ABSTRACT
The Routledge Companion to the Qur’an offers an impressive and comprehensive overview of the formative scripture of Islam. Including a wide number of scholarly approaches to the Qur’an by both established authorities and emergent voices, the 40 chapters in this volume represent the latest word on the academic understanding of the Muslim scripture.
The Qur’an is spoken of in scholarship across disciplines; it is the beating heart of a living community of believers; it is a work of beauty and a basis for art and culture; it is a profoundly significant historical artifact; and it is a mysterious survivor from the Late Ancient Arabic-speaking world. This Handbook accompanies the reader into the many worlds that the Qur’an lives in, from its ancient settings, to its internal drama, and through the 1,400 years of discussion and debate about its meaning.
Bringing diverse approaches to the Qur’an together in one volume The Routledge Companion to the Qur’an represents the vibrancy of the field of Qur’anic Studies today. This Handbook is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies and Islamic studies. It will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as area studies, sociology, anthropology, and history.
Editors’ Introduction: The Qur’an’s Three Worlds Part I: The World Before the Qur’an 1. Late Antiquity and the Religious Milieu of the Qur’an’s Origins 2. Arabia: Ripe for a New Prophet 3. Mecca and Medina: The Sacred History and Geography of the Qur’an Part II: The World of the Qurʾan 4. God: The Many-Named One of the Qur’an 5. Humanity in Covenant with God 6. Qur’an and Eschatology 7. Abraham and his Family 8. Biblical Prophets: Moses, Joseph, Jonah, and Job 9. John, Jesus, and Mary in the Qur’an 10. Muhammad in the Qur’an 11. The Praiseworthy (and the Reprehensible) 12. The People of Scripture (Ahl al-Kitāb) 13. Qur’anic Creation: Anthropocentric Readings and Eco-centric Possibilities 14. Jinn in the Qur’an 15. Style in the Qur’an 16. Structure and Organization of the Qur’an 17. Qur’anic Kerygma: Epic, Apocalypse, and Typological Figuration 18. Metaphor, Symbol, and Parable in the Qur’an 19. The Relationship Between the Oral and the Written Part III: The World in Front of the Qur’an 20. Asbāb al-Nazūl: The (Good) Occasions of Revelation 21. The Early Commentators of the Qur’an 22. Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī Seen Through His Great Commentary on the Qur’an 23. Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr: A Window onto Medieval Islam and a Guide to the Development of Modern Islamic Orthodoxy 24. The Formative Development of Shiʿi Qur’anic Exegesis 25. Methodological Observations in al-ʿAllāma al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Qur’an Commentary: Al-Mīzān 26. The Qur’an in the Thought of Ibn ʿArabī 27. Sufi Readings of the Qur’an 28. Shi’i Ismaili Approaches to the Qur’an: From Revelation to Exegesis 29. Women’s Contemporary Readings of the Qur’an 30. War and Peace in the Qur’an 31. Muhammad ʿAbduh and Sayyid Qutb 32. Readings of the Qur’an from Outside the Tradition 33. Translations 34. The Qur’an and Material Culture 35. The Qur’an and the Internet 36. The Qur’an in Contemporary Mass and Popular Culture 37. The Qur’an and Kalām 38. The Impact of the Qur’an on Islamic Philosophy 39. Political Theology and the Qur’an 40. The Qur’an, Science, and Medicine
