Review of Qur’anic Research, Vol. 4 no.1 (2018)

In the latest installment of the Review of Qur’anic Research (Vol. 4 no.1), Yasmin Amin (University of Exeter) reviews Rawand Osman’s Female Personalities in the Qur’an and Sunna: Examining the Major Sources of Imami Shi’i Islam (London & New York: Routledge, 2015). In her review, Amin analyzes this comprehensive discussion of all the female personalities mentioned in the Qur’ān, as well as three role models from the women of ahl al-bayt (Muhammad’s family), focusing on the theme of jihād al-nafs (struggle of the soul), highlighting the specific features ‘spiritual motherhood’ and earthly/political jihad.

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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, 2018. All rights reserved.

CALL FOR PAPERS: IQSA Annual Meeting 2018

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The International Qur’anic Studies Association has opened its call for papers for its Annual Meeting to be held in Denver, Colorado from November 16-19, 2018. Paper proposals should be submitted through the SBL’s automated online submission system under the corresponding “Affiliates” link by March 7, 2018 (note: SBL membership is NOT required for proposal submission). Submission links can be found below under the respective program units. Please contact the chairs specified by each program unit to which you’d like to apply if you require further information or experience difficulties with the submission process. Abstracts should be written in English, have a length of around 400 words, and include the name and affiliation of the author. IQSA welcomes all submissions and looks forward to an exciting program in Denver.

The Annual Meeting includes panels for each of IQSA’s six program units:

Paper proposals should be submitted through the SBL’s automated online submission system under the corresponding “Affiliates” link. Submission links can be found below under the respective program units. The paper proposal submissions are due by March 7, 2018. For additional information about a specific program unit, you may contact the unit chairs listed on the website via email. If you experience difficulties or have questions about the SBL submission form, please email contact@iqsaweb.org. Abstracts should be written in English, have a length of around 400 words, and include the name and affiliation of the author. IQSA welcomes all submissions and looks forward to an exciting program in Denver.

 

PROGRAM UNIT 1
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Perspectives on the Qur’anic Corpus 

Program Unit Chairs:
Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau
Sarra Tlili

The Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Perspectives on the Qur’anic Corpus unit invites proposals for papers that engage with the Qur’an at the thematic (as opposed to the stylistic or the structural) level. Proposers may for example address themes such as Qur’anic prophetology, eschatology, cosmology, ecology, and social status, or may investigate the meaning of certain Qur’anic words.

 

PROGRAM UNIT 2
The Qur’an: Surah Studies

Program Unit Chairs:
Shawkat Toorawa
Marianna Klar

The Surah Studies unit invites proposals for individual papers on any aspect of the five surahs known collectively as al-Musabbihat (Q 57, 59, 61, 62, and 64). Although traditionally considered to be a group, there is a dearth of secondary scholarship on their form, their structural parallels, their implied unity, or indeed their many differences. Barely mentioned in Neuwirth 2010, these five surahs are excluded from analysis altogether in Cuypers 2016, and garner only a small handful of references in Sinai 2017; and yet Paret (in his 1977 Konkordanz) includes a long list of internal parallels and correspondences for these surahs, hitherto uninterpreted, while Bazargan, intriguingly, considers only surahs 57, 61, and 64 of the Musabbihat to be diachronically coherent wholes (Sadeghi 2011).

A varied blend of a number of qur’anic genres, encompassing sections of hymnic praise, punishment stories, assertions of the resurrection and the truth of God’s message, eschatology, commandment passages, both inter- and intra-community polemics, and references to contemporary events and community practice, the striking similarity of their opening verses nonetheless commands attention. Proposers might also wish to explore the relationship of rhyme to structure, or assess further evidence of the presence of textual borders throughout any or all of the Musabbihat. Presenters might focus on the surahs’ use of rhetorical devices, the presence of Leitwörter, the placement of hapax legomena, the use of repetitive lexical patterns, or recurring images. The surahs’ distinctive theological concepts–God’s Light, for instance, His Balance, or the matter of Divine doubling–might be deemed worthy of individual attention. In sum, proposals are invited on any aspect of the Musabbihat, their reception, their structure, their relative surah-ness, their relationship to other surahs, their composition, their lexicon, their rhetorical features, or their style.

 

 

PROGRAM UNIT 3
Qur’anic Studies: Methodology and Hermeneutics 

Program unit chairs:
Karen Bauer
TBC

This unit aims to understand and contextualise the methods and hermeneutics applied to the Qur’anic text, both historical and contemporary. The Methodology and Hermeneutics unit addresses questions that might implicitly govern other units, such as: What is Qur’anic Studies, and how does the study of the Qur’an differ from the study of its interpretation? What are the methodological differences between descriptive and normative approaches to the text? How does context (intellectual, social, ethical, historical) affect hermeneutical approaches to the text? The unit welcomes papers addressed to the hermeneutics and methods of particular schools of interpretation or thought, and also on hermeneutics as applied to specific subjects or concepts such as social justice and gender. 

This year the Methodology and Hermeneutics unit invites papers from any aspect of the methods and hermeneutics in the study of the Qur’an. We will also be convening a pre-arranged roundtable discussion on bias and identity politics in the field of Qur’anic Studies.

 

PROGRAM UNIT 4
The Qur’an: Manuscripts and Textual Criticism 

Program unit chairs:
Alba Fedeli
Shady Hekmat Nasser

The aim of this unit, originally founded and curated by Keith Small, is to provide a cross-disciplinary setting to address the variety of interconnected issues that arise when questions concerning the Qur’an’s text are explored in relation to its manuscript tradition. Manuscript tradition refers to the transmission of the Qur’anic text in Qur’anic manuscripts, marginal notes to the text, and citations of the Qur’anic text as found in other works of Islamic literature, such as commentaries and particularly the qira’at literature. This will provide a forum to explore the relationship between Qur’anic manuscripts and Qur’anic citations, focusing on textual variants and the historical context of the Qur’an in various historical periods. In addition to the analysis of textual data, the unit also examines other topics, such as palaeographic, codicological, and art-historical features in the study of the Qur’an’s manuscript tradition, the application of textual criticism to manuscript texts, as well as the phenomenon of textual variants as found in the Islamic qira’at literature. It is hoped that bringing together scholars from the subdisciplines of Qur’an manuscript studies, Qur’anic commentaries and qira’at studies will serve to enrich and strengthen these fields.

This year the programming unit will schedule a thematic session entitled “Reading and Accessing Manuscripts of the Qur’an and of Qur’anic Commentaries”. We invite papers that deal with all eras and regions of the manuscript tradition encompassing manuscripts of the Qur’an, Qur’anic commentaries, and qira’at works, as well as the variety of palaeographic, art historical, codicological, philological, historical, and text-critical issues that one encounters in this discipline in terms of access to collections and new technologies for manuscript study. For example, papers may focus on presenting a particular manuscript or collection of manuscripts, on introducing future and past projects for accessing, digitising and displaying collections or on describing new technologies for reading or analysing manuscript texts and exploring issues of textual criticism. Papers on any topic within the range of the interests of The Qur’an: Manuscripts and Textual Criticism programme unit are welcome. Proposals should include a title and an abstract of approximately 400 words.

 

 

PROGRAM UNIT 5
The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition

Program unit chairs:
Holger Zellentin
Cornelia Horn

For the 2018 meeting in Denver, we invite papers on exegetical, narrative, legal, or any other interaction between the Biblical and Qur’anic traditions for an open session.

PROGRAM UNIT 6
The Qur’an and Late Antiquity

Program unit chairs:
Michael Pregill
TBC

For the 2018 IQSA Annual Meeting, the Qur’an and Late Antiquity program unit invites proposals for two open panels. We seek papers that utilize various types of evidence, whether literary, documentary and epigraphic, or material/visual/archaeological, to illuminate the historical context in which the Qur’an was revealed and the early Islamic polity emerged. We are especially interested in papers that utilize comparative methodologies to contribute to a better understanding of the Qur’an’s place in its cultural, political, social, and religious environment.

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We look forward to seeing you in Denver!

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2018. All rights reserved.

Two Free Online Courses on the Qur’an

Contributor: Holger Zellentin

We are excited to announce two new initiatives presenting the Qur’an in between Judaism and Christianity: a new MOOC starting January 15, 2018, and the immediate online publication of a related lecture series. Both projects were sponsored by the British Academy, the University of Nottingham and the Karimia Institute, and convened by Holger Zellentin (University of Cambridge) and Jon Hoover (University of Nottingham).

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About a year ago, we sought to bring cutting-edge research on the Qur’an in its relationship to Judaism and to Christianity to the broader public. In order to reflect the growing sense of a scholarly consensus in the field, we invited a number of outstanding scholars to present their research in Nottingham: Omar Ali-de-Unzaga (The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London), Mehdi Azaiez (Katholieke Universiteit Levuven), Harith bin Ramli (Cambridge Muslim College), Islam Dayeh (Free University of Berlin), Emran El-Badawi (University of Houston), Dirk Hartwig (Free University, Berlin), Asma Hilali (now Université de Lille), Marianna Klar (School of Oriental and African Studies), Shuruq Naguib (University of Lancaster), Gabriel Said Reynolds (Notre Dame University), Lena Salaymeh (University of Tel Aviv), Walid Saleh (University of Toronto), Nora K Schmid (Free University of Berlin), and Nicolai Sinai (University of Oxford) joined the organizers.

The lectures were designed to engage the public in three ways. First, we teamed up with the Karimia Institute, a Muslim community and charity based in Nottingham under the guidance of Dr Musharraf Hussain al-Azhari OBE. Members of the community constituted the primary audience of the live lectures, and engaged the academics in a series of insightful, respectful and vivid discussions.

Secondly, we recorded all lectures and discussions in their entirety and have now published the lectures on a dedicated website. We believe that both the academic acumen of the lectures and the spirit of the discussions themselves will be a wonderful resource for scholars, students and community leaders across the world for many years to come. Please feel free to share the news.

Finally, Holger Zellentin and Jon Hoover have teamed up with Shuruq Naguib (University of Lancaster) and Rachel Dryden (University of Cambridge) in order to build an open online course based on the same lecture series. We selected especially relevant excerpts of the lectures and, with the generous assistance of the University of Nottingham and FutureLearn, we developed the materials into a proper MOOC. We promise it’s worth having a look at the teaser video here, where you can also sign up. The great thing about the course is that you can explore all of it for free, and with no obligation to do anything! All you have to do is sign up on FutureLearn, and, once the course is running, you can access all the materials for the period of one month. Should you like what you find, feel free to spread the word to your students, friends, colleagues, family- we have worked hard to make the complex materials accessible to the broadest possible public. We hope to run the course once every two years or so, so it will also be a resource for many years to come (but note that it will only be accessible for four-week intervals at a time).

Please let us know what you think about the course. In the meantime, have a happy, blessed, and hopeful 2018!

Here are the two websites once more:

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/theology/research/quran-lecture-videos-2016.aspx

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/quran-judaism-and-christianity

Moreover, please note that beginning on February 19 (running for eight weeks) Gabriel Reynolds will be hosting a free MOOC through EdX entitled “Introduction to the Qur’an.”  This is the new and updated version of the course (which initially ran in 2015).  It is meant to provide a basic introduction to the academic study of the Qur’an and likewise includes lectures, discussion with scholars and religious leaders, and live interactive sessions.  For more information and to enrol visit:

https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-the-quran-the-scripture-of-islam

Prof. Reynolds and I have been in correspondence as we have developed these two open courses. We both think that they complement each other very well, and you might consider sharing, or even enrolling in both.

 

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2018. All rights reserved.

IQSA New Year Reminders & Updates

A belated Happy New Year from the International Qur’anic Studies Association! 2018 ushers in a range of new publications, exciting events, and organizational developments for the IQSA community.

First and foremost, IQSA Membership for 2018 is now open! Membership consists of five levels: Student/International, Mid-range Faculty/General, Full Professor, Lifetime, and Institutional. The Student/International level is $25 (USD) for student and international (Global South) scholars. The Mid-range Faculty/General level is $50 (USD) for all non-student scholars, professionals, and mid-range faculty. The Full Professor level is $75 (USD) for full professors. The Lifetime level is a one time installment of $2,000 (USD) and Institutional membership is $400 (USD) annually.

To become a member, click HERE. To renew or edit your membership, sign in to your member account, click the “Join IQSA” tab, and select “Edit your member profile” at the bottom of the page.

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After welcoming IQSA’s first two inaugural Lifetime Members, Professor Jane Dammen McAuliffe and Professor Reza Aslan, in 2017, the Executive Office eagerly anticipates forthcoming Lifetime and Institutional Members in the IQSA community. You can read more about these two new membership tiers on our Membership Page.

One benefit of IQSA Membership is discounted rates for the anticipated Annual Meeting held in conjunction with the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion in November, 2018. This year we will convene in breathtaking Denver, Colorado, so mark your calendars and keep an eye out for the forthcoming Call for Papers! Catch up on last year’s 2017 Annual Meeting held in Boston, MA in the Program Book and Conference Report.

2018 also brings about Volume 4 of IQSA’s flagship publication, the Review of Qur’anic Research (Ed. Shari Lowin), and Volume 2 of the much anticipated Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (Ed. Vanessa De Gifis). Online access to these resources is FREE to all current IQSA Members!

We look forward to an exciting and productive year ahead as IQSA furthers its mission of building bridges across the globe via collaborative scholarship!

 

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2018. All rights reserved.

The Qur’an and the Just Society

Ramon Harvey*

I was standing in a library aisle in the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, my neck craning to read titles dropping vertically down the spines of books. A familiar experience for many students, even if it is being increasingly replaced by the ubiquitous blue-white glow of the screen. Around me were shelves containing the collection of books in English about the Qur’an. SOAS buys almost everything of note, yet this section is modest in size, reflecting the neglect that the academic field of Qur’anic studies has historically received (though in very recent times it has undergone a small renaissance). On that day in 2009, something stuck out. In my mind’s eye, a gap in the literature had taken literal shape on the shelves. Was there really no monograph focused on social justice in the Qur’an?

During the next decade, questions of justice have only intensified around the world, especially in the so-called Muslim world. The “Arab Spring”, commencing at the end of 2010, which was so clearly motivated by a rejection of unjust regimes, not to mention the rise of ISIS in its aftermath, told me that I was on the right track with a theme that was “too broad for a PhD” in the words of one academic I met. Whenever I tried to explain to anybody the rationale for such a wide scope, I would fall back on the idea that it was as necessary to look at the connections between different aspects of social justice in the Qur’an – and its overarching ethical stance – as it was to study them in their individual detail.

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This thematic point mirrors a disciplinary one. Anyone who reads classical exegetical literature soon realises that it contains discussions drawn from all other parts of Muslim thought. The Qur’an, as God’s word, was considered so vast in meaning that it could only be explained by drawing on every available facet of knowledge. I make no claim to a parallel feat in The Qur’an and the Just Society, but I have perhaps retained its spirit by connecting classical disciplines including balāgha, kalām, uṣūl, fiqh, sīra, tafsīr and Hadith to their modern academic descendants in the field of Islamic studies. The nature of my approach means that though this book engages in a reconstruction of the meaning of social justice for the Qur’an’s initial audience, it does so mainly as a theological and hermeneutic intervention, rather than a historical one.

As The Qur’an and the Just Society becomes available to readers, I hope that it fills a genuine gap in our ongoing, collective understanding of the Qur’an… and does not just attract dust on library shelves.

 

*Ramon Harvey is Aziz Foundation Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Ebrahim College, London.

www.twitter.com/RamonIHarvey

www.ramonharvey.com

 

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2018. All rights reserved.