The QuranNow.com translation of the meaning of Qur’anic verses is based in essence on the popular translations by Yusuf Ali and Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthal. However, the QuranNow.com translation offers significant advantages over these two translations and other popular ones in the following areas:

  Language ease: the QuranNow.com translation is a Modern Standard English translation that uses common words with their current uses to convey the meaning of the Holy Qur’an. The QuranNow.com translation does not use Old English expressions and phrases such as “thou, lo, and thee.”
Consider the translation of verse 4 in chapter 68 in common translations:
Yusuf Ali: “And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character.”
M. Pickthal: “And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature.”
Now, the QuranNow.com translation:
“And indeed! You are of great moral character”

  Accuracy: the QuranNow.com translation was checked against 4 books of tafseer (commentary and explanation of the Qur’an), namely Ibn Katheer, Al-Tabari, Al-Qurtubi, and Al-Fakhr Al-Razi, to insure the accuracy of translation.
Consider the translation of verse 102 in chapter 20:
Yusuf Ali: The Day when the Trumpet will be sounded: that Day, We shall gather the sinful, blear-eyed (with terror).
M. Pickthal: The day when the Trumpet is blown. On that day we assemble the guilty white-eyed (with terror),
Notice the part near the end of the verse where the eyes of the “guilty” or the “sinful” are described as “blear-eyed” or “white-eyed.” The original word in Arabic is “Zurqa,” which literally means blue-eyed. Arabs used to refer a person whose vision is blurred out of terror or because of calamity as blue-eyed. Now, the QuranNow.com translation:
“The day when the Trumpet is blown. On that day we will assemble the guilty disbelievers bleary-eyed (with terror).”

  Allowing for multiple meanings: the books of tafseer often provide multiple meanings to a particular verse, and the QuranNow.com translation attempts to capture as many of the meanings as possible.
Consider verse 29 in chapter 74 which describes Saqar (one of the names of Hell):
Yusuf Ali: Darkening and changing the color of man!
M. Pickthal: It shrivelleth the man.
Now, the QuranNow.com translation which incorporates two meanings of the verse:
“Gleaming from a distance, yet darkening of people’s skin.”

  Descriptiveness and clarity: the QuranNow.com translation often uses phrases rather than single words to clarify the meaning of Arabic words and expressions.
Consider verse 108 in chapter 20:
Yusuf Ali: And Pharaoh, and those before him, and the Cities Overthrown, committed habitual Sin.
M. Pickthal: And Pharaoh and those before him, and the communities that were destroyed, brought error,
Now, the QuranNow.com translation:
“And Pharaoh, those before him, and the people of Lut whose cities were flipped upside down committed grave habitual sin.”

  Capturing of the interconnectedness between verses: the QuranNow.com translation attempts to convey the explicit and implicit relationships between verses in a chapter to present each chapter as a contiguous unit.
Consider verses 26-31 which explicitly talk about Saqar in chapter 74:
“Soon I will dip him into Saqar. Ah! If you just knew what Saqar is? It leaves nothing and spares nothing …”
Verses 32-37 continue to talk about Saqar. This continuity is not clear when reading most common translation. For example, Yusuf Ali’s translation reads:
“Nay, verily: By the Moon, And by the Night as it retreateth, And by the Dawn as it shineth forth,- This is but one of the mighty (portents), A warning to mankind,-
To any of you that chooses to press forward, or to follow behind;”
Notice that there is no reference made to Saqar in the translation. Now, the QuranNow.com translation:
“But no! I swear by the moon, And the night as it retreats, And by the dawn it shines forth, Indeed! This one, Saqar, is one of the greatest layers of Hell. As a warning to mankind, To any of you who chooses to advance or to lag behind.”
The resulting translation is one that is easy to read and understand without requiring any previous knowledge of Islam or Arabic. The recording of the translation by El-Hajj Mauri Saalakhan covers a new dimension to the translation by providing the proper stresses and intonations to further clarify the meaning of the verses.