The Quran - An Encyclopedia

801 Pages·2005·4.37 MB·English

by  Oliver Leaman

))
The Qur an:
an Encyclopedia
)
The Quran is the source of inspiration Every effort has been made to help the
for one of the world’s major religions, readerusetheencyclo)pediaasaninves-
followedtodaybyoverabillionpeople. tigative tool in Quranic studies. The
Itplays acentralrole in Islam andever volume assumes)no previous knowl-
sinceitappearedoverfourteencenturies edge of the Quran, Islam or Arabic.
ago has been the subject of intense Technicaltermsareexplainedinthetext
debate.Someofthishasbeencarriedout itself and the style of each entry is
by Muslims and some by those hostile designed to be as self-contained as pos-
orindifferenttoIslam,producingavery sible. Entries are cross-referenced and
widerangeofviews. manyincludeabriefbibliography.Atthe
Authoredby43interna)tional experts, end of the work there is a substantial
the objective of The Quran: An Ency- annotated bibliography providing a
clopedia is to present this diversity of detailed guide to the most signifi)cant
thought, approach and school in order books, journals and articles in Quranic
togiveastrongappreciationoftherange studies. Three comprehensive indexes
of response that the text has provoked areincluded.
throughoutitshistory.Itprovidesstudents Thereadershipwillincludethose) seek-
and researchers with a powerful one- ingbasic information on the Quran; in
volume resource covering all aspects of addition,thesubstantialnumberoflonger
thetextanditsrecep)tion. entriesmeansthatitwillalsobeusedby
IslamandtheQuranaremuchinthe specialists.
newstodayandthereisapublic debate
going on in)which things are said OliverLeamanisProfessor,Department
about the Quran without much knowl- of Philosophy, University of Kentucky,
edge or understanding of the book. USA.

))
The Qur an:
an Encyclopedia
Edited by
Oliver Leaman
Firstpublished2006
byRoutledge
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Peace to all who follow guidance (20.47)

Contents
Introduction ix
How to Use this Encyclopedia xi
Editorial Board xiii
List of Contributors xv
Alphabetical List of Entries xvii
Entries A to Z 1
Bibliographical Resources 715
)
Quranic Passages Index 727
Name Index 743
Subject Index 753

Introduction
Ihave foralong timefelt thatitwould all doctrinal backgrounds and readers
be very helpful for the)re to be a refer- should expect to find a wide variety of
ence work on the Quran which is not views in this book. We do not in any
enormous in size and written only for wayattempttopresentthelastwordon
the specialist, and yet which is more anyofthetopicsraised,quitethereverse.
substantial than some of the very short The editor has included accounts that
introductory works on the topic. It is often go against each other in order to
the aim of this book to bridge that gap illustratetoreadersthecontestednature
between the highly scholarly and tech- of interpretation that exists in the sub-
nical text and the rather skimpy ele- jectarea.Whatthisvolumerepresentsis
mentary books. Even a cursory glimpse very much interpretation and commen-
at the contents will reveal that we have tary, tafsir in Arabic, an attem)pt at
not eschewed scholarship. Many of the understandingthetextoftheQuran.
entries are substantial and deal at some Th)is is a collection of entries on the
lengthwiththeintricaciesofthesubject Quran, not Islam, but it is of course
matter. Othersarebriefandexplainrele- difficult to separate the two. There is a
vanttermsandideasinaconcisemann)er. good deal of discussion of Islam, and
This is not a dictionary of the Quran notallo)fitrelatesapparentlycloselyto
andnoattempthasbeenmadetoexplain the Quran, but readers will find that it
everytermthatappearsintheBook.Some doespertaintotheBookinamoresubtle
terms have been selected for discussion way. This is the problem of commen-
because they are so crucial to under- tary;oneneverknowshowmuchextra-
standingtheBook,andotherswhichare neousmaterialoneisallowedtobringin
lesscentralhavebeenincludedfordiscus- to help interpret the text. Readers will
sionbecausetheyareinteresting.Wealso find that this very topic was much )dis-
wanted to give readers a taste of the cussedbycommentatorsontheQuran,
style of)dictionaries and glossaries of andthedifferentviewsonwhatmightbe
the Quran so that they could usefully introduced, and what should be exclu-
usetheseandknowwhattoexpect. ded,helpdefinethedifferenttheological
Contributors to this volume come andreligiousschoolsinIslam.
from a wide variety of backgrounds. It is always difficult thinking of what
Some are Muslims, some are not, and to put in and what to leave out of a
some have no religious beliefs whatso- workofthiskind,andwecertainlyhave
ever.They)areunitedinbeinginterested not put in everythin)g that is relevant to
in the Quran. The authors come from thetopicoftheQuran,itscommentators