The Quran

The Quran is Islam's central scripture, presented as divine revelation received by Muhammad and recited in Arabic. Its structure is not that of a single continuous narrative; instead, it moves through proclamation, warning, law, parable, prayer, and recollection, returning again and again to the oneness of God, human accountability, prophetic history, mercy, judgment, and moral discipline.

For readers encountering it outside devotional practice, one of the most important things to understand is that the text is inseparable from recitation and interpretation. The Quran is not simply a document of doctrine but a living scriptural language that has generated law, commentary, philosophy, mysticism, politics, and art. Its authority therefore lies as much in how communities read and perform it as in any single summarized message.

The Quran entered censorship debates as a religious text associated with scripture, translation, and religious authority. In the current dossier, the main state objections cluster around extremism and religious control.

The earliest event currently captured here is 2013 in Russia, where Novorossiysk city court banned a translation. A Russian court banned Elmir Kuliyev's translation under extremism laws before the ruling was overturned. The record is important because it shows how governments can target editions and translations of a scripture.

This entry is still incomplete: more jurisdictions, court orders, and translated justifications should be added over time.

This page is intentionally incomplete. The ban history is a starter dataset, not a final census of every jurisdiction or decree.

• Assassins of the Mind Christopher Hitchens

  Frames the Rushdie affair as a test of free speech against violent religious intimidation.

• From Fatwa to Jihad Kenan Malik

  Tracks how conflicts over blasphemy, race, and offense evolved after the Rushdie controversy.

• 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature Nicholas J. Karolides, Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova

  A compact reference on how censorship systems moved across states, churches, and courts.

• Banned Books: 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. Anne Lyon Haight

  Useful for comparing older obscenity, heresy, and political bans with modern free-speech disputes.

• Wikipedia: List of books banned by governments reference partial
• Wikipedia REST summary API database partial
• Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds book partial
• 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature book partial
• Reuters: Russian Muslim Clerics Warn of Unrest Over Ban of Translation of Koran news partial
• The Moscow Times: Ban of Quran Translation Overturned, Easing Fears of Unrest news partial
• Christopher Hitchens: Assassins of the Mind article partial
• From Fatwa to Jihad book not started
• Banned Books: 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. book partial