Living Miracle: Thematic Analysis of the Quran (IBT)

An introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’aan presents a detailed and thorough explanation of the sciences related to the history, understanding and implementation of the Qur’aan. The book provides the English reader with a detailed analysis of classic Muslim scholarship regarding: the process on Inspiration (Wahy); the various means of classifying verses of the Qur’aan; the history of the compilation of the Qur’aan; the meaning of the seven ahruf and the ten qira’aat of the Qur’aan; the miraculous nature of the Qur’aan; the concept of abrogation in the Qur’aan; the procedure and methodology of tafseer; and many other topics. The work has a number of sections dedicated to explaining the traditional Muslim refutations of certain belief of the Ash’arees with regards to the Qur’aan.

This book also includes detailed discussions on modern Western scholarship of the Qur’aan. After presenting a history of the English translation of the Qur’aan, along with a critical review of some translations, the author discusses and refutes common Orientalist polemic literature on the Qur’aan.

The work is unique in that it presents classical material in a simple and modern style, while maintaning a hight academic level. It is the most advanced work of its kind in the English language, and a necessary reference for all serious students of Islamic knowledge.

The Qur’an reigns supreme in Muslim hearts as the most sacred of texts: a profusion of exalted ideas to rouse the mind, noble histories to stir the soul, universal truths to awaken the conscience and precise injunctions directing humanity to its own deliverance, all distilled into the melodious essence that is the Word of Allah. Through fourteen centuries Muslims have persevered in championing the text against corruption, memorising its every word and contemplating its every phrase, so that in our own times untold millions have enthusiastically committed each letter to heart.

Beginning with a catalogue of ancient and contemporary attacks on the Qur’an, this expansive book provides unique insights into the holy text’s immaculate preservation throughout its history, as well as exploring many of the accusations leveled against it. The reception of divine revelations, Prophet Muhammad’s role in teaching and disseminating these verses, the text’s compilation under his guidance and the setting of its final external shape shortly after his death, are meticulously and scientifically examined alongside such topics as the origins of Arabic, its paleography and orthography, the so-called Mushaf of Ibn Mas’ud, and the strict methodology employed in assembling textual fragments.

By way of comparison the author investigates the histories of the Old and New Testaments, relying entirely on Judaeo-Christian sources including the Dead Sea Scrolls and uncovers a startling range of alterations that touch almost every fact of the Biblical Scriptures. Using this as a springboard for assessing Western theories regarding the Qur’an, he makes a sophisticated yet passionate case for questioning the aims of Western scholarship in continuously undermining Islam’s holy book, and illustrates convincingly that such research, motivated by more than mere curiousity, has no scientific bearing on the Qur’an’s integrity.

This monumental effort, a scholarly work composed in an impassioned tone, provides a welcome foundation for sincere study at a time when assailing the Qur’an has become all too common.

A cornerstone addition to any personal library. A Truly monumental effort. This work presents a cogent and powerful argument for the Qur’an’s unique inviolability.

The Quran, the sacred scripture of Islam, is revered as the spoken word of God by approximately one-fifth of the world’s population. Since its inception, the power of the Quran has derived not only from its message, but also from the inimitable literary style and rhetorical impact that the Arabic scripture has on its audiences. Divine Speech: Exploring the Quran as Literature attempts to make some of the most recent Arabic and European-language scholarship on its literary features accessible to a wider, English-speaking audience. These features include its language and word choice, its use of figures of speech and other rhetorical devices, its manner of narrating parables and stories, and the structure, coherence, and the order of its “chapters”-aspects that typically remain mysterious to readers of English translations of the text. Divine Speech furnishes its readers with a better appreciation of the Quran from a literary perspective, and in the process stimulates interest in, and provides tools and resources for, further study of the scripture.