Hi!

I may be mistaken about this, but I believe it's the Yusuf 'Ali translation except that the Saudi's have changed all references of God to Allah.

As to the commentary, I can't give an opinion because I try to ignore the comments and concentrate on the text itself. I do know that there are otherwise excellent translations of the Qur'an out there that have truly outrageous and regrettable comments attached!

Best regards,

Bruce

Honestly, the most beautiful versio of teh Qur'an that I have ever had can be found at www.greenmountainschool.org ~ but it isn't free.

Also, I wanted to throw this out here on the thread:

Another effort to thwart radicalism
Eteraz.org Launches Anti-Fundamentalist Fundraiser

NEW YORK, NY 02/18/2007—In an effort to counter the influence of radical Islamic doctrine in the US & UK, Muslim activist organization and think tank Eteraz.org has launched a fundraiser to provide modernist translations of the Quran to Western mosques, Muslim chaplaincies, and student associations.

"Today, the translation of the Quran most commonly found in Muslim institutions in the US is 'The Noble Quran', a Saudi-sponsored text that interprets the Quran according to a very conservative doctrine. That's problematic," says Eteraz.org founder Ali Eteraz. "We want to provide Muslims with a more modernist translation so that people can make up their own minds about controversial verses. The Saudi interpretation shouldn't be the only interpretation available to modern Muslims. That interpretation inserts hateful references to Jews and Christians and does nothing to clarify Quranic verses regarding women's rights."

With this fundraising effort, Eteraz.org hopes to raise $30,000 to donate 1,000 copies of the Muhammad Asad translation of the Quran to US mosques and Islamic education programs free of charge. The translation typically retails for $55, making it prohibitively expensive for many institutions.

"The Muhammad Asad translation is considered the most authoritative English translation to date," says Eteraz. "It interprets the Quran based on primary sources and a thorough knowledge of classical Arabic, instead of the agenda of a certain sect."

While CAIR (the Council for American Islamic Relations) has been providing copies of the Asad translation of the Quran to non-Muslims at no charge for some time, this is the first effort to make it freely available to Muslims themselves who are the engine of Islamic Thought.

"The Saudi interpretation of the Quran is really the only interpretation a Muslim can get for free in the US," claims Eteraz, "This means that Islamic education programs stressed for resources have no choice but to promote the state doctrine of Saudi Arabia. We'd like to change that."

To donate, visit www.eteraz.org/