Marmaduke Pickthall

Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (born Marmaduke William Pickthall; 7 April 1875 – 19 May 1936) was a British Islamic scholar noted for his 1930 English translation of the Quran, called The Meaning of the Glorious Koran.

Quotes

• The Koran cannot be translated. That is the belief of old-fashioned Sheykhs and the view of the present writer. The Book is here rendered almost literally and every effort has been made to choose befitting language. But the result is not the Glorious Koran, that inimitable symphony, the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy. It is only an attempt to present the meaning of the Koran – and peradventure something of the charm – in English. It can never take the place of the Koran in Arabic, nor is it meant to do so.
  • Marmaduke Pickthall in the Translator's Foreword to his translation of the Qur'an, The Meaning of The Glorious Koran (1930)