Approaches to the Qur'an

In recent years, the study of the Qur'an and its interpretation has expanded to incorporate insights gained from historical, biblical, literary and critical studies. A variety of approaches to the Qur'an and the Muslim exegetical tradition are currently available. Approaches to the Qur'an consists of thirteen essays by leading scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, in the fields of qur'anic studies and Islamic studies. Taken together, they offer a sample of the aims, methods and topics of enquiry now being pursued. Each study has a full critical apparatus, and the book includes a consolidated bibliography which will be of great value to students and specialists.

G. R. Hawting is Senior Lecturer in the History of the Middle East and Head of the Department of Religious Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London., Abdul-Kader A. Shareef is a Professor at the University of Dar-es-Salaam and Ambassador of the Republic of Tanzania in Riyadh.

Part I Aspects of the style and content of the Qur'?n; Chapter 1 Images and metaphors in the introductory sections of the Makkan s?ras, Angelika Neuwirth; Chapter 2 The Quranic presentation of the Joseph story, A. H. Johns; Chapter 3 Context and internal relationships: keys to quranic exegesis, M.A.S. Abdel Haleem; Part II Aspects of the traditional and modern exegesis of the Qur'?n; Chapter 4 Tafs?r from ?abar? to Ibn Kath?r, Norman Calder; Chapter 5 Exegesis and ?ad?th, Uri Rubin; Chapter 6 An analytical survey of al-?abar?'s exegesis of the cultural symbolic construct of fitna, Abdulkader Tayob; Chapter 7 Akhb?r? Sh?'? approaches to tafs?r, B. Todd Lawson; Chapter 8 The s?ra as a unity, Mustansir Mir; Chapter 9 Mu?ammad 'Izzat Darwaza's principles of modern exegesis, Ismail K. Poonawala; Part III The Qur'?n and its exegesis in a wider context; Chapter 10 Interpreting the Bible through the Qur'?n, Andrew Rippin; Chapter 11 Two citations of the Qur'?n in 'historical' sources for early Islam, G. R. Hawting; Chapter 12 Law and exegesis, John Burton; Chapter 13 The impact of the Qur'?n on the epistolography of 'Abd al-?am?d, Wad?d al-Q???;