About The Translator

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

M. Marmaduke Pickthall

• He traveled to several Muslim countries including Syria, Palestine, Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, and India. These experiences were instrumental in cultivating his growing sympathy with the ordinary Muslim, at the same time he grew to despise the arrogant attitudes of European expatriate communities towards the Muslim society and culture.

• Pickthall made the declaration of his faith in Islam in 1917 at the end of a lecture entitled Islam and Progress given to the Muslim Literary Society in London. He declared his faith in such a moving manner that, according to one witness, the audience felt that they had lived through, during that short hour, the most remarkable period in his/her life.

• Soon he was awarded the position of leadership in the small Muslim community of Britain. He was the imam of the London Mosque (then in Notting Hill) by 1919 and his sermons were published and edited in the main organ of British Muslims, The Islamic Review. Throughout this period, Pickthall struggled to free the Magazine from Qadiyani elements at that time.

• Pickthall moved to India in 1920, accepting the role as editor for the Bombay Chronicle. In 1927, Pickthall gained the editorship of the academic journal, Islamic Culture. Between 1928 and1930 Pickthall was given the task of producing a holistic interpretation of the Qur’an in English.

• The Qur’an cannot be translated. That is the belief of all the Muslims including Pickthall. It is only an attempt to present the meaning of the Qur’an and its linguistic charm in English. It can never take the place of the Qur’an in Arabic nor is it meant to do so.

• His translation, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, the first English translation of the Qur’an by a Muslim Englishman, was first published in 1930. Pickthall was supported in this effort by His Highness, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the ruler of Deccan, and the richest man in the world who was busy turning his capital into an oasis of culture and art. At the time, Hyderabad resembled a surviving fragment of Moghul brilliance.

• Although there are many books on his credit, Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall today is remembered as a great translator of the Qur’an. He set the standard for other translators to follow. The fact that a practicing English holiest would convert to Islam and become a renowned translator of the holiest Muslim text is itself exceptional.

• At a time when attacks on Islam had become a matter of routine, it was considered necessary to widely introduce the message of Islam that the Qur’an represents so that people could get a true picture of Islam. For this purpose, to address the non-Muslims in their own language, Pickthall’s translation of the Qur’an was selected.