Is this a good English translation of Qur’an? (Actually, I think it’s three translations in one.)
The reason I ask is that I am researching Islam’s views on love, and wonder whether the passages returned when I query for “love” (in the classic search box) do indeed exhaustively cover what the Qur’an says about love.
Thanks.
That site you linked to actually prefers the Maududi translation with commentary to the three they have on-line. As they mention here:
*Unfortunately, the three translations presented here do NOT meet these simple conditions. To the best of our knowledge, an excellent English translation and commentary of the Qur’an is Maududi’s recently published work “The Meaning of the Qur’an”. This work took more than forty years to complete, and was published beginning in the mid to late 1980’s. We have included Maududi’s introduction to each chapter of the Qur’an, but the complete commentary is not online (yet!). Maududi’s work is superior to the three works presented here, HOWEVER please note that we are not in any way decrying the tremendous efforts of Ali, Pickthal, or Shakir. May Allah reward them all. *
from their intro: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/qmtintro.html
Personally, not speaking Arabic, I’m afraid I’m not in a position to offer an opinion one way or another. Here’s a ( obviously opinionated ) commentary on the different translations: http://www.soundvision.com/info/quran/english.asp
But here’s some translations:
Khalifa ( you’ll note the above essay rather loathes this one ) - http://www.submission.org/Q-T.html
Irving - http://islam.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://isgkc.org/translat.htm
Hilali and Khan - http://islam.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.unn.ac.uk/societies/islamic/quran/naeindex.htm
As an aside that site you were using also has a Hadith database, if you are interested in searching in that: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/searchhadith.html
Thank you, Tamerlane, for your considerable help! 
check this site out and go to the downloads…there’s a free software version of the Quran…it has it in english and in arabic as well as a transliterated version so you can attempt to recite it too!! but seriously, it is a good translation and trustworthy…if you have time to actually read a physical book…not many seem to anymore…try the Pengiun Books translation…it’s one of the best out there and it is inexpensive. I don’t read or speak much arabic, but I’ve got many friends who do and they told me that the two translations i mentioned are good. I’ve studied the Quran (as well as many other religions…it’s my hobby I guess…) and it makes rather difficult references to love…perhaps a little outdated for most of us now…there are many commentaries out there on the subject though…just search for Quran commentary and love…should come up with something interesting. good luck.
and feel free to email me if you need help...joe_iguana@yahoo.com
I would also recommend asking Arabic-speaking friends about the original if you are particularly interested in certain verses, or there are parts you have a query about. Most practising Muslims I know are overwhelmingly happy to share their scholarship of the Quran with non-Muslims. They will be able to refer back to the original Arabic, which might give greater enlightenment.
Some other comments on this question from a while back:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=63446
(Ignore the drooling idiocy of the first responder, since he obviously didn’t know what he was talking about.)