Course description

The Qurʾānic text occupies a central place in the Islamic intellectual and faith tradition. Revered by more than one billion people, it is considered by Muslims as the unmitigated utterance of God, revealed to the prophet Muhammad. As Scripture, the text and its exegesis have prompted numerous works of theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, linguistics and politics in the Muslim world and beyond, spanning back fourteen centuries.

This course is an introduction to the Qurʾān organised into four general sections:

• The first section will explore the quranic structure, its major themes, its narratives, its discourse strategies.

• The second section will examine the history of the text, its compilation, its collection and redaction.

• The third section will introduce to classical and modern Muslims exegesis but also quranic translations
and problems associated with it.

• The final section will be devoted to the influence of the Qurʾān on literary and material culture.