The Exalted Qurʾān
A New English Translation
by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi
Revealed to the Prophet Muḥammad – may God bless him and his descendants – over the course of twenty-three years in the first/seventh century, the Qurʾān is the word of God, the sacred scripture of Islam, and an unparalleled masterpiece of Arabic language and literature. In The Exalted Qurʾān, the Dean of The Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi, draws upon his deep erudition and superlative command of both Arabic and English to present a new translation grounded in an authentic engagement with the original text and a lifetime of philological and hermeneutical study. Built upon decades of research into the grammatical and syntactical structures of classical Arabic, the unique rhetorical splendour of the Qurʾān, and a wealth of lexicographical, etymological, and exegetical knowledge, Dr Shah Naqavi’s work brings to the fore the majestic literary and linguistic beauty of the Qurʾān with rare eloquence and clarity. The Exalted Qurʾān is a genuinely new translation that will be of enduring value to any scholar, student, or reader.
Dr Shah Naqavi is the person who has given to the English-speaking world the translation of the basmalah as follows: “In the name of Allāh, the Most Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.” This original translation of the basmalah is based upon a profound engagement with the Arabic grammatical structures and the forms of the divine names in the Qurʾān, as well as Dr Shah Naqavi’s interdisciplinary expertise across a broad range of Islamic sciences and philological studies of Arabic and English. Both al-raḥmān and al-raḥīm are derived from the root of r-ḥ-m, and the English translation of these nouns accurately draws out the authentic sense as unfolded within the grammatical structure and form of the nouns. This translation of the basmalah was a project begun, drafted, and shared with colleagues during Dr Shah Naqavi’s studies at the University of Edinburgh in the 1990s.