Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network
Episode: Shawkat M. Toorawa, "The Devotional Qur'an: Beloved Surahs and Verses" (Yale UP, 2025)
Date: December 5, 2025
Host: Samuel Throup
Guest: Professor Shawkat M. Toorawa

Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth conversation between host Samuel Throup and Professor Shawkat M. Toorawa about Toorawa's new translation, "The Devotional Qur'an: Beloved Surahs and Verses." The discussion delves into Toorawa's intellectual journey, the conception and unique approach of his translation, the importance of literary quality and poetics in rendering the Qur'an into English, and the devotional dimensions of its use. Throughout, Toorawa shares insights on translation choices, audience, and the contemporary resonance of the Qur'an’s apocalyptic passages.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Professor Toorawa’s Intellectual Journey

• Multilingual Upbringing and Literary Inclinations
  • Toorawa discusses his upbringing in a multilingual, expatriate family with roots in Mauritius, his education across global cities, and his early love for literature in English, French, and Spanish.
    • "My family's from the island of Mauritius... I myself grew up speaking English and French, studied Spanish in school, and ...thought, well, what would it be like to read Japanese literature in Japanese or German literature in German..." (05:16)
• Choosing Arabic
  • Initially torn between Arabic, Gujarati, and Hopi, Toorawa recounts that the insistence of Arabic professor Roger Allen nudged him toward specializing in Arabic.
    • "Roger Allen said to me, you know, stop wasting your time learning your heritage language. Arabic needs more scholars. Do Arabic." (07:02)

2. Defining the Core Interest

• Literature and Storytelling over Discipline
  • Toorawa positions himself as a student of literature and narrative broadly, rather than only Arabic literature. He is fascinated by storytelling in all its forms—from science fiction to classical Arabic to the Qur’an.
    • "I think the core interest is literature, not Arabic... it's storytelling and narrative and how things are recounted." (08:45)

3. Origins and Evolution of "The Devotional Qur'an"

• Frustration with Existing Translations
  • Toorawa began translating Qur’anic surahs due to dissatisfaction with the lack of attention to sound and rhyme in English versions:
    • "The principal one that annoyed me was sound. Sound and rhyme. 84-85% of the Quran is in rhyme. All of it is sonorous... " (09:51)
• From Cherry-picking to Devotional Principle
  • The collection evolved from individual surah translations to a curated set that reflects the "devotional" uses by Muslims; selections were cross-checked with prayer books (wazifahs) for legitimacy.
    • "I might be able to do something in which the surahs... included... would be ones that Muslims used regularly..." (12:28)
• Organizational Challenges and Input
  • Toorawa took feedback from colleagues regarding the contents (notably adding Surah Mulk based on their input) and crafted an introduction at Yale’s request that foregrounds his personal relationship rather than academic analysis.
    • "I showed the table of contents to lots of colleagues... and one surah was missing. It was clear that I needed to include Surah Mulk..." (15:10)

4. Translational Approach and Poetic Choices

• Contemporary and Intimate Voice
  • Throup praises the translation’s closeness and intimacy; Toorawa consciously replaces archaic or formal wording (e.g., "royal We" to "I") to capture the emotional and poetic intent of the original.
    • Notable Reading: Surah Inshirāh ("Solace") (21:21–24:55)
      • "Didn't I soothe your heart when you were down? Remove the burden that weighed you down..."
    • "I changed the royal we to the personal I. And I actually have a note about it in the back of the book in which I say I wanted to use the more intimate I because this is God trying to say to his beloved prophet, everything's going to be okay." (24:55)
• Sound, Rhyme, and Literary Quality
  • Toorawa strives to emulate the aural and prosodic character of the Qur'an in English, experimenting with repetition, rhyme, and alliteration.
    • Notable Reading: Surah Ghashiyah ("Enfoldment") (47:33–48:37)
      • "The fire they enter will be vehement, the fount they drink from fulminant, their only food, thorn and bracken that neither satisfies nor fattens..."
    • "In the case of this surah, I made a specific choice... I selected the letter F and made sure that I deployed it throughout the surah." (48:38)

5. Minimal Apparatus & Devotional Reading

• Rationale for Sparse Notes
  • Unlike many Qur'an translations with heavy scholarly annotation, Toorawa intentionally minimizes notes, placing them only at the end and omitting reference marks, to replicate the devotional experience and uninterrupted engagement.
    • "When Muslims recite the Quran... those that do [study it], are studying it. And that's a different act. Which is why what I called this book was really important. The Devotional Quran." (40:13)
    • "I wanted people to have a kind of certainty that it was being done with... attention... And that meant paradoxically, removing all the notes..." (42:21)

6. Intended Audience & Impact

• For Scholars and Devotional Readers
  • Originally begun for other scholars and students, the book is also for Anglophone Muslims without Arabic, and for readers of world literature seeking to glimpse the literary quality of the Qur'an.
    • "The two main audiences are or had been scholars and academics and their students in the university classroom... and Anglophone Muslims anywhere of any kind." (33:25)
    • "It wasn't an attempt to displace other translations, but to supplement them with something that was a little... doing something a little differently." (33:53)
• Striving for Gravitas
  • Toorawa stresses the challenge and importance of delivering “gravitas” in translation to evoke the same awe and emotional impact as the original.
    • “There is a gravitas about it and I wanted to try and imbue some gravitas into the translation as well.” (36:57)

7. Apocalypticism and Contemporary Resonance

• Modern Relevance of Qur’anic Imagery
  • Throup observes that many of the devotional surahs selected are apocalyptic in content, which feels contemporary and resonant in today’s world.
    • "I was so struck by the... how apocalyptic they are and how much that apocalypticism spoke to me as a reader in the 21st century. Things feel pretty apocalyptic right now..." (44:20)
  • Toorawa reflects that the Qur’anic apocalyptic passages are meant to inspire awe, reflection, and motivation for moral action—not simple despair.
    • "It produces emotion of a particular kind, right? It forces the reader to grapple with... the awe of what this divine being is saying about the history of humanity." (53:28)
    • "It's not exactly the, you know, person holding the placard in Times Square... It's a kind of parsing of what's going on and a kind of... holding a mirror up to humanity and saying, 'you know, where is this heading?'" (55:46)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Literary Motivation
  • "I think the core interest is literature, not Arabic... it's storytelling and narrative and how things are recounted. That is what... ties my interest in science fiction to my interest in modern poetry, to my interest in Indian Ocean studies, to Arabic, modern Arabic or classical Arabic literature, or to the Quran." (08:45)
• On Translating the Qur’an’s Sound
  • "The principal one that annoyed me was sound. Sound and rhyme. 84, 85% of the Quran is in rhyme. All of it is sonorous... One need not be Muslim to react positively to the sounds of the Quran." (09:51)
• On the Use of the First Person
  • "I changed the royal we to the personal I... because this is God trying to say to his beloved prophet, everything's going to be okay. And why would you speak in the royal we... This is not pontificating." (24:55)
• On World Literature
  • "If it is going to be regarded in that category, then it's got to be treated that way. One, we don't publish extracts of the Bhagavad Gita and Penguin Classics with copious notes... if you put footnotes... the reader's act is interrupted." (39:15)
• On Audience and Poetic Impact
  • "I realized that if you look at... any anthology of world literature, passages from the Quran are routinely included. And often those translations don't read to my mind terribly well... I wanted [readers] to... say, 'I get why this is regarded as a piece of world literature.'" (33:53 and 35:00)
• On the Apocalyptic Tone and Relevance
  • "It's not just, oh, the end is near, the end is near. Anyone can say that... This is saying, this is it. Right. This is it... Muslims are uplifted by this... It's the reminder." (56:08)

Noted Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:40] – Professor Toorawa’s intellectual and educational background
• [09:44] – How the book came to be; frustrations with Qur’an translations
• [12:28] – Deciding on the devotional selection principle; consultation with the tradition and colleagues
• [21:21] – Reading and discussion of Surah Inshirāh ("Solace")
• [24:55] – Rationale for moving from "We" to "I" and emphasis on intimacy in the translation
• [29:26] – Layout choices: white space and the presentation of standalone verses
• [32:03] – Intended audience(s) for the translation
• [39:15] – Decision to keep notes and apparatus minimal
• [44:20] – Apocalypticism in the Quran, its emotional effects, and resonance with today
• [47:33] – Reading and analysis of Surah Ghashiyah ("Enfoldment")
• [53:20] – How apocalyptic tone is not curated but arises naturally from usage
• [55:01] – Modern relevance of apocalyptic poetry
• [58:33] – Toorawa’s own poets and influences (Charles Causley, Akhmatova, song lyrics, etc.)

Conclusion

This episode offers not only a window into the making of a distinctive, poetic English translation of the Qur’an, but also a thoughtful meditation on what literary translation can achieve—bridging tradition and modernity, devotion and literature, the sacred and the aesthetic. Toorawa’s approach is marked by care, clarity, and a powerful desire to bring both meaning and music from Qur’anic Arabic to English-speaking audiences. The result, as both speakers affirm, provides a fresh perspective intended to engage Muslims, scholars, and world literature readers alike.