We are used to understanding the Qur'an as the "Islamic text" par excellence, an assumption which, when viewed historically, is not evident at all. More than twenty years before it rose to the rank of Islamic Scripture, the Qur'an was an oral proclamation addressed by the Prophet Muhammad to pre-Islamic listeners, for the Muslim community had not yet been formed. We might best describe these listeners as individuals educated in late antique culture, be they Arab pagans familiar with the monotheistic religions of Judaism and Christianity or syncretists of these religions, or learned Jews and Christians whose presence is reflected in the Medinan suras. The interactive communication process between Muhammad and these groups brought about an epistemic turn in Arab Late Antiquity: with the Qur'anic discovery of writing as the ultimate authority, the nascent community attained a new "textual coherence" where Scripture, with its valorisation of history and memory, was recognised as a guiding concept. It is within this new biblically imprinted world view that central principles and values of the pagan Arab milieu were debated. This process resulted in a twin achievement: the genesis of a new scripture and the emergence of a community. Two great traditions, then, the Biblical, transmitted by both Jews and Christians, and the local Arabic, represented in Ancient Arabic poetry, appear to have established the field of tension from which the Qur'an evolved; it is both Scripture and Poetry which have produced and shaped the new Muslim community.

Scripture, Poetry, and the Making of a Community (Qur'anic Studies Series)

Literature & Fiction

Neuwirth, Angelika

History & Criticism

OUP in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies

In this book, Angelika Neuwirth provides a new approach to understanding the founding text of Islam. Typical exegesis of the Qur'an treats the text teleologically, as a fait accompli finished text, or as a replica or summary of the Bible in Arabic. Instead Neuwirth approaches the Qur'an as the product of a specific community in the Late Antique Arabian peninsula, one which was exposed to the wider worlds of the Byzantine and Sasanian empires, and to the rich intellectual traditions of rabbinic Judaism, early Christianity, and Gnosticism. A central goal of the book is to eliminate the notion of the Qur'an as being a-historical. She argues that it is, in fact, highly aware of its place in late antiquity and is capable of yielding valuable historical information. By emphasizing the liturgical function of the Qur'an, Neuwirth allows readers to see the text as an evolving oral tradition within the community before it became collected and codified as a book. This analysis sheds much needed light on the development of the Qur'an's historical, theological, and political outlook. The book's final chapters analyze the relationship of the Qur'an to the Bible, to Arabic poetic traditions, and, more generally, to late antique culture and rhetorical forms. By providing a new introduction to the Qur'an, one that uniquely challenges current ideas about its emergence and development, The Qur'an and Late Antiquity bridges the gap between Eastern and Western approaches to this sacred text.

The Qur'an and Late Antiquity: A Shared Heritage (Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity)

Religion & Spirituality

Islam

Oxford University Press

The first volume of a world-renowned scholar’s long-awaited Qur’an commentary, now available in English\nAngelika Neuwirth’s six-volume commentary, published originally in Germany, offers a historical and philological analysis of the form, structure, and semantic message of each of the 114 Qur’anic suras. It brings together the fruits of the past hundred years of modern scholarship and provides access to the aesthetic, theological, linguistic, and semantic background required to appreciate the unique novelty, force, and historical position of the Qur’an. Contextualizing the Qur’anic message in the broader world of late antiquity, it bridges the gaps between the inner-Islamic scholarly world and the academy.\nSkillfully translated by Samuel Wilder, this first volume focuses on the Meccan suras, the earliest and often the most aesthetically striking and compelling part of the corpus of Qur’anic proclamations.

The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 1: Early Meccan Suras: Poetic Prophecy

Yale University Press

The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect

In this book, renowned Islamic scholar Angelika Neuwirth presents key features of her course on ""The Koran as a Text of Late Antiquity."" The work transcends polarizing analyses and well-intentioned but superficial attempts to show commonalities, presenting instead the unique elements of the Koran while showing how it emerges from a common cultural space. Her analysis is an exemplary combination of philological precision and cultural sensitivity.

Koranforschung – eine politische Philologie?: Bibel, Koran und Islamentstehung im Spiegel spätantiker Textpolitik und moderner Philologie (Litterae et Theologia, 4) (German Edition)

Walter de Gruyter

Zwischen Tempel und Zitadelle: Die Zerstörung des Jerusalemer Tempels und seine Erneuerung im Islam (Julius-Wellhausen-Vorlesung, 10) (German Edition)

Christian Books & Bibles

Die Reihe Beiruter Texte und Studien (BTS) ist die Buchreihe des Orient-Instituts fur Grundlagenforschung des historischen und zeitgenossischen Mittleren Ostens. Sie stellt Studien bereit, die auf Primarquellen in Sprachen der Region basieren und bietet thematische sowie methodische Impulse. Dieser Band untersucht "Ghazal as World Literature I - Transformations of a Literary Genre".

Ghazal as World Literature I: Transformations of a Literary Genre (Beiruter Texte Und Studien)

Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft

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