First International Symposium on Rethinking the Qur’an

By Andrew Rippin

ANKARA—On May 3-5, 2013, the Research Institute for Philosophical Foundations of Disciplines (İlim Dallarının Düşünce Temellerini Araştırma Enstitüsü) in Ankara sponsored the First International Symposium on Rethinking the Qur’an. With papers presented by fifty-one participants from about twenty countries worldwide, and with attendance topping 200 people—more than 50% of whom were women—this was an event of some significance.

The concern of the local community with the idea of “rethinking” the Qur’an was evident, both in the papers delivered and in the composition of the audience. Many expressed opinions about the best method by which the Qur’an might be understood and about why that process of understanding was so difficult. As numerous speakers said, while no doubt is harbored that the Qur’an is a revelation from God, the problem of the need for a method to understand the text remains. The discussion was open and often surprising (to an “outsider” such as myself), and the tone remained—for the most part—earnest yet respectful. Such conversations were facilitated and kept available to all through simultaneous translation of English and Turkish (as well as Arabic and Persian in some panels).

The question of whether academic scholarship has anything to contribute to the task of “rethinking the Qur’an” was brought to the surface through the participation of several scholars who adopted a theoretical angle. (Literary, historical, and comparative religion approaches were especially evident.) This sort of conversation between perspectives on the study of the Qur’an has, at the very least, the merit of breaking down the perceived barriers between academic work and devotional concerns.

There were some papers that particularly drew the attention of the audience and others that reflected theoretical sophistication of considerable interest. Several papers from Iranian participants, given in English, were focused on linguistic structures and informed by general theory, for example. One presentation from a Mauritanian/Moroccan scholar on qiwama in the context of Q. 4.34—as can likely be imagined by readers of this blog—aroused impassioned responses and evoked many reinterpretations of the passage on the part of the audience, despite the speaker’s attempt to emphasize the need to follow the methods of al-Jabiri, Arkoun and Fazlur Rahman.

There is no doubt that a theological agenda was close to the surface in many of the papers and discussions, and this was totally explicit in the two concluding talks of the symposium. One challenge that clearly emerged as critical was that of resolving the hermeneutical problems of multiple meanings in the text, without the believer’s reverence for the text overcoming the scholar’s constructive analysis (such that the result is simply a statement of belief). And, as was argued, another common problem among religious believers is that of engaging the text without allowing the fear of the outcome of one’s study to overpower the enunciation of one’s ideas (thus simply leading to acceptance of what has “always” been thought.) Such thoughts are especially interesting to those of us who reflect upon trends in modern Islamic thinking; but they also illustrate the gap that remains between scholarship within the Euro-American tradition of Qur’anic studies and expected motivations when speaking to an audience in a country such as Turkey.

The difference here is, of course, familiar: it is the same tension that is experienced in religious studies in general, whether thought of as the insider-outsider dilemma or as the problem of defining religious studies as compared to theology. But what this gathering illustrated to me, at least, is the necessity for the interaction between the different perspectives—both for communication and for chipping away at the preconceptions held on both sides of the discussion. For that, this symposium was a tremendous success.

It is anticipated that a second symposium, focusing on rethinking concepts in the Qur’an, will be held next year.

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)

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)

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)

Discussion (35 min)

Planning begins for Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān: Supplement

By Jane McAuliffe

When the discussions surrounding the Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān commenced in 1993 the scholarly world was a different place from the one we find ourselves in today. It hardly needs to be stated that public attention to the Islamic world has increased considerably over the past two decades, and publishing houses have responded with a flood of popular and academic tomes. The Qurʾān and Qurʾānic studies have enjoyed (and at times suffered from) a central role in this changing context. The timing of the publication of EQ over the period of 2001 to 2006 was fortuitous and welcomed by readers around the world. In the years since its publication its value has been revealed in many ways, as witnessed by its consistent citation in scholarly and general books. Still, the intervening time from the original planning until today shows that there is much more that could be accomplished. A new generation of scholars devoted to the Qurʾān and its interpretation has emerged. The broader field of Islamic Studies has generated topics of both academic and popular interest for which the Qurʾān and its scholarship is an important source. And new forms of publication, particularly electronic and online, allow completed work, such as a multi-volume encyclopedia, to be reimagined as a more flexible and continually refreshed reference source, one that can keep pace with a field of study as it changes and push its boundaries.

Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (brill.com)

The Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, the first such work in western languages, was designed to define the field of Qur’ānic studies and to capture the state of scholarship as it stood at the time of its publication. This it did quite successfully. The structure of the Encyclopaedia, as outlined in the Preface, which combined entries of varying length with longer, synoptic essays, was intended to summarize past academic work and to set an agenda for the future. The very success of the Encyclopaedia in advancing the field has resulted, perhaps inevitably, in the suggestion that a way be found to expand, improve, and update it. The revolution of electronic publication and online access now permits the realization of that suggestion.

Discussions have thus been initiated between Brill and an editorial team under the direction of Jane McAuliffe to issue regular supplements to the Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. The goal is not to replace published entries—the original edition will remain intact—but to expand the existing base of articles with freshly commissioned ones on the same, related and new topics. These will serve to complement, supplement, elaborate on, and provide additional perspectives on the current print and online edition. Future supplements will provide entries and longer essays under new headings, reflecting work currently being undertaken and recently published in the scholarly arena. The editors will also commission additional entries dealing with the exegetical tradition, filling in information about authors and works that are referenced throughout the published Encyclopaedia but not treated independently or expansively within its pages.

With this expansion of the online edition, the basic editorial approach of EQ will remain the same. Entries will be found primarily under English keywords. The perspective of the work will continue to be thoroughly academic and rigorous, incorporating a plurality of perspectives and presuppositions, as the Preface to the original Encyclopaedia expressed it. The editorial team continues to uphold the notion that “[s]cholarly perspective can no longer be neatly pinned to religious identification and good scholarship is flourishing in this richly plural environment” and will strive to ensure that it is in this spirit that the Encyclopaedia continues to expand.

Now that this opportunity to create a supplement is available to those of us who work in this field, the editorial team would welcome suggestions of topics that users of the Encyclopaedia feel should be included or expanded upon. While proposing a topic does not guarantee its inclusion, surfacing as many good suggestions as possible will certainly launch this project in a productive direction. Following the contemporary process of “crowdsourcing,” the collective input of the scholarly community and other interested individuals will ensure that the coverage of the Encyclopaedia continues to evolve with the field of Qur’ānic Studies itself and to be as comprehensive as possible.

Please send all suggestions and correspondence to any of the individual email addresses below or to: eqsupplement@gmail.com

Editorial Board

Jane McAuliffe, general editor (jdm@brynmawr.edu and eqsupplement@gmail.com)

William Graham, associate editor (wgraham@fas.harvard.edu)

Daniel Madigan, associate editor (dam76@georgetown.edu)

Andrew Rippin, associate editor (arippin@uvic.ca)

Mona Siddiqui, associate editor (Mona.Siddiqui@ed.ac.uk)

Some Prominent Women Qur’an Scholars

By Emran El-Badawi

Qur’anic Studies is, now more than ever, a discipline wherein women scholars have demonstrated groundbreaking expertise and leadership.

In the western academy especially, Muslim and Non-Muslim women have helped give shape to the discipline itself. Among the former are scholars like Ingrid Mattson, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and author of The story of the Qurʼan: its history and place in Muslim life and Amina Wadud, whose Qurʼan and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective, explores the intersection between Gender and Qur’anic Exegesis. The latter includes Jane Dammen McAuliffe, author of Qur’anic Christians: An Analysis of Classical and Modern Exegesis and editor of preeminent, standard Qur’an reference works like Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an and the Cambridge Companion to the Qur’an. Included in the latter category as well is Angelika Neuwirth, director of the Corpus Coranicum, as well as author and editor of landmark publications including Der Koran als Text der Spätantike; The Qur’an in Context: Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qur’anic Milieu; and several others. Jacqueline Chabbi, similarly, has authored a number of important works on the Qur’an, most notably Le coran décrypté : Figures bibliques en Arabie, préface d’André Caquo.

Among Qur’an translators—most of whom are still men—a handful of women have distinguished themselves and built bridges between the western academy and those in Islamic societies, including Iran. Among them are Laleh Bakhtiar, author of The Sublime Qur’an, and the late poet Tahere Saffarzadeh (d. 2008) who authored The Holy Qur’an English and Perisan Translation with Commentary. In the Arab world the work of Olfa Youssef–author of Le Coran au risque de la psychanalyse— and Asma Hilali continue to both shape and enrich the discipline.

The expertise and leadership demonstrated by women scholars in Qur’anic Studies is perhaps demonstrated best in two recent talks delivered at the Qur’an Seminar, and ongoing conference at the University of Notre Dame co-directed by Mehdi Azaiez and Gabriel Reynolds. Below are the video of the talks delivered by two eminent scholars: Nayla Tabbara (Adyan Foundation, Lebanon) and Maryam Mosharraf (Shahid Beheshti University, Iran).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CFLIQuuiZTg]

Lecture of Nayla Tabbara Director of Cross-Cultural Studies Department (Adyan Foundation, Lebanon) “The Qur’ān and Muslim-Christian relations” ; December 6, 2012

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJw1EI0r8ME&feature=player_embedded]

Maryam Mosharraf Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature (Shahid Beheshti University, Iran)“The Qur’ān and Islamic Mysticism”; December 7, 2012

Translating John Wansbrough…into English

By Gabriel Reynolds

At a recent academic conference, during a dinner with a group of Qurʾan scholars, the topic of our conversation turned to the work of John Wansbrough. During the conversation one of our group asked,“But when is someone going to translate Wansbrough . . . into English?”

In fact Wansbrough’s writing is famously difficult. Almost every reviewer of Qurʾanic Studies expresses frustration with his complicated style. To this effect William Graham writes:

Because of its importance, however, it is all the more regrettable that this volume is such an exceedingly cumbersome and gratuitously difficult work, one marked by impenetrable syntax and often unintelligible sequence of ideas. It is a book laced with brilliance and insight, yet marred throughout by unusual obscurity in organization and presentation. Its subject matter is manifestly complex, but it has been presented here in such a needlessly “technicalized” fashion as to make it at all decipherable only by the most doggedly determined specialist in early Islamic materials. (Journal of the American Oriental Society 100 [1980] 138).

Now since Prof. Graham wrote this review Prometheus Press has re-published both Qurʾanic Studies (2004) and Sectarian Milieu (2006) with Forewords (by Andrew Rippin and Gerald Hawting, respectively) that summarize the arguments and influence of the work at hand, and glossaries which define the technical terms and foreign vocabulary which Wansbrough employs. This supplementary material is a significant help for students who really seek to understand Wansbrough’s thought.

But is it worth the effort to do so? In academic scholarship on the Qurʾan it is rather common to find the opinion that Wansbrough’s thought is unfounded or disproven. But how many of those who express this opinion have actually managed to understand his use of the English language? Perhaps a translation of Wansbrough into English would allow us at least to assess the importance of his work. While I have no plans to translate the entirety of Qurʾanic Studies, I thought I might have a go at the first page:

Once separated from an extensive corpus of prophetical logia, the Islamic revelation became scripture and in time, starting from the fact itself of literary stabilization, was seen to contain a logical structure of its own. Both the Qurʾan and sīra emerged from a body of traditions closely related to Jewish and Christian themes of salvation history. Some of those traditions were brought together or redacted to form a scripture and given the name Qurʾan. This scripture was then imagined to have the sorts of internal relationships of works that are intentionally composed as a single unit by a single author.

By the very achievement of canonicity the document of revelation was assured a kind of independence, both of historical traditions commonly adduced to explain its existence and of external criteria recruited to facilitate its understanding. Once this text was recognized as the Muslim community’s scripture its origin amidst a larger body of traditions—which had included also material later used by Muslim authors in order to explain how the Qurʾan came to be and what it means—became irrelevant.

But the elaborate and imposing edifice of classical Qur’anic scholarship is hardly monolithic, and discernible lines of cleavage correspond to the number of options left open to the most fundamental lines of inquiry. Yet after this initial moment at which the Qurʾan emerged as a scripture, later Muslim scholars developed recognizable genres of Qurʾanic exegesis; these genres correspond to the qualities of the Qurʾanic text.

Both formally and conceptually, Muslim scripture drew upon a traditional stock of monotheistic imagery, which may be described as schemata of revelation. The body of traditions out of which the Qurʾan emerged might be thought of as a general outline of Jewish and Christian (and other monotheistic) ideas of how God has acted in the world.

Analysis of the Qurʾanic application of these shows that they have been adapted to the essentially paraenetic character of that document, and that, for example, originally narrative material was reduced almost invariably to a series of discrete and parabolic utterances. The Qurʾan reflects a shaping of these traditions for the sake of warning or exhortation. The redactors of the Qurʾan condensed long narratives into short declarations with moral and religious implications.

An illustration is Surat Yūsuf, often cited as a single instance of complete and sustained narrative in the Qur’an. In fact, without benefit of exegesis the Qur’anic story of Joseph is anything but clear, a consequence in part of its elliptical presentation and in part of occasional allusion to extra-Biblical tradition, e.g. verses 24, 67, 77. [No translation necessary, hooray! A footnote here refers the reader to JW’s comments on Surat Yūsuf later in the work, pp. 136-37]

It may, indeed, be supposed that the public for whom Muslim scripture was intended could be expected to supply the missing detail. The Qurʾan’s elliptical style with material such as Joseph suggests that its audience was familiar with Jewish and Christian traditions.

A distinctly referential, as contrasted with expository, style characterizes Qurʾanic treatment of most of what I have alluded to as schemata of revelation, exhibited there as components of earlier established literary types. The Qurʾan does not expand on the Jewish and Christian themes of salvation history, but rather refers to them succinctly.

The technique by which a theme is repeatedly signaled but seldom developed may be observed from an examination in their Qur’anic form of those themes traditionally associated with literature of prophetical expression. Not merely the principal themes, but also the rhetorical conventions by which they are linked and in which they are clothed, the variant traditions in which they have been preserved, as well as the incidence of exegetical gloss and linguistic assimilation, comprise the areas of investigation undertaken in the first part of these studies. In part one of Qurʾanic Studies I will study four Jewish and Christian themes of salvation history as they appear in the Qurʾan: retribution, sign, exile, and covenant [see page 2]. I will also examine the Arabic formulas with which the Qurʾan introduces or connects these themes, the variant versions which the Qurʾan preserves of the same tradition, the material in the Qurʾan meant to explain other Qurʾanic material, and the manner in which the Qurʾan uses Arabic to express Jewish and Christian themes preserved in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

On Qur’anic Studies and ‘Ulum al-Qur’an

By Emran El-Badawi

The Qur’an is not merely the scripture that gave birth to Islamic Tradition but also–in the words of the late Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (d. 2010)–a “discursive text.” Its eloquence, argumentation and history engaged generations of Muslim scholars who dedicated numerous monographs and essays to different studies on the Qur’an. early scholars meticulously studied their scripture’s grammar (i’rab), rhetoric (balaghah) and loan words (mu’arrabat); they also documented its earliest codices (masahif), variant readings (qira’at), and wrote mammoth tomes on exegesis (tafsir).

Within the field of exegesis alone there is a good deal of variety. Among other exegetical works, Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari’s famous Tafsir (3/10th century) uses prophet stories, insights from the earliest generation of Muslims (like ‘Abdulah b. Abbas; d. 68/687) and his own personal insights on matters of language to elucidate the verses of the Qur’an. Along similar lines Abu Bakr b. al-‘Arabi’s Ahkam al-qur’an has an unmistakably juridical flavor, as does Mahmud b. ‘Umar al-Zamakhshari’s Kashshaf a subtly Mu’tazili one (both 6th/12th century). The efflorescence of different academic fields of Qu’anic study lead to a great deal of specialization, divergence and variety.

From gomdl.com

The need to integrate these different academic fields and preserve the rich insights of earlier scholars into a unified discipline surrounding the Qur’an gave rise to what is traditionally known as ‘ulum al-qur’an, or ‘Qur’anic Sciences/Studies’ (a term better encapsulated in the German “koranischen Wissenschaften”). There are two major pre-modern ‘ulum al-qur’an works, Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi’s Burhan (8th/14th century) and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti’s Itqan (ca. 905/1500). The latter goes into seemingly exhaustive detail concerning many subjects, including the number and types of qur’anic verses, loan words, problematic passages, script, i’jaz, semantic and rhetorical debates–principally based on the insights coming from generations of earlier Qur’an scholars. Suyuti’s Itqan is, by itself, a major resource for any student of the Qur’an.

More recent works of ‘ulum al-qur’an include Muhammad ‘Abd al-‘Azim al-Zurqani’s Manahil al-‘irfan (1943) and a useful English abridgment of this traditional discipline by Ahmad Von Denffer called Ulum al Qur’an: An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’an (1994; revised 2009). Zarqawi and Von Denffer wrote five centuries after Zarkashi and Suyuti–who were themselves just as far removed from the earliest authorities on the Qur’an like ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abbas. Yet their works stay true to ‘integrating and preserving’ earlier scholarship on the Qur’an, uniformly and adding little new information.

This was the principle critique of Abu Zayd leveled against pre-modern ‘ulum al-qur’an works. He argues that the problem with many traditional Qur’anic Studies works are (1) their tendency to reproduce old and sometimes outdated insights and (2) an absence of original insights. The emphasis, therefore, of works like those of Zarkashi and Suyuti are not the Qur’an itself, but rather Islamic Tradition. In his book, Mafhum al-nass, Abu Zayd proposed a bold, systematic, fresh inquiry into the Qur’an’s text in light of its own ‘hermeneutical instruments,’ and exploring–among other things–who the speaker(s) of the text is in different passages. Abu Zayd’s commitment to the text directly–his simplicity and originality–rather than the verbosity of tradition, removes so much obfuscation and mystery surrounding the study of the Qur’an.

Abu Zayd was also someone who believed in building bridges between Islamic and western societies. Since the Qur’an is a text of world historical importance, he realized the value of exchanging ideas on the Qur’an across cultural lines. With this in mind there is some common ground between the traditional discipline of ‘ulum al-qur’an and the academic discipline of Qur’anic Studies in the western academy today. In this respect the traditional study of the Qur’an’s loan words (mu’arrabat) or foreign language (gharib)–especially from Aramaic–can be viewed as part of what the academy calls Semitic Linguistics. Furthermore, as an integral part of world literature the Qur’an is also in dialogue with other scriptural traditions–especially the Hebrew and Christian Bible (al-tawrah wa al-injil)–that can prove illuminating. Qur’anic Studies in the western academy can also benefit from studying the Qur’an, not just as a text of history, but also as a text that lives within Islamic tradition.

An Open Letter to Members of SBL

Since its press release in May 29, 2012 the International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA) has received the support of the academy as well as the public. In the months following, the media took much interest in IQSA, as well as SBL’s instrumental role in supporting this Qur’anic Studies initiative. Thanks to this widespread recognition, university professors, graduate students and academic institutions around the world continue to reach out to us and form valuable partnerships with IQSA. As co-directors of this initiative, we understand that forming meaningful relationships with sister organizations will be key to the success and growth of IQSA in the long term. We would like to take this opportunity to reach out to the members of SBL especially, and inform them about the vision of this initiative and their role within it.

On November 18-19, 2012 IQSA will hold its first organizational meeting in Chicago. Its co-directors and steering committee will discuss several important matters, including governance, publishing, relationship building, fund raising and planning our first meeting in 2013, alongside SBL’s annual meeting. Our provisional plan is for our annual meetings to alternate between North America (alongside SBL) and a site in the Islamic world. We also plan on establishing a journal, a newsletter, and a monograph series that will publish in English as well as Arabic. We want IQSA to be ‘the place’ where Qur’anic Studies scholars from around the world, especially those in Western and Islamic countries, talk to one another, share cutting edge research, collaborate and publish their work. The collegial environment we will work towards will also make IQSA a center that fosters respect and mutual understanding through scholarship.

One of the program units to be housed at IQSA conferences will explore the Qur’an’s dialogue with Biblical Literature; another will likely study the text in light of Semitic Linguistics. These areas of scholarship will prove to be a ‘bridge’ between members of IQSA and those of SBL. Scholars of Biblical Studies will have the opportunity to learn how Biblical traditions were adapted within the Qur’anic milieu. And scholars of Qur’anic Studies can learn how the text belongs to ‘the world of the Bible.’ You are invited to visit the initiative’s blog (http://iqsaweb.org), subscribe to IQSA’s e-mail list and keep up to date with our news and posts. We thank SBL for its support and look forward to working with its members.

Sincerely,

Emran El-Badawi, codirector

Gabriel Said Reynolds, codirector

Qur’anic Studies around the World

By Emran El-Badawi

There are several research projects, journals, conferences and other initiatives dedicated to the academic study of the Qur’an around the world. One of IQSA’s goals is to give scholars from these different international initiatives the opportunity to meet regularly.

The Qur’an Seminar meets 5 times throughout 2012-13 at the University of Notre Dame. This conference series is directed by Gabriel Reynolds (associate professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame) and Mehdi Azaiez (PhD, Université Aix-Provence). The seminar allows invited participants to share their insights on 50 central passages distributed throughout the Qur’an text. The work of the participants will eventually be collected, edited and published. See in relation the Qur’an in Its Historical Context.

The Corpus Coranicum is a project directed by Angelika Neuwirth (professor of Semitic and Arabic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin) and Michael Marx, and it belongs to the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Included in the work of the Corpus Coranicum is research on the paleography and intertextuality of the Qur’an.

Among the academic journals in this area is the Journal of Qur’anic Studies (JQS), whose editor in chief is M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (professor of Islamic Studies, School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London). Another biennial journal is Al-Bayan: Journal of Qur’an and Hadith Studies, whose editor in chief is Faisal Bin Ahmad Shah (senior lecturer, al-Qur’an & al-Hadith Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya).

The Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (EIQ) is a seven volume reference work that originated as a joint academic venture between the Center for Islam and Science, Canada and the Society for Qur’anic Studies, Pakistan. Among other things, EIQ preserves centuries worth of classical Islamic scholarship on the Qur’an. This publication is not related to the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (EQ) published by E.J. Brill.

The International Institute of Qur’anic Studies (IIQS), which was co-founded by H.E. Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid and Dr. Syafi’i Ma’arif, explores the intersection between modern scholarship and the study of the Qur’an in Indonesia. The institute belongs to the organization LibForAll, chaired by Holland Taylor, and has worked with the late Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (d. 2010).

For more information on Qur’anic Studies around the world visit the External Resources link.

IQSA in the News

By Gabriel Reynolds

The establishment of a consultation dedicated to the foundation of a learned society for Qurʾanic Studies– the International Qurʾanic Studies Association (IQSA) – was announced on May 29, 2012. Since that time a number of media outlets have published articles on IQSA, which will become the first learned society dedicated to the study of the Qurʾan when it is formally founded in 2015. The following may be of particular interest:

– “For Koranic Studies, a Scholarly Society is Born.” The Chronicle of Higher Education (June 6,
2012).
– “Across Religions, Persistent Battles Over What the Faithful May Read.” The New York Times
(June 8, 2012)
– “Anti-Muslim Video – One More Reason for Independent Scholarship on the Qurʾan.” The
Christian Science Monitor (September 14, 2012).

On this blog we will be regularly adding posts on a range of engaging topics connected to the study of
the Qurʾan: from the world of academia, popular culture, and international affairs. By following IQSA
by email, facebook, or twitter (see the fields on the left-hand column of the blog) you will be notified
immediately when new posts appear. You will also be included among the IQSA community of scholars,
and be the first to receive information regarding our developing plans for conferences and publications on
the Qurʾan. We are eager to reach out to all those who are interested in the study of the Qurʾan!

First International Symposium on Rethinking the Qur’an

First International Symposium on Rethinking the Qur’an

Our International Meeting in St. Andrews, Scotland

Planning begins for Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān: Supplement

Some Prominent Women Qur’an Scholars

Translating John Wansbrough…into English

On Qur’anic Studies and ‘Ulum al-Qur’an

An Open Letter to Members of SBL

Qur’anic Studies around the World

IQSA in the News

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