Religion Studies: Islam: Reading and Interpreting the Qu'ran

The teachings, style and impact of the Qur'an have always been matters of controversy, among both Muslims and non-Muslims. But in a modern context of intercultural sensitivity, what the Qur'an says and means are perhaps more urgent questions than ever before. This major new book by one of the world's finest Islamic scholars responds to that urgency. Building on his earlier groundbreaking work, the author challenges misinterpretations of particular Qur'anic verses from whatever quarter. The author argues that wrenching the verses out of the context of the whole has led to dangerous ideologies being built on isolated phrases which have then assumed afterlives of their own. This nuanced, holistic reading has vital interfaith ramifications.

Fourteen centuries of Islamic thought have produced a legacy of interpretive readings of the Qu'ran written almost entirely by men. Now, with Qu'ran and Woman, Amina Wadud provides a first interpretive reading by a woman, a reading which validates the female voice in the Qu'ran and brings it out of the shadows. Muslim progressives have long argued that it is not the religion but patriarchal interpretation and implementation of the Qu'ran that have kept women oppressed. For many, the way to reform is the reexamination and reinterpretation of religious texts.Qu'ran and Woman contributes a gender inclusive reading to one of the most fundamental disciplines in Islamic thought, Qu'ranic exegesis. Wadud breaks down specific texts and key words which have been used to limit women's public and private role, even to justify violence toward Muslim women, revealing that their original meaning and context defy such interpretations. What her analysis clarifies is the lack of gender bias, precedence, or prejudice in the essential language of the Qur'an.Despite much Qu'ranic evidence about the significance of women, gender reform in Muslim society has been stubbornly resisted. Wadud's reading of the Qu'ran confirms women's equality and constitutes legitimate grounds for contesting the unequal treatment that women have experienced historically and continue to experience legally in Muslim communities. The Qu'ran does not prescribe one timeless and unchanging social structure for men and women, Wadud argues lucidly, affirming that the Qu'ran holds greater possibilities for guiding human society to a more fulfilling and productive mutual collaboration between men and women than as yet attained by Muslims or non-Muslims.

This book contains the updated papers of an international symposium The Qur an as Text which was held at the University of Bonn in November 1993. This collection intends to break away from the 19th-century paradigm of influences , which seems largely exhausted but still dominates Qur anic studies. Instead, this collection focuses on the literary, the intertextual and the receptional aspects of the Qur anic text. A new approach to the holy book of Islam in the light of modern hermeneutics which is based on modern methods of literary history, text-linguistics, and aesthetics can open the door for a new and more adequate understanding of the Qur an, its role for Islamic religion, and its unique place in the history of world religions today.

Although recent scholarship has increasingly situated the Qur n in the historical context of Late Antiquity, such a perspective is only rarely accompanied by the kind of microstructural literary analysis routinely applied to the Bible. The present volume seeks to redress this lack of contact between literary and historical studies. Contributions to the first part of the volume address various general aspects of the Qur n s political, economic, linguistic, and cultural context, while the second part contains a number of close readings of specific Qur nic passages in the light of Judeo-Christian tradition and ancient Arabic poetry, as well as discussions of the Qur n s internal chronology and transmission history. Throughout, special emphasis is given to methodological questions.

Qur'anic exegesis has become the battleground of political Islam and theological conflict among various Muslim schools of thought. Using comparative and contrastive methodology, examples from the Qur'an are investigated in the light of various theological views to delineate the birth, development and growth of Qur'anic exegesis. The political status quo, in the past and at present, has impinged upon Qur'anic exegesis more than on any other discipline in Islamic studies. This book illustrates the dichotomy between mainstream and non-mainstream Islam, showing how Qur'anic exegesis reflects the subtle dogmatic differences and political cleavages in Islamic thought. Chapters explore in depth the intrusive views of the compilers of early exegesis manuscripts, the scepticism among Western scholars about the authenticity of early Muslim works of exegesis and of prophetic tradition, and the role of exegesis as a tool to reaffirm the Qur'an as a canon. Written to appeal to those with comparative exegetical interests as well as those focused on Islamic studies in general, this book will be an important reference for research students, scholars, and students of Islamic Studies, Theology, Religious studies and Middle Eastern Studies.

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This unique work takes a method of textual analysis commonly used in studies of ancient Western and Eastern manuscripts and applies it to twenty-one early Qur'an manuscripts. Keith Small analyzes a defined portion of text from the Qur'an with two aims in view: to recover the earliest form of text for this portion, and to trace the historical development of this portion to the current form of the text of the Qur'an. Small concludes that though a significantly early edited form of the consonantal text of the Qur'an can be recovered, its original forms of text cannot be obtained. He also documents the further editing that was required to record the Arabic text of the Qur'an in a complete phonetic script, as well as providing an explanation for much of the development of various recitation systems of the Qur'an. This controversial, thought-provoking book provides a rigorous examination into the history of the Qur'an and will be of great interest to Quranic Studies scholars.

A clear and comprehensive introduction to the Qur'an. Anton Wessels discusses the problems of translating the Qur'an and the role of the Qur'an in Islam. Chapter-by-chapter he examines the major topics that the Qur'an addresses: Muhammad and revelation, God's power and human responsibility, the Qur'an as a law book. Two final chapters discuss Muslim relations with Jews and Christians, and the ways in which Christians approach the Qur'an.

This study is the first full analysis of the Qumran wisdom texts. New translations and a full explanation of the background and context of wisdom literature introduce the reader to an important and hitherto little discussed part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. After surveying biblical and extrabiblical wisdom books, the author considers the best and most fully preserved wisdom texts from Qumran. The centrepiece of the book is a discussion of the large wisdom instruction known as Sapiential Work A. Also, the author reflects on the relevance of those texts for the study of early Judaism and Christianity. An appendix treats the Ben Sira scroll from Masada.

John of Damascus and other early Christian writers have noted how much certain statements in the Qur'an resemble Arian and Nestorian teachings. The present study looks at these resemblances more in detail to discover what the Qur'an means when it calls Jesus word of God. The Qur'an itself understands word in several senses, but most frequently as God's decree. The Muslim commentators, too, commonly interpret word when used of Christ as the creative command by which God produced him in the womb of Mary without the help of a human father. The term then would be a title given to Jesus to show how he originated. A concluding chapter reviews the later development of word in Islamic theology and some of the Christians controversies about the Qur'anic meaning of the term.