The Quran in its Historical Context

314 Pages·2.076 MB·English

by  Reynolds Gabriel Said (Ed.)

THE QUR’AN IN ITS HISTORICAL
CONTEXT
The Qur’an in Its Historical Context is a remarkable work of primary source
scholarship on the Qur’an. While most studies address the Qur’an through the
retrospective lens of later Islamic commentaries, the present work presents a
contextual perspective. The reader is challenged herein to consider, first, the great
debates over the meaning of the Qur’an and, second, the new research that claims
to present a definitive solution to those debates. In Part 1, the authors consider,
and advance, theories for a new understanding of the Qur’an’s interpretation. The
question of Christoph Luxenberg’s Syro-Aramaic reading is debated, as is the
importance of newly discovered early Arabic inscriptions. In Part 2, the authors
place the Qur’an within the Late Antique religious milieu, demonstrating its
conversation with Jewish and Christian literature. In Part 3, the authors consider
the Islamic tradition of Qur’an interpretation, and ask how scientific research
relates to religious tradition.
Collectively the essays herein present a new approach to the study of the
Qur’an. This approach will allow scholars to shed new light on the Qur’anic
passages that have been shrouded in mystery and debate. It will also illuminate
the Qur’an’s relationship to Judaism and Christianity, thereby demonstrating the
Qur’an’s place in a shared Jewish–Christian–Islamic tradition.
As this collection of distinguished authors represents a distinct sub-field within
Qur’anic Studies, students and specialists will welcome this volume in order
to get to know the state-of-the-art methods within this specific sphere of
scholarship.
Gabriel Said Reynoldsis Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology at
the University of Notre Dame, where he specializes in Qur’anic Studies.
ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN THE QUR’AN
Series Editor: Andrew Rippin
University of Victoria, Canada
In its examination of critical issues in the scholarly study of the Qur’an and its
commentaries, this series targets the disciplines of archaeology, history, textual
history, anthropology, theology and literary criticism. The contemporary
relevance of the Qur’an in the Muslim world, its role in politics and in legal
debates are also dealt with, as are debates surrounding Qur’anic studies in the
Muslim world.
LITERARY STRUCTURES OF LOGIC, RHETORIC AND
RELIGIOUS MEANING IN LEGAL REASONING IN
THE QUR’AN THE QUR’AN
Edited by Issa J. Boullata God’s arguments
Rosalind Ward Gwynne
THE DEVELOPMENT OF
EXEGESIS IN EARLY ISLAM TEXTUAL RELATIONS IN
The authenticity of Muslim literature THE QUR’AN
from the Formative Period Relevance, coherence and structure
Herbert Berg Salwa M. El-Awa
BIBLICAL PROPHETS IN THE SÁFI COMMENTARIES
QUR’AN AND MUSLIM ON THE QUR’AN IN
LITERATURE CLASSICAL ISLAM
Robert Tottoli Kristin Zahra Sands
MOSES IN THE QUR’AN AND THE QUR’AN IN ITS
ISLAMIC EXEGESIS HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Brannon M. Wheeler Gabriel Said Reynolds
A
THE QUR’ N IN ITS
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Edited by
Gabriel Said Reynolds
First published 2008
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007.
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© 2008 Gabriel Said Reynolds, selection and editorial matter;
the contributors, their own chapters
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
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writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-93960-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–42899–8 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–93960–3 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–42899–6 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–93960–4 (ebk)
CONTENTS
List of images vii
Notes on contributors viii
Foreword by Daniel A. Madigan xi
List of abbreviations xiv
Map: locations cited in the present volume xv
Introduction:Qur’anic studies and its controversies 1
GABRIEL SAID REYNOLDS
PART 1
Linguistic and historical evidence 27
1 The Qur’an in recent scholarship:challenges and desiderata 29
FRED M. DONNER
2 Epigraphy and the linguistic background to the Qur’an 51
ROBERT HOYLAND
3 Recent research on the construction of the Qur’an 70
GERHARD BÖWERING
4 Reconsidering the authorship of the Qur’an:is the
Qur’an partly the fruit of a progressive and
collective work? 88
CLAUDE GILLIOT
5 Christian lore and the Arabic Qur’an:the “Companions
of the Cave” in Surat al-Kahfand in Syriac Christian tradition 109
SIDNEY GRIFFITH
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CONTENTS
PART 2
The religious context of the late antique Near East 139
6 The theological Christian influence on the Qur’an:a reflection 141
SAMIR KHALIL SAMIR
7 Mary in the Qur’an:a reexamination of her presentation 163
SULEIMAN A. MOURAD
8 The Alexander Legendin the Qur’an 18:83–102 175
KEVIN VAN BLADEL
9 Beyond single words:Ma’ida– Shaytan– jibtand taghut.
Mechanisms of transmission into the Ethiopic
(GY‘Yz) Bible and the Qur’anic text 204
MANFRED KROPP
10 Nascent Islam in the seventh century Syriac sources 217
ABDUL-MASSIH SAADI
PART 3
Critical study of the Qur’an and the Muslim
exegetical tradition 223
11 Notes on medieval and modern emendations of the Qur’an 225
DEVIN J. STEWART
12 Syriac in the Qur’an:classical Muslim theories 249
ANDREW RIPPIN
Bibliography 262
Index of Biblical verses 283
Index of Qur’anic verses 285
Index of people, places and subjects 289
vi
IMAGES
1 Epitaph of Imru’al-Qays, Nemara (S. Syria), 328 CE 53
2 Dedication to Obodas, ‘Ayn Abada/En Avdat (S. Palestine), ca.
second century CE 54
3 Funerary text, Hegra (NW Saudi Arabia), 267 CE 54
4 Building text, Zebed (N. Syria), ca. 512 CE 55
5 Graffito, Jabal Usays (S. Syria), 529 CE 55
6 Building text, Harran (S. Syria), 569 CE 56
7 Funerary text, Nebo (Jordan), mid-sixth century CE 56
8 Graffiti, Umm Judhayidh (NW Arabia), ca. fourth to
fifth century CE 61
9 Graffiti, Umm Judhayidh (NW Arabia), ca. fourth to
fifth century CE 62
10 Graffito, Qa‘ al-Mu‘tadil (NW Arabia), AH24 62
11 Poetry quotation, Mecca (Arabia), AH98 64
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CONTRIBUTORS
Kevin van Bladelis Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Southern
California. His publications include “Heavenly cords and prophetic authority
in the Qur’an and its Late Antique context,” Bulletin of the Schoolof Oriental
and African Studies 69 (2007), 223–47 and “The Iranian characteristics and
forged Greek attributions in the Arabic Sirr al-asrar (Secret of Secrets),”
Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph57 (2004), 151–72.
Gerhard Böweringis Professor of Islamic Studies at Yale University (USA). His
publications include: Mystical Vision of Existence in Classical Islam (Berlin:
de Gruyter, 1980) and Sulami’s Minor Qur’an Commentary (Beirut: Dar
al-Mashriq, 1995; 1997).
Fred M.Donneris Professor of Near Eastern History in the Oriental Institute and
the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at the University
of Chicago (USA). His publications include: Narratives of Islamic Origins:
The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing(Princeton: Darwin Press, 1997)
and “From believers to Muslims: Communal self-identity in the early Islamic
community,” Al-Abhath50–1 (2002–3), 9–53.
Claude Gilliot is Professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of
Provence, Aix-en-Provence (France). His publications include: Exégèse,
langue, et théologie en Islam. (Paris: Vrin, 1990) and “Le Coran, fruit d’un
travail collectif?” in D. De Smet, G. de Callatay and J.M.F. Van Reeth (eds),
Al-Kitab. La sacralité du texte dans le monde de l’Islam, Acta Orientalia
Belgica, 2004, 185–223.
Sidney Griffithis Ordinary Professor in the Department of Semitic and Egyptian
Languages and Literatures at the Catholic University of America (USA). His
publications include two collections of his studies: Arabic Christianity in the
Monasteries of Ninth-Century Palestine(Aldershot: Ashgate/Variorum, 1992)
and The Beginnings of Christian Theology in Arabic(Burlington, VT: Ashgate/
Variorum, 2002).
Robert Hoylandis Professor of Arabic and Middle East Studies at the University
of Saint Andrews (Scotland, UK). His publications include: Seeing Islam as
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