Publication Date: 01/01/2017
Publisher: Dar Al-Fikr Al-Moaser
An atlas that is innovative in its idea and wonderful in its execution, it is "The Atlas of the Quran". It is a book that includes illustrations of the places, peoples, and figures mentioned in the Great Book of Allah. Dr. Shawqi Abu Khalil followed a chronological order in the illustrations of the prophets and their explanations, and in the noble Prophetic biography as it appeared in the Holy Quran, also according to its chronological order. The comprehensive index at the end of the atlas guides the reader easily to their request. Furthermore, "The Atlas of the Quran" is not a book that narrates the stories of the prophets, or recounts events narrated by the Great Quran, nor is it a book of interpretation. Books of prophetic stories and Quranic stories are readily available and good, and books of interpretation are many and excellent. However, in this book, the reader is faced with a geographical atlas of the Great Quran, containing colored illustrations and only the necessary explanations.
For further benefit, the author added, with each illustration, a statistic of the name's occurrence in the Book of Allah, and some carefully selected verses related to the topic, concisely defining the intended meaning. He also presented important and modern seas and cities as they are today, so that the reader can accurately know the place, with historical places accompanied by their ancient names, a method the author followed in "The Atlas of Arab-Islamic History". However, he did not overlook drawing an illustration clarifying the distance of the Arabian Gulf specifically 5000 years ago, so that the reader can imagine its situation at that time and compare it with its geographical situation and boundaries today.
He also placed some pictures in their appropriate places, hoping for broader and more comprehensive benefit, as if they were employed as clarifying tools.
