According to our system of counting Quranic verses, the verse Bismillahhir-Rahmanir-Rahim (In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Ever Merciful) is counted as the first verse of the chapter, which it precedes. Some publishers of the Holy Quran however, begin counting following Bismillahhir-Rahmanir-Rahim. Should the reader not find the relevant verse under the number mentioned in this book, he or she is advised to deduct 1 from the number. For example, if this book quotes Ch. 35: al-Fatir: 25, then some copies of the Holy Quran will list the same verse under Ch. 35: al-Fatir: 24.
Where necessary, translation of the Arabic text has been elaborated by additional words to explain the meaning. Such words are not in italics. The word and at the commencement of a translated verse has been omitted.
The form ibn has been used in both initial and medial position in the names of persons, in order to conform to current usage, although bin also occurs medially in some original texts (abbreviated usually as b.).
Quotations from the Holy Bible are from the King James Translation.
The name of Muhammad (sas), the Holy Prophet of Islam, has been followed by the symbol (sas), which is an abbreviation for the prayer sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The names of other Prophets (as) and messengers are followed by the symbol (as), an abbreviation for ‘alaihissalam/‘alaihimussalam (on whom be peace). The actual prayers have not generally been set out in full, but they should nevertheless, be understood as being repeated in full in each case. The symbol (ra) is used with the name of the Companions of the Holy Prophet (sas) and those of the Promised Messiah (as). It stands for radi allahu ‘anhu/‘anha/‘anhum (may Allah be pleased with him/with her/with them). (rta) stands for rahimahullahu ta‘ala (may Allah’s blessing be on him). (aba) stands for ayyadahullahu ta‘ala binasrihil-aziz (may Allah, the Almighty help him).
In transliterating Arabic words we have followed the system adopted by the Royal Asiatic Society.
We have not transliterated Arabic words which have become part of the English language, e.g., Islam, Mahdi, Quran1, Hijra, Ramadan, hadith, ulema, umma, sunna, kafir, pukka, etc.
Curved commas are used in the system of transliteration, ‘ for ع, ’ for ء. Commas as punctuation marks are used according to the normal usage. Similarly, normal usage is followed for the apostrophe.
1 Concise Oxford Dictionary records Quran in three forms—Quran, Qur’an and Koran.