The Qur'an Flashcards
(22 cards)
Qur’an means:
reading or reciting
Other name for Qur’an:
Kitab, writing
What is Wansbrough’s thesis?
That the Qur’an was codified over a period of two centuries in the cultural milieu of the fertile crescent
Who presents a normative view of Qur’anic codification?
Schoeler
What was believed to be the material on which the Qur’anic verses were first written?
Leaves, leather, stones etc and also sheets and booklets
What is the earliest known excerpt from a manuscript?
al-Farazdaq in early 600s
Who claims it is unlikely that Muhammad would have edited the Qur’an himself?
Burton
What was the original purpose of written Qur’anic excerpts?
To be used as memory aids
Who commissioned the first collated Qur’an?
Caliph Uthman ibn Affan
Who was responsible for collating and distributing the Uthman codex?
Zayd b. Thabit
In whose conversion is there mention of a Holy Book?
Umar Ibn-al-Khattab
What does Wanbrough use to show that the Qur’an was collated over a length of time?
Variations in the text
Who disputed Wansbrough’s explanation for variations in text?
Donner- could just as easily have happened over 20 years and 2 centuries
Where was the sectarian milieu?
The Northern Arabian fertile crescent
What is Donner’s example disproving the sectarian milieu thesis?
Use of the Western regional dialect ‘fulk’ instead of the more widespread ‘safina’
What is in the Hadith but not the Qur’an
Contemporary socio-political references
When was the Islamic war?
656c.
What is evidence to suggest that the Qur’an was written during the 6th century?
The absence of details about Muhammad’s contemporaries shows that it was written before the Islamic wars
What historical evidence disproves the idea of a sectarian milieu?
Evidence of Judeo-Christian clans in Mecca and Medina
Who asserted than any attempt to date the Qur’an was not empirically verifiable?
Sinai
Who did Sinai use as an example of stylistic interpretation being subjective?
Noldeke and Schwally
What is Wansbrough’s ultimate failure?
He does not present an alternative editor
