Program
ANNUAL MEETING 2015
Registration is now open for the Annual Meeting held in conjunction with the SBL/AAR Annual Meetings in Atlanta, Georgia. You can save by joining IQSA and registering for the Annual Meetings as an Affiliate Member! Register through the SBL website HERE. We hope you’ll join us and meet us in Atlanta!
The Call for Papers is now closed.
The full schedule of the IQSA Annual Meeting is now available! Please see below.
The Qur’an and Late Antiquity
Towards a “Long Late Antiquity”: Continuities from the Pre-Islamic to the Islamic Era
Co-sponsored by the AAR Traditions of Eastern Late Antiquity group
Friday 20 November
1:00-3:30 p.m.
Room: M104 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Michael Pregill, Boston University, Presiding
Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston: Law and Tradition in the Long Seventh Century (570-705) – Between Qur’an and Church Canon
Walter Ward, University of Alabama at Birmingham: The Pre-Islamic Image of the Word “Saracen” and its Implications for Early Christian and Islamic Interactions
Cecilia Palombo, Princeton University: “Why Do the Rabbis and Religious Authorities Not Forbid them from Uttering Sinful Words?”: Qur’anic and Late Antique Attitudes towards Religious Scholars
Mushegh Asatryan, Yale University: Is Ghulat Religion Islamic Gnosticism? (1) The Shi’ite “Extremists” of Early Islamic Iraq
Dylan Burns, Freie Universität Berlin: Is Ghulat Religion Islamic Gnosticism? (2) Syro-Mesopotamian Gnostic Traditions
Presidential Address
Reuven Firestone, Hebrew Union College: The Problematic of Prophecy
Ebrahim Moosa, University of Notre Dame, Respondent
Friday 20 November
4:00-5:15 p.m.
Room: M104 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
IQSA Reception
Friday 20 November
5:15-6:30 p.m.
Room: M105 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Film Screening: Jesus in the Qur’an
Friday 20 November
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Room: L508 (Lobby Level) – Marriott
Gerard Modillat
Jerome Prieur
Jesus in the Qur’an is a recent documentary commissioned by the French-German television channel Arte and led by filmmakers Gerard Mordillat and Jerome Prieur. It explores how Jesus is presented in the Islamic scripture, and how the Qur’anic passages about Jesus were understood by successive generations of Muslim believers. The documentary features interviews with Mehdi Azaiez, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Angelika Neuwirth, Freie Universität Berlin; Shawkat Toorawa, Cornell University; and Holger Zellentin, University of Nottingham; and many more.
Qur’an Seminar
Saturday 21 November
9:00-11:00 a.m.
Room: M105 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Mehdi Azaiez and Clare Wilde, Chairs
Mehdi Azaiez, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, Paris-Sorbonne Université
Fred M. Donner, University of Chicago (TBC)
Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston
Rahel Fischbach, Georgetown University
Daniel Madigan, Georgetown University
Gabriel S. Reynolds, University of Notre Dame
Sarra Tlili, Univeristy of Florida
Clare Wilde, University of Groningen
Hamza M. Zafer, University of Washington
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Perspectives on the Qur’anic Corpus
The Question of Chronology of the Qur’anic Text: Contribution of Literary Analyses
Saturday 21 November
1:00-3:30 p.m.
Room: M103 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Adam Flowers, University of Chicago: The Qur’anic Conditional: Syntactic Evidence for the Periodization of the Qur’an
Lauren E. Osborne, Whitman College: Listening in the Qur’an: The Semantic Field of S-M-`
Emmanuelle Stefanidis, University Sorbonne Paris IV: Oral Proclamation and Written Text: Situating Chronological Approaches in Qur’anic Studies
Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, Paris-Sorbonne Université: Was All the Qur’an First Meant to Belong to the Qur’an?
Mohammad Hasan Ahmadi, University of Tehran, and Seyyed Reza Moaddab: The Relationship between Historical Development of Qur’an and Historical Development of Its Exegesis
Ryan David Woloshen, Wayne State University: An Analysis of Shifting Rhymes in Sura 52
Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford, Respondent
Discussion (20 min.)
Qur’anic Studies: Methodology and Hermeneutics
The Qur’an and Politics: Hermeneutical Approaches
Saturday 21 November
1:00-3:30 p.m.
Room: M105 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Vanessa De Gifis, Wayne State University: Qur’anic Premises in Rhetorical Analogy: The Case of al-Ma’mun’s Mihna
Omar Shaukat, University of Johannesburg: Hermeneutics and/as Politics: Defending the Qur’an (and Muslims) against the ‘Scandal’ of Abrogation
SherAli Tareen, Franklin and Marshall College: Translating the Qur’an as a Manifesto for Revolution: ‘Ubaydullah Sindhi’s Qur’ani Shu’ur-i Inqilab
Alexander Abbasi, University of Johannesburg: Reciting the Revolution: Dr Ali Shariati’s Liberationist Approach to the Qur’an
Rahel Fischbach, Georgetown University: Rereading the Qur’an – Challenging Traditional Authority: Political Implications of Contemporary Qur’an Scholarship
Abdullahi An-Naim, Emory University, Respondent
Qur’anic Studies: Methodology and Hermeneutics
Roundtable Discussion: The Current State of Qur’anic Studies and Its Future
Saturday 21 November
4:00-6:00 p.m.
Room: M105 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Farid Esack, University of Johannesburg, Chair
Kecia Ali, Boston University
Herbert Berg, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Joseph Lumbard, Brandeis University
Yusuf Rahman, Ushuluddin and Graduate School UIN Jakarta
Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford
Devin Stewart, Emory University
Shawkat Toorawa, Cornell University
The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition I
Joint Session with Biblia Arabica: The Bible in Arabic among Jews, Christians, and Muslims
Saturday 21 November
4:00-6:30 p.m.
Room: L508 (Lobby Level) – Marriott
Meira Polliack, Tel Aviv University, Presiding
Josey Bridges Snyder, Emory University: Selective Memory: Lot’s wife in the Qur’an and Later Islamic Interpretation
Andrew Geist, University of Notre Dame: A Loan to God: Wealth, Charity, and Usury in the Qur’an
Ilana Sasson, Sacred Heart University: Who wrote the Book of Proverbs? A Medieval Karaite Approach
Yousef Casewit, American University of Sharjah: Biblical Proof-Texts in the Qur’anic Exegesis of Ibn Barrajan of Seville (d. 536/1141)
Roy Michael McCoy III, University of Oxford: “Do not trust the people of the Book, but do not disbelieve them”: Suspending Judgment on the Four Canonical Gospels in al-Biqaʿi’s Tafsir
IQSA Graduate Student Reception
Saturday 21 November
6:30-8:00 p.m.
Room: Crystal A-F (Level 1) – Hilton
The Qur’an and Late Antiquity
Joint session with Religious World of Late Antiquity
Violence and Belief in the Qur’anic Milieu
Sunday 22 November
9:00-11:30 a.m.
Room: M105 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Ra’anan Boustan, University of California, Los Angeles, Presiding
Christine Luckritz Marquis, Union Presbyterian Seminary: Violence and Community in Yemen
Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford: Militancy in the Medinan Qur’an
Michael Pregill, Boston University: Scriptural Virtuosity and the Qur’an’s Imperial Context
IQSA Business Meeting – All IQSA members should attend
Sunday 22 November
11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Room: M105 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Perspectives on the Qur’anic Corpus
Surat al-Baqarah (Q. 2)
Sunday 22 November
1:00-3:00 p.m.
Room: M105 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Cornell University: Rhyme and Soundscape in Surat al-Baqarah
Marianna Klar, SOAS University of London: Structural Seams in Surat al-Baqarah
Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania: Law and Literary Form in Surat al-Baqarah, Considered with Reference to Other Long Medinan Suras
Hamza M. Zafer, University of Washington: The Ummah Pericope (Q. 2:104-123)
Mehdi Azaiez, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Respondent
The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition II
Sunday 22 November
1:00-3:30 p.m.
Room: M103 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Gabriel S. Reynolds, University of Notre Dame: Noah’s Lost Son
George Archer, Georgetown University: And on the Seventh Day, He Sat Down: The Qur’an, the Sabbath, and the Throne of God
Holger Zellentin, University of Nottingham: Repetition, Structure, and Meaning in the Talmud and in the Qur’an
Thomas Hoffmann, University of Copenhagen: “In God’s Way”: A Path-Breaking Metaphor in the Qur’an and its Biblical Genealogies
The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition III
Sunday 22 November
4:00-6:30 p.m.
Room: M103 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Zohar Hadromi-Allouche, University of Aberdeen: Eve and Sons: Ambivalent Motherhood
Andrew O’Connor, University of Notre Dame: Qur’anic Covenant Reconsidered: Mīthāq and ‘Ahd in Polemical Context
Maria Rodriguez: What’s in a “Word”?: Kalam/kalima and rhema/logos as Expressions of God’s Word in Q. 3 and the Gospel of Luke
Shari Lowin, Stonehill College: The Son of Noah and the Daughter Who Flew Away: Did the Qur’an Inspire a Midrash?
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Perspectives on the Qur’anic Corpus
Themes and Rhetorical Tools in the Qur’an
Monday 23 November
1:00-3:30 p.m.
Room: M105 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Jessica Sylvan Mutter, University of Chicago: Iltifat and Narrative Voice in the Qur’an
Mohsen Goudarzi, Harvard University: A Tale of Two Kitabs
Leyla Ozgur, University of California, Los Angeles: Ibrahim Seeking Forgiveness for His Father: Faith and Family in the Qur’an
Devin Stewart, Emory University: Challenges and Taunts: Notes on the Functions of Cognate Paronomasia in the Qur’an
Khalid Yahya Blankinship, Temple University: The Rhetorical Theory of Tafsir of Najm al-Din al-Tufi (657-716/1259-1316)
Discussion (15 min.)
The Qur’an: Manuscripts and Material Culture
Monday 23 November
1:00-3:30 p.m.
Room: M104 (Marquis Level) – Marriott
Keith Small, University of Oxford: A Parchment Discovery From the Stacks: A 10th-Century Qur’an Fragment with a Pious Attribution
Alba Fedeli, University of Birmingham: Traces of Reading in the Writing of early Qur’anic Manuscripts
Luke Treadwell, University of Oxford: Qur’anic Usage on Coins in the Early Islamic World: Basic Truths and Polemical Declarations
Ghali Zuhur-Adi, University of Edinburghi: The Qur’an in the Light of Prosopography