Edward William Lane as Translator of the Quran al Kareem

Abstract

Edward William Lane (1801-1876) was a British orientalist, translator and lexicographer. His  timeless work An Arabic-English lexicon has been appreciated by all researchers working in the  field of Arabic and Islamic Studies. Lane's stay in Egypt enabled him to learn Arabic directly  from the native people. He adopted some habits of the Muslim community and mixed with them  freely. He was very tolerant in his behavior and neither ridiculed Islam nor criticized it. Lane  translated some extracts from the Qur'an and published them as a book. His introduction  borrows information from the preliminary discourse of George Sale and Lane amended it in  such a way that it became acceptable to Muslims. This article examines Lane's translation and  compares it with Sale's rendering. It also discusses his Lexicon and translation of fragments of  the Qur'an therein.