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The Koran  By  cover art

The Koran

By: Trout Lake Media
Narrated by: Alec Sand
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Publisher's summary

The Koran is not only one of the most influential books of prophetic literature but also a literary masterpiece in it’s own right. Universally accepted by Muslims to be the infallible Word of God as revealed to Mohammed by the Angel Gabriel nearly 1,400 years ago, the Koran still provides the rules of conduct fundamental to the Arab way of life.

Public Domain (P)2009 Trout Lake Media

What listeners say about The Koran

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Misleading! Audible needs a better translation.

If you have no other choice for readings of the Quran, this will do, but keep a copy of Yusuf Ali or Muhammed Shakir's translations on hand for parts that sound bizzarre. Abdullah Yusuf Ali translations are free at Islamic information centers and larger Masjids.

Narrator has an Irish accent, so the mood of the reading sounds like you're taking part in a political party meeting for some strange Islamic offshoot of the IRA. The tone is very serious, since much of this book is a continuous repeat of what happens to "unbelievers".

There are a number of things that are just wrongly translated in a manner that is misleading to Western culture. There are a couple of passages that talk about being waited on by "virgin boys" in heaven - This is a mistranslation. The two other translations I have say young boys or youth (cherubs?). "Virgin boys" obviously has a sexual connotation, the correct translation does not. There's also passages that describe "beating" your wife if she will not lay with you -- this is also a mistranslation. There's yet another passage that mentions not to take Christains and Jews as your friend. This is also a mistranslation.

***NOTE TO AUDIBLE*** Audible.com has two blockbuster readings of the bible (Zondervan KJV and "The Word of Promise" NKJV). It's about time they step up to those same standards and bring us some quality readings of the Quran in either the Yusuf Ali or Muhammed Shakir translations - which modern muslims agree to be more correct. Though most muslims I speak to say it's very difficult to translate Arabic meanings to English ones. Much is dependent on context and much can be misunderstood without clear guidance.

So listen, but listen with caution - and with someone near who can answer questions. It is against Islam to lie about the contents of the Quran, so true muslims should be able to answer your questions as close to the truth as you can possibly get - without learning Arabic

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92 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A Clear and Sober Reading

I have long been looking for an audio version of the Quran. This is the first that I have found that was easily available and not divided into so many parts as to make it too expensive. This is N. J. Dawood's 1956 translation published in Penguin Classics with the Suras in the correct order. The reader is very clear, sober and rather monotone in his presentation. I wish that there were a way to navigate more easily and find particular Suras. The translation is in modern English prose with no real attempt at poetic quality, but the power of the Quran's language comes through. I found myself grateful for a solid presentation of this very important work.

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67 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Translation

For anyone who would like to know, this is the Penguin Classics translated by N.J. Dawood

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41 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

I finally decided to read the Koran

I always hear on the news how it's a book about peace and love.

Not even close.

The Old Testament and Testament are Cryptic but point to a time when man will love one another and sin and tears will be done away with.

The Koran allows men to beat their wives (but not kill them because God is merciful) and chop of thieves hands and feet (but not kill them because God is merciful).

If that's what God is like then I was born in the wrong universe. This God is sadistic and cruel.

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Koran complete and unabridged

the narration is basiscly what I was expecting, bu there are times that the translation doesn't completely change all Arabic word into english. for me that is okay becaus I have studied a little Arabic. If you want to hear the words of the Koran this is an okay translation. I wish though that they would have placed more breaks in the translation. The reason is that you cannot listen to it all at once and one time I bumped my ipod back to start of book 1 and had to fast forward 5 hours.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Take the First Steps Toward Understanding Islam

What did you love best about The Koran?

Listening to this work showed me some deep differences between God as portrayed in Judaism and Christianity and God as portrayed in Islam. It was very informative.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, unfortunately it wasn't quite possible though.

Any additional comments?

Mr. Sand gives a good reading of the text, giving the it the solemnity it deserves most of the time. However, it seems like he gets tired as he reads on, speeding up and losing his composure. The sample of his reading on Audible is representative of him at his best. In any case this is a deal for the price.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

On accuracy of the translation

“There are numerous helpful translations of the Koran. N. J. Dawood’s translation is the most smoothly readable English translation. However, it can be difficult to use for reference since most versions do not mark the verse numbers precisely. Also, some people—both Muslim and non-Muslim—dislike it because Dawood uses “God” for Allah—although since Arabic-speaking Christians use “Allah” for the God of the Bible, and have for over a millennium, this is not really a serious objection to anyone who knows both languages. Many Muslims dislike this translation simply because Dawood was not a Muslim, but Infidels may find it more helpful than translations produced by Muslims, since Dawood generally doesn’t whitewash the Koran’s more jarring passages.
Two translations by Muslims, those by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, are generally reliable, although both write in a stilted, practically unreadable pseudo-King James Bible English. Of the two, Ali’s contains more liberties with the text—such as adding “(lightly)” to sura 4:34 after the directive to husbands to beat their disobedient wives. The Arabic doesn’t say to beat them lightly, it just says to beat them. Pickthall’s version, while sharing the dense archaism of Ali's is generally accurate.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

TheKoran, a blood soaked plagiarism of other myths

What would have made The Koran better?

It having never been written.

This is not a completely sarcastic comment.

The Koran is supposedly a text representing a "religion of peace".

I would disagree.

When a religion calls for the blood of non-believers, for no other reason then that they are so made that they cannot believe, then that religion cannot be called peaceful.

In almost every sentence the Koran calls for the bloodshed of others, specifically for those who do not believe.

The root of the problem is when people who read such texts as the Torah, the Bible, the Koran, etc... and take them literally. Worse yet, when they act upon the commands within the bigoted and hate filled texts.

We should shelve these myths and others like them, just as we have with Zeus, Thor, and Ra. We should read them as we would any mythological story book.

What do you think your next listen will be?

"God is not great, how religion poisons everything" by Christopher Hitchens

How could the performance have been better?

Less pompous piety

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Koran?

Nothing. If the text must exist, we should be able to read it. Then we should point and laugh at it.

Any additional comments?

“In reading the Koran,” Hitchens said, “I can’t tell if it’s the word of god, but I can hope it’s a sign of god having a bad day.” - Vanity Fair 10/7/2010 -

To be clear, I feel this way about all religious texts that people still pretend to believe to be divinely inspired.

We should put away these barbaric ideas from bronze-age ignoramuses.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • EL
  • 02-13-12

amazing

nobody should criticize any religion before reading there book.
i was amazingly surprise.
people have a really wrong opinion of islam.
i've red it and loved it

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Useful Information

What did you like best about this story?

It helped me understand my own religion better.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I didn't really like it, per se but it wasn't horrible. It was a bit slow and some continuous bad pronunciation. How do you pronounce scourge?

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me realize why I could never be Muslim, no disrespect to those that are but many parts of the text describe the exact opposite of my own beliefs. However, it is a must read for anyone interested in religions and I would think, every Muslim.

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