Tafsir Usmani, first published in 1991, retyped, standardized, and typeset across three volumes — completed March 2026.
Written by Ata Rafi, Founder and Chief Formatter at Format Fix, who personally standardized the transliteration and typeset all three volumes.
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The existing text used inconsistent transliteration for Arabic terms throughout. Standardizing every instance to one consistent transliteration system — for example, Ṣalāh instead of Salat — required retyping the full manuscript rather than spot-correcting isolated words, since inconsistency existed throughout the text, not in a few flagged spots.
Arabic terms transliterated inconsistently across the manuscript — the same word spelled different ways in different places.
One standard transliteration system applied throughout all three volumes, with diacritics used consistently (Ṣalāh, not Salat).
The retyping itself was split — half done directly by Ata Rafi, half by hired typists — while the transliteration standard, restyling, reformatting, and typesetting were handled solely by Ata Rafi.
Every page carries a running header with the Surah and Ayah number covered on that page, so a reader looking for the tafsir of a specific ayah can find it directly without searching. Each Surah also opens on its own dedicated page rather than running on from the previous Surah.
Every page header states the Surah and Ayah range covered, so a specific ayah's tafsir can be located directly by number.
Each Surah begins its own opening page, rather than continuing directly from the end of the previous Surah.
Inconsistent or missing honorifics are a common weak spot in English Islamic texts — easy to add on a first pass, easy to miss on a second one. Honorifics were added consistently across all three volumes — for Allah (subḥānahu wa ta'ālā), for the Prophets, and for the Sahaba — matching the correct honorific to each reference type every time it appears, not applied selectively.
The Quran text used throughout the tafsir was taken from King Fahd Quran Complex software, an authoritative source, rather than retyped independently from the original manuscript.
Independently retyping Quran text introduces a real chance of transcription error in the one part of the manuscript where accuracy matters most.
Quran text pulled directly from King Fahd Quran Complex software and placed into the layout, removing that risk entirely.
All three volumes were built in Adobe InDesign using its Book feature, which links the volumes' style sheets, numbering, and pagination together as one set rather than three separately formatted files that happen to look similar.
See Multi-Volume & Series Formatting for how this same consistency discipline applies across other multi-volume projects, including the AAOIFI Sharia Standards Urdu edition.
See more institutional and reference-heavy work in the portfolio.
Producing or republishing an English tafsir or Quranic commentary that needs consistent formatting and transliteration.
Working from source material with inconsistent Arabic transliteration that needs to be unified to one standard.
Producing a multi-volume English-language religious reference work that needs to read as one consistent set.
See English Islamic Book Formatting for the service this project falls under.
Retyping, transliteration standardization, restyling, reformatting, and typesetting across all three volumes. This was a formatting and production project — the translation text itself wasn't rewritten.
Inconsistent transliteration of the same Arabic term across a manuscript undermines a reference work's credibility. Standardizing to one system throughout — such as Ṣalāh instead of Salat — makes the text consistent and citable.
Running headers on every page state the Surah and Ayah number covered, and each Surah opens on its own dedicated page, making a specific ayah's tafsir straightforward to locate.
Each reference type — Allah, the Prophets, and the Sahaba — is matched to its correct honorific consistently every time it appears, checked throughout all three volumes.
From King Fahd Quran Complex software, an authoritative source, rather than retyped independently from the original manuscript.
By building them in Adobe InDesign using its Book feature, which links style sheets, numbering, and pagination across all three volumes as one set.
