John Medows Rodwell

For other people named John Rodwell, see John Rodwell (disambiguation).

A memorial plaque dedicated to Rodwell at St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate

John Medows Rodwell (1808–1900) was an English clergyman of the Church of England and an Islamic studies scholar, who translated the Qur'an into English.

Rodwell was a friend of Charles Darwin while both were studying at Cambridge, and he maintained a correspondence with Darwin after their graduation. He served as Rector of St.Peter's, Saffron Hill, London 1836–43 and Rector of St Ethelburga's, Bishopsgate, London from 1843 to 1900.

Qur'an translation

Rodwell's Qur'an translation The Koran was first published in 1861. In the 1994 Everyman Library edition the Surahs, which Rodwell originally ordered chronologically, have been put back in the traditional order, from long to short. Rodwell's outdated preface and professor G. Margoliouth's introductory notes have been replaced by a new introduction by Alan Jones, and some of Rodwell's obsolete notes have been removed as well. According to Jones, when comparing with the Qur'an translations of Sale (1734), Palmer (1880), Pickthall (1930), Bell (1937-9) and Arberry (1955), the strengths of Rodwell's translation lies in its "nineteenth century positivistic approach" and his much better cross-referencing to biblical texts, which is "crucial to one's understanding of the Qur'an".

External links

• Works by or about John Medows Rodwell at Wikisource
• The Koran: Translated from the Arabic, the Suras Arranged In Chronological Order – First edition 1861, London, published by Williams and Norgate.

• Al-Quran Archived 2009-01-29 at the Wayback Machine project includes the Qur'an translation of John Medows Rodwell
• Works by John Medows Rodwell at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about John Medows Rodwell at the Internet Archive