. Also possible are extensive searches for a particular word, combination of words, and phrases. Selected text may be output to disk or printer. Notes can be made using the built in word processor and keyed to the applicable verse. These notes may be output to a disk file or a printer. The Online Koran has been released as a module for the Online Bible. The Online Bible Install program will be included so that the Online Koran will work by itself or it may be installed as a module with various Bible versions so that cross referencing between the Bible and Koran is possible. The Koran module takes less than 1.5 MB of hard disk space when installed without the Bible modules. 23MB when installed with the full OnLine Bible. An Enhanced version of the OnLine Koran is now in work. This Enhanced version will include over 4 MB of commentary, introductions, footnotes and explanations relating to the Koran. The Enhanced version will not be shareware but all Registered OnLine Koran users will be notified when the Enhanced version is ready for distribution and will be able to obtain this version for a nominal charge. ($25.00). HOW TO REGISTER: Register only: ASCII version (get free Index)----------------$ 15.00____ IRIS version (get free Index)------------------$ 15.00____ Both versions (get free Indexes)---------------$ 20.00____ OnLine Koran-----------------------------------$ 15.00____ Shipping and Handling--------------------------$ 0.00____ Register and get complete copy: ASCII version-(Index included)-----------------$ 15.00____ IRIS version--(Index included)-----------------$ 15.00____ Both versions----------------------------------$ 24.00____ OnLine Koran-(No Index Required)---------------$ 15.00____ OnLine Bible Manual----------------------------$ 4.00____ OnLine Bible-Includes Manual-------------------$ 40.00____ Shipping and Handling--------------------------$ 2.00____ Phone or FAX orders accepted with a $2.00 extra invoice charge. VISA and MasterCard orders accepted without surcharge or invoice charges. Voice Phone 314-237-2971 between 10am and 10pm Central Time FAX Phone 314-237-2005 anytime. Please order HD disks if at all possible. (OnLine Bible requires 34 5 1/4 inch DD disks.) 5 1/4 inch DD___ HD___ 3 1/2 inch DD___ HD___ Name:____________________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________ City:______________________________ State:_________ Zip: ______-____ Send check, money order or Chargecard information to: William B. Brown Rt#4 Box 233 New Haven, MO. 63068-9772 Please supply the following information if you are using VISA or MasterCard: Card Number: _______________________ : VISA __ MasterCard __ Expire Date: _____________ Phone No. ______-______-___________ Please sign your Name:_________________________________________ ABOUT THIS WORK: I selected as my major reference an English translation by an eminent Indian Islamic Scholar, Abdullah Yusuf Ali. He made his beautiful translation in the middle 1930s. My copy is a first edition published by Kutub Khana Ishayat-ul-Islam, Publishers and Printers, Delhi India in 1937. He not only preserved the meaning of the Koran but also attempted to preserve the beauty of the original Arabic poetry of the Koran as it was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed. Yusuf Ali's commentary is an excellent synopsis of the Koran and makes it easier to understand. I hope that my adaptation of his text meets with approval. I am always open to any correspondence associated with this work. In version 2.0 I have corrected some minor typographical errors. I also made some minor text changes to correct some possible minor translation errors in the original text. My reference for these corrections is a revised and edited version of the same English language translation that I used in doing this adaptation. It was revised by The Presidency of Islamic Researches, IFTA, Call and Guidance. Published and Printed by the King Fahd Holy Quran Printing Complex in 1987. The major change has been to use the name Allah instead of God in the text. This change is in response to comments by several Muslim users of the original release. When using word search routines with the original release, a search for God would not only find the name God but also the word god which could also refer to other gods mentioned in the Koran text. The use of Allah as the name of God allows separate searches for Allah and for god. I am retaining the use of the spelling Koran which is more familiar to non-Arabic speaking people instead of the spelling Quran which is more familiar to Arabic speakers. The reason for this is very simple. Arabic speakers almost always recognize the Koran spelling but most non-Arabic speakers do not recognize the Quran spelling. DIVISIONS OF THE KORAN The Koran is arranged in 114 Suras (Chapters) of very unequal size. The Suras are numbered and the consecutive number is shown just before the title of the Sura. Each Sura consists of a number of Ayats (Verses). Each Ayat is preceded by a number that indicates the Sura number and the Ayat number. Eg. 2:34 for Sura 2 Ayat 34. Each Sura is also divided into logical divisions according to meaning. These Sections are indicated in the text. The Koran is also divided into 30 parts to aid those who wish to complete the reading of the Koran in a given period of time. These parts are indicated in the Table of Contents by part numbers. COMMENTARIES: To help in understanding the English language translation Abdullah Yusuf Ali wrote a running Commentary. There are 300 of these short free verse Commentaries used to prepare the atmosphere for the subject matter to follow. Where the Suras are short, there are one or two paragraphs of rhythmic Commentary to prepare you for the text. Where the Suras are long, the subject matter is introduced by short appropriate paragraphs of the Commentary from time to time, each indicating the verses to which it refers. The paragraphs of the running Commentary are numbered consecutively, with some regard to the connection with the preceding and the following paragraphs. It is possible to read this running Commentary by itself to get a general bird's eye view of the contents of the Holy Book before you proceed to the study of the Book itself. You must keep in mind that the running Commentaries were written by Yusuf Ali and although they are included within the text they are not part of the text that He translated from the original Arabic. Yusuf Ali stressed that his translation was an English language interpretation of the Arabic Koran text and that the running Commentary was only a synopsis of that interpretation. TECHNICAL STUFF: This ASCII version of the HOLY KORAN has over 120 ASCII text files. This allows you to use your own word processor to configure the Koran files as you want them. Depending on your word processor's capabilities you can do word searches or print out sections of the Koran for your use. INSTALLATION The KORAN files on floppy disks are in the form of self extracting compressed files. After the files are extracted they will not fit on a single floppy disk. Use the following procedure to get the files on your hard drive In some cases both the ASCII and IRIS versions of the Koran program are being distributed together. Install the ASCII and IRIS versions to separate directories on your hard drive if both versions are being installed. I used KORASC and KORIRIS but you may use directory names of your choice. 3 1/2 inch DD, HD or 5 1/2 HD Floppy disks to Hard drive--The Koran is supplied as a self extracting compressed file. Make a Koran Directory on your hard drive. (C:>md korasc [Enter]) Copy all the files from your Floppy to the korasc directory. (C:>copy a:kor.exe c:\korasc\kor.exe [Enter]) Change to the korasc directory. (C:>cd\korasc [Enter]) Extract the compressed file. (C:>kor [Enter]) All of the Koran ASCII files will now be in the Korasc directory of your hard drive. You may delete the kor.exe file from your hard drive after the files are decompressed. 5 1/2 inch DD Floppy disks (2) to Hard drive--The Koran is supplied as 2 self extracting compressed files. Make a Koran Directory on your hard drive. (C:>md korasc [Enter]) Copy both floppy disks to your hard drive. (C:>copy a:*.* c:\korasc\*.* [Enter]) Remove the disk 1 and insert disk 2. (C:>copy a:*.* c:\korasc\*.* [Enter]) Change to the korasc directory. (C:>cd\korasc [Enter]) Extract the compressed files. (C:>kor1 [Enter] C:>kor2 [Enter]) All of the Koran ASCII files will now be in the Korasc directory of your hard drive. You may delete the kor1.exe and kor2.exe files from your hard drive after the files are decompressed. USING ASCII FILES Most word processor's files contain format commands. eg. margins, typefaces, printer commands and print characteristics. If you attempt to import these files into another word processor, these format commands will not be understood and you will end up with garbage characters mixed up in your text. However, most word processors can read ASCII files. An ASCII file is a pure text file with no formatting information. The files in the ASCII KORAN are pure ASCII files. Most word processors can import these files and either convert them to its own format and/or allow you to use them as ASCII files. Because there are so many different word processors, you will need to refer to your word processor's instructions to use these files. A comprehensive Table of Contents is included with this version. A comprehensive index is available to registered users. The Index is not included with versions obtained from Shareware distributors, you will receive a copy of the Index by return mail when you register. NEED HELP?: William B. Brown (Bill) Rt#4 Box 233 New Haven, MO. 63068-9772 314-237-2971 I am usually available from 10am to 10 pm Central Time. Keep in mind that this is not a business phone and could be answered by a child. If this happens just tell Megan that this is a business call and get her Dad to the phone. Please be patient. Thank You for your Support, Bill Brown Feb. 1993