T. B. Irving
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Ballantyne Irving (1914-2002) was an American Muslim author, professor, and scholar.
Born in Preston, Ontario (now Cambridge, Ontario) in 1914, Irving embraced Islam in the early 1950s and took the name Al-Hajj Ta'lim Abu Nasr.
An accomplished scholar of linguistics and a writer, Dr. Irving was responsible for the first American English translation of the Qur'an, "The Qur'an: First American Version", published in 1985. As a scholar, Irving taught and studied at a number of leading universities in the U.S. and Canada, including McGill, Princeton, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Tennessee.
As an author, Dr. Irving wrote numerous books on Islam, including "Had You Been Born A Muslim", "Islam and Its Essence", "Islam Resurgent", and "Growing up in Islam". He also penned a small number of books in Spanish, including "Nacido Commo Musulman" and " Cautiverio Babilonicoen Andalusia".
From 1981 to 1986, Dr. Irving served as the dean of the American Islamic College in Chicago. He was recognized for his service to Islam by the government of Pakistan in 1983 when he was awarded the Star of Excellence. He died on September 24, 2002, after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
