EM050-812 - The Qur'an and Its Interpretation

  • 2,976 Standard Tuition Fee
  • 12
    Credit Points
  • 0.125 EFT 
  • 8
    AQF level
  • Category advanced unit
    C
  • evangelism missiolUnit Discipline

Exclusions

Prior to 2020, this unit content was delivered under the unit code EM769-4.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will

A. Know and understand

Demonstrate Advanced knowledge and understanding of, and the research underlying, the history and interpretation of the Qur’an

B. Be able to

1. Examine recent scholarship on the history, content and interpretation of the Qur’an with particular reference to its dialogue with Christianity

2. Demonstrate skill in utilising diverse scholarship and learning in investigating the overlap and discontinuity between Islamic literature and the Bible

3. Present Research-Aware evidence-based perspectives on the history, content and interpretation of the Qur’an with particular reference to its dialogue with Christianity

C. Be in a position to

Applying Advanced perspectives and skills from ‘The Qur’an and its Interpretation’ to ministry practice and Christian living as a reflective practitioner

Content

Module 1: Survey of literary materials:

  • the compilation of the Qur’anic text;
  • the variant readings (qira’at);
  • the Hadith as exegesis;
  • principal Sunni and Shi’ite commentaries;
  • exegesis by the Sufis;
  • Stories of the Prophets

Module 2: Various themes in comparative perspective:

  • Revelation;
  • Creation;
  • God;
  • Angels;
  • Prophets; Jesus in Islam;
  • the People of the Book;
  • Eschatology;
  • Dogmatics;
  • Divine Immanence and Transcendence

A knowledge of Arabic is not a requirement for this course. However, those students with Arabic language skills will be encouraged to use these skills in the various exegetical tasks.

Set Readings

This unit's indicative bibliography is currently being revised. Students should contact their home college for further details at the time of taking this unit.


Prescribed:

Abdul Haleem, M.A.S. (trans.). The Qur’an (Oxford University Press, 2008)

Gatje, H. The Qur’an and its Exegesis (Rockport, Maine: Oneworld Publications, c1996)

Mattson, Ingrid. The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life (Malden MA: Blackwell, 2008)

 

Recommended:

Abdul-Raof, Hussein. Theological Approaches to Qur’anic Exegesis (London: Routledge,  2012)

Abū Zayd, Nasr. Rethinking the Qur’ān: Toward a Humanistic Hermeneutics (Utrecht: Humanistics University Press, 2004)

Akhtar, Shabbir. The Quran and the Secular Mind: A Philosophy of Islam (Abingdon: Routledge, 2008)

Al-A‘zamī, M.M. The History of the Qur’ānic Text: From Revelation to Compilation (Leicester: UK Islamic Academy, 2003)

Bannister, A. An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur'an (New York: Lexington Books, 2014)

Boullata, Issa J. (ed.) Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur’an (London: Routledge, 2000.)

Denffer, A. von, Ulum al-Qur’an (Leicester, U.K.: Islamic Foundation, c1994), http://www.islamicbulletin.org/free_downloads/quran/ul_umal_quran.pdf

Firestone, R. Journey in Holy Lands: The Evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael Legend in Islamic Exegesis (Albany, 1990)

Marshall, David. God, Muhammad and the Unbelievers: A Qur’anic Study (Richmond: Curzon, 1999)

McAulliffe, J. Qur’anic Christians (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991)

Power, B. Engaging the Islamic Traditions (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2016)

Power, B. Challenging the Islamic Traditions (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2016)

Rahman, Fazlur. Major Themes of the Qurʾān (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009)

Riddell, P. Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World: Transmission and Responses (London, Hawai’i & Singapore, 2001)

Riddell, P. Malay Religion, Culture and Language (Leiden: Brill, 2017)

Rippin, A. & J. Knappert (eds). Textual Sources for the Study of Islam (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990)

Rippin, A. (ed.) The Qur’an: Formative Interpretation (Aldershot, 1999)

Rippin, A. Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur’an (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988)

Small, Keith E. Holy Books have a History: Textual Histories of the New Testament and the Qur’an, (Avant Ministries, 2010)

 

Classics:

Commentaries for exegesis units should be listed separately.

Ayoub, M. The Qur’an and Its Interpreters (Albany NY: State University of New York Press, Vol. 1 1984 & Vol. 2 1992)

Beeston, A. Baidhawi’s Commentary on Surah 12 of the Qur’an (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963)

Madelung, W. & A. Jones (eds) The Commentary on the Qur’an by ... al-Tabari (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987-)

Margoliouth, D.S. Chrestomathia Baidawiana: The Commentary of El-Baidawi on Sura III (London, Luzac, 1894), https://archive.org/details/chrestomathiabai00abda

Mawdudi, M. Abu al-A’la d. 1979. The Meaning of the Qur’an Tafhim al-Qur’an (Lahore, 1967-), http://www.englishtafsir.com/

Qutb, Sayyid, In the Shade of the Qur’an, https://www.kalamullah.com/shade-of-the-quran.html

Tafsir Ibn Kathir, http://www.qtafsir.com/

Various translations into English of leading Arabic commentaries on the Qur’an uploaded at http://altafsir.com/