NEJS 186A

Introduction to the Qur’an

M,W,Th 11:00 AM–11:50 AM

Instructor:Suleyman Dost

Course Description:

This 15-weeks course is designed as a general introductionto the Muslim scripture. Beginning with a quick general background to the text we will move on to explore several modules of the Qur’ānic studies: history of the text, its content, aspects of its interpretation, its liturgical use and the process of its canonization. In addition to lectures and secondary readings, students will read, listen to and discuss samples from the Qur’ān for a direct yet guided involvement with the text. All readings are in English and no prior background in the subject is required. However, those with a reading knowledge of Arabic can meet with the instructor for a separate session of readings in the Qur’ān in Arabic.

The class meets three times a week. In the first two sessions of the week the instructor will introduce the topic of the week and discuss the secondary readings with the students. Thursdays will often be devoted to the discussion of primary sources including selections from the Qur’ān, Qur’ān commentaries and Muslim works on the sciences of the Qur’ān.

Required Readings:

Michael Sells, Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations, White Clouds Press, 2007

Jane Dammen McAuliffe (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, Cambridge University Press, 2006

Seyyed Hossein Nasr et al. (ed) The Study Qur’an, HarperOne, 2015

Reading materials outside of these books will be made available before the class.

Evaluation:

%10 Attendance and Participation

%30 Two short papers (750 to 1000 words) about your reflections on two chapters of the Qur’ān; one Meccan and one Medinan (due on the 7th and 14th weeks)

%25 Midterm

%35 Final

Success in this four- credit course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.)

Disabilities:

If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.

Academic Integrity:

You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity. Students may be required to submit work to TurnItIn.com software to verify originality. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university. Citation and research assistance can be found at LTS - Library guides.

Course Schedule:

Week 1 – General Introduction

Aug 30: Organizational Meeting, Handling a Copy of the Qur’ān, No Readings

Aug 31: Michael Sells, “Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations”, Introduction, pp. 1-31

Week 2 – Historical Overview I – Late Antiquity and Pre-Islamic Arabia

Sep 6: G.W. Bowersock, “Empires in Collision in Late Antiquity”, Chapter 1: Byzantium, Ethiopia, and the Jewish Kingdom of South Arabia

Sep 7: Qur’ān ch. 1 in Sells, pp. 42-43

Week 3 – Historical Overview II – Muḥammad and the Rise of Islam

Sep 11: Fred M. Donner, “The Historical Context” in The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, pp. 23-39

Sep 13: Alfred Guillaume, “The Life of Muḥammad: A Translation of Ibn Isḥāq’s Sīrat Rasūl Allāh”, Chapter on the beginning of revelation

Sep 14: Qur’ān ch. 96 in Sells, pp. 96-99

Week 4 – Content of the Qur’ān I – Meccan Verses

Sep 18: Daniel Madigan, “Themes and Topics”, in The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, pp. 79-95

Sep 20: Qur’ān ch. 81 and 82, pp. 48-55

Week 5 – Content of the Qur’ān II – Medinan Verses

Sep 25: Angelika Neuwirth, “Structural, Linguistic and Literary Features” in The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, pp. 97-113

Sep 27: Fazlur Rahman, “Major Themes of the Qur’ān”, Chapter 8: Emergence of the Muslim Community

Sep 28: Qur’ān ch. 9 in the Study Quran, skim chapter 5 as well

Week 6- The Qur’ān and The Bible, Biblical Legends and Figures in their Qur’ānic Portrayal

Oct 2: Gabriel S. Reynolds, “The Qur’ān and its Biblical Subtext”, Chapter I: The Crisis of Qur’ānic Studies, pp. 3-38

Th. Nöldeke and F. Schwally, “The History of the Qur’ān”, tr. W. Behn, pp. 311-314.

Oct 4: Qur’ān ch 12 in the Study Quran and Gen. 37-45 except ch. 38

Week 7 – Performing the Qur’ān and its Liturgical Use

Oct 9: William Graham and Navid Kermani, “Recitation and Aesthetic Perception” in The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, pp. 115-141.

Oct 11: Audio Assignment: Listen to Abdulsamad Abdulbasit (A famous Egyptian reciter of the Qur’ān) at

Week 8 – The Qur’ān and the Islamic Law

Oct 16:Fazlur Rahman, “Major Themes of the Qur’ān”, Chapter 3: Man in Society

Oct 18:Reimund Leicht, “The Qur’ānic Commandment of Writing Down Loan Agreements (Q 2:282)” in The Qur’ān in Context (ed. Angelika Neuwirth et al.), pp 593-614

Oct 19: Qur’ān Chapter 2, verses 282-283 in the Study Quran

Week 9 – Compilation, Codification, Manuscript History of the Qur’ān

Oct 23: Claude Gilliot, “Creation of a Fixed Text” in The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, pp. 41-57.

Oct 25: Fred Leemhuis, “From Palm Leaves to the Internet” in The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, pp. 145-161.

Oct 26: Web Assignment: Explore the webpage of the Corpus Coranicum Project at Look into different early manuscripts of the Qur’ān.

Week 10 – Muslim Study of the Qur’ān: Tafsīr, Qur’anic Exegesis

Oct 30: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, “The Tasks and Traditions of Interpretation”, in The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, pp. 181-209

Nov 1: Th. Nöldeke and F. Schwally, “The History of the Qur’ān”, tr. W. Behn, pp. 315-368.

Nov 2: Selections from the Tafsīr al-Jalālayn

Week 11 – Muslim Study of the Qur’ān II: ʿUlūm al-Qur’ān, Traditional Qur’anic Sciences

Nov 6: Jalāl al-din al-Ṣuyūṭī, “al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qur’ān (The Perfection in the Qur’ānic Sciences)”, tr. Hamid Algar et. al, Vol. I, Author’s Introduction

Nov 8: Readings: Christopher Melchert, “Ibn Mujāhid and the Establishment of Seven Qur’anic Readings”, Studia Islamica, Vol. 91 (2000), pp. 5-22

Nov 9: Selections from “Kitāb al-Maṣāḥif”, Ibn Abī Dāwūd

Week 12 - Western Study of the Qur’ān: From Abraham Geiger to Angelika Neuwirth

Nov 13: Andrew Rippin, “Western Scholarship and the Qur’ān”, in The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, pp. 235-251.

Nov 15: Th. Nöldeke and F. Schwally, “The History of the Qur’ān”, tr. W. Behn, pp. 369-388.

Nov 16: Arthur Jeffery, “Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’ān”, Introduction

Week 13 – Qur’anic Controversies: Violence in the Qur’ān, Satanic Verses, Women in the Qur’ān

Nov 20: Qur’ān ch. 4 in the Study Quran

Week 14 – The Qur’ān and the Modernity

Nov 27: Asma Barlas, “Women’s Readings of the Qur’ān” in The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, pp. 255-271.

Nov 29: Stefan Wild, “Political Interpretation of the Qur’ān” in The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’ān, pp. 273-289

Nov 30: Web Assignment: Explore “An Artist’s Qur’an for Contemporary America” by Sandow Birk at

Week 15 – Major Issues and Prospects in the Field of Qur’ānic Studies

Dec 4: Fred M. Donner, “The Qur’ān in Recent Scholarship: Challenges and Desiderata” in The Qur’ān in its Historical Context (ed. Gabriel S. Reynolds), pp. 29-50.

Dec 6: Gabriel S. Reynolds, “Introduction: Qur’ānic Studies and its Controversies” in in The Qur’ān in its Historical Context (ed. Gabriel S. Reynolds), pp. 1-26.

Dec 7: Recapping: Qur’anic Studies Today

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