Translators' Forward to the Second Edition

As we pointed out in the first edition our aim in preparing this English translation with explanations was to assist those reading this translation of the Qur'an to understand the meaning of God's divine message as revealed in the Holy Qur'an. In addition to using everyday English whenever possible some explanations and brief commentaries were added in parentheses among the verses so that the connections between the verses are more apparent and the verses can be read more smoothly. Without this help we feared that not only would some verses not be understood but that understanding the Qur'an as a whole would be difficult. It has not been our aim to provide a full commentary of the Qur'an though. There are many commentaries that can be turned to if more complete information is desired. However in order to provide still more assistance of the type mentioned above this edition contains more explanations than were in the first edition.