The Global Qur’an. Shared Traditions, Imperial Languages and Transnational Actors

Project Information

GloQur

Grant agreement ID: 863650

DOI

10.3030/863650

Project closed

EC signature date 20 January 2020

Start date 1 May 2020

End date 30 April 2025

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 980 000,00

EU contribution

€ 1 980 000,00

Coordinated by

ALBERT-LUDWIGS-UNIVERSITAET FREIBURG
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - GloQur (The Global Qur’an. Shared Traditions, Imperial Languages and Transnational Actors)

Reporting period: 2024-11-01 to 2025-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

GloQur explored the global history and transnational dynamics of modern Muslim Qur’an translations. In the modern age, translations of the Qur’an have become a key medium through which Muslims around the world engage with their faith. These translations have been produced by a wide range of individual and institutional actors, often working across national and linguistic boundaries. Qur’an translations are shaped by diverse traditions, including premodern Islamic commentary, modern reformist interpretations, biblical and Orientalist translations, and contemporary political and religious ideologies. They may thus serve as a lens to study a wide range of social, religious, political and ideological dynamics.

The project addressed a gap in scholarship by treating Qur’an translations not as secondary or derivative works, but as central texts in their own right and as a source of the global history of Islam. It aimed to understand how these translations are produced, disseminated, and received; what ideological, linguistic, and theological choices they reflect; and how they help shape religious life in Muslim communities.

To this end, GloQur focused on three major transnational dimensions. First, it analysed the role of governmental and non-governmental actors—such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, Turkey, the Ahmadiyya movements, and Salafi publishers—in producing and distributing translations with global reach. Second, it examined the influence of European imperial languages—such as English, French, Russian, and Dutch—on the circulation and reception of Qur’an translations. Third, it studied how a shared exegetical heritage is reinterpreted and adapted across linguistic, social, and ideological settings.

GloQur has established and defined a new field of research: the history of Muslim Qur’an translation. Through individual and collaborative studies, it documented the production and reception of translations across regions and eras. It highlighted the role of previously overlooked actorsand engaged directly with Muslim communities. The project also launched an influential blog (Qur’an Translation of the Week), published widely-read academic volumes and articles, and organised international workshops, an exhibition, and online events.

By combining philological, historical, and anthropological approaches, GloQur has contributed to a deeper understanding of how Muslims interpret and transmit their sacred text in the modern world in a vast number of languages.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

GloQur's work was carried out by a core team of five researchers and supported by a growing international network of scholars, translators, and institutions.

We have mapped out the major institutional actors involved in Qur’an translation—such as Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd Complex, Iran’s Qur’an Translation Centre, and Libya’s World Islamic Call Society—and analysed their strategies, theological frameworks, and global influence.

Another major area of focus was the missionary efforts of the Ahmadiyya movement, which played a decisive role in shaping the modern Qur’an translation landscape. Despite being marginalised within much of the Muslim world, both branches of the Ahmadiyya were among the first to translate the Qur’an systematically into European languages and to circulate these translations globally. Their influence extended far beyond South Asia and left a lasting mark on the genre, including its formal and stylistic conventions. Sunni and Shi's missionary movements followed in their footsteps.

GloQur also explored the interplay of languages in multilingual societies and the sociopolitical factors that influence the choice of language for translation. We found that the emergence of nation-states often led to the marginalisation of local vernaculars, while exile and migration played key roles in preserving and circulating translations in marginalised languages.

We did not restrict our attention to translators alone, but also examined the role of publishers, editors, and state institutions in shaping the Qur’anic message as it reaches readers. This broader focus allowed us to understand Qur’an translation as a collective and often contested process, involving many layers of mediation and authority.

The main academic results of the project include a monograph on the history of Qur’an translation in Saudi Arabia, three doctoral theses, a number of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, an edited volume on Qur’an translation in the Eastern Bloc and beyond, a special issue of the Journal of Qur’anic Studies on da’wa (Muslim missionary activity) and Qur’an translation in the early 20th century, and a forthcoming monograph by the principal investigator that writes the global history of modern Muslim Qur’an translation.

One of our central tools for dissemination was our science blog “Qur’an Translation of the Week,” which ran for the full duration of the project and features 217 instalments. This series attracted a global readership and became a key point of reference for both academic and non-academic audiences. Alongside the blog, GloQur maintained a strong online presence and organised several in-person and digital events, including international workshops, an exhibition, and a series of scholarly conversations with invited speakers.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

GloQur was the first research project to define the modern history of Muslim Qur’an translation as a field of study in its own right and to investigate it from a global perspective.

The project situated Qur’an translations in individual languages within broader global genealogies and thus contextualised and provincialised English works, the study of which has hitherto dominated the field. Contrasts between the French and English traditions, for example, have helped explain the factors behind the success and reach of English translations. Work on regions such as Cyprus shed light on the overlap of rising and declining empires—including the British, Ottoman, and Mughal.

While analysing the role of empires and nation-states, the project also foregrounded the agency of individual translators and also the crucial role of publishers and editors, who often adapted translations to changing ideological, aesthetic, or political requirements. For example, the project’s findings on the infamous Hilali-Khan translation into English—commonly associated with Saudi Arabia—revealed a far more layered and complex publication history than previously assumed.

The project produced the first comprehensive account of Saudi Arabia’s involvement in Qur’an translation, extending far beyond the well-known King Fahd Qur’an Printing Complex. It traced the roots of these initiatives to the Muslim World League and mapped their global dissemination strategies. A key and unexpected finding was the significant role played by Qadhafi’s Libya in international Qur’an translation—a role that, until now, had been almost entirely overlooked.

GloQur also broke new ground in the study of how Qur’an translations are used by readers in multilingual societies shaped by migration, conversion, and language politics, in contexts ranging from the Indonesian diaspora in the Netherlands to the island of Mauritius.

GloQur has not only moved the field beyond its earlier limitations but has laid the foundation for a global and interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Qur’an in translation.

GloQur logo

Qur'an translations