This book examines how early juridical and theological debates on the translatability of the Qur'an informed the development of Persian translations and commentaries of the Qur'an. While it is generally believed that Muslims in the eighth to twelfth centuries were disdainful of translating the Qur'an, the historical record proves to be much more nuanced. Although the philosophy of some schools of law was that the divine nature of the Qur'an could not be conveyed in a language other than Arabic, the reality was that Persian exegetical translations were considered acceptable for use by new converts to Islam. These translations preserved the Arabic text of the Qur'an and, interlinearly, wove Persian commentaries between its lines and verses, thereby preserving the sacred script while expanding on and making the text available to a wider audience. The author gives a thorough overview of the development of Persian exegetical writing, from rhyming translations to major commentaries, starting with the emergence of New Persian literature in the tenth century and continuing on until the institutionalisation of Persian as a language that rivalled Arabic in courts and educational institutions. Through a series of detailed case studies, this book offers new insight into the development of Qur'anic hermeneutics and its relationship to vernacular cultures, religious elites, institutions of education, and dynastic authority. Presented for the first time to an English readership is a broad array of archival material, spanning five centuries and drawn from across the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia.

The Vernacular Qur'an: Translation and the Rise of Persian Exegesis (Qur'anic Studies Series)

Religion & Spirituality

Zadeh, Travis

Islam

OUP in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies

Review\n“The wonders and curiosities of the Islamic imagination await discovery by a new generation of readers in this superb and very enjoyable book by Travis Zadeh.”―Orhan Pamuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature\n“A remarkable account of how a single text captivated readers for centuries, across the boundaries of language, religion, culture, and politics. Travis Zadeh’s engrossing study uncovers, with great erudition, the genesis and many afterlives of an extraordinary book, illuminating its continued power to inspire and amaze readers in our present day.”―Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge\n“A magnificent and essential book. Zadeh deftly illuminates centuries of occult and natural history, restoring Qazwīnī's place in this vast world of thought. The result is an astonishing work of Islamic intellectual and cultural history, one that delves deeply into the intricacies and the pleasures of wonder without the prism of orientalism.”―Rana Safvi, author of Shahjahanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi\n“Beautifully written and deeply researched, this book explores the religious and intellectual importance of wonder in Islamic civilization through the study of a classic text. A must-read!”―Jamal J. Elias, author of Aisha’s Cushion: Religious Art, Perception, and Practice in Islam\n“The wonders and curiosities of the Islamic imagination await discovery by a new generation of readers in this superb and very enjoyable book by Travis Zadeh.” 
―Orhan Pamuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature\nThe astonishing biography of one of the world’s most influential books.\nDuring the thirteenth century, the Persian naturalist and judge Zakariyyāʾ Qazwīnī authored what became one of the most influential works of natural history in the world: Wonders and Rarities. Exploring the dazzling movements of the stars above, the strange minutiae of the minerals beneath the earth, and everything in between, Qazwīnī offered a captivating account of the cosmos. With fine paintings and leading science, Wonders and Rarities inspired generations as it traveled through madrasas and courts, unveiling the magical powers of nature. Yet after circulating for centuries, first in Arabic and Persian, then in Turkish and Urdu, Qazwīnī’s compendium eventually came to stand as a strange, if beautiful, emblem of medieval ignorance.\nRestoring Qazwīnī to his place as a herald of the rare and astonishing, Travis Zadeh dramatically revises the place of wonder in the history of Islamic philosophy, science, and literature. From the Mongol conquests to the rise of European imperialism and Islamic reform, Zadeh shows, wonder provided an enduring way to conceive of the world―at once constituting an affective reaction, an aesthetic stance, a performance of piety, and a cognitive state. Yet through the course of colonial modernity, Qazwīnī’s universe of marvels helped advance the notion that Muslims lived in a timeless world of superstition and enchantment, unaware of the western hemisphere or the earth’s rotation around the sun.\nRecovering Qazwīnī’s ideas and his reception, Zadeh invites us into a forgotten world of thought, where wonder mastered the senses through the power of reason and the pleasure of contemplation.

Wonders and Rarities: The Marvelous Book That Traveled the World and Mapped the Cosmos

Travel

Harvard University Press

The story of the 9th-century caliphal mission from Baghdad to discover the legendary barrier against the apocalyptic nations of Gog and Magog mentioned in the Quran, has been either dismissed as superstition or treated as historical fact. By exploring the intellectual and literary history surrounding the production and early reception of this adventure, Travis Zadeh traces the conceptualization of frontiers within early 'Abbasid society and re-evaluates the modern treatment of marvels and monsters inhabiting medieval Islamic descriptions of the world. Examining the roles of translation, descriptive geography, and salvation history in the projection of early 'Abbasid imperial power, this book is essential for all those interested in Islamic studies, the 'Abbasid dynasty and its politics, geography, religion, Arabic and Persian literature and European Orientalism.

Mapping Frontiers Across Medieval Islam: Geography, Translation and the 'Abbasid Empire (Library of Middle East History)

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

I.B.Tauris

The story of the 9th-century caliphal mission from Baghdad to discover the legendary barrier against the apocalyptic nations of Gog and Magog mentioned in the Quran, has been either dismissed as superstition or treated as historical fact. By exploring the intellectual and literary history surrounding the production and early reception of this adventure, Travis Zadeh traces the conceptualization of frontiers within early 'Abbasid society and re-evaluates the modern treatment of marvels and monsters inhabiting medieval Islamic descriptions of the world. Examining the roles of translation, descriptive geography, and salvation history in the projection of early 'Abbasid imperial power, this book is essential for all those interested in Islamic studies, the 'Abbasid dynasty and its politics, geography, religion, Arabic and Persian literature, and European Orientalism.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Zadeh, Travis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Zadeh, Travis

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Zadeh, Travis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Vernacular Qur'an: Translation and the Rise of Persian Exegesis (Qur'anic Studies Series)

Wonders and Rarities: The Marvelous Book That Traveled the World and Mapped the Cosmos

Mapping Frontiers Across Medieval Islam: Geography, Translation and the 'Abbasid Empire (Library of Middle East History)

Mapping Frontiers Across Medieval Islam: Geography, Translation and the 'Abbasid Empire (Library of Middle East History)