The Qur'an: What Everyone Needs to Know is a great addition to Oxford's WENTK series, a selection of highly readable material for the general public, written in an accessible question-and-answer format. This work covers a variety of topics from the most basic to rather complex issues regarding the sacred text of Muslims, without using jargon.

The book, divided into five major parts, begins with questions of origin, authorship, formation, and structure, as well as the more complex theories about the Qur'an as eternal or created word of God. The second and longest section focuses on major themes, including God and creation, revelation and prophecy, religious requirements and afterlife, and family and social relations. The third addresses language, the importance of its recitation in Arabic, its experience of being heard, the role it plays in Islamic mysticism, art, architecture, calligraphy, and other material culture. Part 4 focuses on questions of translations and interpretations, their variety and authority, how it shapes the law, philosophy, and theology, its relation with contemporary science, and its connection with the Bible. The last part covers frequently asked questions under the general title: What does the Qur'an say about … ? It comprises topics such as women/veiling/polygyny, democracy/peace/justice/jihad, religious tolerance/people of other faiths, dietary regulations/environmentalism, and more.

The Qur'an's influence and inspiration on the minds and hearts of Muslims, as evident in the literature and other material culture, is referenced in part 4, in the section titled “Interpretation, Influence, and Global Diffusion,” alluding to the story of the prophet Joseph. Love is mentioned in part 2, in the subsection on “Family, Social, and Religious Relations,” and in the context of marriage, preluding it with the initiation of God's love in humans. A link between the two themes—the prophetic story and the importance of love—could have poignantly reflected the vivaciousness of the explorative and imaginative nuances of Muslim understandings of the Qur'an. The story of Joseph, famously known by Muslims as the best story of the Qur'an, is also a love story between Joseph and the wife of Potiphar (named in the literature of Muslims as Zulaykha). About 150 variations of this story can be found in Urdu, Turkish, Bengali, Arabic, and other languages of Muslims. Most prominent among them is that of the poet-theologian, Jami's (d. 1492), in Persian. However, it would have been appropriate to move beyond the format of frequently asked questions in order to inspire more nuance and inquiry about the most universal message of the Qur'an: love. What is the place of love—carnal, platonic, and divine—in the Qur'an? What is the relation between love and prophetic mission? A common understanding of the message of the Qur'an is centered around Tawhid, unity, and love.

On the question of martyrs, the focus of the response is primarily on ideologies of contemporary organizations that recruit fighters for struggles against the domination of Western powers. It correctly defines martyrs as “witness” and “those who were killed in God's way” (174). But no connection is made between martyrdom and the pursuit of justice. The martyrdom of Hossein, the supreme martyr, is presented as a point of pilgrimage and passion play for the shi'a (175). This, without specifying that Hossein was a “witness” by standing up to powers of aggression and injustice, becoming a symbol of liberation for many, beyond the shi'a. It would have added to a book intended for American readership to mention one of the greatest political minds of the twentieth century, a truth-seeker, in the pursuit of justice, the prince of American black martyrs; Malcolm X, as the embodiment of jihad against the oppression of segregation, Jim Crow, and white supremacy. The Qur'an has been referred to by Rumi as God's love letter. The connection between love and justice, exemplified in the verse of the Qur'an, was played out in Malcolm X's life and work, indubitably worth mentioning in a book published in 2020 America.

The book ends with a helpful four-page list of recommended readings, reference works, significant studies, and online sources, including four major works by the author herself, a prominent scholar of the Qur'an.