This is the main Qur'an version
at sacred-texts.com. The Arabic is presented as embedded graphics
in the GIF format. To allow for viewing on slower systems, each
Surah is broken down into traditional sections, which usually
include about a dozen verses. Each verse is presented in Arabic
along with a pronunciation guide, and The Yusuf Ali English
text. The system used in the pronunciation guide can be viewed
in this file. This text
is hyperlinked with other English versions and transcriptions
of the Qur'an at this site.
The Yusuf Ali English text is based
on the 1938 book, The Holy Qur-an, Text, Translation and
Commentary, (published in Lahore, Cairo and Riyadh).
Some modifications have been made; in particular, where the
term 'God' appears in the original book, 'Allah' has been substituted.
This version is widely used because it is a clear, modern and
eloquent translation by a well-respected Muslim scholar. The
Surah titles used here are also those which were used in this
book.
NOTICE. The English text presented here was free
of copyright in the US until 1996, at which point it had a pro-forma
copyrighted status created which will last until 2033. However
in many countries, including its original country of publication,
Pakistan, this text is currently in the public domain. Here's
how this happened. Yusuf Ali died in 1952, and Pakistan (his
country of residence) has copyright rules of life+50. So the
Pakistan copyright expired in 2002. The Ali Qur'an English text
was first published in the US in 1946, but was never registered
or renewed, so it was never copyrighted in the US. The GATT
copyright law granted US copyrights to works not in the public
domain in the country of publication as of 1/1/1996, for a full
term of 95 years from the date of original publication. This
includes works that were never copyrighted in the US
or whose US copyrights had already expired, in which category
this work falls. We are sure that Yusuf Ali labored on this
work so that the world could benefit from it, not to lock it
up as someone's personal intellectual property. However, if
anyone can establish that they are the copyright holder, we
will promptly comply with their wishes.