Scripture, Poetry, and the Making of a Community

by Angelika Neuwirth

We are used to understanding the Qur'an as the "Islamic text" par excellence, an assumption which, when viewed historically, is not evident at all. More than twenty years before it rose to the rank of Islamic Scripture, the Qur'an was an oral proclamation addressed by the Prophet Muhammad to pre-Islamic listeners, for the Muslim community had not yet been formed. We might best describe these listeners as individuals educated in late antique culture, be they Arab pagans familiar with the monotheistic religions of Judaism and Christianity or syncretists of these religions, or learned Jews and Christians whose presence is reflected in the Medinan suras. The interactive communication process between Muhammad and these groups brought about an epistemic turn in Arab Late with the Qur'anic discovery of writing as the ultimate authority, the nascent community attained a new "textual coherence" where Scripture, with its valorisation of history and memory, was recognised as a
guiding concept. It is within this new biblically imprinted world view that central principles and values of the pagan Arab milieu were debated. This process resulted in a twin the genesis of a new scripture and the emergence of a community. Two great traditions, then, the Biblical, transmitted by both Jews and Christians, and the local Arabic, represented in Ancient Arabic poetry, appear to have established the field of tension from which the Qur'an evolved; it is both Scripture and Poetry which have produced and shaped the new Muslim community.

704 pages, Hardcover

First published February 19, 2014

About the author

Angelika Neuwirth is a professor of Qur'ānic studies at the Free University of Berlin. She studied Islamic studies, semantic studies and classical philology at the Universities of Berlin, Tehran, Göttingen, Jerusalem, and Munich.

Between 1994 and 1999 she was the director of the German Institute of Oriental Studies. She was awarded the Sigmund Freud prize for her research on the Qur'ān.

Reviews

[Rickey McKown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Neuwirth presents an intriguing diachronic approach to the Qur'anic revelation as an oral record of God's communication through the Prophet Muhammad. Treating the Meccan suras overall as integral units, while identifying verses and sections that stand out as later additions, she analyses the change and development of themes and perspectives in the presentation of the revealed material over the course of the Prophet's mission. She especially draws attention to the significance of the relationship of Muhammad's night journey and the adopting the Jerusalem qibla in the years before the hijra. The papers included in this volume require careful study but repay that with insight into the evolution of the Qur'anic message.

[Nadeen Alsulaimi]

الكتاب يشرح نمو المجتمع المسلم من خلال دراسة نظم السور المكية وأن القرآن في الأصل كتاب شفهي للتلاوة ثم تطور ليصبح كتاب مكتوب.. السور المكية تم قراءتها أيضا في ظل الأدب العربي السائد وطبيعته الشعرية.. يقدم الكتاب كذلك شرحا لتطور الأفكار القرآنية والهوية المسلمة من خلال مواضيع السور.. لا يقدم الكتاب شرحا وافيا لنظم السور المدنية ولكنه يعيد ترتيب نولدكه ويعدل عليه للسور المكية تحديدا