T.B. Irving

Thomas Ballantyne Irving (1914-2002), known after his conversion as Al-Hajj Ta'lim Ali Abu Nasr, was an American Muslim scholar, linguist, author, and professor. Born in Preston, Ontario (now Cambridge), Canada, he embraced Islam in the early 1950s. He held a BA in Modern Languages from the University of Toronto, a master's degree from McGill University, and a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University, awarded in 1940. An accomplished linguist, Irving taught at a number of leading North American universities, including McGill, Princeton, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Tennessee. He is best known for producing the first American English translation of the Qur'an, titled 'The Qur'an: First American Version,' published in 1985. He also authored 'Growing Up in Islam,' published by Kube Publishing. Irving rahimahullah passed away in 2002.