The Qur'an in its historical context (pdf - Islam and Christian-Muslim ...

THE QUR’AN IN RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
‘Arabiya. Untersuchungen zur arabischen Sprach- und Stilgeschichte, Berlin:
Akademie-Verlag, 1950.
4 GdQ3; A. Jeffery, Materials for the History of the Qur’an. The Old Codices, Leiden:
Brill, 1937; E. Beck, “Der ‘uthmanische Kodex in der Koranlesung des zweiten
Jahrhunderts,” Orientalia 14, 1945, 355–73; idem, “ ‘Arabiyya, Sunna und ‘amma in
der Koranlesung des zweiten Jahrhunderts,” Orientalia 15, 1946, 180–224; idem, “Die
Kodizesvarianten der Amsar,” Orientalia 16, 1947, 353–76; M. Cook, “The stemma
of the regional codices of the Koran,” Graeco-Arabica 9,10, 2004, 89–104. See now
Abd al-Latif Muhammad al-Khatib, Mu‘jam al-qira’at al-qur’aniyya, Damascus:
Dar Sa ‘d al-Din, 2002.
5 G. Lüling, Über den Ur-Koran, Erlangen: H. Lüling, 1974 – an expanded version of
his Erlangen dissertation, Kritische-exegetische Untersuchungen des Qur’antextes,
1970; Translation: idem, A Challenge to Islam for Reformation, Delhi: Molital
Banarsidass, 2003. J. Wansbrough, Qur’anic Studies, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1977; P. Crone and M. Cook, Hagarism. The Making of the Islamic World, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1977.
6 Berlin: Das arabische Buch, 2000.
7 A. Rippin, “Literary analysis of Qur’an, Tafsir, and Sira: The methodologies of John
Wansbrough,” in R.C. Martin (ed.), Approaches to Islam in Religious Studies, Tucson:
University of Arizona Press, 1985, 151–63.
8 See especially his introduction to The Quest for the Historical Muhammad, edited
and translated by Ibn Warraq; Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2000. The translations
themselves are a service to scholars in that they make available in English a number of
articles that were difficult of access before; but Ibn Warraq’s polemical introduction
will simply confuse many, especially neophytes, as to what the goals of Western
scholarship on the Qur’an actually are. See also his The Origin of the Koran, Amherst:
Prometheus, 1998 and What the Koran Really Says, Amherst: Prometheus, 2002.
9 Cf. Nöldeke, Schwally, Bergsträsser, GdQ; Bell, The Origin of Islam in its Christian
Environment; Beck, “Der ‘uthmanische Kodex in der Koranlesung des zweiten
Jahrhunderts; W.M. Watt, Muhammad’s Mecca. History in the Qur’an, Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 1988, esp. 1–4; A. Neuwirth, “Qur’an and history – a
disputed relationship: Some reflections on Qur’anic history and history in the Qur’an,”
Journal of Qur’anic Studies 5, 2003, 1–18; eadem, Studien zur Komposition der
mekkanischen Suren, Berlin: de Gruyter, 1981; Lüling, Über den Ur-Koran; J. Burton,
The Collection of the Qur’an, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1977.
10 See, for example, G.R. Hawting, The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam.
From Polemic to History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999; Rippin,
“Literary Analysis.”
11 See sections 4 and 5 below, pp. 40–43.
12 A few examples from a vast literature will have to suffice: W.M. Watt, Muhammad at
Mecca, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953; idem, Muhammad at Medina, Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1956; M. Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Mahomet, Paris: Albin Michel,
1957; K. Armstrong, Muhammad, HarperSanFrancisco, 1992.
13 A brief overview of this question, with references to other scholarship, is found in the
first several pages of C. Rabin, “Islam and the Qumran Sect,” in his Qumran Studies,
New York: Oxford University Press, 1957, 112–30.
14 Geiger, Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen; Torrey, The Jewish
Foundation of Islam.
15 See Fred M. Donner, “Modern Nationalism and Medieval Islamic History,” Al-‘Usur
al-Wusta 13, 2001, 21–2.
16 Andrae, “Der Ursprung des Islams und das Christentum,” 109.
17 G. Lüling, Die Wiederentdeckung des Propheten Muhammad, Erlangen: Lüling,
1981, 73–89.
47