The Quran

1
The Quran
2
Business stuff

• IDs Test format?

3
The History of the Text

• A History told by Muslims
• Revealed Piecemeal from 610-632
• Compilation
• Written down or memorized by Muslims during the
  lifetime of Muhammad
• 632 Abu Bakr orders a comprehensive copy made,
  held by Hafsa, daughter of Umar
• Uthmanic text disagreements lead Uthman to
  order one consonantal text in 650 (on camel
  parchment). Oldest full test of Quran comes from
  the mid 900s
• An Oral Text/ the Arabic Script
• Consonants not dotted example
• Consonants not vowelled example
• At least 10 well-known readings of the Quran

4
Other Theories?

• Archaic Material, Later Compilation the Quran
  addresses Near Eastern audience, so is it from
  the post-conquest period but how did it escape
  the civil wars?

5
Quran as a Book

• Types of material
• Hortatory/didactic believe, do good deeds, fear
  God, beware the Day of Judgment, obey God and his
  Prophet
• Narrative tales of Moses, Abraham, Noah, Salih
• Predictive/Eschatological fate of believers and
  unbelievers, creation and end of the world
• Polemical claims of Muhammads opponents, the
  failings of the People of the Book
• Doctrinal the nature of God
• Legal less than 500 verses deal with law and
  ritual
• Structure of Quran
• Not a continuous narrative
• Contextual? azbab al-nuzul occasions of
  revelation
• Ellipticalism assumes audience knowledge
• Person God as beyond language He, I We
  and God
• Good for all time?

6
Themes

• Tawhid worship of God alone Vs. Shirk assigning
  partners to God ex.
• Knowledge (ilm) vs. Speculation ex.
• History and Nature testify to the Message ex.

7
Quran as Source

• The Quran is the first source (al-asl al-awwal)
  of Islamic law and dogma.
• A Genre of Quranic Exegesis Tafseer

8
Quran as Sacred Object

• The Book/Kitab the Preserved Tablet with
  God, the Quran as earthly manifestation
• Ijaz of the Quran inimitability c. 850
• Sacred Art calligraphic tradition
• Recitation and Reading the Holy word brought to
  life
• Talisman