The mission of Universal Knowledge Institute (UKI) is to advance knowledge and understanding of the Quran and its historical context for Muslims and others, increase public understanding and awareness of Islam and Muslims, and advance world harmony through sensitivity toward Islam and Muslims. Universal Knowledge Institute was created in 2007 by a small group of concerned individuals for educational purposes as a nonprofit 501C3 organization based in the State of Illinois. We are convinced that knowledge is a powerful element that can promote understanding of Quran, sensitivity toward Islam and Muslims, improve public awareness and increase harmony in the world.

Professor Seema Imam

Professor Seema Imam is faculty in National-Louis University’s Graduate Elementary and Middle Level Teacher Education Program in Chicago and suburbs. She is Co-Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Council, and former Chair of the University Faculty Senate.

Dr. Imam believes there is tremendous need to advance world harmony through knowledge and understanding. She strongly believes that in today’s global society a world-class education requires familiarity with the Quran. Similarly, as a founder of Universal Knowledge Institute, Dr. Imam is committed to the notion that we simply cannot as a nation and as a world deny the need for dialogues to take place, that is, dialogue of Muslims with Muslims and Muslims with others.

A New Interpretation And Translation

This contemporary, authoritative translation interprets the Quran’s meaning for the English reader with unprecedented access to the Book that is the foundational source of Islam, its civilization and its peoples, who now comprise nearly one-fourth of humanity across the breadth of all the Earth’s continents and who form a crucial, contiguous community at the middle of the world.

Twenty years in the making, The Gracious Quran: A Modern-Phrased Interpretation of Its Meanings in English is both highly reliable and powerfully expressed. Where the Arabic of the Quran swells with important implication, that intent is conveyed in this rendering with a light hand in unobtrusive brackets, every effort having been expended to make its reading august, clear, accessible, and consistent while at the same time free of poetic pretension, philosophical complication, and lifeless literalisms.

Professor Ahmad Zaki Hammad is an internationally known authority on Quran and Islamic Studies. He teaches Islamic Civilization and the Primary Disciplines of Quran Commentary, the Prophetic Traditions, and the Principles of Islamic Law at the foremost center of Islamic and Arabic learning in the Muslim world, AL-Azhar University (Faculty of Languages and Translations, Department of English). He is also a member of the Faculty of Shari’ah, Departmentd of Juristic Studies.

He lived for many years in the United States, where he founded and served in numerous national and community Islamic institutions for American Muslims.

Reviews

The Muslim World Book Review, 30:1, 2009 19
Islamic Thought and Sources
THE GRACIOUS QUR’AN: A MODERN-PHRASED INTERPRETATION IN ENGLISH
Review by: Abdur Raheem Kidwai (Aligarh Muslim University)

It is heartening to note the publication of this new English translation of the Qur’an in that it stands out above the existing ones on several counts. Its chief merit consists in its deep and sincere concern for meeting almost all the needs of the uninitiated English speaking readers of the Qur’an who want to find out what the Qur’an is, what is its message and how best it should be studied.

Building high self-esteem in all children will result in a more peaceful and harmonious world. Select from three children’s stories. Living in a diverse society, a world of many people prompts authors to write for Muslim Children and for others to better understand the culture around the Muslim family.

I am Listening is a story for home or class, public or private. It discusses the value of names. It is a cross-cultural story in an American public school class where the 5th grade teacher wears hijab (scarf). Sadia is new to the neighborhood. It is one of the “I AM GOOD BOOK” Series.