Introduction (extraits)

Few books have exercised a wider or deeper influence upon the spirit of man than the quran Quran. By Muslims it is regarded as a revelation from God. It is used in their public and private devotions, and is recited at festivals and family occasions. It is the basis of their religious beliefs, their ritual, and their law; the guide of their conduct, both public and private. It moulds their thought, and its phrases enter into literature and daily speech. A book thus held in reverence by over four hundred millions of our fellow-men is worthy of attention. It also demands serious study; for it is by no means an easy book to understand. It is neither a treatise on theology, nor a code of laws, nor a collection of sermons, but rather a medley of all three, with other things thrown in. Its ’revelation’ was spread over a period of some twenty years, in the course of which muhammad Muøammad rose from the position of an obscure religious reformer in his native Mecca to that of virtual ruler of Medina and most of Arabia. As it reflects the changing circumstances, needs and purposes of the Muslims during these years, it naturally varies much in style and content, and even in teaching. Its arrangement is unsystematic, and though the Arabic in which it is written is, on the whole, intelligible, there are difficult passages whose meaning, as the Arabs say, is known to God alone.

Table des matières

Introduction

1. The Historical Context
2. Mohammed’s Prophetic Experience
3. The History of the Text
4. The external form of the Quran
5. The features of Quranic style
6. The Shaping of the Quran
7. The Chronology of the Quran
8. The names of the revealed message
9. The Doctrines of the Quran
10. Muslim Scholarship and the Quran
11. The Quran and Occidental Scholariship

Note : L’ouvrage présenté ici est une version augmentée et révisée de : Introduction to the Qur’ān, Edinburgh, University Press, ("Edinburgh University Publications. Language and literature texts ; 6"), 1953, X-190 p.