Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Abdullah Yusuf Ali was born on 14 April 1872 in British India and came from a Bohra Muslim family. He received both Islamic and Western education in Bombay. The National Portrait Gallery records that he studied at Wilson College and became a Qur’an Hafiz, meaning that he memorized the Qur’an. He later earned a first-class degree in English Literature at the University of Bombay and went to Cambridge on a Bombay Presidency scholarship. He subsequently studied law and was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn.

After his education in Britain, Yusuf Ali entered the Indian Civil Service and worked in British India. His career combined public administration, legal training, scholarship, and writing. He also became involved in educational and Muslim intellectual circles in Britain and India. The National Portrait Gallery describes him as a British-Indian Islamic scholar and barrister and notes that he was fluent in Hindi, Arabic, and English.

Yusuf Ali became particularly prominent for his writings on Islam and his interpretation of the Qur’an. His principal achievement was The Holy Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentary. The translation was first published in 1934 and included extensive explanatory notes alongside the English rendering. Cambridge scholarship identifies Yusuf Ali’s 1934 translation as an important and widely available English translation of the Qur’an.

His translation has remained widely cited and used in English-language Islamic scholarship. Modern academic works continue to use or reference the Yusuf Ali translation, while Quran.com provides his translation for individual Qur’anic verses.

During the First World War, Yusuf Ali publicly supported the British war effort and the contribution of Indian Muslims. He was awarded the CBE in 1917 for his services connected with that effort. His wartime position and his wider intellectual career formed part of a complex relationship between Muslim identity, British India, and the political circumstances of his era.

Yusuf Ali spent his later years in Britain and continued his religious and literary work. He died on 10 December 1953 in London at the age of 81. His Qur’an translation and commentary remain his most enduring contribution and have continued to appear in scholarly, educational, and religious publications.