How Three American Women Translated One of the World’s Most Popular Qurans

The story of how three white women from U.S. became some of the most influential Qur’anic publishers in the world.

The story of three influential Quranic publishers, all white American women, centers around Emily Assami (known as Umm Muhammad), Mary Kennedy (Amatullah Bantley), and their collaborative work on the widely-used “Sahih International” translation of the Quran, which gained significant traction due to their dedication to accurate scholarship and accessibility, despite facing challenges as non-Muslim women navigating the predominantly Muslim world of Quranic translation.

The Saheeh International translation is an English-language translation of the Quran that has been used by Islam’s most conservative adherents. Published by the Publishing House (dar), dar Abul Qasim in Saudi Arabia, it is one of the world’s most popular Quran translations.

Translated by three American women, Umm Muhammad (Emily Assami), Mary Kennedy, and Amatullah Bantley,[3] it uses un-archaic language. Notable conventions include rendering the God in Islam as Allah as they believe it is not acceptable to use the English word.

The translation has been described as biased towards “Sunni orthodoxy,” which, according to authors, requires words to be inserted in square parentheses. It has been sponsored and promoted by Salafi followers. For those reasons, it has been defined as an ultraconservative translation.

Ṣaḥeeḥ (صحيح) may be translated as “authentic.”

Saheeh International Translators

• Emily Assami was born in California into an atheist family. She studied Arabic at Damascus University. She converted to Islam and is known as Umm Muhammad or Aminah.
• Mary Kennedy was born in Orlando. She was a former Christian who converted to Islam.
• Amatullah Bantley was a former Catholic Christian. She was introduced to Islam through international Muslim students. She converted to Islam in 1986 and eventually moved to Saudi Arabia.