An inquiry of the Qur'an translation and commentary entitled ?The Holy Qur'an" by Maulana Muhammad Ali

This study is intended to analyze and criticise the translation and commentary on the Qur?an entitled The Holy Qur?an with English Translation and Commentary by Maulana Muhammad Ali Lahori (d. 1951), leader of the Lahori Ahmadism, being a branch of Ahmadism or Qadianism, founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1908). This study consists of five chapters.In the introduction or the first chapter, I described the socio-historical upsetting against which Muhammad Ali was raised and lived and provided information about his life and works as well as about the Qadiani or Ahmadi movement. In the second chapter, I delineated his method of understanding and interpreting the Qur?an, examining and assessing the major subjects of his `Ulum al-Qur?an. As a result of the findings and appraisals, I concluded that Maulana Muhammad adopts an eclectic exegetical approach.In the third chapter, we examined the way he understands and interprets the verses related to the Resurrection, the Hereafter, and the unseen creatures. In the fourth chapter, I analyzed how he understands and interprets the Qur?anic tales and miracles. In the fifth and last chapter, we evaluated his interpretation of the verses related to social and legal issues.As a result of these three chapters, I concluded that he interprets the unseen creatures and realm as metaphorically and allegorically as to converge with esotericism, whereas he takes up a rationalistic and even naturalistic approach to the Qur?anic tales/stories, and adopts an apologetic language and discourse, peculiar to the classical Islamic modernism, as to the social and legal issues.Key Words: Maulana Muhammad Ali, Qadianism or Ahmadism (Ahmadiyya), translation, Qur?anic exegesis