Umm Muhammad (Sahih International)

The Saheeh International rendering, The Qur’an: Arabic Text with Corresponding English Meanings (1997), is a clear, modern-English translation built for accuracy and ease of reference, with the English aligned closely to the Arabic and clarifying words supplied in brackets to mark additions not present in the original. Its interpretive choices lean mildly Salafi, reflecting the doctrinal outlook of its producers, and its footnotes and parenthetical glosses aim to keep the reader anchored to a mainstream Sunni reading. Plain and unadorned in style, it has become one of the most widely circulated English translations online, embedded in numerous apps and websites.

It was produced by Saheeh International, a Jeddah-based team led by Umm Muhammad (Emily Assami, an American convert, also known as Aminah), working with Mary Kennedy and Amatullah Bantley—three American Muslim women who began the project in the early 1990s out of dissatisfaction with the English Islamic literature then available. It was first published in Saudi Arabia.

Reviewers credit it for clarity, consistency, and faithfulness to the Arabic; the main caution is that its theological framing and bracketed clarifications reflect a particular interpretive school rather than a neutral reading.