Marmaduke Pickthall
English novelist and translator of the Quran (1930)
- Born
- 1875, London
- Died
- 1936, St Ives, Cornwall
- Known for
- The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930)
- Religion
- Converted to Islam, 1917
- Other work
- Novelist; editor of the Bombay Chronicle
English novelist who became a Muslim in 1917 and published one of the first English Quran translations by a Muslim, in 1930.
What is Marmaduke Pickthall known for?
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall was an English writer born in London in 1875. Before the First World War he was known as a novelist of Middle Eastern life, admired by writers such as D. H. Lawrence and H. G. Wells. In November 1917 he publicly declared his conversion to Islam at the Woking Muslim Mission, later describing himself as a Sunni Muslim of the Hanafi school.
In 1920 he went to India to edit the Bombay Chronicle and later worked in Hyderabad as a school principal and in the service of the Nizam's government. There he completed The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), an English rendering approved by scholars at Al-Azhar. He chose the title because, in Muslim teaching, the Quran cannot truly be translated, only its meaning conveyed.
His version uses older English such as 'thee' and 'listeneth', and it is now widely available online. He died in St Ives, Cornwall, in 1936 and is buried at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.
The site quotes Quran verses about the jinn, the sky and Dhul-Qarnayn in Pickthall's 1930 translation.
Mentioned on these pages
Sources
- Internet Sacred Text Archive, 'The Meaning of the Glorious Quran', tr. M. M. PickthallPrimary text
- Wikipedia, 'Marmaduke Pickthall'Reference
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