N. J. Dawood
Encyclopedia
Nessim Joseph Dawood was born in 1927 to an Iraqi Jewish family in Baghdad
, Iraq
. He emigrated to England in 1945 as an Iraq State scholar, and settled there. He graduated from the University of London
. He is known for his English translations of the Qur’an, Tales from the One Thousand and One Nights (Penguin Classics) and his edition of the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun
. Dawood’s translation of the Qur’an, titled “The Koran”, was at one time the world’s best-selling English translation of the Qur’an.
In the first edition of his translation of the Qur’an, in 1956, Dawood rearranged the chapters (suras) into more-or-less chronological order, as to make it easier to determine which verses are abrogated. Later editions restored the traditional sequence
of publishing the surahs in order of length.
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. He emigrated to England in 1945 as an Iraq State scholar, and settled there. He graduated from the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. He is known for his English translations of the Qur’an, Tales from the One Thousand and One Nights (Penguin Classics) and his edition of the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun
Muqaddimah
The Muqaddimah , also known as the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun or the Prolegomena , is a book written by the Maghrebian Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun in 1377 which records an early view of universal history...
. Dawood’s translation of the Qur’an, titled “The Koran”, was at one time the world’s best-selling English translation of the Qur’an.
In the first edition of his translation of the Qur’an, in 1956, Dawood rearranged the chapters (suras) into more-or-less chronological order, as to make it easier to determine which verses are abrogated. Later editions restored the traditional sequence
of publishing the surahs in order of length.