Monthly Archives: July 2020

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

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In the latest installment of the Review of Qur’anic Research (Vol. 6, no.6), Ilkka Lindstedt (University of Helsinki) reviews Nicolai Sinai’s Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry (New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society, 2019).

raingiverIn his review, Ilkka writes “Nicolai Sinai’s small book, or essay, is a very welcome contribution to the study of the deity Allāh and the religious map of Arabia on the eve of Islam based on the jāhiliyyah (pre-Islamic) poetry. The work is available as an open-access e-book. Sinai’s study is rich in methodological considerations and lucid in style. The argumentation is easy to follow. In short, the essay is a joy to read. What I find especially significant is his integrated use of different source sets: in addition to Arabic poetry, he employs the Qurʾān and ancient Arabian epigraphic evidence as comparative materials (while eschewing Arabic prose literature). The picture that he puts forward is credible and well documented…”

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.

IQSA Annual Meeting Update (July 2020)

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Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Given the continued risk and danger due to the Coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19), the Boston Annual Meeting 2020, originally scheduled November 22-25, has been cancelled and moved online. The meeting will be 100% virtual and hosted by our affiliate, the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL).

While an online meeting cannot fully replace the multi-faceted benefits of meeting in person, IQSA is optimistic about the new opportunities this brings its members and guests, especially colleagues with limited access to funds to travel or face travel restrictions.

The online meeting will widen access for members without funding or resources to attend an in-person meeting, including international members, students, adjunct and contingent faculty, and independent scholars. It will open up possibilities for both synchronous (live) and asynchronous (recorded) participation. It will allow attendees to avoid the inevitable scheduling conflicts that prevent participation in sessions of interest. We are exploring options to allow some presenters to pre-record presentations. The executive office is working directly with SBL and can offer the following preliminary guidance to virtual presenters and attendees:

* The new meeting schedule will be extended to avoid potential timing conflicts, time zone limitations, and religious and Thanksgiving holidays. The meeting will take place Monday – Thursday over two weeks. The new dates are November 30 – December 3 and December 7 – 10, from 9AM to 9PM EST / 1PM to 1AM ECT.

* Conference attendees will have access to recorded presentations through a meeting application for approximately one month.

* Conference attendees will have access to a virtual book exhibit, including the possibility of meeting virtually with publishers.

* We are working on holding virtual receptions, business meeting and committee meetings.

* The IQSA Program Book AM 2020 will be published online as normal. No print copies will be available.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, Standing Committees, and our partners we would like to express our deepest gratitude to all friends of IQSA. We understand these are challenging times, and offer our heartfelt gratitude for your patience and trust.

 

Sincerely,

Emran El-Badawi
Executive Director
July 17, 2020

Recent Publication: Rediscovering the Islamic Classics by Ahmed El Shamsy

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Princeton University Press has recently published a new book on Islamic intellectual history of interest to IQSA members and affiliates: Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed an Intellectual Tradition by Ahmed El Shamsy (February 2020).

ShamsyPublisher’s Overview
Islamic book culture dates back to late antiquity, when Muslim scholars began to write down their doctrines on parchment, papyrus, and paper and then to compose increasingly elaborate analyses of, and commentaries on, these ideas. Movable type was adopted in the Middle East only in the early nineteenth century, and it wasn’t until the second half of the century that the first works of classical Islamic religious scholarship were printed there. But from that moment on, Ahmed El Shamsy reveals, the technology of print transformed Islamic scholarship and Arabic literature.

In the first wide-ranging account of the effects of print and the publishing industry on Islamic scholarship, El Shamsy tells the fascinating story of how a small group of editors and intellectuals brought forgotten works of Islamic literature into print and defined what became the classical canon of Islamic thought. Through the lens of the literary culture of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Arab cities—especially Cairo, a hot spot of the nascent publishing business—he explores the contributions of these individuals, who included some of the most important thinkers of the time. Through their efforts to find and publish classical literature, El Shamsy shows, many nearly lost works were recovered, disseminated, and harnessed for agendas of linguistic, ethical, and religious reform.

Bringing to light the agents and events of the Islamic print revolution, Rediscovering the Islamic Classics is an absorbing examination of the central role printing and its advocates played in the intellectual history of the modern Arab world.

Readers can purchase the book online, or find a copy via your institutional library.

 

About the author
Ahmed El Shamsy is associate professor of Islamic thought at the University of Chicago and the author of The Canonization of Islamic Law: A Social and Intellectual History.

 

Content courtesy of Princeton University Press.

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

JIQSA Volume 4 (2019) Now Available!

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IQSA is proud to announce the official release of the Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association V.4 2019 (Lockwood Press) edited by Nicolai Sinai (Oxford University).

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Volume four is available to IQSA members for FREE online via the member login on members.iqsaweb.org. Non-members can receive access by signing up for membership HERE.

Institutions wishing to subscribe for print and/or online access should fill out the form HERE. To request that your institutional library subscribe to JIQSA, please present this form. Print subscriptions are also available for individual subscribers via THIS FORM.

ISSN 2474-8390 (Print)
2474-8420 (Online)

Subscription Rates:
Print and Online: US$70
Print only: US$40
Online only: US$40

JSTOR
JIQSA is now accessible through the online academic digital library JSTOR. Libraries and other institutions with a subscription to JSTOR can access JIQSA HERE.

Member Access

Full online access to the Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association is available by signing in to the member portal at iqsaweb.org HERE. Use the top menu to navigate to “JIQSA” and select the desired volume via the drop-down menu. Online access to JIQSA is NOT  available via Lockwood Press’ website.

If you experience trouble logging in, please email contact@iqsaweb.org to reset your password or confirm your membership.

Renew or sign up for IQSA membership HERE for full access to JIQSA, RQR, and more!

Table of Contents (Vol. 4, 2019)

  1. Farrin, Raymond K. “The Verse Numbering Systems of the Qurʾān: A Statistical and Literary Comparison.” JIQSA 4 (2019): 3-58.
  2. Tlili, Sarra. “Fa’ṣdaʿ bi-mā tuʾmar: A Motif-Based Study of Sūrat al-Ḥijr.” JIQSA 4 (2019): 59-84.
  3. Melchert, Christopher. “The Controversy over Reciting the Qurʾān with Tones (al‑qirāʾah bi’l‑alḥān).” JIQSA 4 (2019): 85-110.
  4. Christiansen, Johanne Louise. ““Their Prayer at the House Is Nothing but Whistling and Clapping of Hands” (Q al-Anfāl 8:35): Negotiating Processions in the Qurʾān.” JIQSA 4 (2019): 111-140.
  5. Rashwani, Samer. “Review Essay: Al-Ḥākim al-Jishumī and the History and Study of Muʿtazilī Exegesis.” JIQSA 4 (2019): 141-154.

The journal’s website, including additional information and contact details, can be found at http://lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/jiqsa. For more information on theInternational Qur’anic Studies Association, please visit www.iqsaweb.org.

 

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

New Publication: ‘Muhammad and the Empires of Faith’ by Sean Anthony

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University of California Press has recently released a publication of interest to IQSA members and affiliates: Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The Making of the Prophet of Islam by Sean Anthony (April 2020). 

empires

Overview
In Muhammad and the Empires of Faith, Sean W. Anthony demonstrates how critical readings of non-Muslim and Muslim sources in tandem can breathe new life into the historical study of Muhammad and how his message transformed the world. By placing these sources within the intellectual and cultural world of Late Antiquity, Anthony offers a fresh assessment of the earliest sources for Muhammad’s life, taking readers on a grand tour of the available evidence, and suggests what new insights stand to be gained from the techniques and methods pioneered by countless scholars over the decades in a variety of fields. Muhammad and the Empires of Faith offers both an authoritative introduction to the multilayered traditions surrounding the life of Muhammad and a compelling exploration of how these traditions interacted with the broader landscape of Late Antiquity.

Readers can find this item for purchase online in a variety of formats, or through institutional and public libraries.

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: University of California Press; First edition (April 21, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0520340418
ISBN-13: 978-0520340411

About the Author
Sean W. Anthony is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Ohio State University and author of The Caliph and the Heretic: Ibn Saba and the Origins of Shiism and Crucifixion and Death as Spectacle: Umayyad Crucifixion in its Late Antique Context.

 

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