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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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The English text utilized in this work is that of A. J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted (Oxford, 1964), which, in my opinion, is the best available translation to date of the Qur’an in English. For alternative definitions the following translations have been consulted: R. Bell, The Qur’an (Edinburgh, 1937), M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (New York, 1956) and Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur’ān (Lahore, 1934).
All Arabic entries in the Concordance are in romanized (transliterated) characters and are arranged alphabetically according to the order in the Table of Transliterations. The transliteration system of the Library of Congress as outlined in Bulletin 91 (September, 1970) of the Cataloging Service has been adopted. Two minor exceptions should be pointed out. In nouns derived from roots ending in y, the use of -īy instead of -ī has been adopted (contrary to the LC rules 6.b and c). Furthermore, a dot (.) is used, rather than a prime (′), between the h and the preceding letter, (d, s or t) when each letter is to have its distinct consonantal value (contrary to LC rule 21).
Particles (prepositions, conjunctions and particles of negation, affirmation, emphasis, etc.) have not been included in this work. Pronouns have also been excluded, with the exception of those occurrences of huwa (= he) that refer specifically to God. Most forms of the verbs kāna (= to be) and qāla (= to say) have been omitted, except where their occurrences are associated with or uttered by God.
In preparing this work I have benefited from the advice and assistance of many people. I wish to thank, in particular, Professors Charles Adams, Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University, and Alford T. Welch of the Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University for their counsel and advice. I alone must bear the responsibility for any errors and omissions.
Mrs. Anna Evans has generously granted me the permission to use the text of her late father’s Koran Interpreted in the composition of the Concordance. Her kindness is duly acknowledged by the author and the publishers of this work.
Special thanks are due to my colleagues W. John Coulthard and Lewis R. James whose unfailing assistance over the past eight years in the preparation of the computer programmes brought this project to its conclusion. To them and to the staff of the Computing Centre of the University of British Columbia I shall remain indebted.
My thanks also go to Dr. John R. Miles, Editor of the University of California Press, to Mr. Czeslaw Jan Grycz, of the Production Department and to their staff for their efforts in producing and publishing this work.
Finally, I wash to acknowledge the financial support this project received from the Canada Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the University of British Columbia.
H.E.K.
