A Year in Sum: IQSA 2022

Emerging from the global pandemic crisis with a new vigor, it’s been a dynamic year for the International Qur’anic Studies Association. The year of 2022 included new publications, partnerships, aleadership, and two annual meetings in and outside of the US!

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Meetings

The 2022 Annual Meeting of IQSA was hosted by the La Pira Library and Research Institute in Palermo, Italy from September 5–7. For the first time, the Annual Meeting took place in Europe as an independent event, thanks to the support of the La Pira Library. Scholars and colleagues from La Pira and IQSA worked jointly to plan and convene this event, gathering scholars of the Qur’an to share current research and to explore new approaches to study of the Qur’an. Nearly one hundred scholars from at least nineteen countries— from Houston, Texas to Diyala, Iraq and Abu Dhabi, UAE—from various backgrounds and disciplines presented papers. Thanks to the contributions and enthusiasm of all speakers who submitted proposal for both panels and single papers, the conference covered a broad range of topics and approaches, from theology and philosophy to the study of visual and material culture, as well as philology, linguistics, literary studies, translation studies, and gender studies. In all, there were twelve panels of fifty-two papers, plus three lectures, two roundtable sessions, and one read-through session. The enthusiastic and generous support of the whole La Pira team in hosting the conference was fundamental in making the conference in Palermo possible.

book (1)

Back state-side, the 2022 North American IQSA Annual Meeting was held in conjunction with the SBL/AAR Annual Meetings in Denver, Colorado from November 18-21, 2022. The Programming Committee led by Andrew O’Connor (St. Norbert College) orchestrated panels based on themes identified in paper submissions. These included The Qur’an and Late Antiquity, Law Beyond Israel, Slavery, Resistance and Freedom, and a final panel presided over by former IQSA Executive Director, Emran El-Badawi. IQSA members and affiliates also met on Saturday evening for it’s annual General Reception, accompanied this year by live music!

panel

IQSA experienced a lot of change in 2022, with Nicolai Sinai (Oxford University) stepping down as Editor of JIQSA and Sean Anthony (Ohio State University) taking his place. We are extremely grateful to Nicolai for his immense contributions to the journal and organization, and we look forward to Sean’s vision for the journal. The ISIQ Monograph Series is currently edited by David S. Powers. As of January 1, 2023 it will be jointly edited by Karen Bauer, Joseph Lowry, and Shawkat Toorawa. We have also ended our publishing arrangement with Lockwood Press and are thankful to Billie Jean and the entire Lockwood Press team for their loyal support of a growing organization. We are extremely pleased to announce a new partnership with De Gruyter, and the availability of Open Access publications for both our journal and book series.

JIQSA_degruyter

IQSAweb.org

The executive office has been working with a design agency throughout most of 2021-22 to rebuild the IQSA website from the ground up. The new website will be more modern and mobile-friendly. It will feature a new weekly blog, drawing on scholarship from our growing member base. It will also launch with new initiatives including master classes, conference recordings, and webinars—all hosted by leading scholars of qurʾanic studies. The new platform will serve to further IQSA’s mission of advocating for the field of qurʾanic studies in the public square. We hope that the new website will also increase member engagement and add value to an IQSA membership!

IQSAweb.org has all the information necessary for you to benefit from IQSA and for you to get involved. On this site, visitors can familiarize themselves with IQSA’s governance, resources, and programs, as well as learn about its policies, vision, and history.

Online Discussion Group:

Join the IQSA Google Discussion Group to share ideas, discuss, and collaborate with other scholars and members of IQSA. Join by logging in to Google Groups and searching “International Qur’anic Studies Association.” Then click “Apply to Join Group”!

Weekly Blog Updates:

The IQSA blog has attracted widespread international interest and participation of scholars, students, and the general public. The blog includes weekly updates about IQSA, information on its academic meetings (North American and International), schedules for other conferences and colloquia taking place around the world, and various stories and reports on new research. IQSA strongly encourages all those working on new and exciting Qur’anic Studies projects to contribute to the IQSA blog.

Become a Member of IQSA:

Become a member of IQSA – join from the IQSA website, located under “Membership & Governance.” Be sure to follow IQSAweb.org for updates about this and other matters. Through the website, members will receive access to our publications, including:

  • Review of Qurʾanic Research
  • Membership Directory
  • Bilingual English-Arabic Journal of the International Qurʾanic Studies Association

If you are interested in getting involved, writing for the IQSA blog, or have advertising or other inquiries, please write to contactus@iqsaweb.org. Do not forget to find IQSA on Facebook and Twitter!

Donate:

Consider supporting Qur’anic scholarship with a donation to IQSA. We are a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions. You can donate to IQSA online by clicking HERE.

You have all made IQSA what it is today—a community of scholars and friends. Please help our community during its time of need. If each of you makes a humble donation it will go a long way to supporting our publishing and programming activity for the coming year(s).

On behalf of IQSA, we wish you a very Happy New Year! كل عام وأنتم بخير

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2023. All rights reserved.

Last Day to Register with Early Bird Rates!

A friendly reminder to register for IQSA’s 2022 Annual Meeting in Palermo, Italy today before rates increase tomorrow! This meeting takes place in person from September 5-7, 2022, hosted by the Giorgio La Pira Library and Research Centre (Palermo, Italy).

Conference registration fees are structured as follows:

  • Registration by the end of June: 140 $
  • Registration by the end of July: 180 $
  • Registration in August and September: 220 $

Students and residents of the Global South will receive 50% discount on the proposed fees.

View the event registration page

Participants are required to register for the conference online.

Any questions concerning practicalities of the conference in Palermo should be addressed to Francesca Badini (badini@fscire.it) and concerning registration and payment should go to contactus@iqsaweb.org.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2022. All rights reserved.

Register Before Fees Increase! IQSA in Palermo 2022

iqsa_palermo_register

A friendly reminder to register for IQSA’s 2022 Annual Meeting in Palermo, Italy by Thursday, June 30th before rates increase! This meeting takes place in person from September 5-7, 2022, hosted by the Giorgio La Pira Library and Research Centre (Palermo, Italy).

Conference registration fees are structured as follows:

  • Registration by the end of June: 140 $
  • Registration by the end of July: 180 $
  • Registration in August and September: 220 $

Students and residents of the Global South will receive 50% discount on the proposed fees.

View the event registration page

Participants are required to register for the conference online.

Any questions concerning practicalities of the conference in Palermo should be addressed to Francesca Badini (badini@fscire.it) and concerning registration and payment should go to contactus@iqsaweb.org.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2022. All rights reserved.

Andrew Rippin Best Paper Prize Winner 2022

rippinThe International Qurʾanic Studies Association is delighted to announce that the fifth annual Andrew Rippin Best Paper Prize (open to papers delivered by early career scholars at the 2021 Annual Meeting) has been awarded to Adi Shiran for her paper: ““Bloody Wrath and Healing Touches: Joseph and his Brothers in Early Twelver Shī‛ī Tafsīr.” The winner of the Andrew Rippin Best Paper Prize receives a cash award. In addition, an expanded and edited version of the winning paper qualifies for publication in the Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association.

This award is given in honor of Professor Andrew Rippin (1950–2016), a leading scholar of the Qurʾān and inaugural president of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (2014). Prof. Rippin is remembered as “an esteemed colleague, revered mentor, and scholarly inspiration to many members of the IQSA community.” An announcement regarding submissions for the sixth annual Andrew Rippin Best Paper Prize will follow the 2022 IQSA Annual Meeting.

An abstract of the award winning paper follows:

“Bloody Wrath and Healing Touches: Joseph and his Brothers in Early Twelver Shī‛ī Tafsīr”
The meetings between Joseph and his brothers in Egypt are often portrayed in Qur’ān commentaries as dramatic occurrences. A few early Twelver Shī‛ī commentaries mention a peculiar account that describes the heated clash between the brothers and Joseph following Joseph’s accusation that one of them stole from him. According to this account, the brothers’ wrath triggered unusual physical symptoms, including bleeding from various organs. An examination of the early Muslim exegetical tradition shows that this narrative is unique and that some individual elements in it are generally absent from other Muslim commentaries on the story of Joseph. In this paper, I argue 1) that some of the elements that appear in the story originated in an early Jewish Midrash, and 2) that a comparison between the texts highlights the originality of the Twelver Shī‛ite version.

adiAdi Shiran is a Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Shiran earned a B.A. and an M.A. in Arabic language and literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she studied in the Mandel Honors Program, and an M.A. from the Freie Universität Berlin. Shiran’s research interests include medieval Islamic, Christian, and Jewish exegesis, Judeo-Arabic literature, and Mu tazilite kalam. In her dissertation, she deals with the notion of the ‘sealing of the hearts’ in tenth-century Qur’an and Bible exegesis. IQSAweb.org 25 Other current research projects include Islamic and Jewish interpretations regarding the physical appearance of the serpent/Satan, and a translation of Saadia Gaon’s Judeo-Arabic discussion on the suffering of animals in his commentary on Genesis. Shiran earned a teaching certificate in Arabic from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She taught Qur’anic Arabic at the University of Chicago and taught Classical and Modern Arabic in high schools for several years.

Want to try your hand at next year’s Andrew Rippin Best Paper Prize? Submit your proposals for  the 2022 IQSA Annual Meeting in Denver by March 15th, 2022, or for the IQSA 2022 Annual Meeting in Palermo by March 7th, 2022!

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2022. All rights reserved.

IQSA Membership for 2022 Now Open!

IQSA Membership for 2022 is open! The International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA) is the first learned society dedicated to the study of the Qur’an. We hold conferences around the world and publish cutting-edge research and scholarship. The IQSA community and its partners include scholars, students, publishers, and members of the public.

Membership consists of six categories:

Johanna5(1) Student, Contingent Faculty, Global South or Income Below $30,000 $35
(2) Assistant Professor, Junior or Retired Faculty $75
(3) Associate Professor or Midrange Faculty $100
(4) Full Professor, Senior Faculty or Professional Income $100,000+ $125
(5) Lifetime Member $2,000 (one time installment)
(6) Institutional Membership $400

Exceptions: Scholars from the global south and lower income countries unable to pay membership dues for that year have the option of contacting the executive director for a courtesy waiver.

To become a member, click HERE. Fill out the form and pay the membership fees. After completing the form, you will receive log in information; save that information to be able to log in and access member benefits at anytime. Create a profile for the member directory.

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.

To stay informed, follow IQSA via www.iqsaweb.org, the weekly Blog, Facebook, and Twitter. Also join the IQSA discussion group by following the instructions below:

Join the IQSA Discussion Group

  1. Sign in to Google Groups. Learn how to join if you do not have a Google Account.
  2. In the box at the top, search for “International Qur’anic Studies Association Discussion Group”
  3. Once you have located the IQSA Group, click Join group or Apply to join group.

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP | $35, $75, $100, $125 USD
Renewal Policy: Annual
Special Benefits:
-Access to the membership directory
-Review of Qur’anic Research
-Professional development opportunities for graduate students and junior scholars, including volunteer, job postings, and employment networking
-Bilingual English-Arabic Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (JIQSA)
-Eligibility for Andrew Rippin Best Paper Prize ($250 USD and potential publication in JIQSA)

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP | $2,000 USD
Renewal Policy: One Time Installment (No Renewals required)
Special Benefits:
– Automatic access/subscription to all paid individual member benefits
– Free online & print subscription to JIQSA
– Discounts on Lockwood publications
– Official Public Recognition

INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP | $400 USD
Renewal Policy: Annual
Special Benefits:
– Annual access to IQSA’s online resources
– One free advertisement annually (program book, JIQSA, online or mailing list)
– One free registration for the IQSA Annual Meeting
-Official Public Recognition

Other member benefits will include:

  • Regular updates
  • A discounted registration/affiliate rate for the Annual Meeting held annually in November
  • Vote/governance
  • Special offers from publishers

If you encounter problems or have questions regarding IQSA membership, please  email contactus@iqsaweb.org.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2022. All rights reserved.

A Year in Sum: IQSA 2021

Despite continued challenges posed by by the global pandemic, it’s been a fruitful year for the International Qur’anic Studies Association. IQSA held its fourth biennial conference from July 4-11, 2021, hosted by the “Giorgio La Pira” Library (Palermo, Italy) for the first time in a completely virtual format. In addition, IQSA saw another first in its 2021 Hybrid Annual Meeting held in conjunction with the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion, bringing together both physical participants in San Antonio, Texas and colleagues signing on virtually for panels, paper presentations, business meetings, and more.

TTST De Gruyter Editor Contributors IQSA

IQSA continued to build upon its publishing portfolio this year, releasing the fifth volume of the Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (Lockwood Press, 2020) edited by Nicolai Sinai (Oxford University). Publishing activity also includes the Review of Qur’anic Research (RQR), the world’s only exclusive review source on critical Qur’anic Studies. Finally, our multilingual blog and discussion group links a community of scholars and students across the globe.

In addition, IQSA welcomed a new Executive Director, Hythem Sidky, following in the steps of former director Emran El-Badawi. With a new Executive Director comes a new vision for expanded membership and outreach for the organization, including an improved and updated website, membership database, and meeting hosting platforms.

IQSA membership for 2021 is still open! Choose from any of the six categories to best fit your level:

(1) Student, Contingent Faculty, Global South or Income Below $30,000 $35
(2) Assistant Professor, Junior or Retired Faculty $75
(3) Associate Professor or Midrange Faculty $100
(4) Full Professor, Senior Faculty or Professional Income $100,000+ $125
(5) Lifetime Member $2,000 (one time installment)
(6) Institutional Membership $400

Exceptions: Scholars from the global south and lower income countries unable to pay membership dues for that year have the option of contacting the executive director for a courtesy waiver.

We appreciate your membership!

U.S. taxpayers! Are you still looking to make an end-of-year tax deductible charitable donation? Consider supporting Qur’anic scholarship with a donation to IQSA. We are a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions. You can donate to IQSA online by clicking HERE.

You have all made IQSA what it is today—a community of scholars and friends. Please help our community during its time of need. If each of you makes a humble donation it will go a long way to supporting our publishing and programming activity for the coming year(s).

Finally, please do not forget to follow our BlogTwitter and Facebook accounts, and to join the NEW private IQSA Discussion Group. Thanks for your support!

We wish you a very Happy Holidays! كل عام وأنتم بخير

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2021. All rights reserved.

Giving Tuesday 2021: Support IQSA’s Global Scholarship

Dear Friends of IQSA,

For over eight years the International Qur’anic Studies Association has made fostering Qur’anic scholarship its mission. The Qur’an is an integral part of world literature, and it has shaped and continues to shape the world in which we live. IQSA is mindful of its members, partners, and friends during this difficult time, and we want to reach out to those among you who can afford to support IQSA when the organization needs it most at a time when our operational costs remain high despite cutting back on operations themselves. By giving to IQSA as you are able, you are promoting high quality scholarship and building bridges across the globe, which in turn has positive ripple effects on high quality education, journalism, publishing and public engagement.

IQSA is the only non-profit learned society exclusively dedicated to convening regular Qur’an conferences in North America and in Muslim majority countries around the world, as well as to publishing rigorous cutting edge scholarship on the Qur’an. Within seven short years IQSA has convened eleven major conferences. These have included large scale conferences throughout major US cities, Carthage, Palermo, Tunisia and Jogjakarta, Indonesia, as well as co-sponsored panels in Berlin, Germany and St. Andrews, Scotland. IQSA conferences showcase cutting edge research on manuscripts, historical documents, and high tech digital resources, as well as debate critical issues including methodology, hermeneutics and gender. This is possible because IQSA members include the very best scholars in the field.

The fifth issue of the bilingual Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (JIQSA) was released this year, and IQSA’s publications in the Studies in the Qur’ān series are available from ISD. For your convenience we have included a TOC for the latest issue of JIQSA along with direct links to access the publications!

JIQSA Volume 5 (2020)

Cover, Copyright, and Table of Contents

  1. Firestone, Reuven. Obituary: F. E. Peters. JIQSA 5 (2020): 3-4.
  2. Reynolds, Gabriel S. The Qurʾānic Doublets: A Preliminary Inquiry. JIQSA 5 (2020): 5-39.
  3. Cellard, Éléonore and Louis, Catherine. From Coptic to Arabic: A New Palimpsest and the Early Transmission History of the Qurʾān. JIQSA 5 (2020): 41-96.
  4. Hussain, Saqib. The Prophet’s Visions in Sūrat al-Najm. JIQSA 5 (2020): 97-132.
  5. Sidky, Hythem. On the Regionality of Qurʾānic Codices. JIQSA 5 (2020): 133-210. 
  6. Alsulaimi, Nadeen. Sūrat al-Insān, Meccan or Medinan? A Thematic and Rhetorical Reading of Sūrat al-Insān (Q 76) in Parallel with Sūrat al-Qiyāmah (Q 75). JIQSA 5 (2020): 211-238. 

In addition to receiving free access to JIQSA, IQSA members can also access the Review of Qur’an Research (RQR), the exclusive member directory (including world renowned Qur’an specialists), and PhD students and recent graduates gain valuable professional development experience. Lifetime and Institutional members carry additional member benefits. IQSA also rewards junior scholars and international academics with the opportunity to learn from colleagues around the world and publish their research. By giving, you help IQSA keep membership dues low and you reward those members of our community who need it most.

It goes without saying that the current restrictions in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic has made our task — especially critical scholarship and building bridges — more important than ever. As academics, professionals and philanthropists we have a duty to support the Humanities and Social Sciences across the globe. This also means we have the opportunity to bring about a much more intellectual discussion of the Qur’an when the public needs it most.

IQSA was founded by a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, and is now funded through the generous support of its members, partners and friends. Please take time this #GivingTuesday to DONATE NOW to further IQSA’s mission across the globe.

Most gratefully,

Hythem Sidky, Executive Director
International Qur’anic Studies Association
https://www.iqsaweb.org | contactus@iqsaweb.org

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2021. All rights reserved.

Member Benefits: IQSA Publications

Did you know that active membership in the International Qur’anic Studies Association comes with research benefits? IQSA members receive full access to periodicals featuring the latest research from experts in the field, including the Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (JIQSA) and the Review of Qur’anic ResearchPublications_Denver

The Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (JIQSA) is a peer-reviewed annual journal devoted to the scholarly study of the Qur’an. Its goals are to

  • publish scholarship of high technical quality on the Qur’an, discussing its historical context; its relationship to other religious text traditions; and its literary, material, and cultural reception;
  • cultivate Qur’anic Studies as a growing field with a distinctive identity and focus, while acknowledging relevant linkages to the study of the Bible as well as the Islamic tradition, including tafsīr;
  • facilitate crucial conversations about the state of the field in Qur’anic Studies and the future of the discipline;
  • connect diverse scholarly communities from around the world on issues of common concern in the study of the Qur’an.

IQSA members have online access to all 5 volumes of JIQSA, including presidential addresses and responses from Annual Meetings. Read more about JIQSA, its’ submission process, and subscribe at this link!

In addition, IQSA members reeive access to the Review of Qur’anic Research (RQR), an online companion to the International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA). IQSA is committed to the advancement and dissemination of high quality scholarship on the Qur’an and to the facilitation of deeper understandings of the Qur’an through scholarly collaboration. RQR is an online resource that features reviews of cutting-edge scholarship in the field of qur’anic studies and allied fields.

IQSA members have full access to all 7 volumes of RQR, containing over 70 book reviews! Read more and login at this link.

Interested in access to these resources? Become an IQSA member at members.iqsaweb.org and start reading today!

JIQSA Volume 5 (2020) Now Available!

IQSA is proud to announce the official release of the Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association V.5 2020 (Lockwood Press) edited by Nicolai Sinai (Oxford University). Read the announcement below!

cover_issue_39_en_US

Dear colleagues,

It is my pleasure to announce that the fifth volume of the Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (founding editors: Michael Pregill and Vanessa De Gifis) has now been published online, with print copies due to ship soon (see also https://lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/jiqsa). The issue’s contents include:

  • an obituary of the historian F. E. Peters by Reuven Firestone;
  • an exploration of Qur’anic doublets, drawing on studies of doublets in the New Testament, and the implication of such doublets for the history of the Qur’an’s origin and composition, by Gabriel Said Reynolds;
  • a close examination of a Copto-Qur’anic palimpsest by Éléonore Cellard and Catherine Louis, inspecting both the Qur’anic upper text and the biblical Coptic lower text, and considering the implications of the palimpsest for early Qur’anic scribal practices;
  • a study of the opening oath and the Prophet’s visions in Sūrat al-Najm by Saqib Hussain, in light of pre-Islamic astral concerns in the Qur’anic milieu as recoverable from early Islamic literature and Safaitic inscriptions;
  • an analysis of the regionality of early Qur’an manuscripts by Hythem Sidky, based on a comparison between variants in regional codices as recorded by Muslim scholars and regionality data recoverable from surviving Qur’an manuscripts;
  • and an Arabic article by Nadeen Alsulaimi on the structure of Sūrat al-Insān and on whether it should be classified as Meccan or Medinan.

As in previous years, I owe thanks to many people for getting this issue out: to all authors for contributing such a rich selection of pioneering research; to our anonymous peer reviewers for making available their expertise and for offering many constructive and learned comments on those submissions that did make it into the issue; to the journal’s associate editor Saqib Hussain (who is still blissfully ignorant of the reviewers of his own submission); and to Billie Jean Collins of Lockwood Press for unfailing professional standards. It is especially gratifying that the issue includes revised and extended versions of two past winners of IQSA’s Andrew Rippin Best Paper Prize (namely, the contributions by Cellard/Louis and Hussain).

Since access to the journal is a membership benefit, JIQSA 5 is also available through the IQSA membership portal. However, please do consider recommending a subscription to the journal to your libraries, in the interest of making JIQSA available to students and colleagues who are not yet IQSA members.

Best wishes,
Nicolai

———————————————————————————————-
Dr Nicolai Sinai
Editor, Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association
Professor of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
Fellow of Pembroke College
© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2021. All rights reserved.

Deadline Approaching: IQSA 2021 Annual Meeting Call for Papers

CFP_IQSA21The Call for Papers deadline for the IQSA Annual Meeting to be held in San Antonio, TX from November 18–21, 2021 is quickly approaching! Paper proposals should be submitted through the SBL’s automated online submission system under the corresponding “Affiliates” link by March 23, 2021 though 11:59 PM (23:59) Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5) (note: IQSA membership is required for proposal submission; see below). Submission links can be found below under the respective program units. If you require further information or experience difficulties with the submission process, please contact the chairs of the program unit to which you would like to apply.

Please note that all proposals must include:

  • Author name and affiliation
  • Paper title
  • 400 word paper abstract (written in English)

Eligibility for proposal submissions is contingent upon the following:

  • Active IQSA membership is required at the time of proposal submission for the IQSA Program, and the membership status of all applicants will be checked prior to acceptance
  • Participants must maintain current IQSA Membership through their participation in the Annual Meeting

Please also note that:

  • To ensure equity and diversity amongst participants, participants should submit only one paper presentation per IQSA Annual Meeting
  • All participants must adhere to IQSA’s Professional Conduct Policy
  • Participants will be required to register for the conference by submitting payment through SBL’s online registration system (users are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the “Super Saver” rates which end mid-May)

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

Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Perspectives on the Qur’anic Corpus
The Qur’an: Surah Studies
Qur’anic Studies: Methodology and Hermeneutics
The Qur’an: Manuscripts and Textual Criticism
The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition
The Qur’an and Late Antiquity
The Societal Qur’an

 

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

Program Unit Chairs
Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau
Mohsen Goudarzi

The Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Perspectives on the Qur’anic Corpus unit invites proposals for papers that engage with the techniques utilized in the Qur’an for crafting imagery, characters, and narratives. Proposals may attend to artistic and literary strategies as well as to the broader social, religious, and political ends towards which these strategies are deployed

PROGRAM UNIT 2
The Qur’an: Surah Studies

Program Unit Chairs
Nevin Reda
Shawkat Toorawa

The Surah Studies Unit invites proposals for individual papers on any aspect of Surat al-Naml (27, “The Ants”). Much of the attention directed at the surah has focused on the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Proposals about any aspect of that narrative are welcome—in particular ones that explore power and gender dynamics—but proposals that can take our thinking about the surah in new directions are especially encouraged. These might broach such topics as: the deployment of animals as characters; the nature of the Arabian prophets’ missions; the role of the surahs’s inaugurators (fawati?), ?a Sin, both in the surah and within the Qur’an as a whole; the rhetorical relationship between the various prophets and prophet-stories; miracles; and much else besides. The Surah Studies Unit welcomes diverse methods and new approaches. The raison d’être of the Unit is to bring different perspectives on a given surah into dialogue with one another.

PROGRAM UNIT 3
Qur’anic Studies: Methodology and Hermeneutics

Program Unit Chairs
Khalil Andani
Celene Ibrahim

This unit aims to understand and contextualize 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 submissions for two panels on any aspect of Qur’anic interpretation, hermeneutics, and methodology. Proposals can focus on, among other topics, the following areas:

• The overlaps and distinctions between tafsir and ta’wil in exoteric and esoteric Qur’an commentary literature as they have evolved historically;
• The distinctive hermeneutical features of Qur’anic exegesis performed by minority Muslim communities including Sufi and Shi‘i (Twelver, Ismaili, Nusayri) commentators;
• How the Muslim Peripatetics (falasifa), such as Avicenna, have engaged with the Qur’an through Aristotelian and Neoplatonic lenses;
• The unique hermeneutical approaches of Muslim modernist thinkers in the 19th and 20th centuries;
• Interpretative engagements with the Qur’an from thinkers in South Asia and Southeastern Asia.

Any other topic that deals with Qur’anic hermeneutics is welcome.

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

Program Unit Chairs
Alba Fedeli
Shady Hekmat Nasser

The aim of the Manuscripts and Textual Criticism unit is to provide a cross-disciplinary setting for the exploration of the various interconnected issues that arise when questions concerning the Qur’an’s text are investigated through the prism of its manuscript tradition. This latter term encompasses the field of Qur’an manuscripts per se, but also alludes to such information regarding the history of the text that can be gleaned from the citations, marginal notes, and detailed analysis provided in other branches of the Islamic sciences, for example Qur’an commentaries and the qira’at literature. It is hoped that bringing together scholars from a variety of disciplines will serve to enrich and strengthen each of these fields. The Manuscripts and Textual Criticism unit seeks to create a forum for the application of textual criticism to the Qur’anic text attested both in physical manuscripts and within the wider Islamic tradition. It also aims to investigate palaeographic, codicological, and art historical features in the Qur’an’s manuscript tradition.

The unit welcomes papers on any topic within the range of the interests of the Manuscripts and Textual Criticism program unit. In addition, the unit proposes a special thematic session for 2019: “Life of Qur’an manuscripts.” We invite proposals that touch upon issues related to the modification of manuscripts after they have been produced. Papers dealing with all eras and regions of the manuscript tradition are welcome. Submissions might focus on the insertion of marginalia notes, colophons, waqf statements, annotations, additions, amendments, the recycling of writing surfaces, etc., or on references to such practices in the traditional literature.

PROGRAM UNIT 5
The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition

Program Unit Chairs
Nora K. Schmid
Holger Zellentin

The focus of this unit is the Qur’an’s relationship to the Biblical tradition in the broadest sense: the books of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament in the various languages of their original composition and later translations (regardless of a particular book’s status of canonization within specific Jewish or Christian groups), as well as the exegetical, homiletic, and narrative traditions of the Bible in written or oral form. For the 2021 meeting in San Antonio, the Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition unit welcomes proposals that engage any aspect of the relationship between the Bible and the Qur’an.

PROGRAM UNIT 6
The Qur’an and Late Antiquity

Program Unit Chairs
Johanne Christiansen
Michael Pregill

For the 2021 IQSA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, the Qur’an and Late Antiquity program unit invites proposals that utilize various types of material or evidence—be that literary, documentary, or epigraphic—to illuminate the historical context in which the Qur’an was revealed and the early Islamic polity emerged. This year, we are especially interested in papers that present and discuss the historical Muhammad, including new and comparative methodologies to approach this figure, the relationship between Muhammad and the Qur’an, and Muhammad’s role and function in the cultural, political, social, and religious environment of Late Antiquity.

PROGRAM UNIT 7
The Societal Qur’an

Panel Chairs:
Johanna Pink
Lauren Osborne

The Societal Qur’an unit invites proposals for papers that investigate the Qur’an in its lived and societal contexts throughout history, from Late Antiquity to contemporary Late Modernity. Proposals are encouraged that engage with sociological, anthropological, and political science theories and methods in their pursuit of the societal and lived Qur’an. Papers might, for instance, discuss topics such as ritual and artistic uses of the Qur’an, practices of teaching the Qur’an, talismanic and medical uses of the Qur’an, the production of manuscript, print, and new media versions of the Qur’an, or the deployment of the Qur’an in terms of social identity and political organization.

Questions? Email IQSA at contactus@iqsaweb.org!

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2021. All rights reserved.