A brief history sketch on the genesis study of the Quranic corpus in Western Quranic studies (from the 19th century to the present day)
https://doi.org/10.31162/2618-9569-2023-16-3-647-682
Abstract
This article examines the history of the origin of research of the Quranic corpus by Western academic scholarship from the nineteenth century to the present period. Particular emphasis is made on the direction of research which is based on the philological study of the Quran and the study of the earliest manuscripts. This tradition of research dating back to T. Neldeke ("History of the Quran") received considerable continuity with classical Islamic Quranic scholarship. Some attention was also paid to the so-called 'revisionist' theories of the origin of the Quranic corpus, from the earliest (A. Geiger) to the most recent ones. Although the academic community is engaged in fierce debates concerning certain issues of the origin of the written Quranic corpus, nevertheless, the basic consensus we formulated in this work corresponds in its key points to the results elaborated by Islamic Quranic scholarship over the centuries. Moreover, studies of the earliest manuscripts of the Quran, including those discovered in recent decades, as well as many other monuments, demonstrate that the Quran was almost completely codified (except for certain details) in its known form as early as the first century A.H., in contradiction to the claims of revisionist scholars. The present work can serve as a scholarly introduction to this topic, filling a serious insufficiency of relevant reference sources in Russian.
About the Author
D. V. Mukhetdinov
Moscow Islamic Institute; Saint Petersburg State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Damir V. Mukhetdinov - Dr. Sci. (Theology), Cand. Sci (Politics), the Head of Moscow Islamic Institute; Full Professor, the Faculty of Asian and African Studies, Saint Petersburg State University.
Moscow; Saint Petersburg
References
1. Gusterin P.V. Koran kak ob’ekt izucheniya [Quran as the object of studies]. Saarbrücken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2014. 65 p. (In Russian)
2. Rezvan E.A. Vvedenie v koranistiku [Introduction to Quranic studies]. Kazan: Kazan University Press; 2014. 408 p. (In Russian)
3. Geiger A. Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen. Bonn: F. Baaden; 1833. 215 p. (In German)
4. Torrey С.C. The Jewish Foundation of Islam. New York: Jewish Institute of Religion; 1933. VII + 164 p.
5. Andrae T. Der Ursprung des Islams und das Christentum. Kyrkshistorisk årsskrift. 1923;23:149–206. (In German)
6. Andrae T. Der Ursprung des Islams und das Christentum. Kyrkshistorisk årsskrift. 1924;24:213–292. (In German)
7. Andrae T. Der Ursprung des Islams und das Christentum. Kyrkshistorisk årsskrift. 1925:25:45–112. (In German)
8. Bell R. The Origin of Islam in its Christian Environment. London: Macmillan; 1926. 224 p.
9. Vollers K. Volkssprache und Schriftsprache im alten Arabien. Strassburg: K. J. Trübner; 1906. VIII + 227 p. (In German)
10. Blachère R. Introduction au Coran. Paris: G.P. Maisonneuve; 1947. LIX + 273 p. (In French)
11. Fück J. Arabiya. Untersuchungen zur arabischen Sprach- und Stilgeschichte. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; 1950. IV + 148 p. (In German)
12. Bergsträsser G. Nichtkanonische Koranlesarten im Muhtasab des ibn Ginni. München: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften; 1933. 92 p. (In German)
13. Pretzl O. Das Lehrbuch der sieben Koran-Lesungen von Abû 'Amr 'Uthmân ibn Sa'îd ad-Dânî. Bibliotheca Islamica. Band 2. Istanbul: Devlet Matbaası; 1930. 224 p. (In German)
14. Pretzl O. Die Wissenschaft der Koran-Lesung (ilm al-qira'a). Ihre literarischen Quellen und ihre Aussprachegrundlagen. Islamica. Zeitschrift für die Erforschung der Sprachen und Kulturen der islamischen Völker. 1934;6:1–47; 230–246; 290–331. (In German)
15. Jeffery A. Materials for the History of the Qur’an. The Old Codices. Leiden: Brill; 1937. 609 p.
16. Paret R. Der Koran. Kommentar und Konkordanz. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer; 1971. 559 p. (In German)
17. Beck E. Der ‘uthmanische Kodex in der Koranlesung des zweiten Jahrhunderts. Orientalia. 1945;14:355–373. (In German)
18. Beck E. ‘Arabiyya, Sunna und ‘amma in der Koranlesung des zweiten Jahrhunderts. Orientalia. 1946;15:180–224. (In German)
19. Beck E. Die Kodizesvarianten der Amsar. Orientalia. 1947;16:353–376. (In German)
20. Cook M. The stemma of the regional codices of the Koran. Graeco-Arabica. 2004:9–10:89–104.
21. Böwering G. Recent Research on Constructing the Qurʾān. Reynolds G.S. (ed.) The Qurʾān in Its Historical Context. London: Routledge; 2008, pp. 70–87.
22. Speyer H. Die biblischen Erzählungen im Qoran. Gräfenhainichen: Schulze; 1931. 522 p. (In German)
23. Griffith S.H. The Gospel in Arabic: An inquiry into its appearance in the first Abbasid century. OC. 1985;69:126–167.
24. Guillame A. The version of the Gospels used in Medina. Al-Andalus. 1950;15:289–269.
25. Blau J. Über einige christlich-arabische Manuskripte aus dem 9. und 10. Jahrhundert. Le Museon. 1962;75:101–108. (In German)
26. Baumstark A. Das Problem eines vorislamischen christlich-kirchlichen Schrifttums in arabischer Sprache. Islamica. 1931;4:562–575. (In German)
27. Baumstark A. Eine frühislamische und eine vorislamische arabische Evangelienübersetzung aus dem Syrischen. Atti del XIX Congresso Internazionlae degli Orientalisti. Rome. 1935:682–684. (In German)
28. Violet B. Ein zweisprachiges Psalmfragment aus Damascus. Orientalische Literaturzeitung. 1901;4:382–423; 425–488. (In German)
29. Paret R. Mohammed und der Koran. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1957. 160 p. (In German)
30. Fraenkel S. Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen. Leiden: Brill; 1886. 368 p. (In German)
31. Hebbo A. Die Fremdwörter in der arabischen Prophetenbiographie des Ibn Hischam. Frankfurt: Peter Lang; 1984. 273 p. (In German)
32. Samir Kh. S. The theological Christian influence on the Qur’ān: a reflection. Reynolds G.S. (ed.) The Qurʾān in Its Historical Context. London: Routledge; 2008, pp. 141–162.
33. Gilliot C., Larcher P. Language and style of the Qur’an. McAuliffe J. (ed.) The Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an. Leiden: Brill; 2001–2006. Vol. 3, pp. 109–135.
34. Lüling G. Über den Ur-Koran. Erlangen: H. Lüling; 1974. XII + 542 p. (In German)
35. Lüling G. Der christliche Kult an der vorislamischen Kaaba. Erlangen: Lüling; 1977. 100 p. (In German)
36. Lüling G. Die Wiederentdeckung des Propheten Muhammad. Erlangen: Lüling; 1981. 423 p. (In German)
37. Wansbrough J. Qur’anic Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1977. 256 p.
38. Crone P., Cook M. Hagarism. The Making of the Islamic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1977. IX + 268 p.
39. Donner F. M. The Quran in Recent Scholarship. Reynolds G. S. (ed.). The Quran in its Historical Context. London: Routledge; 2008, pp. 29–50.
40. Motzki H. The Collection of the Qur’an. A reconsideration of Western views in light of recent methodological developments. Der Islam. 2001;78:1–34.
41. Muranyi M. Neue Materialien zur tafsir-Forschung in der Moscheebibliothek von Qairawan. Wild S. (ed.) The Qur’an as Text. Leiden: Brill; 1996, pp. 225–255. (In German)
42. Reynolds G.S. Introduction, Quranic studies and its controversies. Reynolds G.S. (ed.). The Quran in its Historical Context. London: Routledge; 2008, pp. 1–26.
43. Rippin A. Literary analysis of Qur’an, Tafsir, and Sira: The methodologies of John Wansbrough. Martin R. C. (ed.) Approaches to Islam in Religious Studies. Tucson: University of Arizona Press; 1985, pp. 151–163.
44. Versteegh C.H.M. Arabic Grammar and Qur’anic Exegesis in Early Islam. Leiden: Brill; 1993. 230 p.
45. Ibn Warraq. The Origin of the Koran: Classic Essays on Islam’s Holy Book. Amherst: Prometheus; 1998. 411 p.
46. Ibn Warraq. What the Koran Really Says. Amherst: Prometheus; 2002. 782 p.
47. Ibn Warraq. The Quest for the Historical Muhammad. Amherst, New York: Prometheus; 2000. 554 p.
48. Asma A. Warraq, Ibn. “The Quest for the Historical Muhammad”. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 2001;121(4):728–729.
49. Donner F. M. Review: "The Quest for the Historical Muhammad". Middle East Studies Association Bulletin. University of Chicago. 2001;35:75–76.
50. Teipen A. H. The Quest for the Historical Muhammad. Journal of Ecumenical Studies. 2003;40(3):328–329.
51. Luxenberg Ch. Die syro-aramäische Lesart des Koran: Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Koransprache. Berlin: Das arabische Buch; 2000. 311 p. (In German)
52. Luxenberg Ch. The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran: A Contribution to the Decoding of the Language of the Koran. Hans Schiler Publishers; 2007. 349 p.
53. Burton J. Naskh. Bearman P., Bianquis Th., Bosworth C.E., van Donzel E., Heinrichs W.P. (eds.) The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Second Edition. Vol. 7. Leiden: Brill; 1998, pp. 1009–1012.
54. Rippin A. Occasions of revelation. McAuliffe J. D. (ed.) The Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an. Vol. 3. Leiden: Brill, 2001–2006, pp. 569–573.
55. Dzhalal ad-Din as-Suyuti. Sovershenstvo v koranicheskikh naukakh. Vyp. pervyy. Uchenie o tolkovanii Korana [Excellence in Quranic sciences. First issue. The doctrine of the interpretation of the Quran]. Moscow: Muravey Press; 2000. 234 p. (In Russian)
56. Misyura V.A. Traktat Suyuti o poryadke sur v Korane [Suyuti's treatise on the order of suras in the Quran]. Minbar. Islamic Studies. 2021;14(1):153–163. (In Russian)
57. Nöldeke T. Geschichte des Qorans. Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung; 1860. XXXII + 358 p. (In German)
58. Sadeghi B. The Chronology of the Qurʾān: A Stylometric Research Program. Arabica. 2011;58:210–299. DOI: 10.1163/157005810x529692.
59. Nöldeke Th., Schwally F. Geschichte des Qorāns. Teil 1. Über den Ursprung des Qorāns. Leipzig: Dieterich; 1909. X + 262 p. (In German)
60. Nöldeke Th., Schwally F. Geschichte des Qorāns. Die Sammlung des Qorāns: mit einem literarhistorischen Anhang über die muhammedanischen Quellen und die neuere christliche Forschung. Leipzig: Dieterich; 1919. IV + 224 p. (In German)
61. Nöldeke Th., Bergstrasser G., Pretzl O. Geschichte des Qorāns: Die Geschichte de Qorāntext. Leipzig: Dieterich; 1938. XII + 351 p. (In German)
62. Nöldeke Th., Schwally F., Bergstrasser G., Pretzl O. The History of the Qurʾān. Leiden: Brill; 2013. 692 p.
63. Nöldeke Th. Kur’an Tarihi. İstanbul: Fono Matbaasi; 1970. 710 p. (In Turkish)
64. Watt M. W. Bell's Introduction to the Qur’an. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; 1977. 272 p.
65. Buhl F. Das Leben Mohammeds. Leipzig: Quelle und Meyer; 1931. VIII + 379 p. (In German)
66. Guillaume A. The Life of Muhammad. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1955. 813 p.
67. Motzki H. The Biography of Muhammad. Leiden: Brill; 2000. 330 p.
68. Bell R. A Commentary on the Qur’an. Manchester: University of Manchester; 1991. 603 p.
69. Bell R. The Qur’an. Translated with a Critical Re-arrangement of the Suras. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; 1937. II + 667 p.
70. Rezvan E. A History of Printed Editions of the Qur’an. Shah M., Abdel Haleem M. (еds.) The Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2020, pp. 255–274.
71. Déroche F. Noseda S. N. (eds.) Sources de la transmission manuscrite du texte coranique. I. Les manuscrits de style hijazi. Volume I. Le manuscrit arabe 328a (a) de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Lesa: Fondazione Ferni Noja Noseda; Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris; 1998. 237 p. (In French)
72. Déroche F. Noseda S. N. (eds.) Sources de la transmission manuscrite du texte coranique. I. Les manuscrits de style hijazi. Volume II. Tome I. Le manuscrit Or. 2165 (f. 1 à 61) de la British Library. Lesa: Fondazione Ferni Noja Noseda; London: British Library; 2001. LXXIX + 255 p. (In French)
73. Kaplony A., Marx M. (eds.) Qurʾān Quotations Preserved on Papyrus Documents, 7th-10th Centuries And The Problem of Carbon Dating Early Qurʾāns. Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill; 2019; 264 p.
74. Cellard É. Codex Amrensis 1. Documenta Coranica. Vol.: 1. Leiden and Boston: Brill; 2018; 319 p.
75. Sadeghi B., Goudarzi M. Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur’ān. Der Islam. 2012;87(1–2):1–129. DOI: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025.
76. Hilali A. The Sanaa Palimpsest. London: Oxford University Press; 2017. 271 p.
77. Puin E. Ein Früher Koranpalimpsest Aus Ṣanʿāʾ (DAM 01-27.1). Groß M., Ohlig K.-H. (eds.) Schlaglichter: Die Beiden Ersten Islamischen Jahrhunderte, 2008. Berlin: Verlag Hans Schiler; 2008, pp. 461–493. (In German)
78. Puin E. Ein Früher Koranpalimpsest Aus Ṣanʿāʾ (DAM 01-27.1) – Teil II. Vom Koran Zum Islam. Groß M., Ohlig K.-H. (eds.). Schriften Zur Frühen Islamgeschichte Und Zum Koran, 2009. Berlin: Verlag Hans Schiler; 2009, pp. 523–581. (In German)
79. Puin E. Ein Früher Koranpalimpsest Aus Ṣanʿāʾ (DAM 01-27.1) – Teil III. Groß M., Ohlig K.-H. (eds.). Die Entstehung Einer Weltreligion I: Von Der Koranischen Bewegung Zum Frühislam, 2010. Berlin: Verlag Hans Schiler; 2010, pp. 233–305. (In German)
80. Puin E. Ein Früher Koranpalimpsest Aus Ṣanʿāʾ (DAM 01-27.1) – Teil IV. Groß M., Ohlig K.-H. (eds.) Die Entstehung Einer Weltreligion II: Von Der Koranischen Bewegung Zum Frühislam, 2012. Berlin-Tübingen: Verlag Hans Schiler; 2012, pp. 311–402. (In German)
81. Cellar É. The Sanʿaʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 2021;80 (1):1–30. DOI: 10.1086/713473.
82. Déroche F. The Manuscript and Archaeological Traditions. Physical Evidence. Shah M., Abdel Haleem M. (еds.) The Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2020, pp. 167–181.
83. Cellar É. Un nouveau témoignage sur la fixation du canon coranique dans les débuts de l'Islam: le manuscrit Ṣan‘ā’ DAM 01-29.1. CRAI 2018-II, avril-juin 2020, pp. 1107–1119. (In French)
84. Karimi-Nia M. A New Document in the Early History of the Qurʾān. Codex Mashhad, an ʿUthmānic Text of the Qurʾān in Ibn Masʿūd’s Arrangement of Sūras. Journal of Islamic Manuscripts. 2019;10:296–326.
85. Svyashenniy Koran. Smislovoy perevod s kommentariyami [The Holy Quran. Semantic translation with comments]. Mukhetdinov D. (editor-in-chief). Moscow: Medina Press; 2015. 1888 p. (In Russian)
86. Ibn Hisham. Jizneopisanie Proroka Mukhammada, rasskazannoe so slov al-Bakkai, so slov Ibn Iskhaka al-Muttaliba (pervaya polovina VIII veka) [Biography of Prophet Muhammad, Told by al-Baqqa‘i, Told by Ibn Ishaq al-Muttalib (First Half of the 8th Century)]. Moscow: Umma Press; 2007. 656 p. (In Russian)
87. Donner F.M. Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing. Princeton: Darwin Press; 1998. 358 p.
88. Combe Ét., Sauvaget J., Wiet G. Répertoire Chronologique D'Épigraphie Arabe. Vol. I. Le Caire: Imprimerie De L'Institut Français D'Archéologie Orientale; 1931. XII + 312 p. (In French)
89. van Berchem M. Matériaux Pour Un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum, 1927, Tome 2/2. Le Caire: Imprimerie de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale; 1927. 291 p. (In French)
90. Treadwell L. Qur'anic Inscriptions On The Coins Of The Ahl Al-Bayt From The Second To Fourth Century AH. Journal Of Qur'anic Studies. 2012;14:47–71.
91. Walker J. A Catalogue Of The Muhammadan Coins In The British Museum, 1956, Volume II — Arab-Byzantine and Post-Reform Umayyad Coins. London: British Museum; 1956. 329 p.
92. Grohmann A. Aperçu De Papyrologie Arabe. Études De Papyrologie. 1932;1:23–95. (In French)
93. al-Qadi W. The impact of the Qur’an on early Arabic literature: The case of ‘Abd al-Hamid’s epistolography. Shareef A.A., Hawting G.R. (eds). Approaches to the Qur’an. London: Routledge; 1993, pp. 285–313.
94. al-Qadi W. P. The religious foundation of late Umayyad ideology and practice. Saber Religioso y Poder Político en el Islam. Madrid: Agencia Española de Cooperacíon Internacional; 1994, pp. 231–273.
Review
For citations:
Mukhetdinov D.V. A brief history sketch on the genesis study of the Quranic corpus in Western Quranic studies (from the 19th century to the present day). Minbar. Islamic Studies. 2023;16(3):647-682. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31162/2618-9569-2023-16-3-647-682
Views:
618
Email this article 