The PenMan digital Qur’an is designed for easy access to the holy book, a suave example of easy, quick-fix didactics. It’s like the Basic Language Skills CDs you pop in your car stereo (by the time you reach the gas station you can order an oil change in Urdu), but this device goes one step further. Equipped with headphones and a small monitor, the Sonic Quar’an™ spells out the text you wish to consult in English or Arabic. Thanks to the headphones, you can listen to the passage read aloud, and soon impress your friends with improved recital skills and smooth Qur’anic pronunciation.

The device is user-friendly and fits conveniently into your back pocket. Gone, once and for all, are the endless after-dinner quibbles over which Surah says what, and which Ayah refers to whom. Gone are the roadside discussions with Tehran militia claiming that the Qur’an prohibits mascara, or dictates a certain type of stocking. Never has the Truth been packaged more conveniently. Made in Korea. Batteries not included.