The Quran Beheld

The Quran Beheld is the title of the translation of the Quran by Nuh Ha Mim Keller. This was a seventeen year project in which he sat with Sheikh Ali Hani, a scholar of Arabic and tafsir (Quranic commentary), and took from him the explanation of each verse of the Quran. Together they read through the tafsir of the Quran two complete times.

This work solves an enigma that has puzzled many readers first coming to Islam through English translations of the Quran. The Arabic original stunned hearers in their own language with its unutterable evocative power, incisive arguments, the sharp relief of its contrasts, striking imagery, and precise detail. Most translations stun few. They seem somehow out of focus, vague, the thread of discourse is often inexplicably lost, and they are seldom moving or powerful. The present work is called The Quran Beheld because its translator found that the classical Islamic curriculum for learning the Quranic sciences lifts the veil from the divine masterpiece like stepping from a dark and silent house into a lively spring day outside.