Following the success of the IQSA 2015 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, we are pleased to make available on our website the Meeting’s keynote paper by Professor Reuven Firestone, entitled “The Problematic of Prophecy.” Based on qur’anic discourse in relation to preceding and subsequent scriptures and tradition, Professor Firestone offers a theory of religious emergence and the revolutionary challenge it represents to the authority of established religions. In the process, he demonstrates how our awareness of the natural tension between scriptural canonization and competing prophetic claims has value for the critical study of the Qur’an. You can access the paper HERE.
New Book on the Prophet Muhammad’s Adopted Son Zayd
by David S. Powers*
Muhammad may not have had any natural sons who reached the age of maturity, but Islamic sources report that he did adopt a young man named Zayd shortly before receiving his first revelation. The adoption had two important consequences: Zayd’s name changed to Zayd b. Muhammad and mutual rights of inheritance were created between father and son. Zayd was the first adult male to become a Muslim and he was known as the Beloved of the Messenger of God. He was the only Muslim apart from Muhammad whose name is mentioned in the Qur’an, where he is identified as “the one upon whom God and you yourself have bestowed favor” (Q. 33:37). Eventually, Muhammad would repudiate Zayd as his son, abolish the institution of adoption, and send Zayd to certain death on a battlefield in southern Jordan.
Curiously, Zayd has remained a marginal and little-known figure in both Islamic and Western scholarship. In Zayd—the first scholarly biography of this Companion in a Western language—I attempt to restore Zayd to his rightful place at the very center of the Islamic foundation narrative. To do so, I mine traces left behind in Qur’an commentaries, in biographical dictionaries, and in historical chronicles, reading these sources against analogues in biblical and post-biblical sources. In the Islamic narratives, I argue, Zayd’s character is modeled on those of biblical figures such as Isaac, Ishmael, Joseph, and Uriah the Hittite. He is each one of these men individually and all of them combined. One examines his life as one peers through a kaleidoscope: With each turn of the dial, a new and different image comes into focus.
This powerful modeling process was deployed by early Muslim storytellers to address two important issues: first, the bitter conflict over succession to Muhammad and, second, the key theological doctrine of the finality of prophecy. Zayd’s leadership credentials arguably were as strong—if not stronger—than those of either Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Ali or `Uthman. In a tradition related on the authority of `A’isha, the Prophet’s widow is reported to have said, “Had Zayd outlived the Prophet, he would have appointed him as his successor.” And in his commentary on Q. 33:40—a verse that contains the sole Qur’anic reference to Muhammad’s status as khatam al-nabiyyin or the Seal of Prophets, Muqatil b. Sulayman (d. 150/767) states, “Had Zayd [continued to be] Muhammad’s son, he would have been a prophet.” Both Zayd’s death on a battlefield and Muhammad’s repudiation of his adopted son and heir, I argue, were after-the-fact constructions driven by political and theological imperatives.
New Book: The Qur’an and the Aramaic Gospel Traditions
A new book by Emran El-Badawi on The Qur’an and the Aramaic Gospel Traditions has been published this month. This book is the thirteenth of the Routledge Studies in the Qur’an series, edited by Andrew Rippin.
(Routledge.com)
Description*
This book is a study of related passages found in the Arabic Qur’an and the Aramaic Gospels, i.e. the Gospels preserved in the Syriac and Christian Palestinian Aramaic dialects. It builds upon the work of traditional Muslim scholars, including al-Biqa‘i (d. ca. 808/1460) and al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505), who wrote books examining connections between the Qur’an on the one hand, and Biblical passages and Aramaic terminology on the other, as well as modern western scholars, including Sidney Griffith who argue that pre-Islamic Arabs accessed the Bible in Aramaic.
The Qur’an and the Aramaic Gospel Traditions examines the history of religious movements in the Middle East from 180-632 CE, explaining Islam as a response to the disunity of the Aramaic speaking churches. It then compares the Arabic text of the Qur’an and the Aramaic text of the Gospels under four main themes: the prophets; the clergy; the divine; and the apocalypse. Among the findings of this book are that the articulator as well as audience of the Qur’an were monotheistic in origin, probably bilingual, culturally sophisticated and accustomed to the theological debates that raged between the Aramaic speaking churches.
Arguing that the Qur’an’s teachings and ethics echo Jewish-Christian conservatism, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Religion, History, and Literature.
Table of Contents
Sources and Method
Prophetic Tradition in the Late Antique Near East
Prophets and their Righteous Entourage
The Evils of the Clergy
The Divine Realm
Divine Judgement and the Apocalypse
Data Analysis and Conclusion
Author Bio
Emran El-Badawi is Director and Assistant Professor of Arab Studies at the University of Houston. His articles include “From ‘clergy’ to ‘celibacy’: The development of rahbaniyyah between Qur’an, Hadith and Church Canon” and “A humanistic reception of the Qur’an.” His work has been featured on the New York Times, Houston Chronicle and Christian Science Monitor.
Subjects
Islam
Scriptures of Islam
Biblical Studies
For complete product information on El-Badawi’s book please go here.
Our International Meeting in St. Andrews, Scotland
By Emran El-Badawi and Gabriel Reynolds
The International Qur’anic Studies Association is happy to announce its first international meeting, taking place in St. Andrews, Scotland, from July 8-10, 2013. IQSA will be co-sponsoring a number of panels on the Qur’an with the Society of Biblical Literature, as well as a public lecture by Dr. Alain George. Please consult the schedule below for panel details. All meeting room assignments are currently TBD. Further details will be forthcoming here.
You are also strongly encouraged to subscribe to our blog in order to receive weekly news updates or informed posts on various dimensions of Qur’anic Studies today. On behalf of the co-directors, steering committee and partners we thank you for your enthusiasm and support for IQSA. We look forward to seeing you in St. Andrews!
St. Andrews (standrewsfreshers.com)
Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective
July 8, 2013 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Theme: Islam and Interfaith Studies in Scottish Universities
Zohar Hadromi-Allouche, University of Aberdeen, Presiding
Hugh Goddard, University of Edinburgh Islam and Interfaith Relations in Scotland (20 min)
Fiona McCallum, University of St. Andrews ‘Same Old’? Muslim-Christian Relations and the Arab Uprisings (20 min)
Discussion (35 min)
Break (30 min)
Johan Rasanayagam, University of Aberdeen From an Anthropology of Islam to an Anthropology through Islam (20 min)
Saeko Yazaki, University of Glasgow Dialogues between Islam and Judaism in Ethics and Spirituality: The Andalusi landscape and Zionism (20 min)
Discussion (35 min)
Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective Joint Session With: Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective, International Qur’anic Studies Association July 8, 2013 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Theme: Prophets and Prophethood between Bible and Qur’an
Zohar Hadromi-Allouche, University of Aberdeen, Presiding
Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston, Introduction (7 min)
Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame, Introduction (7 min)
Anne-Laure Zwilling, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Moses and the Burning Bush: A Two-Voice Analysis (20 min)
David Kiltz, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften “Ebionism” and the Qur’an Revisited (20 min)
Discussion (16 min)
Break (30 min)
Mehdi Azaiez, IREMAM / CNRS Prophetical Polemics in the Bible and the Qur’an: The Case of Counter-Discourse (20 min)
Michael Pregill, Elon University Intertextual Complications: The Qur’anic Cain and Abel Reconsidered (20 min)
Tommaso Tesei, University of Notre Dame Apocalyptic Prophecies in the Qur’an and in Seventh Century Extrabiblical Literature (20 min)
Discussion (20 min)
Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective Joint Session With: Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective, International Qur’anic Studies Association July 9, 2013 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Theme: Rhetoric and the Qur’an: Structure, Composition, Argumentation
Orhan Elmaz, University of St. Andrews, Presiding
Michel Cuypers, IDEO Semitic Rhetoric in Sura 81 (Al-Takwir) and Chapter 10 of the Testament of Moses (20 min)
Ulrika Mårtensson, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Al-Tabari’s Rhetorical Concept of the Qur’an: Implications for Historical and Contemporary Research (20 min)
Discussion (35 min)
Break (30 min)
Mustansir Mir, Youngstown State University Hamid al-Din al-Farahi on Qur’anic balaghah (20 min)
Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame, Respondent (20 min)
Discussion (35 min)
Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective Joint Session With: International Qur’anic Studies Association, Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective July 9, 2013 3:00 PM to 4:15 PM
Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame, Presiding
Alain George, University of Edinburgh On an early Qur’anic palimpsest and its stratigraphy: Cambridge Or. 1287 (45 min)
Break (5 min)
Discussion (25 min)
Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective Joint Session With: Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective, International Qur’anic Studies Association July 10, 2013 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Theme: Qur’anic and Biblical Discourses in Comparative Perspective
Andreas Görke, University of Edinburgh, Presiding
Keren Abbou Hershkovits, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Idris, Enoch, and Celestial Knowledge: Astronomical Knowledge Given (or Taken?) from Heaven (20 min)
Nadjet Zouggar, Louvain-la-Neuve University The Biblical Prophets’ Place in the Elaboration of Sunni Prophetology (20 min)
Abdulla Galadari, University of Aberdeen The Qiblah: A Qur’anic Allusion to the Shema (20 min)
Discussion (15 min)
Break (30 min)
Roy Michael McCoy III, University of Oxford An Arabian Trudgman in Nazareth: The Gospel Narrative of al-Biqa’i’s Nazm al-durar fi tanasub al-ayat wa’l-suwar (20 min)
Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, The Institute of Ismaili Studies Messianism and the Idea of Universal Exegesis in Islam: The Parallel Interpretation of the Qur’an and the Bible in the Jawidan-nama of Fadlallah Astarabadi (d. 796/1394) (20 min)
Following the success of the IQSA 2015 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, we are pleased to make available on our website the Meeting’s keynote paper by Professor Reuven Firestone, entitled “The Problematic of Prophecy.” Based on qur’anic discourse in relation to preceding and subsequent scriptures and tradition, Professor Firestone offers a theory of religious emergence and the revolutionary challenge it represents to the authority of established religions. In the process, he demonstrates how our awareness of the natural tension between scriptural canonization and competing prophetic claims has value for the critical study of the Qur’an. You can access the paper HERE.
