| Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice Is it favored or favoured? An American critic, after praising Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice ended his otherwise positive review with a complaint about typos – the kiss-of-death for any book, no matter the preamble (by the way, I do not have a PhD). I’ve just finished reading Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice by the Canadian scholar Bernard Payeur, and the book is exactly what it’s touted to be: “everything you’ve always known about the Koran, and more, explained in a way we can all understand”. Mr. Payeur’s original field is not Islamic studies, so he approaches his task as an intelligent outsider. The result is a thorough and comprehensive view of what the Koran actually says, organized in several different ways to provide insights into what it all means. In addition to the Koran itself, the author has read the hadith and various commentary by Muslim theologians, so the book reflects the established Islamic institutional understanding of what Islam’s holy book means. ... Majid Fakhry rendered his excellent translation of the Koran, from which I quote extensively, into British English e.g. favoured as opposed to favored. 17:40 Has your Lord, then, favoured you with sons and taken to Himself females from among the angels? Surely, you are uttering a monstrous thing. Not only have I not changed Fakhry’s translation to conform to American English (this may have been a mistake), but I have, in my accompanying narrative, chosen to remain with British English, with an occasional inadvertent foray into Canadian English (yes, there is such a thing). The same for hadiths. In quoting the sayings and recollections of the actions of the Prophet I have chosen to remain with the English of the translator and his often confusing punctuation. Another thing to keep in mind is the caution contained in the chapter Revelations and Generalizations. At the end of this chapter, in which I explain my methodology and my editorial choices, is the following observation: One final editorial observation: all quoted verses have been carefully reviewed to ensure that Fakhry's interpretation has been faithfully rendered. Many verses such as 44:43-44 must be read together to form a complete sentence or thought; therefore do not assume a typographical (typo) or grammatical error if a verse does not end with the expected punctuation. 44:43 The Tree of Zaqqum (the Tree of Bitterness) will certainly be 44:44 The food of the sinner. Punctuation or lack thereof, is usually a good indication of when verses must be read as a group. Finally, some of the quoted verses from Fakhry’s interpretation of the Koran have no closing quotes and it has to do with an often misunderstood rule of English grammar. If the material being quoted is more than one paragraph .i.e. verses, you can get away with only opening quotation marks (“) at the beginning of each verse and only supply closing quote (”) at the end of the complete multiple paragraph quotation. Bernard Payeur
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