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Summary
There is much more to the Qur'an than the selective quotations favoured by Islamic fundamentalists. This book provides a student-friendly guide to the many ways in which the Qur'an can be read. Designed for both Muslims and Western non-Muslim students it examines the Qur'an in Western scholarship as well as giving an overview of the rich interpretive traditions from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to the present day. This guide is a concise introduction to all aspects of the Qur'an: history, understanding and interpretation providing: coverage of both pre-modern and modern periods plenty of examples to illustrate key points and aid student understanding summaries, timelines and a glossary.
Author Biography
Abdullah Saeed is Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies and Director, Centre for the Study of Contemporary Islam at the University of Melbourne, Australia
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgements | p. xi |
| Introduction | p. xiii |
| The Qur'an in its context | p. 1 |
| The world of the Prophet Muhammad | p. 3 |
| Prophet Muhammad's life as part of the context | p. 6 |
| Socio-historical context and cultural language | p. 11 |
| Ethical language of the Qur'an: context and women | p. 13 |
| Intellectual currents that influenced Muslim engagement with the Qur'an | p. 15 |
| Summary | p. 18 |
| Recommended reading | p. 18 |
| Notes | p. 19 |
| Revelation and the Qur'an | p. 21 |
| The nature of revelation | p. 22 |
| Forms of revelation in the Islamic context | p. 24 |
| Revelation: God's speech in human language | p. 27 |
| The Qur'an as purely divine revelation | p. 29 |
| Spoken word and written word | p. 30 |
| Revelation and interpretation | p. 30 |
| Towards a broader understanding of revelation | p. 31 |
| Levels of revelation of the Qur'an | p. 32 |
| Summary | p. 33 |
| Recommended reading | p. 34 |
| Notes | p. 34 |
| The Qur'an as scripture | p. 37 |
| Structure of the Qur'an | p. 38 |
| Compiling the Qur'an as a single text | p. 42 |
| Challenges by Western scholars of the Qur'an | p. 47 |
| Evolution of the script of the Qur'an and its presentation | p. 50 |
| The nature of the Qur'anic text: the idea of inimitability | p. 52 |
| Connection between the Qur'an and the traditions of the Prophet | p. 54 |
| Summary | p. 56 |
| Recommended reading | p. 56 |
| Notes | p. 57 |
| Major themes and text types | p. 61 |
| God | p. 62 |
| Spiritual beings | p. 64 |
| Satan - the symbol of evil and disobedience | p. 64 |
| Creation | p. 65 |
| Earlier prophetic figures | p. 66 |
| Faith and other religions | p. 69 |
| Historical events of the Prophet's time | p. 70 |
| Life after death | p. 72 |
| Human behaviour | p. 73 |
| Types of texts in the Qur'an | p. 74 |
| Summary | p. 79 |
| Recommended reading | p. 79 |
| Notes | p. 80 |
| The Qur'an in daily life | p. 83 |
| Reciting the Qur'an | p. 85 |
| Handling the Qur'an | p. 87 |
| Ritual purity and cleanliness | p. 88 |
| Desecration of the Qur'an | p. 91 |
| Qur'anic texts and calligraphy | p. 92 |
| Summary | p. 93 |
| Recommended reading | p. 93 |
| Notes | p. 94 |
| Western scholarship and the Qur'an | p. 97 |
| Early Western scholarship on Islam and the Qur'an | p. 99 |
| Later Western scholarship on Islam and the Qur'an | p. 102 |
| Contemporary Western scholarship on Islam and the Qur'an | p. 105 |
| Summary | p. 113 |
| Recommended reading | p. 113 |
| Notes | p. 114 |
| Translation of the Qur'an | p. 119 |
| Early Muslim interest in Qur'anic translation | p. 120 |
| Non-Muslims and translation of the Qur'an | p. 121 |
| Muslims and translation of the Qur'an | p. 123 |
| Muslim discourse on translation | p. 126 |
| Translation: a case study | p. 129 |
| Some commonly available translations of the Qur'an in English | p. 133 |
| Translations of the Qur'an on the Internet | p. 137 |
| Summary | p. 139 |
| Notes | p. 139 |
| The Qur'an and other scriptures | p. 143 |
| Muslim understandings of scripture | p. 145 |
| Jewish and Christian scriptures in the Qur'an | p. 146 |
| Muslim views on 'distortion' of Jewish and Christian scriptures | p. 147 |
| Scholarly engagement with Jewish and Christian sources | p. 150 |
| Muslim attitudes to Jewish and Christian scriptures | p. 152 |
| Summary | p. 156 |
| Recommended reading | p. 156 |
| Notes | p. 157 |
| Ethico-legal teachings | p. 161 |
| Scripture and religious law | p. 162 |
| Types of ethico-legal texts in the Qur'an | p. 163 |
| Adaptability of ethico-legal teachings | p. 170 |
| Summary | p. 172 |
| Recommended reading | p. 173 |
| Notes | p. 174 |
| Selected exegetical principles and ideas | p. 177 |
| Tradition- or reason-based exegesis | p. 178 |
| Selected principles in Qur'anic exegesis | p. 182 |
| Summary | p. 189 |
| Recommended reading | p. 189 |
| Notes | p. 190 |
| Approaches to Qur'anic exegesis | p. 193 |
| Early exegesis | p. 194 |
| Three broad trends of exegesis | p. 196 |
| Other key trends | p. 202 |
| Exegesis in the modern period | p. 208 |
| Summary | p. 214 |
| Recommended reading | p. 215 |
| Notes | p. 216 |
| Modern interpretation of the Qur'an | p. 219 |
| Differences between textualists and contextualists | p. 220 |
| Fazlur Rahman | p. 222 |
| Amina Wadud | p. 225 |
| Muhammad Shahrour | p. 226 |
| Mohammed Arkoun | p. 227 |
| Khaled Abou El Fadl | p. 228 |
| Summary | p. 231 |
| Recommended reading | p. 231 |
| Notes | p. 232 |
| Glossary | p. 235 |
| Bibliography | p. 243 |
| Index | p. 257 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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