INTRODUCTION TO THE QURAN HISTORY INTERPRETATION AND APPROACHES

Introduction to the Quran History Interpretation and Approaches by Abdullah Saeed

INTRODUCTION TO THE QURAN HISTORY INTERPRETATION AND APPROACHES

Book Contents

• The Qur’an in its context
• The world of the Prophet Muhammad
• Prophet Muhammad’s life as part of the context
• Socio-historical context and cultural language
• Ethical language of the Qur’an: context and women
• Intellectual currents that influenced Muslim engagement
• with the Qur’an
• Summary
• Recommended reading
• Notes
• Revelation and the Qur’an
• The nature of revelation
• Forms of revelation in the Islamic context
• Revelation: God’s speech in human language
• The Qur’an as purely divine revelation
• Spoken word and written word
• Revelation and interpretation
• Towards a broader understanding of revelation
• Levels of revelation of the Qur’an
• Summary
• Recommended reading
• Notes

• The Qur’an as scripture
• Structure of the Qur’an
• Compiling the Qur’an as a single text
• Challenges by Western scholars of the Qur’an
• Evolution of the script of the Qur’an and its presentation
• The nature of the Qur’anic text: the idea of inimitability
• Connection between the Qur’an and the traditions of
• the Prophet
• Summary
• Recommended reading
• Notes
• Major themes and text types
• God
• Spiritual beings
• Satan – the symbol of evil and disobedience
• Creation
• Earlier prophetic figures
• Faith and other religions
• Historical events of the Prophet’s time
• Life after death
• Human behaviour
• Types of texts in the Qur’an
• Summary
• Recommended reading
• Notes
• The Qur’an in daily life
• Reciting the Qur’an
• Handling the Qur’an
• Ritual purity and cleanliness
• Desecration of the Qur’an
• Qur’anic texts and calligraphy
• Summary
• Recommended reading
• Notes
• Western scholarship and the Qur’an
• Early Western scholarship on Islam and the Qur’an
• Later Western scholarship on Islam and the Qur’an
• Contemporary Western scholarship on Islam and the Qur’an