The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 7, No. 2, 1990 

Book Review 

Towards Understanding the Qur'an 
Translation of Mawducu's Tajhim al-Qur'an 

257 

By 7.afar Ishaq Ansari. Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1988/1408 
(Vol. /), 1989/1409 (Vol. 2) 

Sayyid Abul Xia Mawdiidfs multi-volume Tajhim al-Quran is a major 
Qur'an commentary of the twentieth century. Written over a period of about 
thirty years, the work runs the gamut of Qur'anic- and Islamic-thought and 
doctrine, and is the magnum opus of a writer called by Wilfred Cantwell 
Smith "the most systematic thinker of modern Islam." As such, Tajhim is 
an important work. An English translation exists, but clearly there was a 
need for a new translation, and that is what Zafar Ishaq Ansari attempts 
to provide in Towards Understanding the Qur'an, of which two volumes, 
covering the first six surahs of the Qur'an, have so far been published. 

Ansari's translation may be called "authorized" in that it was the author's 
wish that Ansari render Tajhim into English. The translation reads quite well. 
Being intimately familiar with Mawdiidi's style, and being a writer of repute 
in his own right, Ansari has done a good job of rendering Tajhim into English. 
Besides possessing a high degree of readability, the work has other notable 
features. The translator has furnished complete documentation for the 
quotations in the original work, including all ahadith, and, while retaining 
and translating the highly useful subject index of the Urdu original, has added 
a glossary of terms, biographical notes, a bibliography, and a general index. 
On occasions, alternative interpretations, offered by other scholars, are noted 
(e.g. of the object pronoun in ya'rifanahu in the Qur'an, 2:146 [Towards
Understanding the Quran, 1:125), or of alladh'ina yakhafana in 5:23 [ibid., 
2:151, n. 451), the reasons for the use of certain Islamic terms by Mawdiidi 
(e.g. "caliphate" for pre-Islamic kingships, etc. [2:153]) are given, and terms 
and expressions which an Urdu reader would understand because of his 
particular cultural background are explained for the English reader. The amount 
of such notes and explanations seems to increase in Volume 2. 

A few problems may be noted. Here and there certain portions of the 
original text are not translated. From the author's Preface and Introduction 
especially, several paragraphs have been left out. While every attempt is made 
to convey the general meaning of the parts omitted, the omissions in some 
cases are not indicated. Unlike the Biographical Notes, the Glossary of Terms, 
found in each volume, is not meant to be cumulative. There are, however, 
some repetitions in the Glossary of Vol. 2 (e.g. Ahl al-Dhimmah, Din, Hadith, 



258 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 7, No. 2, 1990 

Hajj, /}Jriim, and Jiihiliyah), and a few entries which one would expect to 
find in the Glossary of Vol. I ( e.g. ahl al-kitiib and Ji sabU Allah) are found 
in the Glossary of Vol. 2. Also, certain important terms (e.g. mufJ,kam and 
mutashiibih [see Q. 3:7]) are missing from the Glossary. 

These problems aside, Towards Understanding the Quran is a noteworthy 
achievement. Zafar Ishaq Ansari should be complimented on making the 
principal work of Mawdiicli accessible to English readers. In the West, Mawdiicli 
as a thinker has received increasing attention in the recent past. This translation, 
which is likely to reach a large audience, should enable Western scholars 
to make a closer study of Mawdiidi's thought and ideas than has hitherto 
been possible. The volumes are attractively printed. One certainly hopes that 
Ansari will make translation of Tafhim his first priority, and that a complete 
translation of Tafhim will become available in a relatively short period of time. 

Mustansir Mir 
Department of Near Eastern Studies 
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor