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In this thought piece, I use the recited Qurʾan as a case study for asking what it may mean to feel sound—and more specifically, "religious sound," or sound in a religious context. A range of scholars, including myself, have asked related questions about what the recited Qurʾan sounds like, and why it may sound the way(s) it does. Here I consider the sound of the Qurʾan on the level of experience or nondiscursive meaning, asking what the recited Qurʾan feels like.

Introduction: the Qur'an and praxis -- Traditional commentary -- Salafi commentary -- Traditionalist commentary -- "Scientific" commentaries -- The Qur'an as text, discourse and structure -- The Qur'an as literary text -- Historicity of the Qur'an and hermeneutics -- Thematic interpretation of the Qur'an -- The Qur'an and nazm -- Radical exegesis of the Qur'an: Sayyid Qutb -- The Qur'an and the hermeneutics of liberation -- Appendix: other areas of Qur'anic exegesis

This paper presents a hermeneutic re-reading of the Qurʾanic Verses 43: 15–19 in the Chapter of Ornament (Surah al-Zukhruf), aiming to excavate the original interrogative nature of the Qurʾanic approach to woman's positioning, and to expose the accumulative narratives that collapse the ontological into the cultural, reflecting negatively on the community. The paper argues against the assumption that the verses' telos is to describe and prescribe; evidencing instead their critical and reproving tone.
The tripartite methodology followed comprises a morphological analysis; a historical investigation that uncovers the regressive stance of authoritative exegetical texts; and a comparative overture, juxtaposing the Qurʾanic pronouncements with parallel modern concepts, revealing that the problems confronting women are of a persistent nature. Ultimately, the paper questions the authenticity of the self-image engrained in the consciousness of a majority of Muslim women and based on inherited parochialisms rather than rigorous application of critical thinking.

This is the final version. Available on open access from Brill via the DOI in this record ; Taking as the starting point, Majid Daneshgar's Studying the Qurʾan in the Muslim Academy, I argue that the political and intellectual contexts for the study of Islam and indeed the Qur'an cannot be ignored whether the study is conducted in the "Western" or the "Muslim" academy. The construction of the categories of religion and scripture arise out of practices of colonialist knowledge; positionality of the author cannot be eliminated from the interrogative gaze. Beginning with that critique, I suggest some possible ways in which we can decolonize the study of the Muslim scripture and its experience for Muslims.

The debut of Turkish-language translations of the Qurʾan in the newly founded Republic of Turkey sparked lively debates over whether Qurʾan translation was possible or desirable, who should engage in interpretation of the text, and what characteristics a Turkish-language rendering of the Qurʾan should have. Whereas the abolition of the Islamic caliphate, closure of themedreses, and prohibition of the Sufi orders have received considerable attention in histories of early republican Turkey, the state-sponsored translation of the Qurʾan into Turkish remains both neglected and misunderstood. Muhammad Rashid Rida, who was highly influential in shaping opinion in the Muslim world, portrayed the state-sponsored project as a long-term plot to displace the Arabic Qurʾan. Other accounts misrepresent the involvement of President Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) in the promotion of Qurʾan translation by anachronistically suggesting that he sparked the initiative and led a "campaign" in support of it. Mustafa Kemal had no hand in the composition of Turkish Qurʾan translations published in 1924, other than helping create the political context in which they could be published. Their composition began well before the foundation of the Turkish republic, and their inspiration emerged from the intellectual milieu of the late Ottoman public sphere.

Introduction / by Muhammad Shahrur -- Al-Islām and al-Īmān -- The sunna of the Prophet -- Revelation -- The theory of limits -- Women and Islamic law -- Political Islam -- Conclusion -- Interview with Muhammad Shahrur / by Dale F. Eickelman (1996) -- Interview with Muhammad Shahrur / by Andreas Christmann (2007)

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AbstractFor centuries Muslims have asked whether the Qurʾan should be recited and memorized first and foremost, or whether one must prioritize understanding the meaning of its complex language. What is the best way to encounter God's Word? To explore this question, a women's Qurʾan lesson in a slum of Old Cairo illustrates modern Muslim anxieties over the place of discursive meaning in encounters with the Qurʾan. This article elaborates the concept of affirmation as an analytic to grasp how the women relate to the truth of revelation. Affirmation is a performative and discursive hermeneutic practice that deploys Qurʾanic citation, situates Qurʾanic concepts in daily life, and sutures the efficacy of Qurʾan education with correct language and with right action. Their lessons are indicative of reformist trends in Qurʾan education that open onto questions of meaning and understanding in relation to human interactions with divine speech.