Author
Seyfeddin Kara is Assistant Professor of Shi’i Studies and Relations between Islamic Schools of Thought Holder of Imam Ali Chair for Shi’i Studies and Dialogue among Islamic Legal Schools. Professor Kara was born and raised in Turkey and studied in seminaries in Syria, Iran and the UK. He is an interdisciplinary researcher and his academic interests focus on both the early history of Islam and contemporary issues pertaining to Islam and Muslims. He has published journal articles in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, The Muslim World and Journal of Shi’a Islamic Studies and is currently working on a monograph about the Shiʿi approach to the textual history of the Qur’an. Prior to joining Hartford Seminary, Seyfeddin worked as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Durham, UK.
Before pursuing a career in academia, he worked at London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission for several years and submitted reports to the various United Nations treaty bodies. He also attended meetings at the UN Human Rights Council, and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is a fellow of UK Higher Education Academy. Most of his works are available at https://durham.academia.edu/SeyfeddinKara.
Professor Kara is the second holder of the Imam Ali Chair in Shi’i Studies and Dialogue among Islamic Legal Schools, the only chair of its kind in North America. (Source: https://www.hartsem.edu/faculty/seyfeddin-kara/)
Presentation
The history of the text of the Qur’an has been a longstanding subject of interest within the field of Islamic Studies, but the debate has so far been focused on the Sunni traditions about the codices of Caliphs Abū Bakr and ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān. Little to no attention has been given to the traditions on ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib’s collection of the Qur’an.
This book examines both Shiʿi and Sunni traditions on the issue, aiming to date them back to the earliest possible date and, if possible, verify their authenticity.
To achieve this, the traditions are examined using Harald Motzki’s isnād-cum-matn method, which is recognised as an efficient tool in dating the early Islamic traditions and involves analysis of both matn (text) and isnād (chain of trans-mission) with an emphasis on finding a correlation between the two.
Content
ABSTRACT
STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS DEDICATION INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
WESTERN SCHOLARSHIP AND THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE QUR’AN: A SHORT HISTORY OF QUR’ANIC STUDIES IN THE WEST
Discovering the biblical roots of the Qur’an Challenging the Muslim narrations
Syriac influence on the Qur’an
The Wansbrough school
Decoding Wansbrough
’Muslim conspiracy’ against the Qur’an
CHAPTER TWO
MUSLIM RESPONSE TO THE CRITICISMS OF THE TEXTUAL HISTORY OF THE QUR’AN Convincing ’non-Believers’ of the authenticity of the Qur’an: The traditional Muslim approach to the
history of the text
Arguing historicity of the Qur’an Use of archaeological data
CHAPTER THREE
SHI’I APPROACH TO THE HISTORY OF THE COLLECTION OF THE QUR’AN Denial of Judeo-Christian influence on the Qur’anThe issue of tahrif
’Alī’s codex in the earliest Shi’i sources
The collection of the Qur’an at the time of the Prophet
CHAPTER FOUR
INTRODUCTION TO ISNāD-CUM-MATN METHODOLOGY
The isnād-cum-matn method in the assessment of the Sunni traditions regarding the collection of the Qur’an
Employment of the isnād-cum-matn method on fewer variant traditions Criticism of the method
CHAPTER FIVE
TRADITIONS ATTRIBUTED TO MUHAMMAD AL-BāQIR
Group one variants
Isnād analysis:
Investigating the identity of the reporter An analysis of al-Kāfī’s isnād patterns Matn analysis:
Group two variants Isnād analysis: Matn analysis:
Group three variants Isnād analysis: Matn analysis:
CHAPTER SIX
TRADITIONS ATTRIBUTED TO ’ALī B. ABī TāLIB: Ahmad b. Fāris’s version (Ah1): Isnād analysis:
A Brief Study of the Succession Crisis
Matn analysis:
CHAPTER SEVEN
TRADITIONS ATTRIBUTED TO JA’FAR AL-SāDIQ: Isnād analysis:
Matn analysis:
CHAPTER EIGHT
TRADITIONS ATTRIBUTED TO IBN SīRīN: Isnād analysis:
Matn analysis:
MISCELLANEOUS CONCLUSION
(Note : Merci à Sylvain Camilleri d’avoir signalé cet ouvrage)