Why have I, as a Christian, decided to devote so much of my time over the last five years in the task of adapting the Holy Koran into computer files? This question is not easy to answer, even to myself. Since childhood I have had an interest in religion, not only my own but any on which I could find information. This has not been a consuming passion but a very deep interest.
My interest in Islam began while I was a teacher in Iran. My students, who were oil company workers and technicians, had an outlook on life that was very different from mine. I soon discovered that their culture and outlook on life was rooted in their belief in Islam. In order to do my job as a teacher, I had to relate to my students and this started my interest in Islam.
I found that Islam is more than a religion. It is a guide for the believer that starts at birth and ends only after the final Day of Judgment in the Hereafter. The guidelines for the believer are set forth in the Koran. Central to Islamic belief is that the Koran was revealed by God to the Prophet Mohammed by direct inspiration. As such the faithful consider it to be the infallible word of God. The laws and guidelines in the Koran cover not only religion but all aspects of life from birth to the distribution of assets after death. It sets forth the rights and responsibilities of believers to family, strangers, community and Faith. Islam is an Arabic word that means `acceptance', `commitment', `submission' or `surrender', and it expresses the innermost attitude of those who follow the teachings of the Prophet. Muslims (those who make or do Islam), indicate by their very name that they have committed themselves into the hands of God, whose will it is their purpose to follow in every aspect of life.
My studies of the Koran helped me better understand my students and helped me be a better teacher. This was very important as a large part of my teaching involved safety aspects of their jobs. Many of my Muslim students' attitude towards safety was based on everything being God's Will and that safety was not important because nothing they could do mattered. It was helpful to point out that although God's will was supreme, He also gave them free will to prevent evil from happening to them. (Sura 4 verses 70 through 80).
My belief that my studies of the Koran helped me be a more effective teacher of Muslim students was strengthened during my three years of teaching technicians in the Royal Saudi Air Force in Saudi Arabia.
I believe that a computer readable English language interpretation of the Koran will help non-Muslims better understand the beliefs of Muslims around the world and also make available the Koran for study by non-Arabic speaking Muslims. English language interpretations of the Koran are hard to find and many of them suffer from a sometimes intentional negative bias. I selected as my major reference a translation by an eminent Indian Islamic Scholar, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, who 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 Mohammed. 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 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 of the 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 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.
