Most people meet the Quran's meaning first through a translation. That is a good start. But anyone who reads one for long enough will hit verses that raise more questions than they answer. That is where tafseer comes in.

What a translation does well

A good translation gives you the overall message quickly. You can read a surah in one sitting and follow its thread. For the many verses whose meaning is clear, it is enough to reflect on. Widely used English translations include Saheeh International, The Clear Quran (Mustafa Khattab) and Abdel Haleem.

Scholars are careful to call these "translations of the meanings" of the Quran. The Quran itself is the Arabic. Any translation is a human interpretation, which is why two translations of the same verse can read quite differently.

Where translations run out

Words with more than one meaning

The word قُرُوء in al-Baqarah 2:228, about the waiting period after divorce, can mean menstrual periods or the clean intervals between them. Translators have to choose one. Tafseer explains both views, who held them, and why.

Context of revelation

وَلِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ ۚ فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ, "To Allah belong the east and the west, so wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah" (al-Baqarah 2:115). Read alone, someone might think the direction of prayer does not matter. Tafseer explains the occasions scholars connect it to, such as voluntary prayer while travelling, and how it relates to the verses on the qiblah that follow.

Things the Arabic carries that English cannot

In إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ, the object "You" comes before the verb. In Arabic that word order signals exclusivity: "You alone we worship". Some translations add "alone", some do not. Tafseer explains why it is there.

Rulings and their limits

Verses about inheritance, fasting or prayer have details that come from the Sunnah and scholarly explanation. A translation gives you the verse; tafseer connects it to how it is practised.

Side by side

Which should you use?

Both, in that order. Read the Arabic and a translation to follow the flow. When a verse stops you, or when you want to understand a passage properly, open a tafseer. Many people do this with the surahs they recite in prayer first. Our explanations of al-Fatiha, al-Ikhlas and Ayat al-Kursi show what this looks like in practice.

A word of caution

It is tempting to build conclusions from a translation alone, especially on social media. Verses quoted without context are one of the most common sources of misunderstanding about Islam, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Tafseer, and ideally a teacher, guard against that.

If you want guided study, our Tafseer course works through the Quran with a teacher one-on-one, using translation and classical tafseer together. You can read more about the subject in what is tafseer.