Description: This Norton Critical Edition is based on a thoroughly revised and annotated version of the well-regarded Pickthall translation of the Qur'an. Jane McAuliffe introduces the Qur'an as a living scripture, preparing readers for an informed encounter with the text. Topics include the scholarly traditions of the study of qur'anic origins; the centuries of commentary, analysis, and intellectual dissemination that have created a library of qur'anic literature; the history of translations, particularly those in English; and the many ways the Qur'an informs Muslim life and material culture.
Brief description: Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Ph.D. University of Toronto), the inaugural director of National and International Outreach at the Library of Congress, is the editor of the six- volume Encyclopaedia of the Quran and the Cambridge Companion to the Quran. She is a former president of Bryn Mawr College and a former dean of arts and sciences at Georgetown University.