Periodic Reporting for period 3 - QuCIP (Qur'anic Commentary: An Integrative Paradigm)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-10-01 bis 2023-03-31
Despite significant progress in the scholarly understanding of the Qur’an, contemporary scholarship is yet to produce a detailed historically oriented commentary on the entire Qur’anic corpus. Arguably the greatest challenges to this endeavour are posed by the long Medinan surahs found at the beginning of the corpus (Surahs 2–5), which constitute touchstones for the feasibility of any commentarial approach to the Qur’an as a whole. Benefiting from the project team’s research into the Qur’an’s literary and compositional structure, into Qur’anic law, and into the Qur’an’s early reception history, QuCIP will deliver crucial groundwork for a model historical-critical commentary covering Surahs 1–3. The project aims at exemplifying an integrative exegetical approach capable of addressing three core dimensions of the Qur’an: its close yet theologically selective engagement with antecedent concepts and traditions; the complex compositional structure especially of long surahs like Q 2 and 3; and the intricate processes of literary growth and redactional expansion by which the latter have been shaped. An important concern of the project, moreover, is to scrutinise pre-modern Islamic scholarship as a valuable repository of close reading.
The general objectives of QuCIP will be pursued through the following sub-projects:
Towards a Historical and Literary Commentary on Surahs 1–3 (Nicolai Sinai): By way of a first milestone towards a commentary on Surahs 1–3, Sinai has authored an interpretive dictionary analysing key and frequently recurrent Qur’anic terms and phrases. Sinai will next produce a model commentary on Surahs 1–3.
Compositional Devices in the Qur’an (Marianna Klar): Klar is working on the mechanisms by which the Qur’an defines its structural units and its thematic borders. She explores, among other topics, the role that is played by shifts in rhyme and rhythm across otherwise unified expanses of Qur’anic text and how specific surah sections are unified by recurrent diction. Drawing on the Qur’anic Adam narratives as a case study, Klar also examines the distinctive features of Qur’anic language against the background of other late antique literary traditions. Finally, Klar is working on identifying aspects of the Arabic rhetorical tradition that are apt to illuminate the modern literary study of the Qur’an.
Legal Paraenesis in the Qur’an (Nora K. Schmid): Schmid’s project is devoted to legal paraenesis in the Qur’an, particularly in the Medinan surahs. Schmid’s research focuses on the question of how legal knowledge is formed, articulated, and imparted to the believers through exhortations and moral reminders. With a few exceptions, legal and quasi-legal passages in the Qur’an have so far mostly been studied without full regard to their rhetorical form and in isolation from their context. Based on the observation that the nexus of law and paraenesis is not unparalleled in late antiquity, Qur’anic legal paraenesis will be contextualized with Jewish and early Christian practices and ideas surrounding the transfer of legal knowledge and legal-ethical instruction. Topics to be studied against this background include paraenetic literary forms and tropes, their impact on the selection, organisation, and disposition of legal material in the Qur’an, and the nascent Islamic community’s engagement with the process of legal-ethical decision-making.
Hadiths as a Source for the Context of the Qur’an (Behnam Sadeghi): The hadith literature is a significant yet underused source for understanding the origins and early interpretation of the Qur’an. However, the vastness and intricacy of the literature presents significant challenges. A single report may exist in dozens of versions, each transmitted through a different chain of transmission (isnād), thus implicating dozens of transmitters. Moreover, these individuals may have transmitted hundreds of other texts as well. Sadeghi’s work contributes to a better understanding of the individuals and communities engaged in transmitting reports about the Qur’an, its origins, its interpretation, and other topics. His research includes a study determining the demographic trajectories of the communities that were involved in hadith transmission. Sadeghi is also investigating the reception of the Qur’anic verses on menstruation during the first Islamic decades as attested by the hadith literature.
The general objectives of QuCIP will be pursued through the following sub-projects:
Towards a Historical and Literary Commentary on Surahs 1–3 (Nicolai Sinai): By way of a first milestone towards a commentary on Surahs 1–3, Sinai has authored an interpretive dictionary analysing key and frequently recurrent Qur’anic terms and phrases. Sinai will next produce a model commentary on Surahs 1–3.
Compositional Devices in the Qur’an (Marianna Klar): Klar is working on the mechanisms by which the Qur’an defines its structural units and its thematic borders. She explores, among other topics, the role that is played by shifts in rhyme and rhythm across otherwise unified expanses of Qur’anic text and how specific surah sections are unified by recurrent diction. Drawing on the Qur’anic Adam narratives as a case study, Klar also examines the distinctive features of Qur’anic language against the background of other late antique literary traditions. Finally, Klar is working on identifying aspects of the Arabic rhetorical tradition that are apt to illuminate the modern literary study of the Qur’an.
Legal Paraenesis in the Qur’an (Nora K. Schmid): Schmid’s project is devoted to legal paraenesis in the Qur’an, particularly in the Medinan surahs. Schmid’s research focuses on the question of how legal knowledge is formed, articulated, and imparted to the believers through exhortations and moral reminders. With a few exceptions, legal and quasi-legal passages in the Qur’an have so far mostly been studied without full regard to their rhetorical form and in isolation from their context. Based on the observation that the nexus of law and paraenesis is not unparalleled in late antiquity, Qur’anic legal paraenesis will be contextualized with Jewish and early Christian practices and ideas surrounding the transfer of legal knowledge and legal-ethical instruction. Topics to be studied against this background include paraenetic literary forms and tropes, their impact on the selection, organisation, and disposition of legal material in the Qur’an, and the nascent Islamic community’s engagement with the process of legal-ethical decision-making.
Hadiths as a Source for the Context of the Qur’an (Behnam Sadeghi): The hadith literature is a significant yet underused source for understanding the origins and early interpretation of the Qur’an. However, the vastness and intricacy of the literature presents significant challenges. A single report may exist in dozens of versions, each transmitted through a different chain of transmission (isnād), thus implicating dozens of transmitters. Moreover, these individuals may have transmitted hundreds of other texts as well. Sadeghi’s work contributes to a better understanding of the individuals and communities engaged in transmitting reports about the Qur’an, its origins, its interpretation, and other topics. His research includes a study determining the demographic trajectories of the communities that were involved in hadith transmission. Sadeghi is also investigating the reception of the Qur’anic verses on menstruation during the first Islamic decades as attested by the hadith literature.
The PI has authored a draft commentary on Surah 1 of the Qur’an and has begun work on a commentary on the much longer Surah 2. Background research on the theological ideas found in pre-Islamic poetry and ancient Arabian inscriptions has been published in the form of a brief monograph. The PI’s interpretive dictionary of key Qur’anic terms will be released in July 2023.
Klar has published a study of Qur’anic rhyme and its compositional significance and completed a book chapter examining surah introductions. She has also undertaken research situating the Qur’anic use of various compositional devices in relation to other literatures that are geared to oral delivery, specifically, the Psalms and ancient Arabic poetry. This research informed, and derived further impetus from, an international project workshop held in October 2019. Finally, Klar has begun work on book chapters studying the Qur’anic Adam narratives and the Arabic rhetorical tradition.
Schmid (on leave since October 2022) has embarked on a monograph studying legal paraenesis in the Qur’an, exploring the literary and rhetorical dimensions of Qur’anic law-making. She has identified the term waʿẓ as a Qur’anic category used to articulate precisely the nexus of paraenesis and law-making that will stand at the centre of her book. A journal article on this term was published in November 2021. The insights derived from this work constituted the conceptual basis for an international online workshop in 2021.
The methods for the study of early Islam often depend on the dates and locations of the hadith transmitters. However, such information is lacking for thousands of them. To address this gap, Sadeghi has estimated the date of death and place of every transmitter for whom such data is missing. This was achieved by using the framework and methods of Social Network Analysis to examine the connections among 21,641 transmitters whose names and interactions are documented in the isnāds of a quarter million reports compiled from thirty-three hadith collections. The results enable large-scale analyses that incorporate the dates and places of the transmitters. One such analysis is the subject of a monograph determining the demographic trajectories of the communities that were involved in hadith transmission. The study derives demographic profiles for seventeen cities and regions covering the entire Muslim world across three centuries. It sheds light on the religious, political, and economic contexts of the communities that transmitted the reports bearing on the Qur’an’s history and contents.
Apart from providing specialist advice, Zellentin has written a book chapter on Biblical incest law and its Qur’anic reiteration and is continuing to work on a comparative survey of Qur’anic law in its late antique context.
The project has set up a website and held regular weekly discussions during term. These have also been attended by two Oxford doctoral students.
Klar has published a study of Qur’anic rhyme and its compositional significance and completed a book chapter examining surah introductions. She has also undertaken research situating the Qur’anic use of various compositional devices in relation to other literatures that are geared to oral delivery, specifically, the Psalms and ancient Arabic poetry. This research informed, and derived further impetus from, an international project workshop held in October 2019. Finally, Klar has begun work on book chapters studying the Qur’anic Adam narratives and the Arabic rhetorical tradition.
Schmid (on leave since October 2022) has embarked on a monograph studying legal paraenesis in the Qur’an, exploring the literary and rhetorical dimensions of Qur’anic law-making. She has identified the term waʿẓ as a Qur’anic category used to articulate precisely the nexus of paraenesis and law-making that will stand at the centre of her book. A journal article on this term was published in November 2021. The insights derived from this work constituted the conceptual basis for an international online workshop in 2021.
The methods for the study of early Islam often depend on the dates and locations of the hadith transmitters. However, such information is lacking for thousands of them. To address this gap, Sadeghi has estimated the date of death and place of every transmitter for whom such data is missing. This was achieved by using the framework and methods of Social Network Analysis to examine the connections among 21,641 transmitters whose names and interactions are documented in the isnāds of a quarter million reports compiled from thirty-three hadith collections. The results enable large-scale analyses that incorporate the dates and places of the transmitters. One such analysis is the subject of a monograph determining the demographic trajectories of the communities that were involved in hadith transmission. The study derives demographic profiles for seventeen cities and regions covering the entire Muslim world across three centuries. It sheds light on the religious, political, and economic contexts of the communities that transmitted the reports bearing on the Qur’an’s history and contents.
Apart from providing specialist advice, Zellentin has written a book chapter on Biblical incest law and its Qur’anic reiteration and is continuing to work on a comparative survey of Qur’anic law in its late antique context.
The project has set up a website and held regular weekly discussions during term. These have also been attended by two Oxford doctoral students.