Yusuf Ali, Abdullah (1872-1952) Yusuf Ali, Abdullah was born in Bombay, India (in 1872) to a wealthy merchant family. As a child, Yusuf Ali received a religious education and, eventually, could recite the entire Qur'an from memory. He learned Arabic and English, and could speak both languages fluently. Yusuf Ali studied English literature and visited several European countries as a student. He concentrated his efforts on the Qur'an and studied the Qur'anic commentaries beginning with those written in early days of Islamic history. Yusuf Ali's most important work was his book The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary, published in 1934.

Yusuf Ali was an outspoken supporter of the Indian contribution to the Allied effort in World War I. He was a respected intellectual in India and Sir Muhammed Iqbal recruited him to be the principal of Islamia College, Lahore. Later in life, he went to England and is buried in the Muslim cemetery at Brookwood, Surrey, near Woking, near another translator of the Qur'an, Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall.

For more information on, and comparison of, Yusuf Ali's translation of the Qur'an, see the section Qur'an Versions

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