[source: The Koran Interpreted, p. 

RECITATION OF THE QUR'AN CAN MOVE MEN TO TEARS AND ECSTASY
In making the present attempt to improve on the performance of my predecessors, 
and to produce something which might be accepted as echoing however faintly the 
sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pain to study the intricate 
and richly varied rhythms which - apart from the message itself - constitute the 
Koran's undeniable claim to rank among the greatest literary masterpieces of 
mankind...This very characteristic feature - "that inimitable symphony", as the 
believing Pickthall described his Holy Book, "the very sounds of which move men 
to tears and ecstasy - has been almost totally ignored by previous translators; 
it is therefore not surprising that what they have wrought sounds dull and flat 
indeed in comparison with the splendidly decorated original."
[source: The Koran Interpreted, p. x]