Hajji Hafiz Ghulam Sarwar's new Translation of .tbe Holy Qur-dn
(from S. M. S. Faruque, The Mosque, Woking, 12s. 6d.) contains a learned but controversial introduction, two essays on the life of the Prophet, a useful summary of the Book, chapter by chapter, and the new text. Much that the . • distinguished Hajji says about the malice and mala fides • of Sale is justifiable. To take one point alone, Sale made the Prophet say of God that He " gave evident miracles to Jesus, the Son of Mary," where the word means " signs," or " proofs," and is so translated by Sale himself a few verses further on. There is no doubt that the Koran (as we prefer to spell it) and Muhammed have both suffered at the hands of- Christian writers, and that the wrongs done by prejudice and propaganda are only now being put right by Islamic scholars such as the author. But whether his translation has the force and fire of the earlier versions, suspect though they be, we take leave to doubt. Accuracy is all very well, but the sonorous rhythms of Muhammed's Arabic are untrans- latable ; and we prefer Palmer's rendering—" when the heaven shall be flayed and when hell shall be set ablaze "- to the lesser virility of " when the covering of the sky is peeled." But no one who studies Islam can afford to neglect this important contribution to a great subject.
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