Jump to content

What the Koran Really Says: Difference between revisions

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
New page referening Ibn Warraq's book published in 2002
 
Add to Further reading from thorough Google Scholar search
 
(79 intermediate revisions by 42 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Book by Ibn Warraq}}
== What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary ==
{{italic title}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2009}}


{{Infobox book
'''What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary''' (2002) is the title of a book edited and translated by [[Ibn Warraq]] and published by [[Prometheus Books]]. The book is a collection of classical essays, some translated for the first time, that provide commentary on the traditions and language of the [[Koran]], discussing its grammatical and logical discontinuities, its Syriac and Hebrew foreign vocabulary, and its possible [[Christian]], Coptic and Qumranic sources.
| name = What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary
| image = What the Koran Really Says.jpg
| image_size =
| border =
| alt =
| caption =
| author = [[Ibn Warraq]]
| translator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| release_number =
| subject = [[Quran]]
| genre = [[Islamic history]]
| set_in =
| publisher = [[Prometheus Books]]
| pub_date = October 2002
| published =
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover]], [[Paperback]]), [[E-book]]
| pages = 782
| isbn = 978-1573929455
| oclc = 633722447
| notes =
| preceded_by =
}}


'''''What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary''''' (2002) is a book edited by [[Ibn Warraq]] and published by [[Prometheus Books]].<ref name="Ahmad"/> The book is a collection of classical essays, some translated for the first time, that provide commentary on the traditions and language of the [[Koran]], discussing its grammatical and logical discontinuities, its [[Syriac language|Syriac]] and [[Hebrew]] foreign vocabulary, and its possible [[Christianity|Christian]], [[Coptic language|Coptic]] and [[Qumranic]] sources.<ref name="Ahmad"/> The title is taken from German author Manfred Barthel's 1980 book ''Was wirklich in der Bibel steht'' ("What the Bible Really Says").<ref name="Ahmad"/>
Within the book is an article written by [[Gerd R. Puin]] titled "Observations on Early Qu'ran Manuscripts in Sana'a". Professor Puin is a German scholar and an authority on Qur'anic historical [[orthography]], the study and scholarly interpretation of ancient manuscripts, and a specialist in [[Arabic calligraphy]]. Professor Puin was the head of a restoration project, commissioned by the Yemeni government, which spent a significant amount of time examining the ancient Qur'anic manuscripts discovered in Sana'a, [[Yemen]], in 1972. In Mr. Warraq's book, Professor Puin has written:


Within the book is an article written by [[Gerd R. Puin]] titled "Observations on [[Early Qu'ran Manuscripts in Sana'a]]". Professor Puin is a German scholar and an authority on Qur'anic historical [[orthography]], the study and scholarly interpretation of ancient manuscripts, and a specialist in [[Arabic calligraphy]]. Professor Puin was the head of a restoration project, commissioned by the Yemeni government, which spent a significant amount of time examining the ancient Qur'anic manuscripts discovered in Sana'a, [[Yemen]], in 1972. In an article in the 1999 ''[[Atlantic Monthly]]'',<ref name=atlantic>{{cite news |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/01/what-is-the-koran/304024/?single_page=true |title=What Is the Koran? |last=Lester |first=Toby |work=The Atlantic |date=January 1999 |accessdate=10 April 2019 |language=en-US }}</ref> Puin is quoted as saying that:
<blockquote>
"My idea is that the Qur’an is a kind of cocktail of texts that were not all understood even at the time of Muhammad. Many of them may even be a hundred years older than Islam itself. The Qur’an claims for itself that it is ‘mubeen’, or clear. But [contrary to popular belief] if you look at it, you will notice that every fifth sentence or so simply does not make sense…the fact is that a fifth of the Qur’anic text is just incomprehensible. If the Qur’an is not comprehensible, if it can’t even be understood in Arabic, then it’s not translatable into any language. That is why Muslims are afraid. Since the Qur’an claims repeatedly to be clear but is not-there is an obvious and serious contradiction. Something else must be going on".
{{quotation|My idea is that the Koran is a kind of cocktail of texts that were not all understood even at the time of Muhammad. Many of them may even be a hundred years older than Islam itself. Even within the Islamic traditions there is a huge body of contradictory information, including a significant Christian substrate; one can derive a whole Islamic anti-history from them if one wants.}}
{{quotation|The Koran claims for itself that it is '[[mubeen]]', or 'clear', but if you look at it, you will notice that every fifth sentence or so simply doesn't make sense. Many Muslims—and Orientalists—will tell you otherwise, of course, but the fact is that a fifth of the Koranic text is just incomprehensible. This is what has caused the traditional anxiety regarding translation. If the Koran is not comprehensible—if it can't even be understood in Arabic—then it's not translatable. People fear that. And since the Koran claims repeatedly to be clear but obviously is not—as even speakers of Arabic will tell you—there is a contradiction. Something else must be going on.<ref name=atlantic/>}}
</blockquote>


==Included papers==
== Contributing Writers ==
===Introduction===
*[[Ibn Warraq]], ''Introduction''<ref name="Ahmad"/>
*[[Toby Lester]] (1999), ''What is the Koran?''


===Background===
Other writers who have contributed to [[Ibn Warraq]]'s book include:
*[[Yehuda D. Nevo]] (1994), ''Towards a Prehistory of Islam''<ref name="Ahmad"/>


===A Question of Language===
[[Ibn Warraq]]<br>
*[[Alphonse Mingana]] (1927), ''Syriac Influence on the Style of the Koran''
Toby Lester<br>
*[[D. S. Margoliouth]] (1939), ''Some Additions to [[Arthur Jeffery|Professor Jeffery]]'s "Foreign Vocabulary in the Qur'an"''
[[Yehuda D. Nevo]]<br>
*[[Paul E. Kahle]] (1949), ''The Arabic Readers of the Koran''
[[Alphonse Mingana]]<br>
*[[Chaim Menachem Rabin|C. Rabin]] (1955), ''The Beginnings of Classical Arabic''
[[D. S. Margoliouth]]<br>
*[[Joshua Blau]] (1963), ''The Role of the Bedouins as Arbiters in Linguistic Questions and the "Mas'ala Az-Zunburiyya"''
[[Paul E. Kahle]]<br>
*[[Aharon Ben-Shemesh|A. Ben-Shemesh]] (1969), ''Some Suggestions to Qur'an Translators''
C. Rabin<br>

Joshua Blau<br>
===Sources of the Koran: Essenian, Christian, Coptic===
A. Ben-Shemesh<br>
*Ibn Warraq, ''Introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls''
Eric R. Bishop<br>
*Eric R. Bishop (1958), ''The Qumran Scrolls and the Qur'an''
Marc Philonenko<br>
*Marc Philonenko (1966), ''An Essenian Tradition in the Koran'' (translated from French by Ibn Warraq)
Wilson B. Bishai<br>
*Marc Philonenko (1967), ''A Qumranian Expression in the Koran'' (translated by Warraq)
Raimund Kobert<br>
*Wilson B. Bishai (1971), ''A Possible Coptic Source for a Qur'anic Text''
[[Franz Rosenthal]]<br>
*Ibn Warraq, ''Introduction to Raimund Kobert''
[[Claude Cahen]]<br>
*Raimund Kobert (1959), ''The Shahadat az-zur: The False Witness'' (translated from German by [[George Albert Wells|G. A. Wells]])
Meir M. Bravmann<br>
*Raimund Kobert (1966), ''On the Meaning of the Three Final Words of [[Sura XXII]]. 30-31'' (translated by Wells)
M.J. Kister<br>
*Raimund Kobert (1986), ''Early and Later Exegesis of the Koran: a Supplement to Or 35'' (translated by Wells)
[[Uri Rubin]]<br>

C. Heger<br>
===Suras, Suras, Suras===
Michael Schub<br>
*Ibn Warraq, ''Introduction to [[Sura IX.29]]''
J. Barth<br>
*[[Franz Rosenthal]] (1953), ''Some Minor Problems in the Qur'an''
A. Fischer<br>
*[[Claude Cahen]] (1962), ''[[Koran IX.29]]'' (translated by Warraq)<ref name="Ahmad"/>
C.C. Torrey<br>
*Meir M. Bravmann and Claude Cahen (1963), ''A propos de Qur'an IX.29: Hatta Yu'tu L-Gizyata wa-hum Sagiruna''
James A. Bellamy<br>
*Meir M. Bravmann (1967), ''The Ancient Background of the Koranic Concept al-Gizatu 'an Yadin''
Richard Bell<br>
*[[M. J. Kister]] (1964), ''"An Yadin" ([[Qur'an IX.29]]): An Attempt at Interpretation''
Rudolf Geyer<br>
*[[Uri Rubin]] (1993), ''Koran and Tafsir: The Case of " 'an Yadin"''
[[Julius Wellhausen]]<br>
*C. Heger, ''[[Koran XXV]].1: Al-Furqan and the "Warner"''
Ibn Rawandi<br>
*Michael Schub (1995), ''The Buddha Comes to China''<ref name="Ahmad"/>
Adolf Grohmann<br>
*Michael Schub, ''The Secret Identity of [[Dhu L-Kifl]]''<ref name="Ahmad"/>
[[Gerd R. Puin]]<br>

===Emendations, Interpolations===
*J. Barth (1916), ''Studies Contributing to Criticism and Exegesis of the Koran'' (translated by Wells)
*[[August Fischer|A. Fischer]] (1906), ''A Qur'anic Interpolation'' (translated by [[Herbert Berg (scholar)|Herbert Berg]])
*[[August Fischer|A. Fischer]] (1906), ''Regarding Qur'an CI.6'' (translated by Berg)
*[[Charles Cutler Torrey|C.C. Torrey]] (1922), ''Three difficult passages in the Koran''
*[[Charles Cutler Torrey|C.C. Torrey]] (1948), ''A Strange Reading in the Qur'an''
*[[James A. Bellamy]] (1993), ''Some Proposed Emendations to the Text of the Koran''

===Richard Bell: Introduction and Commentary===
*Ibn Warraq, ''Introduction to [[Richard Bell (Arabist)|Richard Bell]]''
*Richard Bell (1958), From ''Introduction to the Qur'an''
*Richard Bell (1991), From ''A Commentary on the Qur'an''

===Poetry and the Koran===
*Rudolf Geyer (1908), ''The [[Strophic Structure]] of the Koran'' (translated by Wells)
*[[Julius Wellhausen]] (1913), ''On the Koran'' (translated by Wells)
*Ibn Rawandi, ''On Pre-Islamic Christian Strophic Poetical Texts in the Koran: a Critical Look at the Work of [[Günter Lüling]]''

===Manuscripts===
*Adolf Grohmann (1958), ''The Problem of Dating the [[Early Qur'ans]]''
*[[Gerd R. Puin]] (1996), ''Observations on [[Early Qur'an Manuscripts in San'a']] ''

==Reviews==
In his review of the book, political scientist, anarchist, and "angry Arab" [[As'ad AbuKhalil]] states that Ibn Warraq collected old writings by [[Oriental studies|Orientalists]] who have been long discredited and added that "the more rigid and biased the Orientalists, the better for Warraq".<ref>{{cite journal| last = AbuKhalil | first = As'ad| year = 2004| title = "The Islam Industry" and Scholarship: Review Article| journal = Middle East Journal | volume = 58| issue = 1| pages = 130–137| jstor = 4329978| publisher = Middle East Institute}}</ref>

[[Black Hills State University]] professor Ahrar Ahmad (2004) appreciated that this book and ''[[The Quest for the Historical Muhammad]]'' were 'less abrasive [and Warraq's] tone less mocking' than in his earliest work, which Ahmad deemed less scholarly.<ref name="Ahmad">{{Cite journal |last=Ahmad |first=Ahrar |date=2004 |title=Warraq's War: A Critical Review |url=https://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/download/1770/1021 |journal=American Journal of Islam and Society |publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought |volume= |issue= |pages=120–130 |doi= |access-date=9 February 2022}}</ref> He noted that "''What the Koran Really Says'' has the ambitious objective to “desacralize” (...) the Arabic language, script, and scripture. He seems to think that simply placing Islam in the Middle Eastern milieu in terms of language, social influences, intellectual origins, or theological affinities with other religions and rituals is enough to question its authenticity."<ref name="Ahmad"/> Ahmad wondered further how the etymology of the Quran's language could possibly "destroy its legitimacy and authority", believing that Warraq [[straw man|criticised positions nobody held]].<ref name="Ahmad"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal | author=As'ad AbuKhalil | date=2004 | title='The Islam Industry' and Scholarship: Review Article | work=Middle East Journal | volume=58 | number=1 | pages=130–137 | jstor=4329978}}
* {{cite journal | last=de Prémare | first=A.-L. | date=2006 | title=[Review of What the Koran Really Says. Language, Text, and Commentary, by I. Warraq] | language=fr | work=Arabica | volume=53 | number=2 | pages=291–294 | jstor=4057583}}
* {{cite journal | last=Rippin, Andrew | date=2012 | title=The Reception of Euro-American Scholarship on the Qur’an and tafsīr: An Overview | work=Journal of Qur'anic Studies | volume=14 | number=1 | pages=1–8 <!-- at page 3 -->}}
* {{cite journal | last=Robinson | first=Chase | last2=Gago | first2=Luis | date=2010 | title=Enigmas en la arena | language=es | work=Revista de Libros de La Fundación Caja Madrid | volume=157 | pages=9–11 | jstor=20697516}}
{{refend}}

[[Category:2002 books]]
[[Category:Books by Ibn Warraq]]
[[Category:Non-Islamic Islam studies literature]]
[[Category:Works about the Quran]]

Latest revision as of 23:22, 28 August 2024

What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary
AuthorIbn Warraq
LanguageEnglish
SubjectQuran
GenreIslamic history
PublisherPrometheus Books
Publication date
October 2002
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover, Paperback), E-book
Pages782
ISBN978-1573929455
OCLC633722447

What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary (2002) is a book edited by Ibn Warraq and published by Prometheus Books.[1] The book is a collection of classical essays, some translated for the first time, that provide commentary on the traditions and language of the Koran, discussing its grammatical and logical discontinuities, its Syriac and Hebrew foreign vocabulary, and its possible Christian, Coptic and Qumranic sources.[1] The title is taken from German author Manfred Barthel's 1980 book Was wirklich in der Bibel steht ("What the Bible Really Says").[1]

Within the book is an article written by Gerd R. Puin titled "Observations on Early Qu'ran Manuscripts in Sana'a". Professor Puin is a German scholar and an authority on Qur'anic historical orthography, the study and scholarly interpretation of ancient manuscripts, and a specialist in Arabic calligraphy. Professor Puin was the head of a restoration project, commissioned by the Yemeni government, which spent a significant amount of time examining the ancient Qur'anic manuscripts discovered in Sana'a, Yemen, in 1972. In an article in the 1999 Atlantic Monthly,[2] Puin is quoted as saying that:

My idea is that the Koran is a kind of cocktail of texts that were not all understood even at the time of Muhammad. Many of them may even be a hundred years older than Islam itself. Even within the Islamic traditions there is a huge body of contradictory information, including a significant Christian substrate; one can derive a whole Islamic anti-history from them if one wants.

The Koran claims for itself that it is 'mubeen', or 'clear', but if you look at it, you will notice that every fifth sentence or so simply doesn't make sense. Many Muslims—and Orientalists—will tell you otherwise, of course, but the fact is that a fifth of the Koranic text is just incomprehensible. This is what has caused the traditional anxiety regarding translation. If the Koran is not comprehensible—if it can't even be understood in Arabic—then it's not translatable. People fear that. And since the Koran claims repeatedly to be clear but obviously is not—as even speakers of Arabic will tell you—there is a contradiction. Something else must be going on.[2]

Included papers

[edit]

Introduction

[edit]

Background

[edit]

A Question of Language

[edit]

Sources of the Koran: Essenian, Christian, Coptic

[edit]
  • Ibn Warraq, Introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls
  • Eric R. Bishop (1958), The Qumran Scrolls and the Qur'an
  • Marc Philonenko (1966), An Essenian Tradition in the Koran (translated from French by Ibn Warraq)
  • Marc Philonenko (1967), A Qumranian Expression in the Koran (translated by Warraq)
  • Wilson B. Bishai (1971), A Possible Coptic Source for a Qur'anic Text
  • Ibn Warraq, Introduction to Raimund Kobert
  • Raimund Kobert (1959), The Shahadat az-zur: The False Witness (translated from German by G. A. Wells)
  • Raimund Kobert (1966), On the Meaning of the Three Final Words of Sura XXII. 30-31 (translated by Wells)
  • Raimund Kobert (1986), Early and Later Exegesis of the Koran: a Supplement to Or 35 (translated by Wells)

Suras, Suras, Suras

[edit]
  • Ibn Warraq, Introduction to Sura IX.29
  • Franz Rosenthal (1953), Some Minor Problems in the Qur'an
  • Claude Cahen (1962), Koran IX.29 (translated by Warraq)[1]
  • Meir M. Bravmann and Claude Cahen (1963), A propos de Qur'an IX.29: Hatta Yu'tu L-Gizyata wa-hum Sagiruna
  • Meir M. Bravmann (1967), The Ancient Background of the Koranic Concept al-Gizatu 'an Yadin
  • M. J. Kister (1964), "An Yadin" (Qur'an IX.29): An Attempt at Interpretation
  • Uri Rubin (1993), Koran and Tafsir: The Case of " 'an Yadin"
  • C. Heger, Koran XXV.1: Al-Furqan and the "Warner"
  • Michael Schub (1995), The Buddha Comes to China[1]
  • Michael Schub, The Secret Identity of Dhu L-Kifl[1]

Emendations, Interpolations

[edit]
  • J. Barth (1916), Studies Contributing to Criticism and Exegesis of the Koran (translated by Wells)
  • A. Fischer (1906), A Qur'anic Interpolation (translated by Herbert Berg)
  • A. Fischer (1906), Regarding Qur'an CI.6 (translated by Berg)
  • C.C. Torrey (1922), Three difficult passages in the Koran
  • C.C. Torrey (1948), A Strange Reading in the Qur'an
  • James A. Bellamy (1993), Some Proposed Emendations to the Text of the Koran

Richard Bell: Introduction and Commentary

[edit]
  • Ibn Warraq, Introduction to Richard Bell
  • Richard Bell (1958), From Introduction to the Qur'an
  • Richard Bell (1991), From A Commentary on the Qur'an

Poetry and the Koran

[edit]
  • Rudolf Geyer (1908), The Strophic Structure of the Koran (translated by Wells)
  • Julius Wellhausen (1913), On the Koran (translated by Wells)
  • Ibn Rawandi, On Pre-Islamic Christian Strophic Poetical Texts in the Koran: a Critical Look at the Work of Günter Lüling

Manuscripts

[edit]

Reviews

[edit]

In his review of the book, political scientist, anarchist, and "angry Arab" As'ad AbuKhalil states that Ibn Warraq collected old writings by Orientalists who have been long discredited and added that "the more rigid and biased the Orientalists, the better for Warraq".[3]

Black Hills State University professor Ahrar Ahmad (2004) appreciated that this book and The Quest for the Historical Muhammad were 'less abrasive [and Warraq's] tone less mocking' than in his earliest work, which Ahmad deemed less scholarly.[1] He noted that "What the Koran Really Says has the ambitious objective to “desacralize” (...) the Arabic language, script, and scripture. He seems to think that simply placing Islam in the Middle Eastern milieu in terms of language, social influences, intellectual origins, or theological affinities with other religions and rituals is enough to question its authenticity."[1] Ahmad wondered further how the etymology of the Quran's language could possibly "destroy its legitimacy and authority", believing that Warraq criticised positions nobody held.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ahmad, Ahrar (2004). "Warraq's War: A Critical Review". American Journal of Islam and Society. International Institute of Islamic Thought: 120–130. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b Lester, Toby (January 1999). "What Is the Koran?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  3. ^ AbuKhalil, As'ad (2004). ""The Islam Industry" and Scholarship: Review Article". Middle East Journal. 58 (1). Middle East Institute: 130–137. JSTOR 4329978.

Further reading

[edit]
  • As'ad AbuKhalil (2004). "'The Islam Industry' and Scholarship: Review Article". Middle East Journal. 58 (1): 130–137. JSTOR 4329978.
  • de Prémare, A.-L. (2006). "[Review of What the Koran Really Says. Language, Text, and Commentary, by I. Warraq]". Arabica (in French). 53 (2): 291–294. JSTOR 4057583.
  • Rippin, Andrew (2012). "The Reception of Euro-American Scholarship on the Qur'an and tafsīr: An Overview". Journal of Qur'anic Studies. 14 (1): 1–8.
  • Robinson, Chase; Gago, Luis (2010). "Enigmas en la arena". Revista de Libros de La Fundación Caja Madrid (in Spanish). 157: 9–11. JSTOR 20697516.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=What_the_Koran_Really_Says&oldid=1242823578"