Reading & Studying the Holy Kuran - How to Start?

Question

Please recommend a well respected English translation (with perhaps the beautiful Arabic script in parallel).

And a good commentary. . .that may contemplate that readers come from a Judaic and/or Christian background. . .so cross referencing with the Hebrew/Christian Bibles.

Also. . .is there a daily/weekly reading schedule or Lectionary that corresponds with the 52 weeks in a year? (The Torah readings work this way. . .Christianity has something similar but on a 2 or 3 year cycle.)

Finally. . .location. . .where to purchase. . .on the Internet?

Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

I think the best known is the Darusallam version.. sorry i dont have the time to search.. why dont u do it... Quran from Darusallam.

There is no schedule as such. The Quran has 30 chapters work it out the best way for u...
Remember the Quran is so unique in the way it has been put in order.. below is an article I wrote about it ... hope it helps... :)
The Unique Book
Allah has sent a miracle with every messenger he has sent. The miracle is such that will be easily accepted by the nation for their understanding of that particular concept. For example, in the case of Musa aleihi salaam, Allah sent the staff that turned to a snake. This miracle was to touch deep and clear in the hearts of his people who believed in magic. Had Allah sent a miracle that was not understandable to its people, the miracle would not serve its purpose.
Allah sent the last messenger Muhammad (saw) to all of mankind. He was to be the only messenger to ever be sent to all nations and the miracles accompanying him were to be for the whole mankind therefore the miracle would be one that would last and would be miraculous to all generations. This is exactly what the greatest miracle given to the prophet (saw) has and will serve as.
Quran - the Word of Allah
First and foremost, the miracle of the Quran had to be a proof of its divinity. The Quran was first sent to a nation that was very strong in language. The Quran came as a shocking miracle to the Arabs who knew these words were not any ordinary words. The Quran further challenged the Arabs on several occasions to come with its similar but the Arabs and the whole of mankind till this moment is unable to bring about such a book and not even a verse of the like of the Quran.
Allah has promised to protect this book which has not previously occurred with other books Allah has sent. Allah says… inna nahnu nazzalnal Qurana wa inna lahu lahafithun.
And though fourteen hundred years have passed since it was first revealed. The Quran is still and will remain in its original form. In history there were two main times when the companions took major steps to preserve the Quran from corruption.
1. During the caliphate of Abu Bakr (rad) when Umar advised him to gather the Quran in one book, previously, the Quran was written in different materials like bones or leaves. Zaid ibn Thabit headed this task. Gathering the Quran in one book form was especially necessary because a number of companions who had memorized the Quran were martyred in battles against apostates.
2. During Uthman’s caliphate when the companion Huthaifa bin al Yaman came to inform the caliph of the dangers the Quran is facing due to the expansion of Muslim lands. He informed the caliph that the new Muslims were reciting the Quran and at times mixing between the 7 dialects so that one would not be sure whether or not the recitation was correct. Uthman ordered all the Qurans to be destroyed except the one gathered during Abu Bakr’s time. He then ordered the copying of that Quran so that it would be distributed to the Muslim lands. This task was accomplished during the second year of his caliphate
The Miraculous Quran
The Quran still remains to be the soundest book which has no corruption whatsoever. The Quran is also the only book which has been memorized word to word with different people from different continents, most of who do not even speak the language of the Quran. It is said if all the books were to be destroyed, the only book which could be rewritten without any mistakes would be the Quran.
The Quran’s mysteries are always being discovered with new scientific discoveries, the Quran never gets too old to be amazed with, with every generation, more treasures of the great book are discovered by the mercy of Allah.
The Theme
The Quran focuses on man. This is around three aspects. His relationship with God, his relationship with himself and his relationship with other creatures.
The only Book of its Kind
The Quran is unique in its wording, division and way of reading. When reading the Quran, one should not expect it to be like reading any other kind of book. The Quran could be recited from anywhere and it would make sense. You do not need to begin reciting from the beginning of the chapter in most cases to understand what is intended as you would with novels. Likewise the chapters are not divided so that all about a certain topic could be found under it as you would find in an encyclopaedia. The Quran is unique as it is divine. No other book could be found to have the same kind of characteristics of the Quran.

Answer 2

The Q'ran, by definition, can not be translated into another language.

From a purely technical point of view, roughly 20% of the Q;'ran consists of random characters, that can not be translated, because they are "nonsense words". The only meaning that can be ascribed to them, is thru the use of gematriac analysis. That proves that Q'ran indisputably advocates the worship of false gods.T

here are reading cycles for the Q'ran, similarT to that of Lectionary Readings, or the Torah Cycle Readings.

Note: You will need to know Classical Arabic fluently, in order to begin to read the Q'ran, and the various commentaries on it.

Answer 3

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1930097468/sr=8-1/qid=1153351393/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5397919-7701524?ie=UTF8
you can purchase it here or at a local bookstore in the religion section.
I recommend the Quran transliterated by Yusuf Ali.

Also, here is a site where you can hear surahs recited and then it is followed by a translation.
http://islam.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=islam&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.islamicity.com%2Fmosque%2Farabicscript%2FAyat%2F1%2F1_1.htm

Inshallah (God willing) you will find this helpful. Alhamdhulillah, you are making a great effort and in the site of Allah, you are doing something good:)

Answer 4

It is spelled Quran. You can go to your local Muslim community place of worship for some commentary.

For brief intro to Islam go to

www.islam-guide.com

www.islamtomorrow.com

www.islamalways.com

For recitation (it is beautiful)

www.islamicity.com

For commentary go to

www.tafsir.com

To download Quran go to

http://www.imaanstar.com/quran.php

I suggest reading about basics of Islam then read the entire Quran. You can do with or without commentary. I suggest reading all without commentary, then going back to commentary. May God guide us. Peace be upon you.

Answer 5

hi,
you can get a pretty good copy of the quran from the saudi embassy. they will send you a copy of the quran for free. that should help. if you have any other questions, please let me know. hope all is well.

Answer 6

I believe it's spelled 'Koran'... that may help. Or Quran... or Qura'an... or one of million different ways...