The Integrity of the Qur’an: Sunni and Shi‘i Historical Narratives

By Seyfeddin Kara

Series: Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Scripture and Theology

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Publication Date: July 31, 2024

ISBN: 9781474462235

Advances the method of isnād-cum-matn analysis for unravelling complex aspects of early Islamic history

• Establishes the earliest dating of the Qurʾanic codex based on the study of hadith
• Contributes to the textual history of the Qur’an
• Examines the claims regarding the integrity of the text of the Qur’an
• Uses case studies of the verses on stoning and breastfeeding, making it relevant to contemporary studies in the field

This book investigates Muslim narratives on Qurʾanic distortion through a meticulous analysis of hadith. Using isnād-cum-matn analysis, Seyfeddin Kara discovers the historical origins of this disputed claim and illuminates the dynamic interplay between Sunni and Shiʿi traditionists. He demonstrates that isnād-cum-matn analysis is not only an important tool for dating hadiths but also crucial for uncovering forgeries. By identifying the individuals responsible, he provides new explanations of forgery culture in early Muslim society. Kara illuminates debates over the textual integrity and evolution of the written Qurʾanic text, offering insights into the enigmatic early history of Islam. By pushing the boundaries of isnād-cum-matn analysis, this book makes methodological advancements in the study of early Islamic history and contributes to its reconstruction on the question of the canonized Qur’an’s integrity.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• ʿĀʾisha’s Legal Debate on the Scope of Breastfeeding
• The Litigation of the Two Men According to ‘The Book of God’
• The Prophet, the Jews and the Stoning Penalty
• CaliphʿUmar’s Sermon About the ‘Missing Stoning Verse’
• Transition of the Distortion Narrative into Shiʿi Reports
• Distorting the Book of God
• The Return of the Avenger (Al-Mahdī) and Teaching the Correct Quran
• Conclusion

About the Author

Seyfeddin Kara is an Assistant Professor of Islamic Origins at University of Groningen. He is also a Marie Sklodawski Curie Global Fellow at Lund University and the University of Toronto. He holds a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Durham. Dr Kara’s academic journey includes a prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Fellowship, with research terms at the University of Toronto, the University of Lund, and the University of Göttingen. He has received grants from the European Union, Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and other funding bodies. Dr Kara has also taught at the University of Durham, UK, and served as an Assistant Professor at Hartford International University, US. His scholarly work encompasses research articles in journals such as the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Muslim World, and Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. Kara authored In Search of Ali ibn Abi Talib’s Codex: History and Traditions of the Earliest Copy of the Qurʾan (2018).

Source: Edinburgh University Press

British Muslim Women in the Cultural and Creative Industries

By Saskia Warren

Preface by Qaisra Shahraz

Publication Date: May 31, 2022

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

• Presents an intimate portrait of how Muslim women are transforming media, culture and the arts in contemporary Britain

• Sets out an innovative agenda for the importance of faith and religion within the cultural and creative industries and the lives of workers

• Reveals how creative work in fashion, digital media and visual arts fosters spaces of identity, belonging and exclusion

• Uncovers real-life examples of experiences of Islamophobia, sexism and racism that Muslim women face at work

• Reflects on how Muslim faith and gender intersect and are transformed by ethnicity, ‘race’ and racialisation, class and geography in working lives

• Draws on 46 interviews including with Qaisra Shahraz, MBE, fiction author and festival producer; Deeyah Khan, award-winning film and magazine producer; and Zarah Hussain, visual artist and winner of Lumen Prize 2017 People’s Choice Award

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Muslim Women in Britain – A Changing Landscape
3. Cool Britannia? British Cultural Industries and Diversity
4. Muslim Women, Education, and Art School
5. Muslim Lifestyle Media
6. Modest Fashion and Textiles
7. Visual arts and the Art World
8. Creative Activism: Tackling Islamophobia, Racism and Sexism
9. Conclusion

Source: Edinburgh University Press

Continuing Debates and New Approaches

Edited by: Belal Abu-Alabbas, Christopher Melchert, Michael Dann

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Publication Date:  August 2020

Brings together western and Middle Eastern scholars to explore medieval and modern approaches to the study of Hadith

• Explores and analyses state-of-the-art scholarship in Hadith studies in Middle Eastern and Western contexts, covering a variety of approaches and methods to studying and evaluating the Hadith corpus
• Addresses several methodological issues and questions in evaluating Hadith reports
• Provides a rich analysis of the global trends in Hadith studies, affording a broad understanding of the field and bringing together contributions from scholarly communities typically inaccessible to one another

About the Author

– Belal Abu-Alabbas is British Academy Newton International Fellow at the University of Exeter and a Lecturer at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. He publishes in the fields of Islamic intellectual history, Islamic legal thought, and the history of the hadith corpus.

– Christopher Melchert is a Professor of Arabic and Islam at the University of Oxford. He is the author of The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th-10th Centuries C.E (Brill, 1997), Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Makers of the Muslim World) (Oneworld, 2006) and Hadith, Piety, and Law: Selected Studies (Lockwood, 2015)

– Michael Dann is an Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Illinois. He has published a chapter in Songs and Sons: Women, Slavery and Social Mobility in the Medieval Islamic World, edited by Matthew Gordon and Kathryn Hain (Oxford University Press, 2015).

Source: Edinburgh University Press

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Publication Date: June 2020

Examines the development of Muslim theological, legal, literary and cultural discussions about violence and its legitimation

The violent conquest of the eastern part of the lands under Muslim rule by the Mongols marked a new period in the history of Islamic civilization and in attitudes towards violence. This volume examines the various intellectual and cultural reactions of Muslim thinkers to these events, both within and without the territories subjected to Mongol control. Each chapter examines how violent acts were assessed by Muslim intellectuals, analyzing both changes and continuity within Islamic thought over time.

Each chapter is structured around a case study in which violent acts are justified or condemned, revealing the variety of attitudes to violence in the medieval period.

Key Features

• Examines the portrayal of violence in a variety of Muslim intellectual contexts (historical, philosophical, theological, legal, literary, artistic)

• Employs a broad understanding of violence – from warfare between Muslims (and between Muslims and others) to individual acts of violence

• Enables a better-informed debate about the nature of violence in Islamic thought, and how the positions developed in early Islam were both used and abandoned by later writers

• Positions these classical conceptions of violence and its justification in Islamic thought in the broader methodological debate over violence and its relationship with religious thought

About the Authors

Robert Gleave was Director of the Legitimate and Illegitimate Violence Project 2010-2013, and is Professor of Arabic Studies at the University of Exeter. He specializes in Islamic legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) and Shīʿī legal thought. His most recent publications include Islam and Literalism: Literal Meaning and Interpretation in Islamic Legal Theory (EUP, 2012).

István Kristó-Nagy is a Lecturer in Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. He is the author of La pensée d’Ibn al-Muqaffaʽ (2013).

Source: Edinburgh University Press

Author: Chad Kia

Series: Edinburgh Studies in Classical Islamic History and Culture Series

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press (July 2019)

Explores the ways in which esoteric religion shaped the masterpieces of classical Persian painting

Transforming our understanding of Persian art, this impressive interdisciplinary book decodes some of the world’s most exquisite medieval paintings. It reveals the hidden meaning behind enigmatic figures and scenes that have puzzled modern scholars, focusing on five ‘miniature’ paintings. Chad Kia shows how the cryptic elements in these works of art from Timurid Persia conveyed the mystical teachings of Sufi poets like Rumi, Attar and Jami, and heralded one of the most significant events in the history of Islam: the takeover by the Safavids in 1501 and the conversion of Iran to Shiism.

Key features

• Interprets celebrated but enigmatic paintings from collections in the Metropolitan Museum, the British Library and the Freer Gallery
• Brings poetry and art together in a transformative reading of Persian illustrated manuscripts
• Bridges art history, literature and religion to reconsider Shia and Safavid cultural and intellectual history
• Connects Persian figural painting to the rise of the Safavids and Shiism in Iran

Chad Kia has been a Smithsonian Fellow at the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art in Washington DC, and has taught Persian and Arabic literatures and Islamic art and intellectual history at Harvard University and Brown University.

Source: Edinburgh University Press

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press (January 16, 2018)

Series: The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys

The history and contemporary situation of Muslim communities in Eastern Europe are explored here from three angles. First, survival, telling of the resilience of these Muslim communities in the face of often restrictive state policies and hostile social environments, especially during the Communist period. Next, their subsequent revival in the aftermath of the Cold War, and last, transformation, looking at the profound changes currently taking place in the demographic composition of the communities and in the forms of Islam practiced by them. The reader is shown a picture of the general trends common to the Muslim communities of Eastern Europe, and the special characteristics of clusters of states, such as the Baltics, the Balkans, the Višegrad states, and the European states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

About the Author

Egdūnas Račius is a Professor of Islamic studies at Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania). He is the Reviews Editor of the Journal of Muslims in Europe and a co-editor of the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe.

Table of Contents

• 1. Autochthonous Islam of Eastern Europe – populations, practices, institutions

• 2. Historical overview

– Mongol-Tatar invasion of Eastern Europe and its consequences
– Russian possessions in Eastern Europe and its Muslim population
– Ottoman possessions in South-Eastern Europe

• 3. North-Eastern Europe

– The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and its legacy
– Russia
– Ukraine
– The Baltic States
– Belarus
– Moldova

• 4. Successor states of Yugoslavia

– The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and its legacy
– Bosnia and Herzegovina
– Montenegro and Serbia
– Kosovo
– Macedonia
– Slovenia and Croatia

• 5. South-Eastern Europe

– Albania
– Bulgaria
– Romania

• 6. Central Europe

– Poland
– Hungary
– The Czech Republic and Slovakia

• 7. Islam in Eastern Europe, Eastern European Islam: new faces, the new challenges

Reviews

– “A long overdue account of a dimension of Islam in Europe which has generally been ignored in western discussions. Providing comprehensive coverage of the subject in a way that is accessible to a university audience, this has the potential to become the foundational text in the subject.” (Jørgen S. Nielsen, University of Copenhagen)

Source: Edinburgh University Press

By Marcus Milwright

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press (21 Feb. 2017)

A primary sourcebook for the study of traditional art and craft practices of the Islamic world

Islamic art is justly famed for its technological sophistication, varied approaches to ornament, and innovative employment of the written word. But what do we know about the skilled artisans who spent their lives designing and creating the paintings, objects and buildings that are so admired today?

This anthology of written sources (dating from the seventh to the twentieth centuries) explores numerous aspects of the crafts of the Middle East from the processing of raw materials to the manufacture of finished artefacts. You will learn about: the legal and ethical dimensions of the arts and crafts, the organization of labor in urban and rural contexts, the everyday lives of artisans, the gendered dimensions of making things, and the impact of industrialization upon traditional methods of manufacture. Each chapter begins with an introduction providing a wider context for the primary sources. There are also suggestions for further reading.

Key Features:

• Provides a clearly structured means to study descriptions of techniques employed in the arts and crafts and of the lives of artisans (male and female) in the Islamic world from the seventh to the twentieth centuries
• The primary sources address the interests of students in a wide range of disciplines, including art history, archaeology, anthropology, and ethnography
• New translations are presented of significant primary accounts written in Arabic, German, and French
• Illustrated with maps, plans and images of Islamic arts and crafts

About the Author

Marcus Milwright is Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology in the Department of Art History and Visual Studies at the University of Victoria, B.C., Canada. He is the author of The Fortress of the Raven: Karak in the Middle Islamic Period (2008), An Introduction to Islamic Archaeology (EUP, 2010) and The Dome of the Rock and it Umayyad Mosaic Inscriptions (EUP, 2016).

Table of Contents:

• Part 1: Foundations

1. Theoretical Formulations

• Part 2: Human Dimensions

2. The Organisation of Labour

3. Rituals, Songs and Poems

4. Biographical Information

5. The Lives of Artisans and Artists

• Part 3: Resources

6. Raw Materials

I: minerals

7. Raw Materials

II: plants

8. Raw Materials

III: animals

9. Mining and Metal Preparation

10. City Descriptions

• Part 4: Inorganic Media

11. Copper

12. Iron and Steel

13. Other Metals: Gold, Silver and Tin

14. Pottery

15. Glass

• Part 5: Organic Media

16. Wood

17. Basketry and Matting

18. Leather

19. Spinning, Bleaching and Dyeing

20. Weaving

21. Rugs, Carpets and Felt

• Part 6: Writing and Painting

22. Papyrus and Paper

23. Calligraphy

24. Painting

• Part 7: Architecture and Engineering

25. Building Techniques

26. Vaulting and Architectural Decoration

27. Engineering

• Part 8: Economic Considerations

28. Recycling and Repair

29. Crafts in an Age of Competition and Change

Reviews

– “Marcus Milwright’s comprehensive book brings a welcome renewed focus on diverse artisans, techniques, and materials of Islamic arts. Scholars and students alike will benefit from the thoughtful introductory essays and a rich array of primary sources representing a vast chronological and geographic scope, which illuminates key issues in the field today.” (Glaire D. Anderson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Source: Edinburgh University Press

What is a Madrasa?

Author: Ebrahim Moosa

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Publication Date: March 10, 2015

Explains the role of the madrasa in the cultural, intellectual and religious experience of Muslims

The prospects for peace in Afghanistan, dialogue between Washington and Tehran, the UN’s bid to stabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan, understanding the largest Muslim minority in the world’s largest democracy in India, or the largest Muslim population in the world in Indonesia – all require some knowledge of the traditional religious sectors in these countries and of what connection traditional religious schooling has (or not) to their geopolitical situations.

Moosa delves into the world of madrasa classrooms, scholars and texts, recounting the daily life and discipline of the inhabitants. He shows that madrasa are a living, changing entity, and the site of contestation between groups with varying agendas, goals and notions of modernity.

Reading this unique and engaging introduction will provide readers with a clear grasp of the history, place and function of the madrasa in today’s Muslim world (religious, cultural and political). It will also investigate the ambiguity underlying the charge that the madrasa is at heart a geopolitical institution.

Key Features

• Structured clearly around the role and function of the madrasa in the past and the present
• Infuses history, tradition and everyday practice with concrete examples of how the institutions function
• Provides a view of the madrasa from within – the author studied in leading Indian madrasas for 6 years
• Treats madrasas worldwide, with a special focus on those in South Asia
• Includes a glossary of key non-English terms used in the book

About the Author

Ebrahim Moosa is professor of Islamic studies at the University of Notre Dame, with appointments in the department of history and the Kroc Institute for International Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs. The author of the prize-winning Ghazālī and the Poetics of Imagination (2005), he was named a 2005 Carnegie Scholar.

Reviews

– “A useful introduction to madrasas in India and Pakistan and contributes a South Asian perspective to the rich scholarship on Islamic education.” (Maryam Kashani, Journal of the American Academy of Religion)

– “A work of great effort and detailed scholarship, this book is a fine introduction to contemporary madrasa education.” (Roshan Shah, Wordforpeace.com)

– “A moving and complex portrait of Muslim schools. . . Wide ranging and eminently readable.” (Choice)

– “Riveting…A nuanced and richly textured account of the place and importance of Madrasas in Islam both historically and in the contemporary moment.” (New Books in Islamic Studies)

– “This important book grapples with a large number of complex questions that pertain to the very core of the nature and role of Islam and its 14 centuries of tradition in today’s world.” (Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations)

Source: Edinburgh University Press

al-Sharif al-Murtada and Imami Discourse

Author: Hussein Ali Abdulsater

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press (June 30, 2017)

Examines the critical turn that shaped Imami Shi’ism in the 10^th and 11^th centuries

God is not free to act; He is bound by human ethics. To be just, He must create an individual of perfect intellect and infallible morality. People are obligated to submit to this person; otherwise eternal damnation awaits them.

While these claims may be interpreted as an affront to God’s power, an insult to human judgment and a justification for despotism, Shi?i Muslims in the eleventh century eagerly adopted them in their attempts to forge a ‘rational’ religious discourse. They utilized everything from literary studies and political theory to natural philosophy and metaphysical speculation in support of this project. This book presents the contribution of al-Shar?f al-Murta??  (d. 1044) of Baghdad, the thinker most responsible for this irreversible change, which remains central to Imami identity. It analyzes his intellectual project and establishes the dynamic context which prompted him to pour the old wine of Shi?i doctrine into the new wineskin of systematic Mu’tazili theology.

Hussein Ali Abdulsater is Assistant Professor of Arabic Culture and Islamic Studies at Department of Classics, University of Notre Dame.

Key Features

• Comprehensive coverage of al-Murta??’s enormous oeuvre (running to several thousand pages) and diversity (spanning virtually all contemporary fields of knowledge)
• A meticulous engagement with long and dense theoretical texts that are either in manuscript form or poorly edited
• An orderly presentation that equips readers with an overall understanding of Shi’i theology in its main phases while preserving the profundity of analysis
• The study of a little-known author whose views, nonetheless, are still a major influence for Shi’i Muslims

Contents

1. Life and Works

2. God and the World

3. Moral Theory and Divine Justice

4. Humans and the Origins of Religious Experience

5. The Imama and the Need for Moral Leadership

6. Prophethood and the Value of Divine Guidance

Source: Edinburgh University Press

Sacred Authority and Transnational Family Networks

Author: Elvire Corboz

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press (January 2015)

A study of Shi’i Islam explaining the transnational constitution of clerical authority

For centuries, the Shi‘i religious establishment has come to represent the most quintessential type of a transnational actor. How is clerical authority established and maintained across borders? This book explores the potential of transnational linkages in shaping leadership patterns in contemporary Shi‘ism. Through the lens of two families of religious scholars, it compares the multifaceted roles played by clerics with narratives about the traditional system of religious authority, political organizations and international charities. The book maps clerical networks and their encounters with communities and states across the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent, South-East Asia and the West. This multi-sited approach aims to clarify the local and transnational dynamics that underpin clerical authority.

Key Features

• Enhances our understanding of Muslim authority through a sociological analysis of the networking, philanthropic and political practices of Shi‘i clerical actors across borders
• Includes case studies of two prominent families of religious scholars (al-Hakim and al-Khu’i) to show the continued relevance of Shi‘i clerics to Muslim politics and society
• Deconstructs homogenizing views of transnational Shi‘ism by comprehending and localizing cross-border religious networks in and beyond the Middle East

Contents

• Part I: Family, Students, and Friends: From Dyadic to Transnational Networks

1. An Iraqi Family of Religious Scholars: Local and Transnational Networking Strategies

2. An Iranian Marja’in Najaf and a Foundation in London: Reproducing Interpersonal Ties across Place and Over Time

• Part II: Charitable Politics: Benevolent Patrons, Beneficiaries, and the State

3. Leadership in Patronage: The Benefits of Serving and Educating

4. The Priority of Charity: A Global Brand of Philanthropy in Its Local Making

• Part III: The Affairs of the State: Clerical Participation in Politics

5. From Najaf to Najaf: A Family at the Forefront of Iraqi Politics

6. Quietist Activism: Calculated Responses to Political Turmoil

About the Author

Elvire Corboz earned a D.Phil from Wadham College, University of Oxford and has held positions at Princeton University and Rutgers University. She is Assistant Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies in the Department of the Study of Religion, Aarhus University.

Reviews

“Using extensive resources, meticulous research and a sophisticated conceptual framework, Elvire Corboz has given us an innovative study of transnational Shi‘ism. She offers a fascinating portrait of the ways in which the Shi‘i clergy uses institutional and philanthropic networks to construct and maintains its authority across national borders. The rich, nuanced and ecumenical portrait of the Shi‘i marja‘iyya in Guardians of Shi‘ism provides an important palliative to the sectarian lens that is all too often used to interpret Shi‘ism in a narrow political and stereotypical manner.” (Eric Davis, Department of Political Science, Rutgers University)

Source: Edinburgh University Press