Loop (Jan) & Afif (Naima) & Wien (Weltmuseum) Eds., The European Qurʾān : Encounters with the Holy Text of Islam from the Ninth to the Twentieth Century, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2024, 128 p. isbn 9783689241827

Presentation

What role does the Holy Scripture of Islam, the Qurʾān, play in the history of European thought? How has it been read and understood in Europe since the first translations in the Middle Ages? The Qurʾān and Islam are traditionally seen as an antithesis to Europe’s self-narrative of cultural achievements: the Enlightenment, secularization, and religious tolerance. Some claim that Islam in general and the Qurʾān in particular are alien to Europe’s culture and political institutions. This publication endeavours to counter this popular belief and to tell a different story by documenting the role the Qurʾān has played in the formation of culture, religion, scholarship, and politics in Europe.

Content

Frontmatter
Contents

Preface
Jonathan Fine

The Qurʾān in European History and Culture: an Introduction
Jan Loop and Naima Afif

The Latin Tradition of the Qurʾān
John Tolan

Muslim Minorities in Iberia and Central Europe
Mercedes García-Arenal and Katarzyna K. Starczewska

The Qurʾān as Turkish Booty (Türkenbeute)
Paul Babinski

The Qurʾān and Christian Polemics in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century
Asaph Ben-Tov

Printing the Qurʾān
Roberto Tottoli

The Qurʾān and European Literature: a Romantic Discovery
Emmanuelle Stefanidis

Colonialism and the Qurʾān
Omar Nasr