Freiburg Conversations on Tafsir & Transregional Islamic Networks, Summer 2020

Freiburg conversations on tafsir and transregional Islamic networks, summer 2020

Hosted by Majid Daneshgar and Johanna Pink

Freiburg-View

Please register *HERE*. You will be sent an invitation to the Zoom meeting by email.
All sessions have a duration of 75 minutes including a discussant’s statement and a Q&A period. Please note that, in order to accommodate speakers and discussants from different continents, the starting time may vary.
Click here to download the programme (PDF)
July 1, 4pm CEST
Pieter Coppens, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam: “Did print change everything? Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi’s (1866-1914) tafsir between local and transregional networks“
Discussant: Walid Saleh, University of Toronto
July 8, 10am CEST
Peter G. Riddell, Melbourne School of Theology: “Exegesis across cultures: Reconfiguring Arabic tafsir for Southeast Asian audiences”
Discussant: Nico Kaptein, Universiteit Leiden
July 15, 10am CEST
Majid Daneshgar, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg: “Persian Shi’ism in Malay-Indonesian Qur’anic Commentaries”
Discussant: Peter G. Riddell, Melbourne School of Theology
July 22, 4pm CEST
Nico Kaptein, Universiteit Leiden: “Ahmad Khatib al-Minangkabawi (1860-1916) and transregional networks”
Discussant: Amr Ryad, KU Leuven
July 29, 4pm CEST
Arnold Yasin Mol, Universiteit Leiden: “Thick Comparative Tafsīr Studies: A Case Study using Q.11:117″
Discussant: Pieter Coppens, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
August 5, 4pm CEST
Walid A. Saleh, University of Toronto: “Tafsir and royalty”
Discussant: Brett Wilson, Central European University Budapest/Vienna
August 12, 4pm CEST
Ahmed El Shamsy, University of Chicago: “Muslim and Orientalist reconstructions of the classical tafsir tradition in the age of print”
Discussant: Islam Dayeh, Freie Universität Berlin
August 19, 4pm CEST
Johanna Pink, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg: “Ibn Kathir, modern Salafism and the making of a global exegetical authority“
Discussant: Younus Mirza, Shenandoah University
August 26, 4pm CEST
Amr Ryad, KU Leuven: “Salafiyya and Ahmadiyya missionary work in interwar Europe“
Discussant: Rainer Brunner, CNRS, Paris
September 2, 5pm CEST
Ash Geissinger, Carleton University, Ottawa: “Authority, gender, and contemporary Muslim appropriations of classical Qur’an commentary”
Discussant: Karen Bauer, Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
September 9, 4pm CEST
Annabel Gallop, British Library: “Qur’an manuscripts from Southeast Asia with interlinear translations: influences and networks”
Discussant: Ervan Nurtawab, State Institute of Islamic Studies Metro, Lampung
September 12, 3pm CEST

Samuel Ross, Texas Christian University: “What Were the Most Popular Qur’an Commentaries in Islamic History? An Assessment of the Manuscript Record and the State of Tafsīr Studies“

Discussant: Ahmed El Shamsy, University of Chicago

* Text adopted from the University of Freiburg website.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2020. All rights reserved.

The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur’an

The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur’an: Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis From Late Antiquity to Islam

Michael E. Pregill

Oxford Studies in the Abrahamic Religions

  • A compelling exploration of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic understandings of the account of the Golden Calf
  • Contributes to the ongoing reevaluation of the relationship between Bible and Qur’an
  • The first major monograph on the story of the Golden Calf
  • The book also addresses the issue of Western approaches to the Qur’an, arguing that the historical reliance of scholars and translators on classical Muslim exegesis of scripture has led to misleading conclusions

MP

This book explores the story of the Israelites’ worship of the Golden Calf in its Jewish, Christian, and Muslim contexts, from ancient Israel to the emergence of Islam. It focuses in particular on the Qur’an’s presentation of the narrative and its background in Jewish and Christian retellings of the episode from Late Antiquity. Across the centuries, the interpretation of the Calf episode underwent major changes reflecting the varying cultural, religious, and ideological contexts in which various communities used the story to legitimate their own tradition, challenge the claims of others, and delineate the boundaries between self and other. The book contributes to the ongoing reevaluation of the relationship between Bible and Qur’an, arguing for the necessity of understanding the Qur’an and Islamic interpretations of the history and narratives of ancient Israel as part of the broader biblical tradition. The Calf narrative in the Qur’an, central to the qur’anic conception of the legacy of Israel and the status of the Jews of its own time, reflects a profound engagement with the biblical account in Exodus, as well as being informed by exegetical and parascriptural traditions in circulation in the Qur’an’s milieu in Late Antiquity. The book also addresses the issue of Western approaches to the Qur’an, arguing that the historical reliance of scholars and translators on classical Muslim exegesis of scripture has led to misleading conclusions about the meaning of qur’anic episodes.

* Text adopted from the Oxford University Press product page.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2020. All rights reserved.

Review of Qur’anic Research, Vol. 6 no. 5 (2020)

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In the latest installment of the Review of Qur’anic Research (Vol. 6, no.5),  Juliane Hammer (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) reviews Communities of the Qur’an: Dialogue, Debate, and Diversity in the 21st Century edited by Emran El-Badawi and Paula Sanders (London: Oneworld, 2020). 

CommunitiesIn her review, Hammer writes “When I first saw the title of the book under review here, ‘Communities of the Qur’an,’ I was excited. In the field of qurʾānic studies, there has been a decades-long (if not longer) focus on the qurʾānic text itself, on its origins and history, its linguistic and literary qualities, but rather much silence about the people who engage with it. This volume, edited by Emran El-Badawi and Paula Sanders, aims to change that by bringing together scholars who, in complex ways, write about and often also represent communities of the Qurʾān that the editors selected based on a thoughtful process. The result is a collection of essays, ten plus the introduction by the editors, rounded out with a foreword by Reza Aslan, and an afterword by Reuven Firestone…”

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, 2020. All rights reserved.