Monthly Archives: September 2017

Dr. Tauseef Ahmad Parray’s “Towards Understanding Some Qura’nic Terms, Concepts, and Themes”

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Synopsis:

Towards Understanding Some Qura’nic Terms, Concepts, and Themes provides an excellent opportunity to gain or renew acquaintance with the meaning and message of such a masterpiece as the Qur’an. It helps readers prepare better to understand the Islamic scripture. Dr. Parray has carefully assessed the needs and wants of English speaking readers. For his work provides a helpful overview of the contents of the Qur’an by way of having elucidated its main contours and rubrics. Dr. Parray’s elucidation of these rubrics helps readers realize at the very outset that the Qur’an is a special type of text which is to be approached in its own particular perspective. In a more helpful vein Dr. Parray has carefully identified some Key Terms and Basic Concepts of the Qur’an. This once again, provides readers with a kind of road map with clear, intelligible signs, guiding them to the kernel of the Qur’an. Equally beneficial is his account of eleven key Qura’nic terms on which hinges the Qura’nic discourse. Included amid these are Worship, Piety, and Knowledge in particular. For these serve as to shed light on Islamic tradition and the community which formed around it. His exposition of the major themes of the Qur’an is directed at familiarizing readers with the recurrent ideas embedded in the Qura’nic discourse. He identifies man-God and intra-social relationships as main concerns of the Qura’nic address to mankind. Of special interest are Dr. Parray’s discussions on such timely and immediately relevant issues as the ‘Shura-Democracy nexus’, ‘Religious Pluralism and its Scriptural Foundations’, and ‘Ijtihad’. These chapters are destined to provide much food for thought to readers, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. More importantly these bring out the relevance and timeliness of the Qura’nic message.

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Note: This excerpt is from ‘Foreword’ (pp. 7-12), of the author’s recently published work, ‘Towards Understanding Some Qura’nic Terms, Concepts, and Themes’ (Karachi, Pakistan: Qirtas Publishers, June 2017); ISBN: 9789699540446; Pages: 296; Price: 340/- (Pakistani Rupees)

 

 About the Author: Dr Tauseef Ahmad Parray is presently working as Assistant Professor, Islamic Studies in Higher Education Department, Jammu & Kashmir (India). He completed his PhD from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India (2009-14), and Post-Doctorate from ‘Iqbal International Institute for Research & Dialogue’ (IRD), International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI), Pakistan (Mar-Aug’2014). From 2010, he has published in numerous reputed academic journals and magazines (of Islamic Studies and Social/ Political Science), from over a dozen countries around the world. His major areas of interest are: Islam and Democracy; Modern Islamic Political Thought; Islamic Modernist/ Reformist Thought in Contemporary South Asia; and Modern Trends & English Scholarship in Qura’nic Studies. Email: tauseef.parray21@gmail.com

 

 

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2017. All rights reserved.

Review of Qur’anic Research, Vol. 3 no.8 (2017)

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In the latest installment of the Review of Qur’anic Research (Vol. 3 no.8), Cecilia Palombo (Princeton University) reviews Andrew G. Bannister’s An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur’ān (Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2014).  

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The relationship between “the oral” and “the written” is one of the most fertile and unresolved questions in the study of early Islam, and one that often remains latent even in different sets of research questions and debates—from the reliability of early historical accounts to the development of Islamic legal practices, to the study of “semi-literary” papyri, and others. Andrew Bannister’s An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur’ān has the merit of bringing that complex relationship into the focus of Qur’ānic studies by searching the Qur’ānic text itself for signs of oral diction. This fascinating book has the potential of reviving the debate regarding orality and literacy in the late antique Near East…”

Want to read more? For full access to the Review of Qur’anic Research (RQR), members can log in HERE. Not an IQSA member? Join today to enjoy RQR and additional member benefits!

 

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2017. All rights reserved.

New Publication – “Exploring the Qur’an: Context and Impact”

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(Content courtesy of I.B. Tauris Publishers)

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Description: “The teachings, style and impact of the Qur’an have always been matters of controversy, among both Muslims and non-Muslims. But in a modern context of intercultural sensitivity, what the Qur’an says and means are perhaps more urgent questions than ever before. This major new book by one of the world’s finest Islamic scholars responds to that urgency. Building on his earlier groundbreaking work, the author challenges misinterpretations of particular Qur’anic verses from whatever quarter. He addresses the infamous ‘sword’ verse, frequently cited as a justification for jihad. He also questions the ‘tribute’ verse, associated with the Muslim state subjugating Jews and Christians; and the idea of Paradise in the Qur’an, often viewed by the West as emphasising merely physical pleasures, or used by Islamic fighters as their just reward for holy war. The author argues that wrenching the verses out of the context of the whole has led to dangerous ideologies being built on isolated phrases which have then assumed afterlives of their own. This nuanced, holistic reading has vital interfaith ramifications…”

About the Author: “Muhammad Abdel Haleem is King Fahd Professor of Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and one of the world’s leading authorities in Qur’anic studies. He is the author of Understanding the Qur’an: Themes and Style, also published by I.B.Tauris, and his major new translation of the Qur’an, with parallel Arabic text, was published in 2010.”

Bibliographic Information:

ISBN: 9781780763651 (Hardback)
Publisher: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd.
Publication Date: 29 Apr 2017
Number of Pages: 288
Height: 228
Width: 155

Andrew Rippin Best Paper Prize 2018

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In honor of Andrew Rippin, the International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA) will award a prize to the best paper delivered at the 2017 Annual Meeting in Boston by a graduate student or early career scholar (Ph.D. awarded 2012 or later).

The prize winner will receive $250 and an expanded and edited version of the paper will qualify for publication in the Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association.

Interested scholars should submit a draft of the paper which they read at the 2017 Annual Meeting at Boston; this draft should be no longer than fifteen double-spaced pages (or 3750 words). Submissions should be sent to jiqsa@iqsaweb.org by January 5, 2018.  The prize winner will be announced by February 1, 2018. The winner should then be prepared to submit a fully revised version of the winning article by April 1, 2018. Publication of the final version is contingent upon review by the award committee and editorial staff of JIQSA.

The first annual Andrew Rippin Best Paper Prize was awarded to Jawad Anwar Qureshi of the University of Chicago for his paper “Ring Composition, Virtues, and Qurʾanic Prophetology in sūrat Yūsuf (Q 12)”. Visit this link for more details.

Andrew Rippin was the inaugural president of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (2014).  He is remembered as “an esteemed colleague, revered mentor, and scholarly inspiration to many members of the IQSA community.”

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Andrew Rippin (third from left) and colleagues at the spring 2014 IQSA board meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

 

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2017. All rights reserved.