1. 58 RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0975-3486, (Print) E-ISSN-2320-5482, July,2013 VOL-IV *ISSUE- 46
Ali,AbdullahYusuf(1872-1953)
AbdullahYusufAliwasborninaBohrafamily
at Surat in India. He was the second son of Yusuf Ali
Allahbuksh. His father was an official in Surat's police
force. His father chose a separate route for Ali's edu-
cation.YusufAli wassentawayfromSurattoBombay,
to attend the new school founded by the Anjuman-e-
Islam and then a missionory school in 1882. Ali re-
ceived his education at the Universities of Bombay,
Cambridge and Lincoln's Inn, London. Yusuf Ali ap-
plied for the Indian Civil Service (ICS) open competi-
tionexamination.YusufAlishowed hissuperiorwitby
obtaining top marks in the examination. He was se-
lectedfortheIndianCivilService(ICS)inBritishIndia.
He was also a lecturer at the School of Oriental and
African Studies, University of London from 1917 to
1919.HewasalsoaPrincipalofIslamicCollege,Lahore.
In April 1934 the first part of his ambitious
undertakingtheEnglishtranslationoftheQur'an,along
with an extensive commentary came out, which was
completedin1937.HistranslationTheMeaningofThe
Illustrious Qur'an became the most popular English
version among Muslims.After this, his translation has
been reprinted a record number of times from all parts
of the world. More than 200 editions of his translation
have been published. Yusuf Ali was gifted with an
eloquent writing style. He sought to convey the music
and richness of the Arabic with poetic English
versification.There are more than 6000 explanatory
notes in his translation.
YusufAli's rendering of the Qur'an was pub-
lished in instalments between 1934 and 1937. Though
he continued to write articles and reviews on a variety
of topics for at least seven years "It has made his name
instantlyrecognisableintheEnglish-speakingMuslim
world.Thecommentarytooktheformofoversixthou-
sand footnotes to the translation, numerous appendi-
ces and a running interpretation written in the style of
blank verse." (Sherif 173)
AbdullaYusufAli born and brought up in the colonial
BritishIndia,smacksofpseudo-rationalismand apolo-
gia in his elucidation of many Qur'anic terms and con-
cepts.(Kidwai 06) Thisexplainswhy,notwithstanding
the phenomenal popularity of his work, "reservations
Research Paper—Humanities
July ,2013
TwoMajorTranslatorsoftheQur'an:Ali,Abdullah
Yusuf,&Pickthall,MuhammadMarmaduke
* Dr. Sadique Mansuri
*DeptofHumanities,SchoolofEngineering&Technology,VikramUniversityujjain
were expressed about his views on miracles and
eschatology and his predilection for branding the
Qur'anic account of the joys of Paradise and of the
perditioninHellasmerelysymbolicormetaphorical."
(Kidwai 06)
YusufAli followed certaintechniquesand strategiesin
his translation. These techniques and strategies may
be summarized as follows :
1. Preparationofaprefaceandanintroductioninwhich
he comments on the meanings of the Holy Qur'an,
its style and the difficulties encountered by the
translator.
2.EachSurahispreceded byatextwritteninfreeverse
with the aim of preparing the reader for the running
commentary followed by an introduction to the
subject.
3. Where the Surahs are short, one or two paragraphs
of "rhythmic commentary" are provided in order to
prepare the reader for the text. Where ever they are
long, the subject matter is introduced in the commen
tary from time to time, each indicating Surahs the
particular Ayah to which it refers.
2.Pickthall,MuhammadMarmaduke
MuhammadMarmadukePickthallwastheson
ofReverendCharlesGraysonPickthall.Pickthallwasa
writer,novelist,linguist,journalist,religiousandpoliti-
cal leader. He was a sickly child who suffered from
bronchitis. His illness prevented him from pursuing a
number of careers in both the Army and the Consular
services. Pickthall was always a great lover of Islam.
WhenhebecameaMuslimin1914,itwasregardedless
as conversion than as self-discovery. He received his
early education at Harrow. His close association with
the Druzes of Mount Lebanon and his study ofArabic
inducedinhimloveforIslamandMuslims.In1919,he
served as the Imam of Working Mosque, Surrey and
editedIslamicReview.
It was during this period that he realized the
need for a suitable English translationofthe Qur'an, as
he found the Qadyani Muhammad Ali's translation
erroneous.TheNizamofHyderabad,India,offeredhim
a job in the state education service and sponsored his
translation.Inconsultationwithal-Azharulama,promi-
nently, Mustafa al-Maraghi, he finalized his English
translation of the Qur'an The Meaning of the Glorious

2. 59RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0975-3486, (Print) E-ISSN-2320-5482, July,2013 VOL-IV *ISSUE- 46
Koranwhich was published first in 1930. Pickthall ed-
ited Islamic journals and wrote extesively on various
aspectsofIslam.Sinceitsfirstappearancein1930 upto
this day, Pickthall's translation has been warmly and
widely received. It has been issued from almost every
part of the world. With the ever-increasing number of
English-speaking Muslims, his translation has been
frequently re-issued, more than 80 editions in the last
twenty years. Pickthall was a strong and eloquent pro-
ponent of Islam and its varied cultures. Yet Pickthall's
background assumed an adherence to the rule of the
Church of England. Pickthal's father and his grandfa-
ther were clergymen. His two step-sisters wereAngli-
can nuns. In 1920 Pickthall came India to serve as the
editor of the Bombay Chronicle, In 1927 he took over
as editor of Islamic Culture. Pickthall gave eight lec-
turesonIslamintheseries"MadraslecturesonIslam."
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall's was a luminous,
steadily progressing personality which impressed all
who came into contact with him.
Pickthall was a man of discreet charity, the
extent of whose generosity was only discovered after
hisdeath.AdistinctivefeatureofPickthall'stranslation
is its faithfulness to the original. Unlike his contempo-
rary, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, he does not paraphrase the
meaning.Rather,headherescloselytotheQur'anictext
and in so doing he manages to avoid the shortcomings
ofliteraltranslation.BeinganativespeakerofEnglish,
Pickthall's translation transcends other translations in
the elegance of style and vocabulary. Although he
enjoys the distincition of being the first major Muslim
translator; his use of archaic biblical language has
beenastumblingblockforreaders.Aseriousweakness
inPickthall'sworkistheabsenceofasufficientnumber
of explanatory notes. As a result, uninitiated readers
might not derive as much guidance from the Qur'an as
is hoped for.
Onthewhole,Pickthallmaintainstheconven-
tional mainstream Muslim stance and is not guilty of
twisting or distorting the Qur'anic text with a view to
giving it any particular slant, which is regrettably the
case with the apologists and translators with a sectar-
ian bias. Pickthall's work is free from dogmatic input,
enabling readers to gain first hand acquaintance with
the message of the Qur'an. Its revised edition, pro-
duced by El-Ashi, is nonetheless better than the origi-
nal and more suitable for today's readership. (Kidwai
274)MuhammadMarmadukePickthallfollowedcertain
techniquesandstrategiesinhistranslation.Thesetech-
nique and strategies may be summarized as follows :
1. Preparation of a foreword in which Pickthall com-
ments on the meanings of the Holy Qur'an, its
inimitability, and the difficulties encountered by him.
2. Placing only few notes.
3.Arabic text and English rendering are printed in par-
allelcolumnswhileshortcommentariesappearasfoot-
notes in the translations.
4. In translating the Qur'an Pickthall used archaic bib-
lical language
AnalysisoftheselectedQur'anicversesshows
that both Ali and Pickthall in their translations, man-
aged in preserving the functional aspects of the cohe-
sive device in the target language. As far as the word
choices and meanings are concerned, both transla-
tionsseemtobeofequaleffectiveness.WhilePickthall's
translation shows good economy in respect of the
number of words he used, whereas Ali shows wider
rangeofwordsand shades ofmeanings.Alireliesmore
on footnotes to provide commentaries and additional
information about the historical background. This
methodreinforcesandclarifiesthemeaningofthesource
text. Ali and Pickthall show sound linguistic compe-
tence in bothArabic and English. They also showtheir
knowledge of Arabic syntax and rhetoric in order to
appreciate the complex linguistic and rhetorical pat-
terns of Qur'anic structure Hence, in short the texts
translated byAli and Pickthall are stable, informative,
effective, impressive and unique. Both relied onliteral
translation in translating the Qur'anic texts. This indi-
cates a more effective translation of the source text.
1 Primary Sources Ali, Allama Abdullah Yusuf. The Meaning of the Illustrious Qur'an. India : Mecca Book Publishers, 1989.
2 Kidwai, A.R. Bibliography of the Translation of the Meanings of the Glorious Qur'an into English. Al-Madinah Al-
Munawarrah : King Fahd Qur'an Printing Complex, 2007.
3 Pickthall, Muhammad Marmaduke. The Glorious Qur'an. New Delhi : Goodword Books, 2002.
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