Introduction to The Qur'an

by Draz, M. A.

• ISBN13: 9781848856899
• ISBN10: 184885689X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-15
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris

Summary

Professor Abdel Haleem is Professor of Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and Director of its Centre of Islamic Studies, at the University of London. He has previously taught at the Universities of Cambridge and Cairo and is the author of Understanding the Qur'an: Themes and Styles (I.B.Tauris 1999). In this book the distinguished Islamic scholar M.A. Draz, one of the Muslim world's most erudite authorities of this century, sets out the fundamental principles of the Qur'an and its much misunderstood and misquoted teachings on gender and women, polygamy, war, faith, Judaism, Christianity and the many other issues on which the Qur'an pronounces. 'This valuable introduction to the study of the Qur'an by a prominent Azhar scholar provides a rare glimpse of applying modern textual-historical methodology to the study of Muslim scriptures. M. A. Draz understood the challenges of this critical methodology and attempted to respond to some of the persisting questions about the reliability of the Muslim scriptures and its misapprehended message of peace.' - Abdulaziz Sachedina, Frances Myers Ball Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia.

Author Biography

M. A. Draz obtained his doctorate at the Sorbonne in Paris before returning to Cairo, where he became Professor of Islamic Studies at Al Azhar University. By the time of his death, in 1958, he had established himself as one of the world's leading Islamic scholars. His magnum opus, The Moral Word of the Qur'an (2008), is also published by I.B. Tauris.

Table of Contents

Foreword * Preface * Background History * The Early Life of the Prophet * The Composition of the Revealed Text * How the Qur’anic Doctrine was Announced to the World * The Qu’ran from its Three Main Aspects: Religion, Morality and Literature * Truth, or the Religious Element * Goodness, or the Moral Element * Beauty, or the Literary Element * The Origin of the Qu’ran * Meccan Sources of the Qu’ran * Medinan Sources of the Qu’ran * Conclusion * Notes * Index