Devotional Qur’an

Shawkat M. Toorawa is professor of Arabic in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and professor of comparative literature at Yale University. He lives in North Haven, CT.

“An unusual book. . . . [Its] focus on the believer’s everyday experience results in an appealingly practical and even chic object: a kind of Qur’anic chapbook, small enough to fit in a tote and read on the subway. . . . Toorawa’s translation hits a remarkable range of notes: from enthusiasm to severity, to playfulness, to intimacy.”—Robyn Creswell, New York Review of Books“Compact and elegant. . . . Gives us a vision of the Qurʾan in Islam that anglophone readers rarely encounter.”—Bruce Fudge, Review of Middle East Studies“[An] exquisite Qurʾān anthology.”—Abdur Raheem Kidwai, Muslim World Review“This is a work of consummate scholarship, attention, devotion, and craft. The Qur’an privileges the sacredness of sound itself, and Shawkat Toorawa has endeavored to be as faithful to that priority as possible. It is a gift to have such a clear window into this tradition of both poetry and faith.”—Christian Wiman, author of Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair“Among the many translations of Islam’s Holy Book, Shawkat Toorawa’s Devotional Qur’an is unique in its sensitive selection of Surahs and verses most familiar to and dearly beloved by Muslims, and its careful attention to the literary and acoustic qualities of the text.”—Tahera Qutbuddin, University of Oxford“For all the attention that has traditionally gone into translating the ‘meaning’ of the Qur’an, its devotional value and function goes beyond its ‘meaning.’ The Devotional Qur’an brilliantly captures not only the meaning of a selection of Qur’anic verses but the meaning of the Qur’an itself for Muslims, by deftly signaling the various and beautiful ways in which ‘meaning’ is imparted, savored, and passed on through this indefatigably sacred text.”—Sherman A. Jackson, the University of Southern California“A splendid introduction to the Qur’an. Toorawa’s English rides the currents and swells of the Arabic’s magnificent soundscape, so we sense its telltale force field giving form and feeling to the translation as it unfurls. Marvelous, daring, and distinctive.”—Peter Cole, author of The Poetry of Kabbalah: Mystical Verse from the Jewish Tradition“Shawkat Toorawa gives familiar chapters and verses a fresh feel. By turns lucid and lyrical, the translation hums and sings and occasionally roars. The Devotional Qur’an deserves a place on syllabi and gift lists alike.”—Kecia Ali, author of The Lives of Muhammad