1143     The Qurʼan  
   The Earliest Translated Version with     Martin Luther’s Preface  
   Faithful Leatherbound Facsimile of the Original  

     Machumetis Saracenorum principis eiusque successorum vitae ac doctrina ipseque Alcoran    
    (      The life and teachings of Machumetes, the Saracen prince, and his successors, and the Alcoran itself)  


   Limited to just 10     Deluxe     leather-bound copies     , bound by a master bookbinder/old medieval manuscript expert with 40 years of expertise in book restoration     .   
  Long before printing with movable type became common in the Islamic world in the 19th century, Korans were printed in Arabic type in several European cities. The first Arabic Koran was printed in Venice in 1537/38 but since almost no one knew Arabic, there was little engagement with these books. The oldest Koran translation into a European language, Latin, – and the one that made the most impact – dates from 1143. Latin was the language of learning in Europe and the translation was prepared at a monastery in Toledo. The work was so controversial that it took four centuries after the translation for it to be published by the theologian Theodor Bibliander and the Basle publisher Johannes Oporinus. There was huge controversy surrounding this project. Martin Luther himself intervened to get it published. In the preface, Luther wrote that one can’t argue against a book unless one can read it! The huge demand for this book led to a further edition seven years later and this version became the basis for many translations into other European languages. Although this book was placed on the Catholic Church’s list of banned books, it seems that European scholars were hungry for reliable knowledge about the Koran.  
   Why did Luther want the Qur’an to be published?   
  In 1542, as the armies of the Ottoman (Turkish) sultan, Süleyman the Magnificent (reigned 1520-1566), were campaigning victoriously in Hungary, a Swiss publisher named Johannes Oporinus (1507–1568) found himself in jail. His crime? Trying to print a Latin translation of the Qur’an. Through the intervention of none other than Martin Luther (1483–1546), the translation was printed in 1543, complete with a preface penned by Luther himself. Why did Luther do this, given the animosity towards the Turks which he shared with his fellow Europeans?  
   A quotation from Martin Luther's 1542 preface to the Qur'an:   
  Therefore, as I have written against the idols of the Jews and the papists, and will continue to do so to the extent that it is granted me, so also I have begun to refute the pernicious beliefs of Muhammad, and I will continue to do so at more length. But in order to do this, it is also useful to study closely the writings of Muhammad themselves. Accordingly, I have wanted to get a look at a complete text of the Qur’an. I do not doubt that the more other pious and learned persons read these writings, the more the errors and the name of Muhammad will be refuted. For just as the folly, or rather madness, of the Jews is more easily observed once their hidden secrets have been brought out into the open, so once the book of Muhammad has been made public and thoroughly examined in all its parts, all pious persons will more easily comprehend the insanity and wiles of the devil and will be more easily able to refute them. This is the reason that has moved me to wish to publish this book. [2] 
   Date     :    1543, Switzerland  
   Current Location:    Augsburg, Staats- und Stadtbibliothek   / McGill University Canada  
   Language     :    Latin  
   Size / Format     :    870   pages / 2   1   .0 ×   29   .0 cm   /   8.3   ”   x 11.7   ” / A4 dimension 
   Preface by:    Martin Luther  
   Binding:    Bound in   burgundy   leather and gold tooling on the cover as a    centrepiece. 
   Shipped with Free Express FEDEX delivery to worldwide.