Readers' questions

AbuIlyass (أبو إلياس), a Hanif, is its author: he set the principles, decided every choice and reread the text. Artificial intelligences, Claude (Anthropic) and Gemini (Google), drafted, criticised and verified under his direction. See "Overview".

The AIs did what one man alone could not do in a lifetime: reread all the occurrences of every root, propose argued renderings, review independently, check every quotation and every term. They do not decide. Every choice of meaning or of word was decided by AbuIlyass, and the translation is his.

On the text alone. A word is understood through its root, through all the sentences where that root recurs, and through the sentence that carries it. No outside source settles a meaning: no commentary, no narrative, no tradition.

Because the translation seeks to render what the text says, not what has been said about it. When the text fixes a meaning, it is the text that decides, even against a widespread usage. The classical dictionaries are consulted, but they are not authoritative: they have sometimes added meanings that came from the law built up after the text.

Every word renders the Arabic root, checked against all its occurrences, and remains the same everywhere. "Guardian" for رَبّ, "the Contact" for ٱلصَّلَوٰة, "obey" for عَبَدَ, "informant" for نَبِيّ: see "Vocabulary", where each choice is explained.

Two Arabic roots never share the same word in a language, and a root keeps its word from one sentence to another. The reader who does not read Arabic thus finds, beneath the word, the root and its other uses. When a language imposes an exception, it is explained.

Because the sentence is the unit of meaning. The Arabic text was divided at the pauses of the recitation, and each sentence receives its translation. A verse may contain several sentences, and a sentence may bring together several verses. See "Division into sentences".

The references follow the usual numbering of the verses. Since a sentence may bring together several verses, the reference of a sentence is that of its first verse, and a quotation points to the first sentence of the verse quoted.

By default, the reading of Hafs, the most widespread. The "Reading" selector offers the other transmitted readings, and "Our reading": the pronunciation the translation follows, which follows another reading where the text proves it. See "Method", "The Arabic text displayed".

They explain a choice that may surprise: the meaning of a root, a connection between two passages, a reading followed. They do not narrate; they show what the text says elsewhere. The translation itself adds nothing: what helps understanding goes into a note.

The brackets added to the text what it does not say. They have been removed: the translated text contains only what the Arabic says, and the explanations are in the notes.

They are transcribed as they are (Alif. Lam. Mim.), without being given a meaning: the text gives none. They bear witness that the rasm has come down intact, to the letter.

The traditional names are not part of the text. The index gives the usual Arabic name, so that the sura can be found, and a reading name drawn from its content.

Because the Arabic addresses God in the singular. The translation keeps this direct address, with the capital of reverence (You, Your), so that it preserves both the directness and the respect.

Each Arabic particle of emphasis has its mark. إِنَّ that affirms is rendered "indeed"; إِنَّ that gives the reason is rendered "for"; the doubled emphasis is rendered "surely". See "Reading rules".

A regularity of the text checked against all its occurrences: a turn of phrase, a construction, a formula, rendered everywhere in the same way. The rules set aside are published too, with the reason. See "Reading rules".

Yes, but not at random. Since the sealing, a correction enters only if it is argued from the text, presented with its before and after, and decided. It is then applied in one movement to all the languages, to the notes and to the dictionary.

From the sealed French, sentence by sentence, with a glossary specific to each language that keeps each root's word. Each language is reread in full by an independent reviewer, harmonised, then put through two sealing tests of three hundred sentences before being published.

The reading notes and the root dictionary are written in French and in English (the dictionary also in Arabic), the only languages the author can check himself. In the other languages, they are displayed in English.

Everything can be checked: each sentence has its notes and its readings, each root has its entry with its occurrences, each rule has its evidence. The text, the dictionary and the data can be downloaded to be reread offline.

Yes. The translations and the dictionary are under the CC BY 4.0 licence: free reuse, including commercial, provided the source is cited and any change is indicated; a modified translation may not be presented as that of al-quran.fr. The Arabic text, the words and the readings are in the public domain (CC0).

For example: AbuIlyass, "The Recitation", sentence-by-sentence translation, al-quran.fr, sura:verse (accessed on …). For academic work, state the language and the date of access: the text may have received a correction since.