THE QUR'AN, SCIENCE, AND THE (RELATED) CONTEMPORARY MUSLIM DISCOURSE
- ️https://independent.academia.edu/NidhalGuessoum
- ️Invalid Date
Related papers
The Qurʾān in the Service of Contemporary Islamic Aspirations_2006
The use of sacred script for polemic purposes is a method as ancient as the script itself. Biblical citations, which are used as a vehicle to support an ideology at stake, can be traced easily in various texts throughout history. Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam, from its earliest days, has integrated Qurʾānic verses into its writings, gradually turning the technique into a major form of expression. In the last few years, however, we have witnessed a significant increase in the number of Qurʾānic verses that are used as a source for the justification or sanction of specific current events. We often encounter citations of the divine word that are not limited to sacred texts or religious items, but are rather interwoven into the rhetoric of central figures and communicated through the general media. The present chapter is necessarily a preliminary study of this emerging and changing phenomenon. Islam regards the Qurʾān as the word of God that was gradually revealed to Muḥammad to answer the needs and changing circumstances of the developing nascent community. Although prophecy ended with Muḥammad's death, the idea of a perfect compatibility between the revelation and current events did not stop in the first/seventh century. Instead it expanded to the next generations and became a central part of the Qurʾānic sciences (ʿulūm al-Qurʾān), known as the " occasions of revelation " (asbāb al-nuzūl). This flexibility was facilitated by the general, sometimes vague, nature of the Qurʾānic text. Most Qurʾānic verses are phrased in a style that avoids specific details, and consequently can be understood to have more than one meaning within more than one context. Islamic scholars, therefore, could use these verses as recourse for instruction, whenever and wherever needed, thus taking these verses beyond the scope of the time in which they were revealed. This special Qurʾānic style underlies a major part of the Islamic dogma that deals with the miraculous nature of the Qurʾān (iʿjāz). The latter views the Qurʾān as a divine revelation that cannot be imitated by mortals, as an eternal and universal truth that can be adapted to changing circumstances, and as assistance and guidance that may be applied to any situation at any given time or place. The act of identifying a part of the Qurʾānic truth with a specific experience has always been accepted as an ultimate authorization. In other words, the ability to interpret a verse in a way that was relevant to a debatable issue always reinforced the confidence in the decisions taken.
A Companion to World Literature, 2020
A brief examination of the Qur'an that is written for the general public and for use in undergraduate classes. The Qurʾan plays a dynamic role in the ordinary lives of Muslims whose relationship to this text is mediated by architecture and art, performative rituals, and the textual tradition of exegesis or tafsīr. This chapter places the Qurʾan in its late antique Near Eastern context but also comments on the particular ways Muslims relate to and read the Qurʾan. In this chapter we guide readers through the Qurʾan's historical background, its structure, style, as well as its pedagogical settings, the text's literary aspects, and its basic themes and moral lessons.
The Glorious Qur‟ān: A Compendium of Knowledge and an Emboddiment of Human Sciences
2015
Abstract: Qur’ān is a divine book which consists of the word of Allah and serves as a big readable sign, among others, of Allah, revealed to the last and seal of all the prophets, Muhammad, through the archangel angel, Jibril, in its precise wordings and meaning, sent to mankind as a guidance and light for the whole world in everything. It is full of wisdom, laws and evidences. It addresses human beings reasoning and faculty of sense and develops it for productivity. It also forbids all articles and elements that may want to disturb, brainstorm and prevent it from development and production. Upon all, the Qur’ān is an encyclopedia of human sciences and a compendium of many branches of knowledge, such as; Agriculture, Anatomy, Biology, Chemistry, Computer, Geography, Mathematics, Medicine, and Zoology etc. Though, it comes to preach the religion of Islam, but at the same time, it goes beyond that to pinpoint to almost all the branches of knowledge of human endeavors in this world and...
The Islamic World, 2008
That Dr. Andrew Rippin would invite me to co-author an article on the Qur'an for the collection of articles he solicited and edited (Routledge 2008) is a sign of his generosity and ability to work with others from a wide range of personal beliefs. This essay is a bit of a handoff of valuable perspectives on a difficult topic, and has been foundational in my teaching and writing on the Qur'an culminating recently in the publication of my book, The Quran with Christian commentary, amazon.com/dp/0310534720
Horizons, 2016
The Study Quran is an impressive volume intended for scholars and teachers in various fields, as well as for students and general readers, both Muslim and non-Muslim. It is a vital addition to the existing translations of the Quran* and to the not-so-vast body of commentaries on the Quran in the English language. The volume contains a comprehensive English translation and an extensive commentary on the entire Quran, as well as several essays on a range of topics, including Quranic ethics and law, branches of theology, death and dying, and art in the Quran. It includes useful appendices on hadith citations, a timeline of major events specified in the Quran, biographies of the commentators and the authors, a solid index, and a number of maps illustrating the ancient world and Arabia in the early years of Islam. The volume is a great resource for students and scholars in the fields of theology and religious studies and can be a useful reference in other fields of the humanities. It is an essential resource for scholars, teachers, and students of Islam, both graduate and undergraduate. It provides students interested in reading the Quran in greater depth access to the rich commentary tradition in a single volume. Study of the Quran for those not familiar with Arabic or Persian (the major languages of the commentarial tradition) has presented quite a challenge. I often refer my students to online sources, as the print sources are at best piecemeal; a university or college library in the United States, for example, might have one or two volumes translated into English out of a massive twenty-or thirty-volume commentary. The Study Quran fills the void by providing an in-depth analysis of verses, Quranic phrases, and a variety of topics while incorporating multiple commentaries, among them the most prominent and influential works of tafsir (interpretation). Seyyed Hossein Nasr, the editor in chief, is a world-renowned scholar of Islam and comparative religion. He is a leading proponent of religio perennis, an ideology that perceives all religious traditions as sharing a single universal truth as a basis of the development of various doctrines. That perspective can find its rationalization in the Quran and its call to universality of revelation, particularly in its reference to Abraham and Jesus as muslims, " submitters. "
The Miracles of Al-Quran: Al-Quran as a Grace and Guidance of Muslims
2021
This paper aimed at explaining the functions of the Al-Quran as a blessing and guidance for mankind, especially for Muslims in this world. It is the duty of the scholars at any time to find the existing arguments and process them with the right to provide legal certainty to problems that arise in time. To know the law of a problem based on the most appropriate arguments, it is necessary to update the right one, namely the Al-Quran because it has covered all problems in life. The result of this study showed that the Al-Quran is a light that appears in the hearts of Muslims, which breaks the flower of faith, appears in life so that it becomes light, rises to the heavens of mankind so that a plan of peace and guidance appears to humans to introduce their status and obligations, then lead to the straight path. This statement means that Al-Quran is guidance for humans. The function of Al-Quran globally is as a principle of the Islamic religion, in which there is the principle of every sc...
An Introduction to The Holy Qur'an
For Muslims, the Qur’an is the word of God, preserved on a well-guarded tablet and revealed, through the angel Gabriel (Jibril), to the Prophet Muhammad in 611 CE. The miraculous event first occurred when Muhammad, aged 40, was meditating in a cave on Mount Hira’, three miles from Mecca, on the night of al-Qadr (the Night of Power), which is 23 Ramadan. The revelation was intermittent and lasted between twenty and twenty-five years. This revelation later became the Islamic Scripture i.e. the Quran. This holy Quran is the bedrock of Islamic faith and philosophy and praxis. This seminar explicitly deals with The Holy Qur’an.
Quran as Scripture in Classical Muslim Scholarship
Religions, 2021
Recent scholarship focuses on the plasticity of the concept of “scripture” as it is defined by different religious traditions. Based on its contents, the Quran is most commonly compared to the Bible, yet such an approach misses the distinct way that the Quran is understood as an authoritative text by classical Muslim scholarship. Even “basic” information—knowing the number of words, the names of surahs, the structure of the text—is essential to understanding how Muslims see the Quran as scripture and the foundations upon which it is built. Muslims regard the Quran as the word of God, revealed to the prophet Muhammad, the primary source for determining the beliefs and practices of Islam. The text of the Quran is used in the teaching of Arabic and is the focus of Islamic learning. It is regarded as interceding on behalf of those who revere it, is recited as a part of regular rituals, and is treated as a sacred object in ritual and everyday settings. The exegetical and ritual use of th...
As the center of Islamic civilization, the Qur'an receives numerous intellectual responses both from Muslim and Western scholars within history. One of the prominent names of Western scholars who deals very much with the Qur'an is Jane Dammen McAuliffe. This article discusses the ontological view of the Qur'an of Jane Dammen McAuliffe, within a context of a new growing interest of western scholarship to see the Qur'an. Applying phenomenological and analytical methods of analysis, the articles ends in conclusions: [1] Muslims' views on the Qur'an tend to be theologically oriented, while the Westerns have resulted some polemical conclusions [2] however a new growing interest in the West, in which Jane Dammen McAuliffe belongs to, sees the Qur'an as a scripture, that emphasizes the importance of relation between the text and human's belief in the text; the Qur'an and Muslims. Abstrak Sebagai pusat peradaban Islam, Al-Qur'an telah menerima sejumlah respons intelektual baik dari kalangan sarjana Muslim maupun sarjana Barat. Salah tokoh utama sarjana Barat yang mengkaji Al-Quran adalah Jane Dammen McAuliffe. Artikel ini membahas pandangan Jane Dammen McAuliffe terhadap sisi ontologis Al-Quran. Menggunakan metode fenomenologi dan analitis, artikel ini sampai pada kesimpulan: [1] pandangan Muslim terhadap Al-Qur'an cenderung bersifat teologis, sementara sebagian sarjana Barat menghasilkan teori yang polemis; dan [2] meskipun begitu, telah muncul kecenderungan baru di Barat, termasuk Jane Dammen McAuliffe, untuk melihat Al-Qur'an sebagai scripture (kitab suci), yang menekankan sisi relasi antara kitab tertentu dengan komunitas manusia yang mengimaninya; relasi antara Al-Qur'an dan Muslim. Kata Kunci: Al-Qur'an, Jane Dammen McAuliffe, kitab suci, relasi.