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Towards Understanding the Qur’an

traditionally recognized fields of Islamic scholarship such as Hadith, Fiqh and [Ilm al-Kalam. It is the Qur’an, however, that held for him a very special place, and one might say, overpowering fascination. He relished the Book of God beyond all measure and never ceased to look up to it at every step and turn of life for light, guidance and inspiration. In his view, the Qur’an was not to be approached merely for barakah (blessing); it should rather serve as the sheet-anchor and the driving and guiding force of one’s life. Hence one should let the Qur’an shape one’s intellectual outlook, mould one’s character and conduct, and serve as the yardstick that should judge all things. Mawdudi once described the Qur’an as the ‘master key’, zestfully claiming that after he had found that key all locked doors were flung open and all his intellectual problems and perplexities were resolved. It was perhaps not merely a coincidence that the monthly magazine which he chose to edit and through which he disseminated his ideas for forty-six years (1933-1979) bore the appellation Tarjuman al-Qur’an (“The Interpreter of the Qur’an”).

I felt greatly honoured when I was asked to render Sayyid Mawdudi’s monumental work Tafhim al-Qur’an into English. Over the years seven volumes of this work have been published by The Islamic Foundation, Leicester, UK under the title Towards Understanding the Qur’an. Some time ago I was asked by my friends at the Foundation to suspend this major work for a while and devote my time and energy instead to complete the translation of the Qur’an and the short explanatory notes that Sayyid Mawdudi had written for his abridged, one-volume work on the Qur’an Tarjuma-’i Qur’an-i Majid ma[ Mukhtasar Hawashi published in 1976. The idea was to make available an English translation of the Qur’an with short explanatory notes that would meet the need of the readers of the Qur’an who are concerned with knowing its essential teachings.

The present work represents my compliance with that request. As the readers of Towards Understanding the Qur’an are aware, I had already translated up to Surah 28 (al-Qasas) of the Qur’an and this had already appeared as part of the seven volumes of the above-mentioned work published so far. For the present work,

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