The Recommended Form of Quoting Quran

Question

I think it's important that we are able to follow a recommended way to quote from the Quran so that posts here look and feel coherent together, and hopefully all maintain a high standard.

It also means we can have a place to point people when they are new to the way we do things.

There are also some things that we should consider:

• Links Are Good: It's always very good to add a link to the website where you read/copied the Ayat from (in case you were using an online Quran source).

• Links Only Are Bad: Leaving the link only is not good becuase 1) websites are not guaranteed to be permanent and might shut down and 2) people don't like clicking links and opening more browser tabs in order to benefit/participate. Please Copy the Ayat to the question/answer you are posting beside linking to the source site you brought them from.

• The Arabic Text: English translations are good, in fact they are more important than the original Arabic text of the ayah as most of the users/visitors cannot read Arabic. But the original Arabic text is still important and should be always included, becuase there is only one Arabic text, while there are many translations. This highlights two points:

  • Include the Arabic text of the ayah as much as possible.

  • Mention the name of the English translation that you are quoting as much as possible.

Those points are not mandatory, but are recommended for better citation and user experience in our lovely site.

Answer 1

This is my suggested formatting:

He will forgive whom He will and He will punish whom He will. Allah is Able to do all things
Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2:284

A quote > then the ayat, a html tag to break the line <br> and then Surah + surah-name in arabic, linking to quran.com then the translation in english of the name, and then the position in the Quran.

I'd like once we're out of beta for someone to set the [#:##] format of the position in the quran to expand out to the style I've given as well, insha Allah, if this gets approved. As well as this we need support for proper Arabic text.

Answer 2

I'm not sure we care.

Let me explain. Like anything (say, tagging consistently), we need people to actually read all the questions/answers and update them accordingly, and coach/guide people into our standard.

That's a lot of work.

Plus, people tend to have their own ideas about how things should be, and some people will always be unhappy with the standard.

Qur'an is well-known enough that you can always just look it up. So maybe given the cost of trying to do this, and the (IMO not huge) benefit we get out of it, I'm not sure we should really spend time and energy on this.

Answer 3

This is a sample of the form I suggest:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ ۚ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا

Sahih International Translation

Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [ Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [ Allah to grant him] peace.

[Surat Al-'Aĥzāb:56]

Which turns out to have (in order):

1. The Arabic text of the Aya(t).
2. The name of the Translation that will follow.
3. The translation of the Aya(t).
4. The Surat name:Ayat Number, linked to the source of the quotation itself.

This is the form, just copy/paste it and fill the gaps and it should work:

> <Arabic Text goes here>

> *<Translation name goes here> Translation*

> <Translation goes here>

> [[<Surat name goes here>:<Ayat Number goes here>]](<Link to source goes here>)