The Qur’an and the Aesthetics of Premodern Arabic Prose

The Qur’an and the Aesthetics of Premodern Arabic Prose
Author: Sarah R. bin Tyeer
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2016-09-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1137598751

This book approaches the Qur’an as a primary source for delineating the definition of ugliness, and by extension beauty, and in turn establishing meaningful tools and terms for literary criticism within the discipline of classical Arabic literature (adab). Focusing on the aesthetic dimension of the Qur’an, this methodology opens up new horizons for reading adab by reading the tradition from within the tradition and thereby examining issues of “decontextualisation” and the “untranslatable.” This approach, in turn, invites Comparatists, as well as Arabists, to consider other means and perspectives for approaching adab besides the Bakhtinian carnival. Applying this critical strategy to literary works as diverse as One Thousand and One Nights and The Epistle of Forgiveness, Sarah R. bin Tyeer aims to prove two major points: how Bakhtin’s aesthetics is anachronistic and therefore theoretically inappropriate when applied to certain literary works and how ultimately this literary methodology is sometimes used as a proxy for ungrounded and, sometimes, unfair arguments by other scholars. Foreword by Angelika Neuwirth, Professor of Quranic studies, Freie University, Berlin, Germany.

Arabic Poetics

Arabic Poetics
Author: Lara Harb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2020-05-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108808719

What makes language beautiful? Arabic Poetics offers an answer to what this pertinent question looked like at the height of the Islamic civilization. In this novel argument, Lara Harb suggests that literary quality depended on the ability of linguistic expression to produce an experience of discovery and wonder in the listener. Analyzing theories of how rhetorical figures, simile, metaphor, and sentence construction are able to achieve this effect of wonder, Harb shows how this aesthetic theory, first articulated at the turn of the eleventh century CE, represented a major paradigm shift from earlier Arabic criticism which based its judgement on criteria of truthfulness and naturalness. In doing so, this study poses a major challenge to the misconception in modern scholarship that Arabic criticism was 'traditionalist' or 'static', exposing an elegant widespread conceptual framework of literary beauty in the post-eleventh-century Islamicate world which is central to poetic criticism, the interpretation of Aristotle's Poetics in Arabic philosophy and the rationale underlying discussions about the inimitability of the Quran.

The Beloved in Middle Eastern Literatures

The Beloved in Middle Eastern Literatures
Author: Alireza Korangy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2017-05-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1786732262

In the long literary history of the Middle East, the notion of 'the beloved' has been a central trope in both the poetry and prose of the region. This book explores the concept of the beloved in a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary manner, revealing how shared ideas on the subject supersede geographical and temporal boundaries, and ideas of nationhood. The book considers the beloved in its classical, modern and postmodern manifestations, taking into account the different sexual orientations and forms of desire expressed. From the pre-Islamic 'Udhri (romantic unrequited love), to the erotic same-sex love in thirteenth century poetry and prose, the divine Sufi reflections on the topic, and post-revolutionary love encounters in Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, The Beloved in Middle Eastern Literatures connects the affective and cultural with the political and the obscene. In focusing on the diverse manifestations of love and tropes of the lover/beloved binary, this book is unique in foregrounding what is often regarded as a 'taboo subject' in the region. The multi-faceted outlook reveals the variety of philological, philosophical, poetic and literary forms that treat this significant motif.

Arabic Poetics

Arabic Poetics
Author: Lara Harb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2020-05-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108490212

Revealing how an aesthetic of wonder underlies classical Arabic treatments of poetry, the Quran, and Aristotelian poetics, this fresh look at the question of literary quality, using the framework of aesthetic theory, is essential reading for scholars and students of Arabic literature, Islamic Studies, literary theory and Islamic art history.

Approaches to the Study of Pre-Modern Arabic Anthologies

Approaches to the Study of Pre-Modern Arabic Anthologies
Author: Nadia Maria El Cheikh
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2021-03-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 900445909X

The aim of this volume is to raise and discuss questions about the different approaches to the study of pre-modern Arabic anthologies from the perspectives of philology, religion, history, geography, and literature.

The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies

The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies
Author: Mustafa Shah
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 896
Release: 2020-04-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 019108140X

The Qur'an is the foundational sacred text of the Islamic faith. Traditionally revered as the literal word of God, its pronouncements and discussions form the bedrock of Islamic beliefs and teachings. Notwithstanding its religious pre-eminence and the fact that it is the sacred text for over one billion of the world's Muslims, the Qur'an is also considered to be the matchless masterpiece of the Arabic language. Its historical impact as a text can be discerned in all aspects of the heritage of the Arabic literary tradition. Over recent decades, academic engagement with the Qur'an has produced an impressive array of scholarship, ranging from detailed studies of the text's unique language, style and structure, to meticulous surveys of its contents, concepts and historical contexts. The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies is an essential reference and starting point for those with an academic interest in the Qur'an. It offers not only detailed reviews of influential subjects in the field, but also a critical overview of developments in the research discourse. It explores the tradition of Qur'anic exegesis and hermeneutics, making it a comprehensive academic resource for the study of the Qur'an. No single volume devoted to such a broad academic survey of the state of the field currently exists.

The Qur’an: A Guidebook

The Qur’an: A Guidebook
Author: Roberto Tottoli
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2023-02-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110771322

The Qur’an: A Guidebook is an updated English version of the work appeared in Italian (Rome 2021) Leggere e studiare il Corano which deals with the contents of the Qur’an, the style and formal features of the text, the history and fixation of it and an poutline of the reception in Islamic literature. The aim of the work is to give a reader a description of what he/she can find in the Islamic holy text and the state of the critical debates on all the topics dealt with, focusing mainly on the growing scholarly literature which appeared in the last 30 years. As such, the work is unique in combining the aim to give comprehensive information on the topic and, at the same, time, reconstruct the critical debate in a balanced outline also emphasizing confessional approaches and the dynamics in the study of the Qur’an. There is nothing similar in contemporary scholarship and the book is a handbook for students and scholars of Islam but also for readers in religious studies who need to know how the main questions related to the Islamic text have been discussed in recent scholarship.

The Miraculous Language of the Qur'an: Evidence of Divine Origin

The Miraculous Language of the Qur'an: Evidence of Divine Origin
Author: Bassam Saeh
Publisher: International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2015-01-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

This study illustrates why the language of the Qur'an is miraculous, unique, and evidence of divine authority. The author compares the language of the Qur'an with the language of pre-Islamic poetry, the Prophet's words (hadith), and the language of the Arabs both past and present, to demonstrate that although the Qur'an was revealed in Arabic it was at the same time an Arabic which was entirely new. Original and early Muslim audiences viewed this as miraculous and responded to the Qur'an's words, sounds, rhythms, etc. in a manner consistent with a deeper appreciation of its beauty and majesty which modern ears, trained by familiarity, and despite being surrounded by all manner of dictionaries and studies, are at a loss to capture. The author attempts to remove this veil and present the Qur'an to readers as if hearing it for the first time, to bring to life some of this wonder. In doing so he guides readers to appreciate the beauty of the Qur'an, to become more immersed in it, and to have a clearer understanding of its structure and flow. Devoting special attention to Surah Al Muddaththir, to underpin his analysis, Saeh thus brings the Revelation to life, to demonstrate that each surah has distinct features and characteristics that make it stand out uniquely within the design and sweep of the whole.

God is Beautiful

God is Beautiful
Author: Navid Kermani
Publisher: Polity
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-02-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780745651675

The melodious recitation of the Quran is a fundamental aesthetic experience for Muslims, and the start of a compelling journey of ideas. In this important new book, the prominent German writer and Islamic scholar Navid Kermani considers the manner in which the Quran has been perceived, apprehended and experienced by its recipients from the time of the Prophet to the present day. Drawing on a wide range of Muslim sources, from historians, theologians and philosophers to mystics and literary scholars, Kermani provides a close reading of the nature of this powerful text. He proceeds to analyze ancient and modern testimonies about the impact of Quranic language from a variety of angles. Although people have always reflected on the reception of texts, images and sounds that they find beautiful or moving, Kermani explains that Islam provides a particularly striking example of the close correlation, grounded in a common origin, between art and religion, revelation and poetry, and religious and aesthetic experience. This major new book will enhance the dialogue between Islam and the West and will appeal to students and scholars of Islam and comparative religion, as well as to a wider readership interested in Islam and the Quran.

Women and Gender in the Qur'an

Women and Gender in the Qur'an
Author: Celene Ibrahim
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2020
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0190063815

Stories related to gendered social relations permeate the Qur'an, and nearly three hundred verses involve specific women or girls. These stories weave together theology and ethics to reinforce central Qur'anic ideas regarding submission to God and moral accountability. Women and Gender in the Qur'an outlines how women and girls - old, young, barren, fertile, chaste, profligate, reproachable, and saintly-enter Qur'anic sacred history and advance the Qur'an'soverarching didactic aims.