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Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the QurâÄn
Series: - The History of Christian-Muslim Relations, Volume: 13
Author:
The Muslim accusation of the corruption or deliberate falsification of pre-Qur'Änic scriptures has been a major component of interfaith polemic for a millenium or more. The accusation has frequently sought attestation from a series of "tampering" verses in the Qur'Än. Investigation of the interpretation of these verses in the earliest commentaries on the Qur'Än, however, reveals a discrepancy between the confident polemical accusation and the tentative understandings of the first Muslims. Of greater interest to early commentators was a story of deception and obstinacy by the "People of the Book" in response to the truth claims of Islam. Focusing on the eighth-century commentary of MuqÄtil ibn SulaymÄn and the great exegetical compendium of al-ṬabarÄ« (d. 923), this book sketches the outlines of the earliest Muslim approach to pre-Qur'Änic scriptures. The resulting discoveries provide a rare opportunity to peek behind the curtain of doctrinaire claim and polemical debate.
Gordon D. Nickel, Ph.D. (2004) in Islamic Studies, University of Calgary, teaches as sessional instructor in Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia. His articles on the Qur'Än and its commentaries have appeared in a variety of scholarly publications.
"This is an accurate study of the wellâknown problem of the accusation of distortion and falsification of the Scriptures brought by the Muslims, right throughout history, against Jews and Christians. This is a subject that has weighed heavily on the relations between the communities of believers. It is therefore useful that, from time to time, someone takes stock of this problem in a rigorous and scientific manner since the significance of the accusation has not always been understood in its strictly rigorous exactitude."
Michel Lagarde in Islamochristiana 37 (2011), p. 342.
âLa monographie de G. Nickel constitue lâexposé le plus complet à ce jour sur le thème coranique de lâaltération des Ãcritures par les Gens du Livre.â
J. Dean in REVUE DâHISTOIRE ET DE PHILOSOPHIE RELIGIEUSES 2012, Tome 92 n° 4.
Michel Lagarde in Islamochristiana 37 (2011), p. 342.
âLa monographie de G. Nickel constitue lâexposé le plus complet à ce jour sur le thème coranique de lâaltération des Ãcritures par les Gens du Livre.â
J. Dean in REVUE DâHISTOIRE ET DE PHILOSOPHIE RELIGIEUSES 2012, Tome 92 n° 4.
All readers interested in the development of Islamic self-identity, the history of interfaith polemic, and the Muslim narrative portrayal of non-Muslims, as well as active participants in Muslim-Christian encounter.