Michael W. Dols and Diana E. Immisch
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202219
- eISBN:
- 9780191675218
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202219.003.0017
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
In dealing with the concept of insanity in medieval Islamic society several subtopics also emerge such as, what constitutes sanity? A major objective of this study has been to place the subject in ...
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In dealing with the concept of insanity in medieval Islamic society several subtopics also emerge such as, what constitutes sanity? A major objective of this study has been to place the subject in its historical context and not to present insanity as a disembodied medical, religious, or legal notion. Because of the limitations of the medieval evidence, this goal has not always been fully achieved, but, in general, insanity has been presented as a significant aspect of Islamic social history. Insanity as a medical concept was closely related to the development of Islamic sciences and institutions; religious healing was intimately associated with the growth of Muslim saints; and the madman as holy fool was a vivid expression of the evolution of Muslim religiosity.Less
In dealing with the concept of insanity in medieval Islamic society several subtopics also emerge such as, what constitutes sanity? A major objective of this study has been to place the subject in its historical context and not to present insanity as a disembodied medical, religious, or legal notion. Because of the limitations of the medieval evidence, this goal has not always been fully achieved, but, in general, insanity has been presented as a significant aspect of Islamic social history. Insanity as a medical concept was closely related to the development of Islamic sciences and institutions; religious healing was intimately associated with the growth of Muslim saints; and the madman as holy fool was a vivid expression of the evolution of Muslim religiosity.
Ellen Anne McLarney
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691158488
- eISBN:
- 9781400866441
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691158488.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This chapter discusses Bint al-Shatiʾ's Omdurman lecture “The Arab Literary Woman Yesterday and Today,” where she reflects at length on women's literary and intellectual participation in public life. ...
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This chapter discusses Bint al-Shatiʾ's Omdurman lecture “The Arab Literary Woman Yesterday and Today,” where she reflects at length on women's literary and intellectual participation in public life. She also talks about (romantic) affect and an instinct for the divine—two concepts, wijdān and fiṭra, that she weaves together. She connects affect to the “law of instinct and the model (the sunna) of nature”—what has been fertile ground, she declares, for woman>'s “literary existence” in Arab and Islamic history. Fiṭra is profoundly gendered in the writings analyzed in this book.Less
This chapter discusses Bint al-Shatiʾ's Omdurman lecture “The Arab Literary Woman Yesterday and Today,” where she reflects at length on women's literary and intellectual participation in public life. She also talks about (romantic) affect and an instinct for the divine—two concepts, wijdān and fiṭra, that she weaves together. She connects affect to the “law of instinct and the model (the sunna) of nature”—what has been fertile ground, she declares, for woman>'s “literary existence” in Arab and Islamic history. Fiṭra is profoundly gendered in the writings analyzed in this book.
Jane Dammen McAuliffe
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195137279
- eISBN:
- 9780199849482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137279.003.0029
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Most 20th-century surveys of Qurʼānic exegesis, whether produced in Muslim or non-Muslim academic environments, remain remarkably uniform. Several widely available texts demonstrate this symmetry, ...
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Most 20th-century surveys of Qurʼānic exegesis, whether produced in Muslim or non-Muslim academic environments, remain remarkably uniform. Several widely available texts demonstrate this symmetry, circumscribing the subject field of tafsīr within well-defined parameters. A few volumes can serve as representative examples. Ignaz Goldziher's Die Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung, first published in 1920, has held its place as the standard Western survey of Islamic scriptural exegesis. In 1381/1961, Muhammad Husayn al-Dhahabī published his al-Tafsīr wa-l-mufassirūn (“Commentary and Commentators”), a work that quickly became the standard secondary source for contemporary tafsīr studies throughout the Muslim world. Does the exegetical activity to be found in other forms of Islamic literature simply echo that of the musalsal commentary traditionTafsīr as a genre and tafsīr as an intellectual exercise of the Muslim religious imagination are not necessarily coterminous categories? Despite the countless shelves of published commentaries and the many collections of tafsīr manuscripts that await editing, medieval exegesis of the Qurʼān cannot be caught and contained within these boundaries.Less
Most 20th-century surveys of Qurʼānic exegesis, whether produced in Muslim or non-Muslim academic environments, remain remarkably uniform. Several widely available texts demonstrate this symmetry, circumscribing the subject field of tafsīr within well-defined parameters. A few volumes can serve as representative examples. Ignaz Goldziher's Die Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung, first published in 1920, has held its place as the standard Western survey of Islamic scriptural exegesis. In 1381/1961, Muhammad Husayn al-Dhahabī published his al-Tafsīr wa-l-mufassirūn (“Commentary and Commentators”), a work that quickly became the standard secondary source for contemporary tafsīr studies throughout the Muslim world. Does the exegetical activity to be found in other forms of Islamic literature simply echo that of the musalsal commentary traditionTafsīr as a genre and tafsīr as an intellectual exercise of the Muslim religious imagination are not necessarily coterminous categories? Despite the countless shelves of published commentaries and the many collections of tafsīr manuscripts that await editing, medieval exegesis of the Qurʼān cannot be caught and contained within these boundaries.
Jane Dammen McAuliffe
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195137279
- eISBN:
- 9780199849482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137279.003.0020
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Commentary on the Qurʼān, as both activity and achievement, has been a remarkably stable enterprise over the long centuries of its production. The tradition of Qurʼānic exegesis continues to occupy a ...
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Commentary on the Qurʼān, as both activity and achievement, has been a remarkably stable enterprise over the long centuries of its production. The tradition of Qurʼānic exegesis continues to occupy a prominent place within contemporary Muslim intellectual life. In general, the extant commentaries on the Qurʼān represent a large and sustained range of literary output from at least the 9th to the 12th centuries with certain seminal works that predate even that span. The Qurʼān was so central to the intellectual life of medieval Islam that its verses and their interpretation appear in virtually all forms of Islamic literature. This chapter presents an overview of medieval interpretation of the Qurʼān, the chronology and classification of Qurʼānic commentary, varieties of exegetical material, questions posed by the commentators of the Qurʼān (for example, abrogation and applicability), and the continuity of Qurʼānic commentary.Less
Commentary on the Qurʼān, as both activity and achievement, has been a remarkably stable enterprise over the long centuries of its production. The tradition of Qurʼānic exegesis continues to occupy a prominent place within contemporary Muslim intellectual life. In general, the extant commentaries on the Qurʼān represent a large and sustained range of literary output from at least the 9th to the 12th centuries with certain seminal works that predate even that span. The Qurʼān was so central to the intellectual life of medieval Islam that its verses and their interpretation appear in virtually all forms of Islamic literature. This chapter presents an overview of medieval interpretation of the Qurʼān, the chronology and classification of Qurʼānic commentary, varieties of exegetical material, questions posed by the commentators of the Qurʼān (for example, abrogation and applicability), and the continuity of Qurʼānic commentary.
Agnès Nilüfer Kefeli
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452314
- eISBN:
- 9780801454776
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452314.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This chapter analyzes the response of Tatar modernists to the success of Eastern Orthodox missionaries in the Kräshen milieu and their criticisms of popular Islamic literature. To reaffirm the ...
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This chapter analyzes the response of Tatar modernists to the success of Eastern Orthodox missionaries in the Kräshen milieu and their criticisms of popular Islamic literature. To reaffirm the supremacy of Christianity, Russian missionaries mocked the content of ancient religious texts to destroy their influence and turn Kräshens into martyrs and vectors of Christianity. Modernist Tatars, however, did not abolish this ancient literature but recalled its colorful images to create a national Tatar identity, which embraced the baptized apostates as Muslim martyrs of the faith. Reformist pedagogues subjected their popular tradition to an internal process of desacralization and historicization even as they defended it from missionary criticism. They adopted a common strategy: they popularized the teachings of Tatar theologians in textbooks by desacralizing the role of prophets, making Muhammad's sayings relevant to modern times, and attributing new meanings to popular Sufi metaphors.Less
This chapter analyzes the response of Tatar modernists to the success of Eastern Orthodox missionaries in the Kräshen milieu and their criticisms of popular Islamic literature. To reaffirm the supremacy of Christianity, Russian missionaries mocked the content of ancient religious texts to destroy their influence and turn Kräshens into martyrs and vectors of Christianity. Modernist Tatars, however, did not abolish this ancient literature but recalled its colorful images to create a national Tatar identity, which embraced the baptized apostates as Muslim martyrs of the faith. Reformist pedagogues subjected their popular tradition to an internal process of desacralization and historicization even as they defended it from missionary criticism. They adopted a common strategy: they popularized the teachings of Tatar theologians in textbooks by desacralizing the role of prophets, making Muhammad's sayings relevant to modern times, and attributing new meanings to popular Sufi metaphors.
Ahmed El Shamsy
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691174563
- eISBN:
- 9780691201245
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691174563.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the transformation of the Arabo-Islamic intellectual tradition that accompanied the adoption of printing in the Middle East. It brings to light ...
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This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the transformation of the Arabo-Islamic intellectual tradition that accompanied the adoption of printing in the Middle East. It brings to light the stories of the hitherto mostly invisible individuals who effected this transformation. Their motivations, goals, and approaches were diverse. All had to contend with the formidable challenges posed by centuries of cultural neglect of the classical literature: locating and obtaining manuscripts in the absence of catalogs, piecing together complete works out of scattered fragments, deciphering texts in spite of errors and damage, and understanding their meaning without recourse to adequate reference material. Their painstaking, frequently solitary, and often innovative efforts opened up the narrow postclassical manuscript tradition into a broad literature of printed, primarily classical works—the literature that today can be considered the essential canon of Islamic texts.Less
This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the transformation of the Arabo-Islamic intellectual tradition that accompanied the adoption of printing in the Middle East. It brings to light the stories of the hitherto mostly invisible individuals who effected this transformation. Their motivations, goals, and approaches were diverse. All had to contend with the formidable challenges posed by centuries of cultural neglect of the classical literature: locating and obtaining manuscripts in the absence of catalogs, piecing together complete works out of scattered fragments, deciphering texts in spite of errors and damage, and understanding their meaning without recourse to adequate reference material. Their painstaking, frequently solitary, and often innovative efforts opened up the narrow postclassical manuscript tradition into a broad literature of printed, primarily classical works—the literature that today can be considered the essential canon of Islamic texts.
BERNARD LEWIS
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195053265
- eISBN:
- 9780199854561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195053265.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
The chapter shows the literature and folklore of the Middle East which revealed a normal range of traditional and stereotypical accusation against people who were perceived to be different and ...
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The chapter shows the literature and folklore of the Middle East which revealed a normal range of traditional and stereotypical accusation against people who were perceived to be different and inferior. The following accusations were directed to slaves: stupid, vicious, untruthful, dishonest, dirty, having an evil smell. The black's physical appearance was described as ugly, distorted, and monstrous. If there were accusations, there were also praises such as brave, generous, and musical. There is one aspect that deserves deeper exploration: the emotional content attached to the concept of black and white — the idea that black is connected with sin, the devil, and damnation while white has the opposite association. Another stereotype of the black is as a monster or a bogeyman. Thus the portrayal of the black in Islamic literature and Islamic art falls into stereotyped categories.Less
The chapter shows the literature and folklore of the Middle East which revealed a normal range of traditional and stereotypical accusation against people who were perceived to be different and inferior. The following accusations were directed to slaves: stupid, vicious, untruthful, dishonest, dirty, having an evil smell. The black's physical appearance was described as ugly, distorted, and monstrous. If there were accusations, there were also praises such as brave, generous, and musical. There is one aspect that deserves deeper exploration: the emotional content attached to the concept of black and white — the idea that black is connected with sin, the devil, and damnation while white has the opposite association. Another stereotype of the black is as a monster or a bogeyman. Thus the portrayal of the black in Islamic literature and Islamic art falls into stereotyped categories.
Ahmed El Shamsy
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691174563
- eISBN:
- 9780691201245
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691174563.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Islamic book culture dates back to late antiquity, when Muslim scholars began to write down their doctrines on parchment, papyrus, and paper and then to compose increasingly elaborate analyses of, ...
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Islamic book culture dates back to late antiquity, when Muslim scholars began to write down their doctrines on parchment, papyrus, and paper and then to compose increasingly elaborate analyses of, and commentaries on, these ideas. Movable type was adopted in the Middle East only in the early nineteenth century, and it wasn't until the second half of the century that the first works of classical Islamic religious scholarship were printed there. But from that moment on, as this book reveals, the technology of print transformed Islamic scholarship and Arabic literature. The book tells the story of how a small group of editors and intellectuals brought forgotten works of Islamic literature into print and defined what became the classical canon of Islamic thought. Through the lens of the literary culture of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Arab cities—especially Cairo, a hot spot of the nascent publishing business—the book explores the contributions of these individuals, who included some of the most important thinkers of the time. Through their efforts to find and publish classical literature, the book shows, many nearly lost works were recovered, disseminated, and harnessed for agendas of linguistic, ethical, and religious reform. The book is an examination of the central role printing and its advocates played in the intellectual history of the modern Arab world.Less
Islamic book culture dates back to late antiquity, when Muslim scholars began to write down their doctrines on parchment, papyrus, and paper and then to compose increasingly elaborate analyses of, and commentaries on, these ideas. Movable type was adopted in the Middle East only in the early nineteenth century, and it wasn't until the second half of the century that the first works of classical Islamic religious scholarship were printed there. But from that moment on, as this book reveals, the technology of print transformed Islamic scholarship and Arabic literature. The book tells the story of how a small group of editors and intellectuals brought forgotten works of Islamic literature into print and defined what became the classical canon of Islamic thought. Through the lens of the literary culture of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Arab cities—especially Cairo, a hot spot of the nascent publishing business—the book explores the contributions of these individuals, who included some of the most important thinkers of the time. Through their efforts to find and publish classical literature, the book shows, many nearly lost works were recovered, disseminated, and harnessed for agendas of linguistic, ethical, and religious reform. The book is an examination of the central role printing and its advocates played in the intellectual history of the modern Arab world.
Janina M. Safran
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451836
- eISBN:
- 9780801468018
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451836.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This introductory chapter argues that despite the numerous accounts of the political history of Umayyad al-Andalus, its relationship to the Jewish and Christian communities under its rule can be ...
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This introductory chapter argues that despite the numerous accounts of the political history of Umayyad al-Andalus, its relationship to the Jewish and Christian communities under its rule can be viewed only from scattered evidence in the Arabic–Islamic literary sources. Given the limitations of literary sources, the book turns to early Andalusi and Maghribi Maliki legal texts for evidence that could contribute to a deeper understanding of life in al-Andalus. It presents an examination of Islamic legal texts as sources for understanding intercommunal relations in a legal and historical context. The chapter discusses the conceptualization, expression, and imposition of boundaries by rulers, judges, and jurists, and looks at boundary testing as a mechanism for the transmutation and the continuity of regular social practices.Less
This introductory chapter argues that despite the numerous accounts of the political history of Umayyad al-Andalus, its relationship to the Jewish and Christian communities under its rule can be viewed only from scattered evidence in the Arabic–Islamic literary sources. Given the limitations of literary sources, the book turns to early Andalusi and Maghribi Maliki legal texts for evidence that could contribute to a deeper understanding of life in al-Andalus. It presents an examination of Islamic legal texts as sources for understanding intercommunal relations in a legal and historical context. The chapter discusses the conceptualization, expression, and imposition of boundaries by rulers, judges, and jurists, and looks at boundary testing as a mechanism for the transmutation and the continuity of regular social practices.
Ahmed El Shamsy
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691174563
- eISBN:
- 9780691201245
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691174563.003.0010
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This concluding chapter tracks the developments in Arabo-Islamic print culture beginning in the mid-twentieth century. It remarks on some features of postclassical thought which were common enough to ...
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This concluding chapter tracks the developments in Arabo-Islamic print culture beginning in the mid-twentieth century. It remarks on some features of postclassical thought which were common enough to mark the era's scholarship in distinct and recognizable ways. It is likely that they contributed, together with the decline of educational institutions and libraries, to the decreasing availability of classical works in the Arabic-speaking world, which further constrained intellectual production by reducing the resources at scholars' disposal. In their righteous zeal, the reformists may well have exaggerated the intellectual weaknesses of their age, but the sincerity of the feeling of liberation and optimism with which they reached into the classical tradition for tonics for present maladies should not be doubted. From there, the chapter turns to more contemporary times and the major technological strides which herald a new renaissance for classical literature.Less
This concluding chapter tracks the developments in Arabo-Islamic print culture beginning in the mid-twentieth century. It remarks on some features of postclassical thought which were common enough to mark the era's scholarship in distinct and recognizable ways. It is likely that they contributed, together with the decline of educational institutions and libraries, to the decreasing availability of classical works in the Arabic-speaking world, which further constrained intellectual production by reducing the resources at scholars' disposal. In their righteous zeal, the reformists may well have exaggerated the intellectual weaknesses of their age, but the sincerity of the feeling of liberation and optimism with which they reached into the classical tradition for tonics for present maladies should not be doubted. From there, the chapter turns to more contemporary times and the major technological strides which herald a new renaissance for classical literature.
Irfan Ahmad
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469635095
- eISBN:
- 9781469635101
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469635095.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter scripts an alternative genealogy of critique—tanqīd/naqd—in the Islamicate traditions of South Asia in Urdu. Building on the works of Martin Bernal, Michael Herzfeld, and John Keane, it ...
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This chapter scripts an alternative genealogy of critique—tanqīd/naqd—in the Islamicate traditions of South Asia in Urdu. Building on the works of Martin Bernal, Michael Herzfeld, and John Keane, it interrogates the prevalent views of Greece as the birthplace of anthropology, democracy, critique, and so on. Subjecting canonical works on Urdu literary criticism and taking, inter alia, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi’s writings as illustration, it documents the secularist and secularizing premise of Urdu literature and how it was designed as distinct from religion but aligned to territorial nationalism. In contrast, central to the alternative genealogy is the premise that God Himself is the source of critique. God sent prophets for reform (iṣlāḥ). To reform was to critique and to critique was to reform. In the "religious" texts and social practices of "traditional" ʿulema thus a different notion of critique emerges—a notion that doesn't reject the Greek, pre-Muhammad, or Western traditions but which simultaneously can't be subsumed within them. The chapter traces elements of this genealogy through the Qurʾān, prophetic lives, and the early community constituted around Muhammad and his companions. Maududi and his interlocutors read, craft, elaborate, configure, update, and modify that tradition of critique.Less
This chapter scripts an alternative genealogy of critique—tanqīd/naqd—in the Islamicate traditions of South Asia in Urdu. Building on the works of Martin Bernal, Michael Herzfeld, and John Keane, it interrogates the prevalent views of Greece as the birthplace of anthropology, democracy, critique, and so on. Subjecting canonical works on Urdu literary criticism and taking, inter alia, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi’s writings as illustration, it documents the secularist and secularizing premise of Urdu literature and how it was designed as distinct from religion but aligned to territorial nationalism. In contrast, central to the alternative genealogy is the premise that God Himself is the source of critique. God sent prophets for reform (iṣlāḥ). To reform was to critique and to critique was to reform. In the "religious" texts and social practices of "traditional" ʿulema thus a different notion of critique emerges—a notion that doesn't reject the Greek, pre-Muhammad, or Western traditions but which simultaneously can't be subsumed within them. The chapter traces elements of this genealogy through the Qurʾān, prophetic lives, and the early community constituted around Muhammad and his companions. Maududi and his interlocutors read, craft, elaborate, configure, update, and modify that tradition of critique.
Zeki Saritoprak
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813049403
- eISBN:
- 9780813050171
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813049403.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
Chapter 4 focuses on the Hadith and Islamic historical literatures that expound upon Jesus's eschatological descent. To do this, the author first explains the importance of the Hadith in Islamic ...
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Chapter 4 focuses on the Hadith and Islamic historical literatures that expound upon Jesus's eschatological descent. To do this, the author first explains the importance of the Hadith in Islamic theology, defining the methodology used in the Islamic sciences to verify their reliability, and, second, he discusses Islam's understanding of the Prophet Muhammad. Throughout the Hadith literature, there is no single unified story regarding Jesus's descent. The author uses this fact, plus the general understanding that Muhammad spoke metaphorically, to argue that the sayings of the Prophet must be understood through interpretation. The chapter then gives examples of both weak and strong Hadith and examines the history and theological implications of these Hadith.Less
Chapter 4 focuses on the Hadith and Islamic historical literatures that expound upon Jesus's eschatological descent. To do this, the author first explains the importance of the Hadith in Islamic theology, defining the methodology used in the Islamic sciences to verify their reliability, and, second, he discusses Islam's understanding of the Prophet Muhammad. Throughout the Hadith literature, there is no single unified story regarding Jesus's descent. The author uses this fact, plus the general understanding that Muhammad spoke metaphorically, to argue that the sayings of the Prophet must be understood through interpretation. The chapter then gives examples of both weak and strong Hadith and examines the history and theological implications of these Hadith.
John Reeves and Annette Yoshiko Reed
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198718413
- eISBN:
- 9780191787683
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198718413.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This book provides scholars with a comprehensive collection of core references extracted from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim literature to a plethora of ancient writings associated with the name of ...
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This book provides scholars with a comprehensive collection of core references extracted from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim literature to a plethora of ancient writings associated with the name of the biblical character Enoch (Gen 5:214). It assembles citations of and references to writings attributed to Enoch in non-canonical Jewish, Christian, and Muslim literary sources (ranging in age from roughly the third century BCE up through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries CE) into one convenient thematically arranged repository, and it classifies, compares, and briefly analyzes these references and citations to develop a clearer picture of the scope and range of what one might term “the Enochic library,” or the entire corpus of works attributed to Enoch and his subsequent cross-cultural avatars. The book consists of two parts. The present volume, Volume 1, is devoted to textual traditions about the narratological career of the character Enoch. It collects materials about the distinctive epithets frequently paired with his name, outlines his cultural achievements, articulates his societal roles, describes his interactions with the celestial world, assembles the varied traditions about his eventual fate, and surveys the various identities he is assigned outside the purely biblical world of discourse within other discursive networks and intellectual circles. It also assembles a range of testimonies which express how writings associated with Enoch were evaluated by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim writers during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Volume 2, currently in preparation, will concentrate upon textual sources which arguably display a knowledge of the peculiar contents, motifs, and themes of extant Enochic literature, including but not limited to 1 Enoch (the Ethiopic Book of Enoch) and 2 Enoch (the Slavonic Book of Enoch).Less
This book provides scholars with a comprehensive collection of core references extracted from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim literature to a plethora of ancient writings associated with the name of the biblical character Enoch (Gen 5:214). It assembles citations of and references to writings attributed to Enoch in non-canonical Jewish, Christian, and Muslim literary sources (ranging in age from roughly the third century BCE up through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries CE) into one convenient thematically arranged repository, and it classifies, compares, and briefly analyzes these references and citations to develop a clearer picture of the scope and range of what one might term “the Enochic library,” or the entire corpus of works attributed to Enoch and his subsequent cross-cultural avatars. The book consists of two parts. The present volume, Volume 1, is devoted to textual traditions about the narratological career of the character Enoch. It collects materials about the distinctive epithets frequently paired with his name, outlines his cultural achievements, articulates his societal roles, describes his interactions with the celestial world, assembles the varied traditions about his eventual fate, and surveys the various identities he is assigned outside the purely biblical world of discourse within other discursive networks and intellectual circles. It also assembles a range of testimonies which express how writings associated with Enoch were evaluated by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim writers during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Volume 2, currently in preparation, will concentrate upon textual sources which arguably display a knowledge of the peculiar contents, motifs, and themes of extant Enochic literature, including but not limited to 1 Enoch (the Ethiopic Book of Enoch) and 2 Enoch (the Slavonic Book of Enoch).