IQSA’s Conference Schedule for the 2023 Annual Meeting held in San Antonio from November 17-20 is now available! Find the schedule for program units and special events below.

Please note that registration is required to attend the Annual Meeting (in person only). Register as a Member of an Affiliate Organization. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the Affiliate link and choose “International Qur’anic Studies Association” in the drop-down menu.

IQSA Events 2023

P17-105
Qur’anic Studies: Methodology and Hermeneutics (IQSA)
11/17/2023
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk
Theme: Quranic Inimitability (ijaz) and Coherence

Yousef Wahb, University of Chicago Divinity School
Early iʿjāz al-Qurān Debates: The Transition from Kalām to Balāgha in the Ninth and Tenth Century (20 min)

Murtaza Shakir, Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah, Mumbai
The Doctrine of Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān (Inimitability of the Qurʾān), as Explained in the Majālis of the Fāṭimī Dāʿī al-Muʾayyad al- Shīrāzī (20 min)

Ersin Kabakci, Hitit University, Faculty of Theology
What Does the Qurʾān’s Being a Holistic Text Mean? An Analysis in the Context of Five Different Approaches (20 min)

Romain Louge, Université Catholique de Lyon
A Reading of Some Qur’anic Passages with the Help of an Arabic kalām in al-Qāsim al Rassī (20 min)

P17-207
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Perspectives on the Qur’anic Corpus (IQSA)
11/17/2023
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk
Theme: Law and Society in the Medinan Qur’an

Saqib Hussain, Loyola Marymount University
The Hypocrites and the Jews of Medina (25 min)

Nora K. Schmid, University of Hamburg/ University of Oxford
The Story of the Slander (ḥadīth al-ifk): Legal Storytelling in the Qur’an and the Sīra (25 min)

Thomas Hoffmann, University of Copenhagen
The Qurʾān’s Complex Carceral Whole (25 min)

Karen Bauer, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
Qur’anic law from Mecca to Medina (25 min)

Holger Zellentin, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Biblical Law in the Medinan Surahs (25 min)

Discussion (25 min)

P17-301a
The Qur’an and Late Antiquity (IQSA)
11/17/2023
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk

Irem Kurt, Universität Osnabrück
The Dichotomy of Food Purity: The Qurʾānic Terms khabīth and ṭayyib in the Context of the Urgemeinde of the Qurʾān (30 min)

Hannelies Koloska, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Tasting and Seeing the Divine: The Qur’anic Engagement with Late Antique Sensory Piety (30 min)

Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston
Q 113–114 and the Amulet of Alexandra: An Exploration (30 min)

Feras Q. Hamza, Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
Patrons and Patronage in the Qur’an (30 min)

Chris Mezger, Yale University and Hannah Stork, Yale University
The Precanonical Transmission of the Quran(s): Andreas Kaplony and Quranic Intertextuality (30 min)

P17-401
International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA)
11/17/2023
7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk
Theme: Presidential Address

IQSA’s General Reception will follow the Presidential Address from 8-9pm, featuring a special presentation by De Gruyter Publishers. Details to come.

P18-129
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Perspectives on the Qur’anic Corpus (IQSA)
11/18/2023
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk

Theme: Discursive Tools within the Qur’anic Corpus

Abdulla Galadari, Khalifa University of Science & Technology
Clear or Veiled? A Linguistic Attempt to Solve a Qur’anic Paradox (25 min)

Valerie Gonzalez, SOAS, University of London
Understanding Quranic Eschatology through a Peircean Semiotic Reading of the Concepts of Mithal and Isharat (25 min)

Avigail Noy, The University of Texas at Austin
Mathal in the Qur’an and in Poetry: Insights from the Literary Critics (25 min)

Johanne Louise Christiansen, University of Southern Denmark
“We Have Made the Qur’an Easy to Remember, but Are There Any That Are Reminded?” (Q al-Qamar/54:17, 22, 32, 40): The Memory Challenge of Qur’anic Education (25 min)

Masoud Ariankhoo, Harvard University
The Misguiding God: Intratextual Analysis of Ighwāʾ as a Gateway to Qur’anic Satanology (25 min)

Discussion (25 min)

Graduate Student Luncheon
11/18/2023
11:00 AM  – 1:30 PM
Luncheon for registered graduate students and early career scholars. Event will be held offsite – email contactus@iqsaweb.org for details.

P18-245
The Societal Qur’an (IQSA)
11/18/2023
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk
Theme: Sura Studies and The Societal Qur’an

Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, University of Strasbourg (France)
Proto-juz’ ‘Amma Practice: First Centuries Debates about Short Suras Recitation (30 min)

Zakir Demir, Siirt University
The Structure of Sûrah al-Kawthar and Critique of the Claim to be an Independent Miracle (30 min)

Ashher Masood, Yale University
Al-Kawthar and Abraham (30 min)

Adam Flowers, University of Chicago
The Qur’ān as a Tool of Rebellion and Counter-Rebellion in the Early Islamicate World (30 min)

Zeinab Vessal, Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley
Rayat-E-Nasr Ayat: The Quranic Verses in a Safavid Victory Banner (30 min)

Shawkat Toorawa, Yale University, Presiding

P18-335
Qur’anic Studies: Methodology and Hermeneutics (IQSA)
11/18/2023
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk
Theme: Quranic Visions of Warfare, Death, and Hell

Mohammad Hassan Khalil, Michigan State University
The Peculiar “Kill Yourselves” Command (Qur’an 2:54) and Al-Maturidi’s Conception of Qur’anic Consistency (20 min)

Javad T. Hashmi, Harvard University
Jihād Until No Fitna: The Pious Manipulation and Theological Militarization of the Qurʾān by the Medieval Exegetes of Islam (20 min)

Andrew O’Connor, St Norbert College
Conversations around the (Hell)fire: Dialogue of the Dead and Damned in the Qur’an (20 min)

P19-144
The Qur’an and Late Antiquity (IQSA)
11/19/2023
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk

Juan Cole, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
The “Seven Sleepers” Tale inSūrat al-Kahf as an Allegory for the Sasanian Conquest (30 min)

Raymond K. Farrin, American University of Kuwait
Astronomical Events of 607 and 614 CE and the Early Meccan Qur’an (30 min)

Mohsen Goudarzi, Harvard University
Twilight of the Cults: Ancient Worship, Its Discontents, and Religious Polemic in the Qur’anic Milieu (30 min)

Paul Neuenkirchen, University of Bern
Remembrance of God, Prayer, and Constancy as Ways of Fighting Demons Between the Qur’an and Late Antique Ascetic Writings (30 min)

Daniel Bannoura, University of Notre Dame
Iltifāt in the Qurʾān: An examination based on Late Antique literary practices (30 min)

P19-234
Qur’anic Studies: Methodology and Hermeneutics (IQSA)
11/19/2023
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk
Theme: Shi’i Ismaili and Sufi Interpretations of the Quran

Khalil Andani, Augustana College (IL)
The Imam as Speaking Quran in Ismaili Muslim Exegesis and Practice (20 min)

Syed A.H. Zaidi, Emory University
The Brethren of Purity’s Intertextual Approach to the Qurʾān (20 min)

Stephen Cúrto, Union College, Union County NJ
The Qurʾān and Vedas as Ginānic Motifs: Theological Implications and Exegetical Interrelationships (20 min)

P19-341
The Societal Qur’an (IQSA)
11/19/2023
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk
Theme: The Societal Qur’an

Lauren Osborne, Whitman College, Presiding

Johanna Pink, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Beauty and Piety: Framing and Unframing the Qur’an as World Literature in Twentieth-Century Europe (30 min)

Mykhaylo Yakubovych, Freiburg University, Germany
A State-Supported Hermeneutics? The Theology of Translations of the Qur’an by the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (30 min)

Riccardo Amerigo Vigliermo, Unimore, FSCIRE
The “Corano di Maometto”, a Qur’ānic Partial Traduction in Italian Language from the “Biblioteca Universale” Sonzogno (30 min)

Tehseen Thaver, Princeton University
Exegetical Space and the Shaping of Shi‘i Identity: Shaykh Abu al-Futuh al-Razi’s Persian Qur’an Commentary (30 min)

Francesca Badini, FSCIRE (Palermo)
The Qur’ān as an Instrument of Education: The Legacy of Ḥasan al-Bannā in Muḥammad al-Ġazālī (30 min)

P20-146
The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition (IQSA)
11/20/2023
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk
Theme: The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition 1

Rushain Abbasi, Stanford University and Orit Malka, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“Bear Witness, for I Bear Witness with You” (Q.3:81): The Concept of Shahāda in the Quran and Its Biblical Subtext (30 min)

Rachel Claire Dryden, University of Southern Denmark
Q 2:26 “God Is Not Ashamed to Strike a Mathal,” (inna allāha lā yastaḥyi an yaḍriba mathalan): Amthāl as an Educational Norm in the Qur’ān? (30 min)

Stephen Burge, Institute of Ismaili Studies
“Cry ‘Havoc!’ and Let Slip the Dogs of War”: Angelic Armies and Martial Language in the Biblical Tradition and the Qur’an (30 min)

Gabriel Said Reynolds, Notre Dame
Christianity as a Conversation Partner of the Qur’an (30 min)

Asad Uz Zaman, Ohio State University
The Qur’anic Rejection of an Enochian Etiology of Evil: A Look at Q18:50–51 and Q2:28–39 (30 min)

P20-240
The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition (IQSA)
11/20/2023
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk

Theme: The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition 2

David Penchansky, University of Saint Thomas (Saint Paul, MN)
A Brief Rumor Narrative in Surat-al-Nur and Related Biblical Passages (30 min)

Heydar Davoudi, Northwestern University
Mushite and Aaronite Priesthoods in the Hebrew Bible and the Qurʾān (30 min)

Shari L. Lowin, Stonehill College
“Say: Whosoever Is an Enemy to Gabriel”: Q 2:97 and the Destruction of the Temple (30 min)

Shlomo Zuckier, Institute for Advanced Study and David Gyllenhaal, Institute for Advanced Study
The Puns of Sin: Q2:58-59 in Light of Muqātil b. Sulaymān’s Tafsīr and Its Use of Hebrew Scripture (30 min)

Tugrul Kurt, Humboldt-Universität zu Berli
The Identification of Christians in the Qurʿan: Christian Groups in the Exegesis of Muqātil Ibn Sulaymān (d.150/767) and Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923) (30 min)

, Intertextuality (Interpretive Approaches), Comparative Religion / History of Religion (Comparative Religion / History of Religion)

P20-342
The Qur’an: Manuscripts and Textual Criticism (IQSA)
11/20/2023
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Salon A – Marriott Riverwalk

Abdallah A Elkhatib, Qatar University
A Verse Count Analysis OF MSS Marcel 5, Arabe 335, Leiden Or. 14.545 A and Other MSS Some of the Oldest Qurʾān Fragments in Western Libraries (30 min)

Marijn van Putten, Leiden University
The Scribal Appendices of Three Mamluk Mushafs and the Crystallization of the al-Dūrī/al-Sūsī Divide (30 min)

Hythem Sidky, International Qur?anic Studies Association
Making the Case for Qurʾānic Case: Evidence for the Existence of an Early Qurʾānic Literary Register (30 min)

Discussion (30 min)