abdullah yusuf ali, cbe, ma, ll.m, frsa, frsl (; ‎; 14 april 1872 – 10 december 1953) was a british-indian barrister and scholar who wrote a number of books about islam and whose translation of the qur'an into english is one of the most widely known and used in the english-speaking world. a supporter of the british war effort during world war i, ali received the cbe in 1917 for his services to that cause. he died in london in 1953.