L’auteur

Gérard R. Hawting est professeur d’histoire du Proche-Orient médiéval à la School of Oriental and African Studies de l’Université de Londres. Il est spécialiste de la période de formation de l’Islam.

Presentation

In recent years, the study of the Qur’an and its interpretation has expanded to incorporate insights gained from historical, biblical, literary and critical studies. A variety of approaches to the Qur’an and the Muslim exegetical tradition are currently available. Approaches to the Qur’an consists of thirteen essays by leading scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, in the fields of qur’anic studies and Islamic studies. Taken together, they offer a sample of the aims, methods and topics of enquiry now being pursued. Each study has a full critical apparatus, and the book includes a consolidated bibliography which will be of great value to students and specialists.
That the Qur’an needed interpretation and commentary was recognized by Muslims right from the start, and over the 14 centuries of the Islamic era a considerable body of exegesis has been produced. That exegesis (the "Tafsir" tradition) reflects a wide variety of methods, presuppositions, focuses of interest and substantive conclusions. Modern attempts to understand the Qur’an have generally been based on that Muslim tradition, which has also itself become an object of study. In recent years, however, there have been attempts to widen the field of discussion and to experiment with new approaches which develop insights gained from historical, biblical, literary, critical and other studies. The result is that a variety of approaches to the Qur’an and the Muslim exegetical tradition are currently available. This book consists of 13 essays by several leading scholars in the academic field of Qur’anic studies. Taken together, they offer a sample of the aims, methods and topics of enquiry now being pursued. Its "apparatus criticus" and consolidated bibliography should add to the use and interest of the volume for anyone concerned with the study of Islam.
(Source http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415057554/)

Table des matières

Contributors
Foreword
List of abbreviations

Pt. I Aspects of the style and content of the Qur’an

1 Images and metaphors in the introductory sections of the Makkan suras
2 The quranic presentation of the Joseph story: naturalistic or formulaic language?
3 Context and internal relationships: keys to quranic exegesis

Pt. II Aspects of the traditional and modern exegesis of the Qur’an

4 Tafsir from Tabari to Ibn Kathir: problems in the description of a genre, illustrated with reference to the story of Abraham
5 Exegesis and Hadith: the case of the seven Mathani
6 An analytical survey of al-Tabari’s exegesis of the cultural symbolic construct of fitna
7 Akhbari Shi’i approaches to tafsir
8 The sura as a unity: a twentieth century development in Qur’an exegesis
9 Muhammad ’Izzat Darwaza’s principles of modern exegesis: a contribution toward quranic hermeneutics

Pt. III The Qur’an and its exegesis in a wider context

10 Interpreting the Bible through the Qur’an 249
11 Two citations of the Qur’an in ’historical’ sources for early Islam 260
12 Law and exegesis: the penalty for adultery in Islam 269
13 The impact of the Qur’an on the epistolography of ’Abd al-Hamid 285

Bibliography 314
Index 326
Index of Quranic references 335