Likewise, the followers of the Islamic religion used to be transliterated as “Moslems” whereas the standard transliteration is now “Muslims.” Why do I use Quran? In the 19’th century, it was standard practice to transliterate the Islamic holy book as “Koran” whereas now the standard accepted transliteration is “Qur'an.” Similarly, the preferred systems for transliterating Arabic have changed over time. That change accounts for China’s capital being called Beijing in today’s newspapers whereas in 1970’s newspapers it was called Peking. For example, with Chinese around 1982 most reputable English language publishers such as major newspapers went over to a system called Pinyin. Transliteration systems for foreign languages such as Chinese and Arabic have changed many times over the last few centuries. One such word which is always transliterated rather than translated is the name of Islam’s holy book, namely the Quran. Accordingly, when Arabic text is presented to English speaking readers, most of the Arabic text will be translated into English, while some words, such as personal names, are “transliterated” as opposed to being translated. The Arabic language is written in a script completely different from the Roman letters used for English. It is also the spelling used by the US Government, the United Nations and the European Union, to name just three highly authoritative organisations. Muslim is correct because that is the spelling Muslims themselves use. For example Oxford University Press with “The Qur’an – a new translation" by MAS Abdel Haleem and Cambridge University Press with "The Cambridge companion to the Quran" edited by Jane Dammen McAuliffe. Qur'an or Quran is the spelling that Muslims use, and that all the best publishers use. I use Quran and so do many other Muslims because English words do not have apostrophes in the middle and I now regard the word Quran as having become part of the English language like many other foreign source words. Accordingly I have set out a short answer and a long answer. This is one of the most visited pages on my website, as so many people are seeking an answer to this question. ![]() When the old forms are used, it is commonly out of ignorance but sometimes it is done deliberately to offend Muslims."Koran" is now obsolete, as is "Moslem".Transliteration systems improve over time.
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