Exegesis of the Qur'an

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This interactive graduate seminar presents an introduction to the corpus of Sunni Islamic Tafsir from the ninth to the 20th century. 1.) The seminar begins with a brief introduction to the classical Islamic doctrine of the nature of the Qur'an; historical modes of interpretation and principles of exegesis; and some medieval and modern controversies regarding the Qur'an's history, nature, and authority. 2.) The main authors of the Sunni Qur'anic Tafsir literature are identified; in this segment, each student (or a study group of several students) chooses a specific _mufassir_ for in-depth analysis of this exegete's biography, work, socio-political setting and intellectual/theological background and methodology. 3.) The seminar focuses on several Qur'anic sociopolitical concepts (such as _qiwama_ and _shura_) with the aim to introduce the students to patterns of continuity and change in Qur'anic hermeneutics on these issues over time. The students locate the relevant passages in the many volumes of Tafsir works (on four hour reserve at Lauinger Library); thereafter copies of the text are distributed for reading/preparation of text by all seminar participants. 4.) Each seminar session has three parts: one, student presentation(s) on a _mufassir_ and the theological tradition to which he belonged; two, reading and translation of textual samples; reading is with full _i'rab_ to give all students the opportunity to read the texts in the culturally appropriate manner; three, the last segment of every seminar is dedicated to further exploration of the secondary literature on Qur'anic matters or other, relevant legal and historical issues.