Ali Unal

Ali Unal (b. 1955 CE, Usak, Turkey) is a Turkish author, journalist, and prolific translator who has worked to make Islamic thought accessible to English-speaking readers. A graduate of Ataturk University, he spent much of his career in journalism, serving for years as a leading columnist at the Zaman newspaper. Over his career he has produced roughly twenty translations from Turkish into English, alongside more than twenty of his own books in Turkish on faith, worship, and the Islamic worldview. He is best known for The Qurʾan with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, first published in 2006. The work pairs a contemporary, readable translation with extensive annotations, giving particular attention to the occasions of revelation (asbab al-nuzul) and to themes such as evidence for God's existence and the purpose of human life, while drawing explanatory material from recognized works of tafsir. The translation has been widely circulated and praised for its clarity, with reviewers also noting that its abundant parenthetical glosses make for a heavily annotated text. Among his other writings are The Resurrection and the Afterlife, An Introduction to Islamic Faith and Thought, and 25 Remedies for the Sick, along with translations of works by the Turkish scholar and preacher Fethullah Gulen. His output reflects a steady aim of presenting traditional Islamic teaching in modern, approachable English.