A First of its Kind in the Muslim World, a Study Qur’an Produced by Muslims

CNN reports a first of its kind in the Muslim world, a Study Qur’an, just like Study Bibles. This Qur'an includes a new translation along with commentary on the verses written by Shiite and Sunni scholars, who represent two warring sects in the Middle East. It's published in the U.S. and intended to offer more correct interpretations of their Holy Book, just like some Study Bibles do for the Christian Holy Book, seeking to de-fang extremist Islam. These Islamic scholars seek to restore a classical Islam just as Christians are seeking to restore a classical theism.
Ten years in the making, "The Study Quran" is more than a rebuttal to terrorists, said Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Iranian-born intellectual and the book's editor-in-chief. His aim was to produce an accurate, unbiased translation understandable to English-speaking Muslims, scholars and general readers.

The editors paid particular attention to passages that seem to condone bloodshed, explaining in extensive commentaries the context in which certain verses were revealed and written. "The commentaries don't try to delete or hide the verses that refer to violence. We have to be faithful to the text, " said Nasr, a longtime professor at George Washington University. "But they can explain that war and violence were always understood as a painful part of the human condition."

The scholar hopes his approach can convince readers that no part of the Quran sanctions the brutal acts of ISIS. "The best way to counter extremism in modern Islam," he said, "is a revival of classical Islam."
Jerry Coyne explains in more detail. Count me among the hopeful ones. It must start somewhere so why not here? CNN tells us the book has been endorsed "by an A-list of Muslim-American academics. One, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, called it 'perhaps the most important work done on the Islamic faith in the English language to date.'" And it was partially funded by King Abdullah II of Jordan, "may he escape Allah's Assassins."

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