Using commentaries from the classical period through the medieval and modern periods to the present, this book presents the Qur’an as Muslims have understood it and interiorized it throughout its rich exegetical history. Sources have been carefully chosen to represent all of the major schools and trends in Islamic thought. This book has been written, not primarily for scholars, but for interested western readers, for students of Islam, and for non-Arabic-speaking Muslims. For almost fourteen centuries the Qur’an has been a source of inspiration and solace and, above all, a guide along the way of life toward eternity. It is presented as such here. This work is one of several volumes, each a reference to a particular part of the Qur’an. The entire collection will comprise an encyclopedia of Qur’an commentary.

For almost fourteen centuries the Qur’an has been a source of inspiration and solace and, above all, a guide along the way of life toward eternity. Using commentaries from the classical period through the medieval and modern periods to the present, this series presents the Qur’anic explanation as Muslims have understood it and interiorized it throughout its rich exegetical history, and has been written not primarily for scholars but for those interested readers and non-Arabic speaking students of Islam, both Muslim and non-Muslim. This volume is the second in the series containing the third surah, Al Imran. The first volume contains the first and the second surahs. The entire collection will comprise an encyclopedia of the Qur’an commentary.

The Qur'an and Its Interpreters introduces the Western reader to the Qur'an as Muslims have understood it. The record of the Qur'an in the community as a force shaping the life of Muslims can be most clearly discerned through the vast literature of interpretation known as tafsir. This multivolume work is based on a large number of tafsir sources, representing all the major religious schools and stages of Muslim history for the last one thousand years. It will cover the entire Qur'an. This first volume consists of an introduction to the science and sources of interpretation of the Qur'an and the first two surahs of the Qur'an. The treatment is comprehensive and thorough. While the work is based entirely on primary sources, this volume includes a substantial bibliography of works on the Qur'an in Western languages. The Qur'an is the word of God as it was revealed to the prophet Muhammad, interiorized by the community, then shaped into an earthly book whose original archetype is with God. Dr. Ayoub concerns himself not with the history of the Qur'an, but with the way it was collected and fixed into an official codex, the recension of which has voiced the community's prayers and devotions, set its legal norms and moral standards, and occupied its best minds for more than thirteen hundred years.

In a multi-faith world, Islam is widely regarded as dogmatic and exclusivist. Yet in the Qur’an we have a great and worthy example of how to live in diversity, of powerful scriptural tenets that lend themselves precisely to engagement with those of other faiths. As such Islam has much to add to the debate on Religious Pluralism. For Muslims the issue is a delicate one. Aside from being tolerant and respectful of other faiths, advocating freedom of faith, and peaceful coexistence for all humanity, Muslims have to intellectually engage on matters of religious truth whilst defending the validity of their own Islamic tenets. This study is focused on the Qur’anic text. It explores the Qur’anic conception of normative religious pluralism with a view to providing answers to questions such as whether the Qur’an itself regards normative religious pluralism as a value system or simply a method through which the Qur’anic world view can be actualized. In doing so the author corrects some highly controversial misquoted, mistranslated, and/or quoted out of context verses of the Qur’an, including the so-called verse of the sword and the perception of not taking non-Muslims as friends. In reality, the Qur’an calls for freedom of faith and peaceful coexistence, but condemns oppression, religious persecution, and those who initiate hostilities. In this way it not only invokes human dignity, but restores it when it is violated.

In this wide-ranging collection of insightful, controversial, and often-witty essays, the renowned author of Why I Am Not a Muslim has created a representative selection of his best work on the Koran and various problems posed by the interaction of Islam with the West. The title of the collection comes from an article that originally appeared in the London Guardian on recent textual studies of the Koran. This research suggests that, contrary to a longstanding Muslim belief about the afterlife, a harem of beautiful virgins may not be waiting for the faithful male departed in heaven. For the many readers of his books who have wondered about his background, the author begins with a charming personal sketch about his upbringing in England and his unabashed Anglophilia. A section on Koranic criticism includes excerpts from two of his books, What the Koran Really Says and Which Koran? No stranger to controversy and polemics, the author devotes two sections to articles that consider the totalitarian nature of contemporary political Islam and explore the potential for an Islamic Reformation comparable to the Protestant Reformation in the West. The concluding section is composed of Ibn Warraq''s journalism, including a critique of reputed Muslim reformer Tariq Ramadan, a defense of Western culture ("Why the West Is Best)," an article about the Danish cartoons that provoked widespread Muslim outrage, and even a commentary on heavy metal music in a Muslim setting. This thoughtful, engaging collection on diverse topics will interest both longtime readers of Ibn Warraq and those new to his work.

This study illustrates why the language of the Qur'an is miraculous, unique, and evidence of divine authority. The author compares the language of the Qur'an with the language of pre-Islamic poetry, the Prophet's words (hadith), and the language of the Arabs both past and present, to demonstrate that although the Qur'an was revealed in Arabic it was at the same time an Arabic which was entirely new. Original and early Muslim audiences viewed this as miraculous and responded to the Qur'an's words, sounds, rhythms, etc. in a manner consistent with a deeper appreciation of its beauty and majesty which modern ears, trained by familiarity, and despite being surrounded by all manner of dictionaries and studies, are at a loss to capture. The author attempts to remove this veil and present the Qur'an to readers as if hearing it for the first time, to bring to life some of this wonder. In doing so he guides readers to appreciate the beauty of the Qur'an, to become more immersed in it, and to have a clearer understanding of its structure and flow. Devoting special attention to Surah Al Muddaththir, to underpin his analysis, Saeh thus brings the Revelation to life, to demonstrate that each surah has distinct features and characteristics that make it stand out uniquely within the design and sweep of the whole.

This excellent collection of critical commentaries on the Koran brings together outstanding articles by noted scholars from the beginning of the 20th century to recent times. These important studies, as well as the editor's own lengthy introduction, show that little about the text of the Koran can be taken at face value. Among the fascinating topics discussed is evidence that early Muslims did not understand Muhammad's original revelation, that the ninth-century explosion of literary activity was designed to organize and make sense of an often incoherent text, and that much of the traditions surrounding Muhammad's life were fabricated long after his death in an attempt to give meaning to the Koran. Also of interest are suggestions that Coptic and other Christian sources heavily influenced much of the text and that some passages reflect an essential background reaching back to the community of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This valuable compilation will be a welcome resource to interested lay readers and scholars alike.