Behind the Story: Ethical Readings of Qurʾānic Narratives


Book Description

Behind the Story: Ethical Readings of Qurʾānic Narratives is a pivotal work that presents groundbreaking research on the Qurʾānic narrative as a literary genre with profound moral significance. It underscores the genre's integral role in shaping Islamic moral thought, as manifested in areas like Islamic law, theology, Sufism, politics, and art. The book offers insightful interpretations of various Qurʾānic narratives, delving into their ethical dimensions and challenges. It also examines their historical reception and influence across both Muslim and non-Muslim scholarship, covering diverse disciplines such as mysticism, art, and applied ethics. This volume stands as an invaluable resource for scholars and students seeking a deeper understanding of the Qurʾānic narrative and its multifarious interpretations in the context of Islamic Studies and beyond. Contributors Taira Amin, Halla Attallah, Bilal Badat, Fatih Ermiş, Mohammad Fadel, Hannelies Koloska, Samer Rashwani, Emmanuelle Stefanidis, and Devin Stewart. ما وراء الحكاية: دراسات أخلاقية في القصة القرآنية، يعالج هذا الكتاب القَصص القرآني من حيث هو نوعٌ أدبي ذو مضمون أخلاقي في المقام الأول، الأمر الذي لم يَحظَ بالنظر العلمي والمنهجي من قبل؛ على الرغم من تأثيره العميق في حقول الفقه والكلام والتصوف والسياسة والأخلاق والفن، وغيرها. يقدم القسم الأول قراءات تأويلية تسعى للكشف عن المفاهيم والمبادئ والأسئلة الأخلاقية التي يثيرها القصص القرآني، بينما يكشف القسم الثاني عن تاريخ تلقيها وتأثيرها في فنون عديدة تشمل التصوف والأدب والعمارة والأخلاق التطبيقية. هذا الكتاب لبنة جديدة في منهج دراسة القصص القرآني، ويطمح إلى أن يكون مرجعاً لا غنى عنه للباحثين والطلاب المشتغلين في حقول الدراسات القرآنية، والأخلاق النظرية والتطبيقية، والتصوف، والفنون، والدراسات الإسلامية عمومًا. المساهمون فاتح إرمش، وطاهرة أمين، وبلال بادات، وسامر رشواني، وإيمانويلا ستيفانيديس، وديفين ستيوارت، وهالة عطاء الله، ومحمد فاضل، وهانيليس كولوسكا.




Ethics in the Qurʾān and the Tafsīr Tradition


Book Description

This book is about the articulation of ethics in the Qurʾān and the tafsīr tradition. Based on an examination of several apparently problematic Qurʾānic narrative pericopes and how the exegetes grappled with them, the book demonstrates that the moral world of the Qurʾān is polyvalent and non-linear, owing, above all, to its intrinsic ethical antinomies and textual ambiguities. That is, the book contends that paradox and uncertainty are both constituents of the Qurʾān’s ethical architectonics, and that through these constituents the Qurʾān charts a system of ethics that seeks to tread in the midst of a non-ideal world rife with uncertainty. The book also argues that the tafsīr tradition tends to erode the hermeneutical openness of the Qurʾān and, thereby, limits the Qurʾān’s ethical potential. The book, thus, advances our understanding of Qurʾānic ethics and contributes to the field of tafsīr studies and to the scholarship on Qurʾānic hermeneutics.




Migration and Islamic Ethics


Book Description

Migration and Islamic Ethics, Issues of Residence, Naturalization and Citizenship contains various cases of migration movements in the Muslim world from ethical and legal perspectives to argue that Muslim migration experiences can offer a new paradigm of how the religious and the moral can play a significant role in addressing forced migration and displacement




Readings in the Qur'an


Book Description

A guide to the Qur'an for non-Muslims. The text is arranged into themes: God and his praise; man in creation; prophethood in human guidance prior to Muhammad; Muhammad in his Meccan environment; Muhammad in his Medinan locale; religious law and devotion; social law and society; and the Last Things.




What the Qur'an Meant


Book Description

America’s leading religious scholar and public intellectual introduces lay readers to the Qur’an with a measured, powerful reading of the ancient text Garry Wills has spent a lifetime thinking and writing about Christianity. In What the Qur’an Meant, Wills invites readers to join him as he embarks on a timely and necessary reconsideration of the Qur’an, leading us through perplexing passages with insight and erudition. What does the Qur’an actually say about veiling women? Does it justify religious war? There was a time when ordinary Americans did not have to know much about Islam. That is no longer the case. We blundered into the longest war in our history without knowing basic facts about the Islamic civilization with which we were dealing. We are constantly fed false information about Islam—claims that it is essentially a religion of violence, that its sacred book is a handbook for terrorists. There is no way to assess these claims unless we have at least some knowledge of the Qur’an. In this book Wills, as a non-Muslim with an open mind, reads the Qur’an with sympathy but with rigor, trying to discover why other non-Muslims—such as Pope Francis—find it an inspiring book, worthy to guide people down through the centuries. There are many traditions that add to and distort and blunt the actual words of the text. What Wills does resembles the work of art restorers who clean away accumulated layers of dust to find the original meaning. He compares the Qur’an with other sacred books, the Old Testament and the New Testament, to show many parallels between them. There are also parallel difficulties of interpretation, which call for patient exploration—and which offer some thrills of discovery. What the Qur’an Meant is the opening of a conversation on one of the world’s most practiced religions.




Variant Readings of the Qurʼan


Book Description

This fascinating and important book attempts to investigate the nature of the seven Ahruf in which the Qur'an has been revealed and the reason for the variations in readings among the Qurraa of the Quran. It studies, examines, and discusses: the revelation of the Qur'an in the seven ahruf concluding that they represent seven linguistical ways of recitation; the compilation of the Quran during the lifetime of the Prophet and the preservation of the Quran in the memories of the Companions as well as in written form, the compilation during the time of Abu Bakr, and the further compilation during the time of Uthman; the problem of naskh to demonstrate the completeness and trustworthiness of the Quran and that no verses are missing or were read and abrogated by naskh al-tilawah either with or without hukm; the Uthmanic masahif and their relation to the seven ahruf; the language of the Quran and whether it includes one, several, or all the dialects of the Arabs; the origin of the qiraat and conditions governing accepted readings; and ikhtiyar (i.e., the selection of one reading rather than another) and the rules governing the Qurraa' who selected a reading.




Women and Interreligious Dialogue


Book Description

"Though women have been objects more often than subjects of interreligious dialogue, they have nevertheless contributed in significant ways to the dialogue, just as the dialogue has also contributed to their own self-understanding. This volume, the fifth in the Interreligious Dialogue Series, brings together historical, critical, and constructive approaches to the role of women in the dialogue between religions. These approaches deal with concrete examples of women's involvement in dialogue, critical reflections on the representation of women in dialogue, and the important question of what women might bring to the dialogue. Together, they open up new avenues for reflection on the nature and purpose of interreligious dialogue. "




The Companion to Said Nursi Studies


Book Description

Contemporary Islamic theology remains a neglected area in studies on Islam. This work is dedicated to the thought and ideas of Said Nursi (1876-1960), one of the most prominent Muslim theologians of the twentieth century. Nursi inspired a faith movement--the Nur community--that originated in Turkey. It continues to play a key role in the revival of Islam and now numbers several millions of followers worldwide. His legacy and impact deserve therefore to be examined more closely. This volume is the most substantial overview in English of the inspiration of Said Nursi and his masterpiece the Risale-i Nur. In the beginning, the essays provide the reader with Nursi's historical context and biography. Then Nursi's theological views, his understanding of society, and ideas on politics are placed under the spotlight. Over the last twenty years, more and more comparative religion specialists in the West have become acquainted with Said Nursi. Nursi studies is now an established discipline, and this volume is a celebration of that reality. As it reveals, Muslims and Christians are grappling with the wisdom of this remarkable, rich thinker.




Readings in Ethics


Book Description

Readings in Ethics offers a vast collection of carefully edited readings arranged chronologically across five historical periods. The selections cover many major Western and non-Western schools of thought, including Daoism, virtue ethics, Buddhism, natural law, deontology, utilitarianism, contractarianism, liberalism, Marxism, feminism, and communitarianism. In addition to texts from canonical philosophers such as Plato, Mill, Wollstonecraft, and Rawls, the volume draws from other sources of wisdom: stories, fables, proverbs, medieval mystical treatises, literature, and poetry. The editors have also written substantial introductions, annotations, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading, making for a thorough guided tour of our ethical past and present.




Women and Islamic Cultures


Book Description

The first decade of the 21st century witnessed an explosion in scholarly and public interest in women and Islamic cultures, globally. From misguided media representations, to politically motivated state manipulations, to agenda-driven Islamist movements, to feminist and international NGO projects – the subject and image of Muslim women has become iconic and riveting. This volume unpacks the representations, motivations, agendas, and projects by focusing on the advances in scholarly research on women and Islamic cultures in the first decade of the 21st century. The editors of the pioneering Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures bring together leading scholars, discipline by discipline, to critically analyze state of the art research on women and Islamic cultures from 2003-2013. Editors for this volume include Suad Joseph, Marilyn Booth, Bahar Davary, Hoda Elsadda, Sarah Gualtieri, Virginia Hooker, Amira Jarmakani, Therese Saliba, and Elora Shehabuddin. Contributors include Suad Joseph, Azza Basarudin, Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh, Amira Jarmakani, Sajeda Amin, Kamran Rastegar, Robina Mohammad, Annika Rabo, Ahmed Ragab, Vannessa Hearman, Bahar Davary, Michelle Hartman, Hoda Elsadda, Nerina Rustomji, Amaney Jamal, Vickie Langohr, Hania Sholkamy, Zayn Kassam, Rachel Rinaldo, Samar Habib.