RationalWiki talk:Annotated Qur'an

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Up for[edit]

Is anyone really up for this? I mean actually analyzing the text and making skeptical commentary, or will it be just a half-assed backwater hosting an English language translation of the Qu'ran on RW. From what I know of the Qu'ran there's probably a lot about which nothing can really be said. Redchuck.gif ГенгисRationalWiki GOLD memberModerator 08:09, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

By the looks of things this has existed for years in a half-completed state, so any additions now are only positive. Peter mqzp 08:15, 31 March 2013 (UTC)
(EC)There can't be anything we can say about individual chapters is there? It looks like all the subpages were created by a user who turned up, did this and left, all in one day. Given that one subpage is called "The Clothe Done" rather than "the Clothed One" I doubt the usefulness of the thing. Let's forget about this until we've got more flesh on the annotated Bible's bare bones. SophieWilder 08:18, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

What translations are we using in this one?[edit]

Well... [[User:K61824|]][[User_talk:K61824|]] 17:17, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

Pickthall. FuzzyCatPotato of the No-balls Microcosms (talk/stalk) 13:00, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

Modern translation[edit]

Shabidoo suggested updating the translation. This is a good idea, if you can find a modern Qur'an translation that's in the public domain. I do not think it is bot-automateable (or: the amount of effort to set up a non-erroneous bot would be higher than the 1-2 hours of copy-pasting required). 32℉uzzy; 0℃atPotato (talk/stalk) 15:38, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

If there is consensus on the topic (and there's no rush) then: I've prepared the marked up text for the Surrahs which don't have commentary yet which is 80% of them I believe. The ones that do have commentary will take me some extra time as I have to do some double checking after converting them (through the use of text editor, functions on microsoft excel and word). Those surrahs take a little extra time but I don't mind doing it. Christopher's suggestion that it all be done around the same time as a whole, I think is a good idea (assuming there is consensus). I don't mind doing the bitch work involved, though it certainly cannot be done in one day, (probably 2 or 3).
As for translation, I used this one here. It's not super coloquial English but its close enough, can be downloaded in text files which are convenient for converting and it is in the public domain. That's not to say the author would be pleased if he ever finds out, thems the breaks when you public domain something ;)
Here is an example of the modern text replacing the poetic King Jame's style version one of the sutras and here is the current version.
If there is consensus, I'll process the surrahs with annotations and could start editing the pages say, next week. ShabiDOO 19:51, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

Rolling out translations[edit]

Hi guys. I've just rolled out the modern translations for all articles that have any commentary. As for all the other suras, I have them all in a folder with text files. Is there any way to automate it or do we have to edit all the pages (there are 82 of them). Cheers ShabiDOO 03:59, 28 February 2018 (UTC)

Step 2[edit]

I've rolled out all the translations. Will have to double check for any errors. But not today. ShabiDOO 15:26, 29 April 2018 (UTC)

Surrah Titles[edit]

Hi guys and girls and trans and non-binary and any other LGTBQ+? and non-LGTBQ+? I left out (sorry) ... now that the modern translations have been rolled out I think we should change the title of a few of them. As the title of some of the Surrahs from the old translation some of them sound like the King James Bible or Shakespeare while the content is colloquial. What do you think? I don't believe we'd have to change so many of them. ShabiDOO 03:43, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

Hi all[edit]

I'm flirting with a couple changes to the annotated quran page. The first is that we ought to sort the table in Chronological order, the main reason being we've annotated far more of those and the table doesn't look mostly empty as it does now sorted in the "traditional order". The other reason is, the Surrahs to read are shorter and more manageable for the reader. I'm also more or less annotating them all in that order slowly, because I'm doing my own deeper reading into the Quran before I seriously start on the chunkier Suras as they all require more background and context knowledge to properly annotate.

The second thing I'm thinking about is a basic color coding of verses. There are multiple common themes that come up again and again. I'd say there isn't a surrah out there without threatening verses and/or threats of hell. Most surrahs contain at least one if not many verses which claim you're stupid if you don't believe. Other extremely common ones are: Allah is merciful. Allah knows everything you do. Allah is pure wisdom. A law. A prediction. etc. I'd say eight blocks or colors should cover the overwealming content of the quran leaving grey for everything else. I have a mock up of the cow which shows the first three verses in color blocks (the colors and meanings aren't relevant for the moment just what it would look like). What do you think about the concept? ShabiDOO 23:17, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

Here's the userspace article. ShabiDOO 23:24, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

Mistakes in the translation[edit]

I think I found some mistakes in the translation. I mean some really huge mistakes. In fact, I think that some surahs, like Ali Imran (The Family of Imran), are not the correct one (I mean, the surah here called The Family of Imran isn't even the true one). Check by yourself if you don't believe me. This is a very serious problem that must be fixed as soon as possible. RationalThinker (talk) 22:16, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

Could you please expand on that? I don't really understand what you are saying. What specifically is the issue? ShabiDOO 23:37, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
@Shabidoo As a native Arabic speaker and an ex-muslim with a good understanding of the Qur'an, I can say that there are some surahs with the wrong titlt, for example surahs with the names of other surahs. If you don't believe me, verify by yourself. If you don't know Arabic, compare with other translations. This problems concers only some surahs that are not fully annotated, for example The Famili of Imran (surah Ali Imran in Arabic) and The Romans (surah ar-Rum in Arabic). Compare them with other translations, for example this one and you'll see the problem. — Unsigned, by: RationalThinker / talk / contribs