Quran Archives - Traditional Hikma

Dissertation: The Symbolic Function of Angels in the Qurʾān and Sufi Literature By Louise Gallorini

This dissertation is a literary study tracing the roles and functions of angels as characters in the Quranic text and pre-Mongol Sufi literature (7th-12th century CE). The first chapter explores the mythopoeic process related to angels in the Quranic text, listing their roles and functions, and how they illustrate one of the main cosmological shifts between pre-islamic belief systems and the islamic belief system. The second chapter traces the evolution of these roles and functions in the tafsīr genre, more specifically the Sufi commentary subgenre, with the examples of commentaries by al-Tustarī (d. 283/896) al-Sulamī (d.412/1021), al-Qushayrī (d.465/1072), Ibn Barrajān (d. 536/1141) and Rūzbihān Baqlī (d.606/1209). Out of these arise two additional functions, not found in the Qurʾān, illustrating an evolution in time in the religious world-view. The third and fourth chapters explores these functions in two different examples of Sufi literature of the same period, and which could be considered as “Quranic commentaries” in a general sense. The third chapter thus explores the presence and functions of angels in Sufi miʿrāj narratives, or tales of celestial ascensions ascribed to Sufi masters, with the two main examples of Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī (d. 261/874-5 or 234/848-9) and Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 645/1248). The fourth chapter focuses on angels as they appear in the “Meccan Openings” (al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya) by Ibn ʿArabī. Angels as characters appear thus to embody a specific multi-layered symbolic function in Sufi texts, whereby they become multivalent characters or signs, whether present or absent from the narrative, signifiers for the readers, both inside and outside the text

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“Two Types of Inner-Qur’anic Interpretation”, in: Exegetical Crossroads: Understanding Scripture in Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Pre-Modern Orient, edited by Georges Tamer et al., Berlin: De Gruyter 2018, pp. 253–288

The conference from which the present volume has emerged was entitled Exegetical Crossroads. Unlike other contributions to this book, mine will not examine intersections between post-Biblical and post-Qur’ānic scriptural interpretation in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity; rather, I shall focus on processes of interpretive engagement with Qur’ānic passages that are traceable within the Qur’ān it- self. Yet this, too, will afford us the opportunity to inspect a crossroads of sorts: for one of the respects in which the Qur’ān intersects with Biblical literature is precisely insofar as it contains intriguing cases of scrip-tural self-interpretation. Since that phenomenon is much better researched with regard to the Bible, my main objective here is to present some of the ways in which it manifests itself in the Islamic scripture.² In doing so, I shall draw attention to some salient similarities and differences between the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’ān. My interest is squarely in the Qur’ān, however; I do not pretend to even remotely offer anything resembling a full account of inner-Biblical interpretation

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Cosmos as Revelation’: Reason, Imagination and the Foundations of Ibn ʿArabī’s Scriptural Hermeneutics

Ibn ʿArabī’s metaphysical framework demonstrates that his hermeneutical approach to the Qurʾan represents a vision of what constitutes objective reality. Such a vision, though rooted in traditional sources, is explicated in a highly theoretical language, and is ultimately predicated on the epistemic modes of unveiling (kashf) and witnessing (mushāhada) as the most certain forms of existential or divine knowledge. This study seeks to characterize Ibn ʿArabī’s hermeneutics in light of his teachings on the intellect (ʿaql) and the faculty of imagination (khayāl). The paper examines the implications of Ibn ʿArabī’s method by employing a comparative reading of verse 44 from Surah al-Isrāʾ in the Futūḥāt al-Makkīyya with the interpretation by the notable Ashʿarite theologian and contemporary of Ibn ʿArabī, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d.606/1210). By situating the discussion within themes of the mainstream exegetical tradition (tafsīr), the assessment further highlights Ibn ʿArabī’s unique and radical contribution to the field of Qurʾanic hermeneutic.

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Commentary on Sūrat al-Mulk: The Study Quran

Seyyed Hossein Nasr supervised the entire Study Quran, including selecting the editorial board and essay authors; editing the translation, commentary, and essays; and overseeing the style and scope of the translation and commentary. Caner K. Dagli wrote the commentary for sūrahs 2–3, 8–9, and 21–28, was the primary translator for sūrahs 2–3, 8–9, and 22–28, and was an editor for the remainder of the translation and commentary; he also conceived and supervised the design of the book. Maria Massi Dakake wrote the commentary for sūrahs 4–7 and 16–19, was the primary translator or sūrahs 4–7, 10–12, and 14–21, and was an editor for the remainder of the translation and commentary. Joseph E. B. Lumbard wrote the commentary for sūrahs 1 and 29–114, was the primary translator for sūrahs 1, 13, and 29–114, and was an editor for the remainder of the translation and commentary. Mohammed Rustom wrote the commentary for sūrahs 10–15 and 20 and contributed to editing other parts of the ommentary and the translation

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Medieval Exegesis The Golden Age of Tafsir

Just as theologians were making bold statements about kalam (theology), claiming that it is the queen of the religious sciences, so Qur’an commentators asserted that tafsir is the most noble of religious sciences

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Scepticism as method in the study of Quranic origins: A review article of Stephen J. Shoemaker, Creating the Qur’an:A Historical-Critical Study (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2022

This paper presents a review article of Creating the Qur’an by Stephen J. Shoemaker, a monograph that is highly critical of Quranic studies as practised in the Western academy today, arguing, among other things, that Islamic studies scholars need to learn from scholarship in other ﬁelds, namely history of religions and biblical studies, and that the Quran as we know it today, in both form and content, is a product of the early eighth century, and was propagated by the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik. The article discusses these claims and puts them in the context of methodological issues concerning the study of early Islam and the origins of the Quran in particular

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Review of Yousef Casewit’s The Divine Names – Arthur Schechter, Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies

Abstract:

The near-total neglect in modern Western scholarship of ʿAfīf al-Dīn Sulaymān b. ʿAlī al-Tilimsānī (d. 690/1291) is as baﬄing as it is regrettable. A proliﬁc mystical author and giﬅed poet, he not only studied with both the leading luminary of later Suﬁsm Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240)and his stepson Ṣadr al-Dīn Qūnawī (d. 673/1274) but was himself the son-in-law of the ﬁrebrand “monist” Suﬁ Ibn Sabʿīn (d. 669/1258). though a fellow student under Qūnawī of the renowned poet Fakhr al-Dīn al-ʿIrāqī (d. 688/1289) as well as other Ibn ʿArabian scholars such as Saʿīd al-Dīn al-Farghānī (d. 699/1300) and Muʿayyad al-Dīn al-Jandī (d. 688/1289), he also studied hadith under Imām al-Nawawī (d. 676/1277). None other than Ibn Taymiyyah (728/1328) lambasted him for disbelief while nevertheless confessing the exceptional quality of his verse. And though hailing from Morocco, he even learned Persian in Konya during the time of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (672/1273) and most likely made his personal acquaintance. Indeed, it seems incomprehensible how a ﬁgure so uniquely positioned in his world as Tilimsānī could have remained without an entire article devoted to him in the Encyclopedia of Islam

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A MANIFESTO on the New Character of the Language of Religion – Necmettin Şahinler Translation: Aslı Yıldırım

Abstract:

I have been thinking about the necessity for a new approach to the language of religion for quite some time now. The term “language,” as it is used here, is not meant to refer to the spoken language that allows us to communicate and understand each other in our daily lives. Rather, it is a language that can have a profound spiritual impact, offering a sense of connection and understanding. In essence, this language serves as a vehicle of truth, enabling individuals to engage with the deeper meanings and nuances of language in a way that transcends mere verbal communication. Given the definition of “the entire earth as a masjid,” it is evident that this language should transcend the limitations of a particular geography, region,
or district. Instead, it should hold a universal character that resonates with all members of the humanity, transcending the boundaries of race, color, and border. If Allah is the “Lord of all the worlds” and sent His last Messenger “as an unequalled
mercy for the worlds,” then the language of this final call/revelation must adhere to a methodology that considers the diverse realities of aforementioned realms. An ideal world can only be established through a “universal language of religion” which would have profound dimensions and should be voluntarily acknowledged by the members of mankind.

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Some Notes on Ibn Arabi’s Correlative Prophetology – The “Veil of Glory”: Perplexity (ḥayra) and Revelation in the Qurʾānic Hermeneutics of Ibn ʿArabīSome Notes on Ibn Arabi’s Correlative Prophetology – Gregory Vandamme

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss Ibn ʿArabī’s view on the nature of the Qur’ānic text, as it appears through its relation to the central notion of “perplexity” (ḥayra). My aim is to show how the Shaykh al-Akbar uses this notion to define the peculiar nature of the Qur’ānic language and its very purpose, and to discuss the epistemological and hermeneutical outcomes stemming from this approach. This will allow us to consider ultimately why he advocates a “literalist” reading of the Qur’ān, as opposed to an “interpretative” approach, precisely in order to preserve its perplexing aspect. After a brief introduction to the notion of ḥayra and its importance in defining both the originality and the continuity between Ibn ʿArabī and the tradition that precedes him, I focus on two passages in which this notion is directly linked to the nature of the Qur’ān. The first is taken from the K. al-Isfār ʿan natāʿij al-asfār (“The Book of Uncovering the Results of the Journeys”), a rather brief writing from Ibn ʿArabī’s youth, and the second from his major work, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya (“The Meccan Conquests”). Both passages illustrate how the Qur’ān, Human Being, and Cosmos are related to each other, and how, in Ibn ʿArabī’s view, this correlation in which they appear inseparable is the object of an “apprehension”—rather than a “comprehension”—wherein the experience of ḥayra brought by Revelation is to play a key role.

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Decolonizing Quranic Studies – Joseph E. B. Lumbard

Abstract:

The legacy of colonialism continues to inﬂuence the analysis of the Quran in the Euro-American academy. While Muslim lands are no longer directly colonized, intellectual colonialism continues to prevail in the privileging of Eurocentric systems of knowledge production to the detriment and even exclusion of modes of analysis that developed in the Islamic world for over a thousand years. This form of intellectual hegemony often results in a multifaceted epistemological reductionism that denies efﬁcacy to the analytical tools developed by the classical Islamic tradition. The presumed intellectual superiority of Euro-American analytical modes has become a constitutive and persistent feature of Quranic Studies, inﬂuencing all aspects of the ﬁeld. Its persistence prevents some scholars from encountering, let alone employing, the analytical tools of the classical Islamic tradition and presents obstacles to a broader discourse in the international community of Quranic Studies scholars. Acknowledging the obstacles to which the coloniality of knowledge has given rise

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