Anthologies, History, Quran, Rituals & Practice 

Islam has worldwide influence, and even in the United States is experiencing a period of unprecedented growth. Its sacred book, the Koran, is the subject of voluminous commentary, yet it rarely receives the kind of objective critical scrutiny that has been applied to the texts of the Bible for over a century. To correct this neglect of objective scholarship, Ibn Warraq has assembled this excellent collection of critical commentaries on the Koran published by noted scholars from the beginning of the 20th century to recent times. These important studies, as well as his own lengthy introduction, show that little about the text of the Koran can be taken at face value. Among the fascinating topics discussed is evidence that early Muslims did not understand Muhammad's original revelation, that the ninth-century explosion of literary activity was designed to organize and make sense of an often incoherent text, and that much of the traditions surrounding Muhammad's life were fabricated long after his death in an attempt to give meaning to the Koran. Also of interest are suggestions that Coptic and other Christian sources heavily influenced much of the text and that some passages reflect even an Essenian background reaching back to the community of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This outstanding volume will be a welcome resource to interested lay readers and scholars alike. - Publisher. 

About the Author
Ibn Warraq is the highly acclaimed author of Why I Am Not a Muslim, Virgins? What Virgins?, and Defending the West. He is also the editor of The Origins of the Koran, What the Koran Really Says, Leaving Islam, The Quest for the Historical Muhammad, and Which Koran?. 

Genre/Form: Aufsatzsammlung
Criticism, interpretation, etc
Controversial literature
Additional Physical Format: Online version:
What the Koran really says.
Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 2002
(OCoLC)606869706
Online version:
What the Koran really says.
Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 2002
(OCoLC)607831495
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Ibn Warraq.

ISBN: 157392945X 9781573929455
OCLC Number: 48170670
Description: 782 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
Contents: PART 1. INTRODUCTION : 1. Introduction / by Ibn Warraq --
2. What Is the Koran? / by Toby Lester --
PART 2. BACKGROUND : 1. Towards a Prehistory of Islam / by Yehuda D. Nevo --
PART 3. A QUESTION OF LANGUAGE : 1. Syriac Influence on the Style of the Koran / by Alphonse Mingana --
2. Some Additions to Prof. Jeffery's Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur'an / by D.S. Margoliouth --
3. The Arabic Readers of the Koran / by Paul E. Kahle --
4. The Beginnings of Classical Arabic / by C. Rabin --
5. The Role of the Bedouins as Arbiters in Linguistic Questions and the Mas'ala Az-Zunburiyya / by Joshua Blau --
6. Some Suggestions to Qur'an Translators / by A. Ben-Shemesh --
PART 4. SOURCES OF THE KORAN: ESSENIAN, CHRISTIAN, COPTIC : 1. Introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls / by Ibn Warraq --
2. The Qumran Scrolls and the Qur'an / by Eric R. Bishop --
3. An Essenian Tradition in the Koran / by Marc Philonenko --
4. A Qumranian Expression in the Koran / by Marc Philonenko --
5. A Possible Coptic Source of a Qur'anic Text / by Wilson B. Bishai --
6. Introduction to Raimund Kobert / by Ibn Warraq --
7. The Shahadat az-zur: The False Witness / by Raimund Kobert --
8. On the Meaning of the Three Final Words of Sura XXII. 30-31 / by Raimund Kobert --
9. Early and Later Exegesis of the Koran: A Supplement to Or 35 / by Raimund Kobert. PART 5. SURAS, SURAS, SURAS : 1. Introduction to Sura IX.29 / by Ibn Warraq --
2. Some Minor Problems in the Qur'an / by Franz Rosenthal3. Koran IX.29 / by Claude Cahen --
4. A Propos de Qur'an IX.29: Hatta Yu'tu L-Gizyata wa-hum Sagiruna / by Meir M. Bravmann and Claude Cahen --
5. The Ancient Arab Background of the Koranic Concept al-Gizatu 'an Yadin / by Meir M. Bravman --
6. "'An Yadin" (Qur'an IX.29): An Attempt at Interpretation / by M.J. Kister --
7. Koran and Tafsir: The Case of "'an Yadin" / by Uri Rubin --
8. Koran XXV.1: Al-Furqan and the "Warner" / by C. Heger --
9. The Buddha Comes to China / by Michael Schub --
10. The Secret Identity of Dhu l-Kifl / by Michael Schub --
PART 6. EMENDATIONS, INTERPOLATIONS : 1. Studies Contributing to Criticism and Exegesis of the Koran / by J. Barth --
2. A Qur'anic Interpolation / by A. Fischer --
3. Regarding Qur'an CI.6 by / A. Fischer --
4. Three Difficult Passages in the Koran / by C.C. Torrey --
5. A Strange Reading in the Qur'an / by C.C. Torrey --
6. Some Proposed Emendations to the Text of the Koran / by James A. Bellamy --
PART 7. RICHARD BELL: INTRODUCTION AND COMMENTARY : 1. Introduction to Richard Bell / by Ibn Warraq --
2. From INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN / by Richard Bell --
3. From A COMMENTARY ON THE QUR'AN / by Richard Bell. PART 8. POETRY AND THE KORAN : 1. The Strophic Structure of the Koran / by Rudolf Geyer --
2. On the Koran / by Julius Wellhausen --
3. On Pre-Islamic Christian Strophic Poetical Texts in the Koran: A Critical Look at the Work of Gunter Luling / by Ibn Rawandi --
PART 9. MANUSCRIPTS : 1. The Problem of Dating the Early Qur'ans / by Adolf Grohmann --
2. Observations on Early Qur'an Manuscripts in San'a / by Gerd-R. Puin Languages --
E. Semitic Languages Family Tree --
F. Origin of the Alphabet --
G. Development of Aramaic Scripts --
H.A Comparative Table of Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic Scripts --
I.A Comparative Table of Nabataean and Arabic --
J. Nabataean and Arabic Inscriptions --
K. The Arabic Alphabet --
L.A Dot or Two Can Make All the Difference --
M. Arabia and the Near East --
N. List of Contributors.
Responsibility: edited with translations by Ibn Warraq.