Recommended translations for books originally written in Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Urdu

Text	Category	Recommended	Avoid translations by	Notes
Rumi	Persian Poetry	Jawid Mojaddedi, Alan Williams Muhammad Isa Waley, Kabir Helminski, E.H. Whinfield, R.A Nicholson, Refik Algan, William Chettick, Franklin Lewis, Annemarie Schimmel	Coleman Barks, Brad Gooch, John Moyne, Andrew Harvey, Deepak Chopra, Nadir Khalili, Maryam Mafi Idris Shah, Maryam Mortaz	Avoid any translations by Coleman Barks. His work is almost entire original poetry roughly based on Nicholson's translations of Rumi. For best rhyming poetry, read Jawid Mojaddedi, for another good modern translation read Alan Williams.
Rumi	Persian Poetry		Barks	A new 2022 translation by the poet and musician Haleh Liza Gafori
Hafez	Persian Poetry	Dick Davis	Daniel Ladinsky, Mario Petrucci, Robert Bly, Gertrude Bell	Dick Davis currently has the only translation worth reading of Hafez. R.A. Nicholson's translation was the first English translation is great for a literal study of Rumi's Masnavi.
Ferdowsi ('Shahnameh')	Persian Poetry	Dick Davis	-	Dick Davis has by far the best translation for lovers of this master Persian Epic.
Attar	Persian Poetry	Dick Davis	Sholeh Wolpeh	Dick Davis again has completed the only translation worth reading.
Saadi	Persian Poetry	Thackston M. Wheeler	-	The best translation available but in desperate need of an updated version.
Omar Khayyam	Persian Poetry	Juan Cole	Edward FitzGerald	Edward FitzGerald's translation is incorrect, and loosely interpreted poetry that is attributed to Khayyam.

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