L’auteur

Neal Robinson est Professeur d’Islamologie à l’Université de Sogang (Corée du Sud). Il a été maître de conférences en études islamiques à l’Université de Leeds (UK). Il a obtenu son doctorat à Université de Birmingham en 1976.

Presentation

This latest edition of Discovering the Qur’an includes a new preface by the author. Used by students around the world as a reliable guide to reading a translation of the Qur’an, it shows how the Qur’an is experienced by Muslims, describing the rhythmic and rhyme scheme structures, the context in which it is heard, the part played by learning by heart, and the importance of calligraphy. It is also about the Qur’an and its relationship to Muhammed, as well as helping to divine the ordering of the surahs or chapters. In an English-speaking world newly sensitized to Islam and its believers, Discovering the Qur’an will be an invaluable tool to greater understanding.

Table des matières

Part One: Phenomenology

1. The Qur’an as Experienced by Muslims
Listening to the Qur’an
Having the Qur’an by heart
The Qur’an in everyday life

Part Two: Chronology

2. Anchoring the Revelations in Space and Time
Introduction
The miracles attributed to the Prophet
Combing the Qur’an for clues to its provenance
Qur’anic clues to the date of the revelations
Early biographies of Muhammad
A plausible chronological framework for the revelations
Concluding discussion

3. An Alternative Account of the Rise of Islam
Introduction
Stepping outside the Islamic tradition
Critical appraisal
Conclusion

4. Traditional Resources for Determining the Chronological Order of the Surahs
Introduction
Reports about the occasions of the revelation
Literature about abrogating and abrogated ayahs
Traditional lists of Meccan and Madinan surahs
The surah headings in the standard Egyptian edition
Conclusion

5. Western Attempts at Dating the Revelations
Introduction
The Nöldeke-Schwally classification of the surahs
The difficulties involved in dating individual surahs
Bell’s attempt at dating the surahs and surah sections
The best working hypothesis?
Concluding discussion

Part Three: Morphology, Structure and Coherence

6. The Formal Elements in the ’Early Meccan’ Surahs
Introduction
Surah openings
Oaths
Eschatological sections
Narrative sections
Signs sections
Revelation sections
Polemical sections
Didactic questions and answers
Messenger sections
Miscellaneous
Conclusion

7. The Structure of the Meccan Surahs
Introduction
’Early Meccan’ surahs in a single register
’Early Meccan’ surahs in two registers
’Early Meccan’ surahs in three registers
Bipartite ’early Meccan’ surahs in four or more registers
Other ’early Meccan’ surahs in four or more registers
’Middle and late Meccan’ surahs with narrative sections
Other ’middle and late Meccan’ surahs
The interrelationships of the registers in the Meccan surahs

8. The Interrelation of Structure, Sound and Meaning in Three Meccan Surahs
Introduction
The integrity of Surah 103
The role of word-play in Surah 104
Structure, sound and meaning in Surah 78

9. The Integrative Role of Sound and Intertextuality
Introduction
Surah 79: ’Has the account of Moses reached thee?’
Surah 17: The Night Journey

10. The Madinan Surahs
Introduction
The survival and adaptation of the six principal registers
The refrains which mention the divine names
Introduction to Surah 2
Surah 2: The prologue (vv.1-39)
Surah 2: Criticism of the Children of Israel (vv.40-121)
Surah 2: The Abrahamic legacy (vv.122-152)
Surah 2: Legislation for the new nation (vv.153-242)
Surah 2: The struggle to liberate the Ka’bah (vv.243-283)
Surah 2: The epilogue (vv.284-286)

11. The Dynamics of the Qur’anic Discourse
Introduction
The implied speaker as both ’We’ and ’He’
The implied speaker as ’I’
The implied speaker and embedded speakers
The omniscient perspective of the implied speaker
The implied privileged addressee
The objectification of the Messenger
Sudden changes in person and number
Conclusion

12. The Order of the Surahs: The Decreasing-Length Rule
Introduction
The surahs and their names
The decreasing-length rule: alleged precedents and parallels
Explaining the exceptions to the decreasing-length rule
The alleged order of the surahs in the manuscripts of Ibn Mas’ud and Ubayy
The dovetailing of consecutive surahs
Conclusion

13. The Order of the Surahs: Islahi’s Explanation
Introduction
Summary of Islahi’s views
Islahi’s analysis of Surahs 50-66
Evaluation of Islahi’s approach
Islahi’s approach and the exceptions to the decreasing-length rule
Conclusion

Postscript
Appendix A: Table for converting ayah numbers
Appendix B: A note on English translations of the Qur’an
Bibliography
Notes
Indexes
Index of references to the Bible and Pseudepigrapha
Index of Qur’anic passages
Index of persons
Subject index

(Source : Georgetown University Press)