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2016 Annual Meeting Program Book

2016 Annual Report

San Antonio, Texas Y November 18–21

Acknowledgment Table of Contents
The International Qurʾanic Studies Association (IQSA) IQSA Events 2016...........................................................3
was first formed in 2012 through a generous grant Abstracts and Biographies............................................8
Reports
by the Henry Luce Foundation and in consultation
Executive Summary 2016....................................40
with the Society of Biblical Literature. IQSA was
Nomination Committee......................................41
incorporated in 2014 and granted nonprofit status
Programming Committee...................................43
in 2015. Additionally, we recognize the Windsor
Publications and Research Committee.............44
Foundation, DeGruyter Press and IQSA members for
IQSA International Conference 2016.........................45
their generous support.
Participation and Membership...................................46
IQSA members include students and scholars of IQSA Mission and Vision............................................47
the Qurʾan and related fields from universities Announcing IQSA Boston 2017.................................48
and institutions around the world. IQSA facilitates Forthcoming 2017.........................................................49
communication among its members, establishes JIQSA Call for Papers..................................................51
regular meetings, sponsors a diverse range of Review of Qurʾanic Research.....................................52
publications, and advocates for the field of Qurʾanic Qurʾan Seminar............................................................53
Studies in higher education and in the public sphere. People.............................................................................54

Dear Friend,
The International Qurʾanic Studies Association (IQSA) is dedicated to fostering Qurʾanic scholarship.
As a learned society, IQSA:
^^ assists scholars of the Qurʾan to form contacts and develop fruitful professional and personal
relationships;
^^ sponsors rigorous academic scholarship on the Qurʾan through its lectures, journal articles,
book reviews, monograph series, and online resources;
^^ builds bridges between scholars around the world.
Conscious of the importance of interdisciplinary conversations, IQSA continues to meet alongside of
SBL at its North American annual meetings. After successfully holding its 2015 International Meeting in
the Islamic world in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, IQSA will hold its 2017 International Meeting in Carthage,
Tunisia. For more details on all of our programs, publications, and member benefits please visit
IQSAweb.org.
In this program book you will find a complete listing of IQSA events during the San Antonio meeting.
You will also find information on our Call for Papers for those who would like to participate in our
2017 Annual Meeting in Boston and announcements about contributing to IQSA’s journal (JIQSA), book
series, and online book review service (RQR).
As a learned society, IQSA is shaped by the contributions and insights of its members. We are eager
to draw together a diverse community of students and scholars of the Qurʾan and look forward to
working together to promote the field of Qurʾanic Studies. Welcome to IQSA 2016 in San Antonio!
We hope to see you again at IQSA 2017 in Boston.
Emran El-Badawi
Executive Director, International Qurʾanic Studies Association

2 IQSAweb.org
 IQSA Events 2016
P18-203a P19-144
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Qurʾanic Studies: Methodology and
Perspectives on the Qurʾanic Corpus Hermeneutics
Theme: Rhetoric of Persuasion in the Qurʾanic Theme: The Qurʾan as a Violent Text?
Discourse Saturday, November 19, 9:00 AM–11:30 AM
Friday, November 18, 1:00 PM–3:30 PM Grand A (Third Level) – Marriott Rivercenter (MRC)
007D (River Level) – Convention Center (CC) Farid Esack, University of Johannesburg, Presiding
Andrew C. Smith, Brigham Young University Hina Azam, University of Texas at Austin,
Deliberate Alternation of Time: Verbal Enallage or Panelist
Iltifat as Rhetorical Poetics in Surat al-Qamar (25 min)
Gerald Hawting, School of Oriental and African
Matthew Kuiper, University of Notre Dame Studies, Panelist
Da‘wah in the Qurʾan and the Qurʾan as Persuasive
M. Issam Eido, Vanderbilt University, Panelist
Da‘wah (25 min)
Reuven Firestone, Hebrew Union College –
Karen Bauer, The Institute of Ismaili Studies Jewish Institute of Religion, Panelist
Emotional Rhetoric and Qurʾanic Persuasion (25 min)
David Cook, Rice University, Panelist
Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, Paris-Sorbonne Université
Sharing Its Inner Feelings with the Audience: Khalid Blankinship, Temple University, Panelist
Persuasive Features of the Qurʾanic Voice (25 min) Karen Bauer, The Institute of Ismaili Studies,
Panelist
Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame
God of Mercy and Vengeance (25 min)
P19-143a
Discussion (25 min)
The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition
P18-313b Joint session with SBL Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition
Presidential Address Theme: al-Kisa’i’s Tales of the Prophets
Friday, November 18, 4:00 PM–5:15 PM Saturday, November 19, 9:00 PM–11:30 AM
Lone Star B (Second Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH) Grand B (Third Level) – Marriott Rivercenter (MRC)
Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston, John Kaltner, Rhodes College, Presiding
Presiding Marianna Klar, SOAS, University of London
Farid Esack, University of Johannesburg Textual stability in al-Kisa’i’s Shu‘ayb Narrative (20 min)
“These are my Daughters”: Lot and His Offer—A Lover/ Discussion (10 min)
Scholar Reflects on one of the Qurʾan’s More Awkward Carol Bakhos, University of California, Los Angeles
Moments Migrating Motifs: Villains in Jubilees and al-Kisa’i’s
Shari Lowin, Stonehill College, Respondent Tales of the Prophets (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
P18-316
John C. Reeves, University of North Carolina at
IQSA Reception Charlotte
Friday, November 18, 5:15 PM–6:30 PM Parascriptural Lore Pertaining to the Prophet Idris in
Lone Star A (Second Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH) the Tale Anthology of al-Kisa’i (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
P18-317 Cornelia Horn, Martin-Luther University, Halle-
Film Screening: Jesus and Islam Wittenberg
Situating al-Kisa’i’s Role in the Development of
Friday November 18, 6:30 PM–8:30 PM Extra-Canonical Depictions of Jesus and Mary in the
Lone Star B (Second Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH) Christian Orient (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)

IQSAweb.org 3
Helen Blatherwick, SOAS, University of London Jennifer Knust, Boston University, Respondent
Literary Choices and Textual Silences in al-Kisa’i’s (10 min)
Accounts of the Annunciation and the Birth of Jesus Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford, Respondent
(20 min) (10 min)
Discussion (10 min)
P19-332
P19-160 Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic
IQSA Graduate Student Reception Perspectives on the Qurʾanic Corpus
Theme: Doctoral Dissertation “Lightning Talks” Theme: Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic
Saturday, November 19, 11:45 AM–12:45 PM Perspectives on Specific Qurʾanic Surahs
849 E. Commerce St. 2nd Level Saturday, November 19, 4:00 PM–6:30 PM
Rufino Dango, University of Notre Dame Lone Star D (Second Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH)
Muhammad Asad, Interpreting the Qurʾan for the Lauren E. Osborne, Whitman College
Modern Mind Fluidity in Sound: The Soundscape of Surat al-Kahf
Maria Rodriguez, Catholic University of America (25 min)
‘What God Really Said’: The Function of the “Word of Devin J. Stewart, Emory University
God” in Assyrian, Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic Prophetic A Periphrastic Use of kull (all) in the Qurʾan (25 min)
Literature Jawad Anwar Qureshi, University of Chicago
Andrew Smith, Brigham Young University Ring Composition, Virtues, and Qurʾanic Prophetology
Prostration as Discourse: A Comparative Literary, in Surat Yusuf (Q 12) (25 min)
Semiotic, and Ritual Analysis of the Action in the Sarra Tlili, University of Florida
Qurʾan and Hebrew Bible The Canine Companion of the Cave (25 min)
P19-238a M. Issam Eido, Vanderbilt University
“Yujadiluna fi Qawmi Lut” (Q Hud 11:74):
The Qurʾan: Manuscripts and Material Abrahamic Argument and Rethinking of Homosexuality
Culture in the Qurʾan (25 min)
Joint session with SBL New Testament Textual Criticism Discussion (25 min)
Theme: Comparative New Testament and
Qurʾanic Textual Criticism S19-350
Saturday, November 19, 1:00 PM–3:30 PM The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition
Texas D (Fourth Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH) Joint session with SBL Syriac Literature and
Juan Hernandez, Bethel University (Minnesota), Interpretations of Sacred Texts and AAR Middle Eastern
Presiding Christianity
Sara Schulthess, University of Lausanne/Swiss Theme: Christian-Muslim Relations
Institute of Bioinformatics, and Claire Clivaz, Swiss Saturday, November 19, 4:00 PM–6:30 PM
Institute of Bioinformatics Presidio A (Third Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH)
Studying an Arabic New Testament Manuscript (Vat.
Ar. 13): So What? (30 min) Cornelia Horn, Martin-Luther University, Halle-
Wittenberg, Presiding
Michael Marx, Corpus Coranicum, Berlin-
Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Tina Shepardson, University of Tennessee,
The Development of the Orthography of the Qurʾan in Knoxville
the Light of Early Manuscripts (30 min) Persisting in Religious Truth: Reading John of Ephesus
during the Rise of Islam (25 min)
Stephen J. Davis, Yale University
Marginalia Arabica: Traces of Christian Scribes, David Cook, Rice University
Patrons, and Readers (30 min) Making the Transition between Apocalypse in
Revelation to Revelation in Apocalypse (25 min)
Daniel Brubaker, Rice University
Corrections Involving the Word rizq (Provision) in Zachary Ugolnik, Columbia University
Early Qurʾans (30 min) Divine (Reflexive) Speech in John of Dalyatha (d. c. 780)
and the Commentaries attributed to Ja‘far al-Sadiq
(d. 765) (25 min)

4 IQSAweb.org
Ashoor Yousif, University of Toronto Marianus Hundhammer, Friedrich-Alexander-
Patriarchate and Caliphate: Christian-Muslim Relations at Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
the Highest Echelons of Early Abbasid Society (25 min) The Arabian Prophets of the Qurʾan and the Bible:
Cynthia Villagomez, Winston-Salem State University Remarks on Contextuality, Sources, and Methods in
Economic Justice, Economic Capital, and Religious Muslim Exegetical Traditions and Qurʾanic Studies
Authority in the Church of the East in the Early Islamic (25 min)
Centuries (25 min) Roberto Tottoli, Universita di Napoli
George Kiraz, Princeton University Struggling with Meanings and Style: The Reception of
Petitioning the Patriarch: The Syriac Orthodox in the Surat al-Kahf in Latin Translations in Medieval and
Late Ottoman Empire (25 min) Modern Europe (25 min)
D. Morgan Davis, Brigham Young University
P20-130a The Bible as a Basis for a Comparative Analysis of the
Qurʾan and the Book of Mormon (25 min)
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic
John Span, Faculté Jean Calvin, Aix-en-Provence
Perspectives on the Qurʾanic Corpus Christianized Qurʾanic Hermeneutics: A Historical
Theme: Surat al-Nisa’ (Q 4) Overview and Critique (25 min)
Sunday, November 20, 9:00 AM–11:30 AM
007D (River Level) – Convention Center (CC) P20-159
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Yale University, Presiding IQSA Business Meeting
Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania All IQSA members should attend
Law and Literary Form in Surat al-Nisa’ with Reference
to Surat al-Baqarah and Surat al-Ma’idah (30 min) Sunday, November 20, 11:30 AM–12:15 PM
Texas C (Fourth Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH)
Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford
Adjudicatory Responses in Surat al-Nisa’ (30 min) P20-221
Hamza M. Zafer, University of Washington
Prophetic Authority, Universalism, and Equivalence in Qurʾan Seminar
Surat al-Nisa’ (30 min) Theme: Roundtable/Book Launch
Marianna Klar, SOAS, University of London Sunday, November 20, 1:00 PM–3:30 PM
Lexicon and Structure in Surat al-Nisa’ (30 min) Texas C (Fourth Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH)
Discussion (30 min) Mehdi Azaiez, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
Panelist
P20-151a Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston,
Panelist
The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition
Sidney Griffith, Catholic University of America,
Joint session with SBL Biblica Arabica: The Bible in Panelist
Arabic Among Jews, Christians, and Muslims
Asma Hilali, The Institute of Ismaili Studies,
Theme: The Arabic Bible and the Qurʾan in the Panelist
Jewish and Christian Tradition
Michael Pregill, Boston University, Panelist
Sunday, November 20, 9:00 AM–11:30 AM
Presidio A (Third Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH) Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre
Dame, Panelist
Ilana D. Sasson, Sacred Heart University, Presiding
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Yale University, Panelist
Holger Zellentin, University of Nottingham,
Presiding P20-227a
Davida Charney, University of Texas at Austin
The Dilemmas of Defining Psalms as Prophecy for The Qurʾan: Manuscripts and Material
Rabbanites and Karaites (25 min) Culture
Meir Bar Maymon, Tel Aviv University Sunday, November 20, 1:00 PM–3:30 PM
Job: The First (Jewish) Subject and the Sovereignty of Independence (Third Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH)
YHWH (25 min) Alba Fedeli, Central European University,
Budapest, Presiding
Daniel Brubaker, Rice University
Qurʾan Manuscript Treasures from the Museum of
Islamic Art, Doha
IQSAweb.org 5
Wasim Shiliwala, Princeton University
Islamic Law and Anomalous Readings of the Qurʾan P21-239a
Tobias Jocham, Corpus Coranicum, Berlin- Qurʾanic Studies: Methodology and
Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Hermeneutics
Carbon Dating of Qurʾanic Manuscripts Theme: Emergent Hermeneutics
Monday, November 21, 1:00 PM–03:30 PM
P21-155 Independence (Third Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH)
The Qurʾan and Late Antiquity Farid Esack, University of Johannesburg, Presiding
Joint session with the SBL Religious Competition in Late Johanna Pink, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Antiquity program unit The Hermeneutics of Sources: Emergent Hermeneutics
Theme: Violence and Belief Beyond the Qurʾanic and the Tradition of Tafsir (25 min)
Milieu Banafsheh Madaninejad, Southwestern University
Monday, November 21, 9:00 AM–11:30 AM The Iranian Religious Intellectual Movement and the
Travis B (Third Level) – Grand Hyatt (GH) Hermeneutics of a “Changing Qurʾan” (25 min)
Lily Vuong, Central Washington University, Lailatul Fitriyah, University of Notre Dame, and
Presiding Bahram Naderil, Northwestern University
Ra‘anan Boustan, University of California, Los The People of Lut: Indonesian LGBTQ’s Reading on Q
Angeles, and Karen Britt, Western Carolina 7:80–84 (25 min)
University Yusuf Rahman, Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN)
Blood on the Floor: Representations of Violence and Syarif Hidayatullah
Communal Self-Fashioning in the Synagogue Mosaics Feminist Kiyai, K.H. Husein Muhammad: An
at Huqoq (30 min) Indonesian Interpretation on Gendered Verses in the
Adam Gaiser, Florida State University Qurʾan (25 min)
Kharijite Militancy from a Late Antique Perspective James Crossley, St. Mary’s University, London
(20 min) Tony Blair’s Liberal Qurʾan (25 min)
Nathan S. French, Miami University
“Our Monasticism is Jihad”: On Pursuing the P21-250
Numinous in Borderlands Classical and Jihadi-Salafi
(20 min) The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition
Theme: Late Antique Perspectives on Qurʾanic
P21-147 Ontology and Law
Monday, November 21, 1:00 PM–3:30 PM
Qurʾan Seminar 305 (Third Level) – Convention Center (CC)
Theme: Panel 1: Q 27:45–58 (Narratives) and Q Cornelia Horn, Martin-Luther University, Halle-
33:28–37 (Women/Contemporary Events) Wittenberg, Presiding
Panel 2: Q 49 (Contemporary Events) and Q 83 Holger Zellentin, University of Nottingham
(Eschatology) The Noahide Covenant from the Bible to the Qurʾan
Monday, November 21, 1:00 PM–2:30 PM (30 min)
007D (River Level) – Convention Center (CC) Tanner Lowe, Duke University
Mehdi Azaiez, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Surat ‘Abasa, John 9 and a Hermeneutic of Disability
Presiding (30 min)
Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston, David Bertaina, University of Illinois at Springfield
Panelist The Bodily Resurrection in the Qurʾan and Sixth-
Reuven Firestone, Hebrew Union College – Century Syriac Christian Literature (30 min)
Jewish Institute of Religion, Panelist George Archer, Georgetown University
Emad Mohamad, Indiana University, Panelist Kun fa-yakun: The Qurʾan’s Command to “Be!” as a
Andrew O’Connor, University of Notre Dame, Refutation of Trinitarianism (30 min)
Panelist
Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre
Dame, Panelist
Stephen Shoemaker, University of Oregon,
Panelist
6 IQSAweb.org
 Andrew Durdin, University of Chicago
P21-348 The Ancient Romans and Their “Religion” (15 min)
The Qurʾan and Late Antiquity Paul Robertson, Colby-Sawyer College
Joint session with Society for Ancient Mediterranean Teaching the Taxonomy of Social Phenomena:
Religions Greco-Roman Religions and the SBL Student Categorizing and Comparing Religious Groups in the
Advisory Board Ancient Mediterranean (15 min)
Theme: Teaching Ancient Mediterranean Religions Greg Fisher, Carleton University
from Rome to Islam Silo Busting: Teaching the pre-Islamic Religious
Monday, November 21, 4:00 PM– 6:30 PM Landscape as a Roman Historical Problem (15 min)
217B (Second Level – West) – Convention Center (CC) Elizabeth DePalma Digeser, University of
Annette Yoshiko Reed, University of Pennsylvania, California, Santa Barbara
Presiding Cities and Empires: Integrating the Study of Early
Islam within World and Mediterranean History
Richard S. Ascough, Queen’s University, and Erin (15 min)
K. Vearncombe, Princeton University
Who Wins in a Fight, Cybele or Isis? Strategies for Michael Pregill, Boston University
Learner-Centered Teaching on Ancient Mediterranean “We Have Made You Nations and Tribes…”: Teaching
Religions (15 min) Islam in a First Millennium Context (15 min)

Downtown San Antonio, Texas

IQSAweb.org 7
 Abstracts and Biographies
the individual level, noting that in some cases it can also
P18-203a be seen as occurring with regard to distinct variation of
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic verbal tense or mood. This paper expands upon such
Perspectives on the Qurʾanic Corpus and presents enallage of verbal tense or verbal iltifat as
a deliberate rhetorical strategy used on a larger scale
Theme: Rhetoric of Persuasion in the Qurʾanic
Discourse than previously recognized within the structure of
Q 54. The alternation between times as illustrated by
Andrew C. Smith, Brigham Young University verbal forms and syntactical features is presented as an
Andrew C. Smith received his Ph.D. in Religious additional literary and rhetorical layer within the surah
Studies (Critical Comparative Scripture) from and is mapped alongside the general ring structure
Claremont Graduate University (2016), emphasizing arrangement noted by modern scholars. The presence
Islamic/Qurʾanic Studies and Hebrew Bible. His of enallage on such a level within the surah enriches
dissertation consisted of comparative literary, semiotic, and provides greater rhetorical and poetic power to
and ritual analyses of prostration in the Qurʾan and the message and content of the surah.
Hebrew Bible. His interests of study in the Qurʾan
Matthew Kuiper, University of Notre Dame
revolve around the discursive development of the
earliest Qurʾanic community, as seen through the Matthew Kuiper is a postdoctoral teaching scholar in
community’s ritual actions, the Qurʾanic uses of biblical the Department of Theology at the University of Notre
narratives, and its literary and rhetorical features, Dame. His scholarly interests include the Qurʾan,
particularly in comparison with other scriptural texts da‘wah, modern Islamic activism, Islamic history in
and traditions of Late Antiquity. He is currently an India, and interreligious relations.
instructor of Religious Education and Middle Eastern Da‘wah in the Qurʾan and the Qurʾan as Persuasive
Studies at Brigham Young University. Da‘wah
Deliberate Alternation of Time: Verbal Enallage or The Qurʾanic concept of da‘wah has re-emerged in
Iltifat as Rhetorical Poetics in Surat al-Qamar modern times as a potent discourse of mobilization
This paper views the rhetorical and literary strategies for Muslims around the world. The Qurʾan, believed
undergirding the message of Surat al-Qamar, by Muslims to be comprised of divine revelations
particularly its thematic usage of concepts of time delivered through the Prophet Muhammad between
as shown by its deliberate use of verbal sentences, 610 and 632 CE, not only contains but also in a very
forms, and inflections, as well as other syntactical real sense is the original da‘wah of Islam. It is no
constructions associated and placed in apposition with exaggeration to say that the Qurʾan’s overall purpose,
them. These poetic and rhetorical devices are shown its raison d’être, is to exhort, challenge, and persuade
to be purposeful in their usage as undergirding and its audience—people of diverse religions—to heed
supporting the thematic motifs and homiletic message God’s da‘wah, by heeding the da‘wah of His prophets
of the surah prompting righteous action from its and messengers in light of the Last Day. This is clearly
audience by melding and mixing times and periods reflected in its homiletic style. As such, the Qurʾan
(the biblical past, the present of the audience, and retains, in theory at least, its paradigmatic force for all
the future eschaton) to rhetorically create a specific subsequent da‘wahs. The Arabic noun da‘wah can be
simultaneity of time. In essence, the literary form of the translated “call,” “invitation,” or “summons.” Related
surah distinctly supports and enhances the rhetorical terms include the verb da‘a (to call, invite, or summon)
message of its content. In order to appreciate this and the active participle da‘i (one who calls, invites, or
underlying literary structure, this paper utilizes the summons). In the Qurʾan, variants of da‘a occur over
concept of “enallage” (Greek: interchange), a syntactic 200 times and carry a range of meanings. In spite of all
device present in biblical discourse and recognized this, as Paul Walker observed years ago, “There is little,
to some degree in later balaghah (Arabic rhetoric) as a if any, literature specifically on Qurʾanic concepts of
minor version or variant of iltifat. Viewed generally as da‘wah in English.” While the situation has improved
a deliberate shifting of grammatical category (gender, marginally in recent years, most studies are still
number, or person) for a deliberate literary or rhetorical limited to a few “proof-texts” on da‘wah drawn from
effect, scholarly and traditional discourse on Qurʾanic the Qurʾan. Moreover, no one, to my knowledge, has
rhetoric and styles has focused on such occurrences on examined da‘wah discourse in the Qurʾan specifically in

8 IQSAweb.org
relationship to persuasion in an interreligious milieu. In both cases, the emotional language of the text creates
In this paper, I seek to accomplish three goals. First, I a feeling of belonging in the believer, a sense that he
aim to fill this scholarly lacuna by studying da‘wah in is among those who truly feel, and therefore truly
the Qurʾan following the semantic trail of the word and understand. The text connects the heart and the mind:
its variants throughout the sacred text. For the most those endowed with “hearts” are those who know and
part, I will allow the Qurʾan to speak for itself and will understand God’s word best, as in Q Baqarah 2:269,
keep secondary perspectives to a minimum. Da‘wah, “He gives wisdom to those whom he wishes … but
however, does not stand alone in the Qurʾan but is none heed except those who understand.” Emotional
part of a web of related Qurʾanic concepts. Therefore, understanding thus becomes a type of religious
second, I aim to situate da‘wah in the Qurʾan’s broader knowledge; and yet sometimes the Qurʾan admonishes
discourses vis-à-vis the divine mission to humanity, people to do things that are contrary to their own
the nature of prophetic ministry, and the Qurʾan’s feelings, as in Q 2:216: “warfare has been prescribed
persuasive or hortatory style. In other words, looking for you, though it is hateful to you.” This paper gives
beyond “da‘wah in the Qurʾan,” I propose to view “the a general overview of the function of emotions in all
Qurʾan as da‘wah,” and specifically as da‘wah carried of these surahs, and also compares the function of
out in a competitive interreligious milieu. This will emotions in the Meccan surahs (Q 12 and 19) with that
enable us to grasp the kinds of Qurʾanic resources in the Medinan surahs (Q 2 and 5). This comparison
contemporary da‘wah thinkers and activists have at raises the question of whether the emotional register
their disposal. Finally, I aim to highlight the fact that, is different in the Meccan surahs, which are commonly
although the Qurʾan’s Prophet is presented as the understood to be the more persuasive and poetic.
ideal da‘i, this presentation nevertheless leaves later Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, Paris-Sorbonne Université
generations with certain ambiguities vis-à-vis da‘wah. See biography in People section on page 56.
These ambiguities result in large part from the fact
that the Qurʾan is more concerned with doing da‘wah Sharing Its Inner Feelings with the Audience:
than with theorizing da‘wah. This open-endedness Persuasive Features of the Qurʾanic Voice
creates a space in which multiple Islamic conceptions This paper addresses the fact that the enunciating
of da‘wah may operate side by side while all claiming voice in the Qurʾanic text tends to develop a specific
to be properly rooted in the Qurʾan. technique, which aims at affecting the feelings and
Karen Bauer, The Institute of Ismaili Studies emotions of its audience (or its readership). Besides
See biography in People section on page 57. the display of what can be described as eschatological
threats and incentives —punishments in the fire of hell
Emotional Rhetoric and Qurʾanic Persuasion and promises of reward in the garden of paradise—less
The study of religion and emotion is an established obvious tools can be observed. The most striking one is
and growing field. Ritual is in many ways an emotional the way the “voice” intrudes into the reader’s/listener’s
experience for the believer (Gade 2004), and the feelings by offering to share its own “feelings” with him
process of becoming a believer in the first instance or her. In other words, the voice of the text—presented
is often emotionally charged. But beyond a brief as the divine voice—makes its way to the inner
characterization by Gade in The Oxford Handbook of feelings of the reader/listener by acting as if personally
Religion and Emotion (2007), there has been little work explaining its own feelings to him or her, exposing
on the rhetorical strategies designed to provoke the the reasons for its anger or contentment, as well as
reader’s emotion within the Qurʾan, or the role of by offering relief by describing how it “masters the
emotional language in the text. In this paper, I assess situation.” These “expositions of inner feelings” appear
the function played by emotional rhetoric in four mainly in the shape of verse endings, digressions, and
Qurʾanic surahs: Surat al-Baqarah, Surat al-Ma’idah, words spoken aside. Images and metaphors add to
Surat Maryam, and Surat Yusuf, particularly focusing this colorful display. While exploring the functioning
on pathos as a means of persuasion. There is a profound of each of these rhetorical tools, this paper stresses
link between emotion and faith in these surahs. At the importance of the following point: the feelings
times, emotion divides believers, who, like God, are of the voice are presented as being deeply personal
forgiving and merciful, from the Children of Israel, and intimate. In brief, this may cause the reader/
whose hearts have been made hard (Q Ma’idah 5:13), listener to get the impression that he or she is being
and who are characterized by animosity and hatred. highly privileged, and therefore to endorse a high
The emotional resonance of Mary’s call “I wish I had responsibility and to feel compelled to act in a certain
died before this!” (Q Maryam 19:23), draws the reader way, as if to put right or to make up for the situation
into her world, evoking sympathy for her plight while causing the voice’s feelings.
giving birth alone at the foot of a date palm.
IQSAweb.org 9
While avoiding the trap of a too-easy personalization of significant attention in Qurʾanic scholarship and Tafsir
the Qurʾanic text, this paper analyzes technically how literature – both as a part of the Qasas al-Anbiya genre
the use of the voice of the text enables the “author” to and as the foundational narrative informing Muslim
act on the audience’s emotion and shows the centrality ethics in relation to expressions of homo-eroticism,
of this process as a rhetorical attempt to influence the sodomy and, more recently, homosexuality. Lot’s
latter. offering of his daughters to the mob of would-be
Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame rapists attacking his home when they received news
See biography in People section on page 55. of the presence of male guests in his house (Q.11:78;
15:71) has received preciously little attention in
God of Mercy and Vengeance Qurʾanic Studies – both early and, more surprisingly,
The theme of God’s mercy runs throughout the Qurʾan, in contemporary scholarship. While a large number of
every chapter of which (except one), begins with the characters are featured in the Qurʾan as messengers of
invocation: “In the name of God, the Merciful, the God, only the narratives about Lot and Abraham have
Benevolent.” The Qurʾan, however, also emphasizes been transformed as paradigmatic for proper Muslim
God’s justice and even His vengefulness. The behaviour. (In the case of lot, it functions as the basis
vengefulness of the Qurʾan’s God is found in the stories for Islam’s prohibition on expressions of same-sex
it tells of the retribution which God carries out on erotic behaviour and in the case of Abraham for the
unbelieving peoples (Straflegenden), in the description ritual re-enactment of the rites of Hajj). Lot’s offering
of God as dhu‘l-intiqam (Q 3:41; 5:95; 14:47; 39:37), and of his daughters thus has serious implications for
in the way the Qurʾan has God lay in wait or ambush questions of the Qurʾan endorsement or recognition
for unbelievers (Q 11:121-23; 89:14) or declare that (or otherwise) of sexual violence, women’s agency,
while unbelievers scheme, He is the best of schemers and women as the property of men. For Muslims,
(Q 3:54; 4:142; 7:99; 8:30). Both Daud Rahbar (God of Lot’s offering is further compounded by the Qurʾan’s
Justice, 1960) and Fazlur Rahman (Major Themes of the affirmation of his status as a “righteous Messenger of
Qurʾan, 1980) argue passionately against the notion God” and even more so by the much latter emergence
that the God of the Qurʾan is capricious, and for the of the now unquestioned doctrine of the infallibility
notion that He is simply “just” or a “strict judge” (as of all Messengers of God. This presentation considers
Rahbar puts it). They do not, however, address the the Lot narrative with particular reference to the offer
question of God’s vengefulness, a quality which seems of his daughters through the lenses of someone who
to surpass simple justice. In my paper, I will argue that grapples with the Qurʾan as both a scholar and lover
this vengefulness is best understood as an element of of the text, embedded in a multiplicity of identities and
the Qurʾan’s paraenesis, of homiletic exhortation, and discourses and caught between a simultaneous refusal
that it develops the biblical idea of God’s unique right to ignore the contemporary ethical challenges that a
to punish evildoers (found notably in Romans 12:19, linguistic and historical reading of the text presents, on
quoting Deuteronomy 32:35). the one hand, and an abiding love for the text on the
other. This paper draws on both exegetical — Qurʾanic
P18-313b and Biblical — material as well as personal narratives
to offer some insights into the question of how ethically
Presidential Address
awkward passages of the Qurʾan — a text regarded
Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston, by Muslims as flawless — may be negotiated, the
Presiding context of this negotiation and some of its limitations.
See biography in People section on page 55. A fuller understanding of the Lot narrative in the
Farid Esack, University of Johannesburg Qurʾan is incomplete without resort to extra-Qurʾanic
See biography in People section on page 54. — particularly Biblical — material something widely
accepted in the classical period of Tafsir and then, until
“These are my Daughters”: Lot and His Offer—A more recently, largely the domaim of critical western
Lover/Scholar Reflects on one of the Qurʾan’s More based scholarship. This paper concludes with a)
Awkward Moments reflections on Biblical literature as an indispensable tool
The Qurʾan contains a number of rather awkward akin to Hadith for tafsir and b) an awkward personal
passages and affirms themes which contemporary analogy on how I have survived – possibly thrived –
sensitivities find offensive. This presentation focuses on with my love for the Qurʾan on the one hand, and its
one “minor” such moment within a larger one – Lot’s ethical awkwardness on the other.
offering of his daughter to a crowd of violent sodomists/
rapists. The Lot narrative has received relatively

10 IQSAweb.org
Shari Lowin, Stonehill College, Respondent Reuven Firestone, Hebrew Union College – Jewish
Shari Lowin is Professor of Religious Studies at Institute of Religion, Panelist
Stonehill College, where she teaches Islamic Studies See biography in People section on page 54.
and Comparative Islamic-Jewish Studies. She also
David Cook, Rice University, Panelist
directs the Middle East Studies Minor Program
at Stonehill. Her research centers on the interplay David Cook is Associate Professor of Religion at
between Islam and Judaism in the early and early Rice University specializing in Islam. He did his
medieval Islamic periods, focusing on the development undergraduate degrees at the Hebrew University in
of Muslim and Jewish exegetical narratives, specifically Jerusalem, and received his Ph.D. from the University
qisas al-anbiya’ and midrash aggadah). Her first book of Chicago in 2001. His areas of specialization include
on this topic was The Making of a Forefather: Abraham early Islamic history and development, Muslim
in Islamic and Jewish Exegetical Narratives. Her current apocalyptic literature and movements (classical and
research projects include a study of the use of scriptural contemporary), radical Islam, historical astronomy
and exegetical narratives in Andalusian lust poetry, and Judeo-Arabic literature. His first book, Studies in
a continuation of her book, Arabic and Hebrew Love Muslim Apocalyptic, was published by Darwin Press
Poems of al-Andalus, and a study of tafsir and midrashic in the series Studies in Late Antiquity and Early
accounts of Noah’s children. Islam. Other publications include Understanding Jihad;
Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature; Martyrdom
P19-144 in Islam; and Understanding and Addressing Suicide
Attacks (with Olivia Allison). Cook is continuing
Qurʾanic Studies: Methodology and to work on classical Muslim apocalyptic literature,
Hermeneutics translating sources, such as Nu‘aym b. Hammad al-
Theme: The Qurʾan as a Violent Text? Marwazi’s Kitab al-Fitan, as well has having recently
become the Co-Editor for the Edinburgh University
Farid Esack, University of Johannesburg, Presiding
Press Islamic Apocalyptic and Eschatology series. He
See biography in People section on page 54.
is also sponsoring research on Boko Haram’s ideology,
Hina Azam, University of Texas at Austin, Panelist working with Ph.D. student Abdul Basit Kassem
Hina Azam is Assistant Professor in the Department and Rice University post-graduate Fellow Michael
of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Nwankpa on the group’s texts and videos in order to
Austin. She has a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Duke translate them into English.
University. Her specialization within Islamic Studies Khalid Blankinship, Temple University, Panelist
includes law, theology, exegesis, hadith, and gender/ Khalid Blankinship obtained his B.A. in History in
sexuality. Her recent published book, Sexual Violation 1973 from the University of Washington and an M.A.
in Islamic Law, was awarded the James Henry Breasted in Islamic History in 1983 from Cairo University. His
Prize. Ph.D. in History is from the University of Washington
Gerald Hawting, School of Oriental and African in 1988. Over the years, he has traveled extensively,
Studies, Panelist especially in Europe and the Middle East, where he
See biography in People section on page 54. became fluent in Arabic, both classical and colloquial
Egyptian. He has resided both in Egypt and in Saudi
M. Issam Eido, Vanderbilt University, Panelist Arabia. He has taught at a number of universities in
M. Issam Eido holds a Ph.D. (2010) in Islamic Studies the United States and abroad, and since 1990, has been
from Damascus University. Currently, he is a Senior at the Department of Religion at Temple University,
Lecturer of Arabic Language and Literature at where he is currently the department chairperson.
Vanderbilt University, in the Department of Religious Blankinship is active in research and lecturing on
Studies. From 2013–2015, he was a visiting professor at religion in general and Islam in particular. He has
the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Fellow published mostly on the early history of Islam, but also
at Neubauer Collegium at the University of Chicago. In on some later medieval and modern issues. His current
2012, he was a Fellow of the EUME research program research includes a work on rhetorical features in the
at the Forum Transregionale Studien and Corpus Qur’n and the effect of translation into English on them.
Coranicum in Berlin. Eido’s research focuses on the
Karen Bauer, The Institute of Ismaili Studies,
Qurʾan in Late Antiquity, hadith, and Sufi and Arabic
Panelist
literary and poetic studies.
See biography in People section on page 57.

IQSAweb.org 11
 Through a close comparison of the various printed
P19-143a Shu‘ayb narratives with the variants of this tale
The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition exhibited in the Kisa’i manuscripts in the British
Joint session with SBL Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition Library, this paper will seek to ascertain whether it is
Theme: al-Kisa’i’s Tales of the Prophets possible to trace a number of distinct strands within
the Kisa’i textual tradition. It will also address the
John Kaltner, Rhodes College, Presiding issue of what constitutes an authoritative edition of a
John Kaltner is the Virginia Ballou McGehee Professor relatively fluid text.
of Muslim-Christian Relations at Rhodes College,
Carol Bakhos, University of California, Los
where he teaches the Bible, Islam, and Arabic language.
Angeles
A revised and expanded edition of his book Islam: What
Non-Muslims Should Know has just appeared, and he Carol Bakhos is Professor of Late Antique Judaism at
is currently working on a book with Younus Mirza on the University of California Los Angeles, and Director
how biblical figures are presented in the Qurʾan and of the Center for the Study of Religion. Her recent
stories of the prophets. book, The Family of Abraham, translated into Turkish,
examines Jewish, Christian and Muslim interpretations
Marianna Klar, SOAS, University of London of the biblical and Qurʾanic stories about Abraham,
See biography in People section on page 56. Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac. She is co-editing
Textual stability in al-Kisa’i’s Shu‘ayb Narrative the forthcoming book Islam and its Past with Michael
In his 1970 article, Ján Pauliny describes the manuscript Cook. She served as Vice President of Membership and
tradition of Kisa’i’s qisas collection as testament to Outreach of the Association for Jewish Studies and is
the fluidity of the Kisa’i corpus: “al-Kisa’i,” he posits, currently the Co-Editor of the AJS Review.
is almost a topos, comparable to the labels “Wahb Migrating Motifs: Villains in Jubilees and al-Kisa’i’s
b. Munabbih” or “Ka‘b al-Ahbar” applied quite Tales of the Prophets
interchangeably to cited material within Kisa’i’s Rabbinic literature is often the starting point for those
collection (Pauliny 1970). Yet a comparison of the interested in locating intertexts and establishing
three printed editions of Kisa’i does not sit entirely relationships between Jewish and Islamic literature.
comfortably with this description of the text. A scrutiny Second Temple literature, however, echoes not only in
of Isaac Eisenberg’s early twentieth century edition of medieval Jewish texts but also in Islamic tales about
Kisa’i’s Qisas al-anbiya’, which is based primarily on a the prophets. Moreover, the worldview underlying
781/1379 Leiden manuscript, alongside al-Tahir bin Kisa’i’s Tales of the Prophets is reminiscent of the distinct
Salimah’s recent critical edition of this work, which ordering of the world and the forces of evil depicted
takes as its basis a 1220/1805 Tunisian manuscript, does in Jubilees. Islamic depictions of Nimrod often parallel
show numerous and significant lacunae in Eisenberg’s those of Pharaoh, however, Kisa’i’s characterization of
edition. The number of lacunae is comparable to Nimrod, one of the most elaborate among the Tales of
the gaps that al-Tahir bin Salimah’s edition exposes the Prophets, takes on a similar function as Mastema in
in Khalid Shibl’s 2008 edition of a single 1274/1857 Jubilees—the force of evil that keeps humanity from
manuscript, even though, in the majority of instances, righteousness. This is not to suggest that Kisa’i was
these textual gaps do not correspond. However, while familiar with the book of Jubilees, nor is it to suggest
the amount of variation between the three texts, on the that the only model for Kisa’i’s Nimrod is Mastema, but
lexical and often the sentential level is, indeed, striking, in light of broader considerations of the transmission
even more striking perhaps is the degree of textual of motifs and traditions across geographic, religious,
stability that is nonetheless maintained. This is evident and temporal lines, an examination of the depiction
in the consistent reproduction of individual episodes of Nimrod in Kisa’i draws attention to the possibility
and motifs, with all three printed editions including that aspects of Second Temple literature continue to
the same narratives, in the same order, with almost reverberate many centuries later, even if faintly. By
100 percent uniformity, but it also displays itself in drawing a literary connection between Mastema and
the presence of countless instances of overlapping Kisa’i’s Nimrod, this paper makes a modest attempt to
vocabulary. This would appear to suggest that every contribute to the complicated subject of the relationship
manuscript bearing Kisa’i’s name is in some way between ancient Jewish sources and medieval Islamic
connected to a single, strong textual tradition. literature. Although no concrete connection can be
made between the two works, the depiction of Jubilees’
Mastema resonates in Kisa’i’s portrayal of Nimrod.

12 IQSAweb.org
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To be sure, the shared affinities do not suffice to Yet the creation of apocryphal traditions in the late
demonstrate a direct relationship between the two, antique and medieval Eastern Mediterranean world
yet an investigation of how the motif of the arch villain was not a static enterprise. Quite to the contrary,
functions in these two retellings of scriptural stories apocryphal texts were actively received and rewritten
may be illuminating with respect to the broader issue over the centuries. In order to situate the points of
of what, if anything, distinguishes Islamic storytelling intersection between Christian apocryphal and early
from other similar types of Jewish literature from Islamic traditions in their precise historical contexts
antiquity. and contribute to understanding the intent of given
John C. Reeves, University of North Carolina at statements and formulations in the respective texts, it is
Charlotte necessary to trace carefully the trajectories of individual
John C. Reeves is the Blumenthal Professor of motifs that contribute towards the characterization
Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at of a given religious figure across the Christian and
the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He Islamic literary corpus. The present paper identifies
specializes in the history and literatures of Near Eastern and analyzes such intersections between Kisa’i’s work
religions during Late Antiquity and the medieval era. and the reception of Christian apocryphal traditions on
Mary and Jesus within the realm of Christian Oriental
Parascriptural Lore Pertaining to the Prophet Idris literature, primarily in Syriac and Arabic.
in the Tale Anthology of al-Kisa’i
Helen Blatherwick, SOAS, University of London
The Qurʾanic character Idris (Q 19:56–57; 21:85)
exhibits a remarkable expansion of narrative identity Helen Blatherwick is a Research Associate at SOAS,
when Muslim traditionists establish his place among University of London, and Editor for the English
the chain of authoritative prophets who lived before section of the Journal of Qurʾanic Studies. She is
the Flood. The ‘prophetic legends’ (qisas al-anbiya’) interested in pre-modern Arabic popular and adab
collection of Kisa’i is no different in this respect: literature, and the Qurʾan. She has recently published
the terse formulations about Idris in the Qurʾan a volume on the popular sirah: Prophets, Gods, and Kings
are amplified by stories about his marvelous birth, in Sīrat Sayf ibn Dhī Yazan: An Intertextual Reading of an
his many intellectual and cultural achievements, Egyptian Popular Epic, and co-edited a volume of the
his unequaled piety and religious devotion, and Journal of Qurʾanic Studies on the Qurʾan in modern
his extraordinary tours of jahannam and Paradise. world literature.
Practically all of this amplificatory material about Idris Literary Choices and Textual Silences in al-Kisa’i’s
in Kisa’i possesses analogues in the constructed lives of Accounts of the Annunciation and the Birth of Jesus
scriptural characters and religious saints recounted in a The stories of the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus
variety of parascriptural (i.e., extra-canonical) registers in the Qurʾan and the Bible have recently been the
(e.g., midrash, hagiography, tafsir) surrounding the subject of several literary studies, all of which bring
canonical writings of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. up the use of silences in the text: how they function as
The present paper will devote considerable attention to textual devices and what they may signify. This paper
the writings and traditions associated with the biblical addresses the versions of the Mary and Jesus stories
character Enoch in order to shed further light on the available to us in the three printed editions of Kisa’i’s
Idris material anthologized by Kisa’i. Qisas al-anbiya’ in similar vein, through intertextual
Cornelia Horn, Martin-Luther University, Halle- comparison of these accounts with the stories as told in
Wittenberg the Qurʾan, the Bible, and other variants found in pre-
See biography in People section on page 57. modern qisas collections and Islamic historiographical
sources. It explores the extent to which the silences of
Situating al-Kisa’i’s Role in the Development of the Qurʾanic and biblical stories have been maintained
Extra-Canonical Depictions of Jesus and Mary in in the Kisa’i accounts, and, if the stories have been
the Christian Orient fleshed out to explain these silences, to what literary
This contribution examines the portrayal of the effect. In doing so, it also focuses on how the Kisa’i
religious figures of Jesus and Mary in Kisa’i’s Tales accounts use direct quotation from the Qurʾan, and
of the Prophets. Earlier scholarship, for instance in the what material from the Qurʾanic accounts is retained
work of Wheeler Thackston, has noted already some and what is omitted.
of the affinities between Kisa’i’s work on these two
figures and relatively well-known early Christian
apocryphal writings. Especially relevant is, for instance,
the Protoevangelium of James, which has its origins in
the second century CE.
14 IQSAweb.org
By comparing Kisa’i’s accounts of the Annunciation Written in 2012, the first purpose of this project
with those told in the Qurʾan, the Bible, and the wider was to understand why the Arabic New Testament
Islamic Mary and Jesus corpus, it is possible to gain manuscripts were a neglected field from the end of the
some insight into the author’s literary agenda; the nineteenth century, with few exceptions (Graf 1944),
extent to which Kisa’i’s accounts are representative and why one can observe some revivals in this field
of the Islamic qisas tradition as a whole; and how he since the 2010s (Kashouh 2012; Moawad 2014). We were
draws on the wider narrative pool for his material, able to show that the evolution in the field was closely
makes reference to the Qurʾan, and manipulates theme related to the evolution of discipline of New Testament
and characterization. Textual Criticism (NTTC). In the perspective of a
reconstruction of the original text of the New Testament
P19-238a (NT), the Arabic versions were regarded as useless,
being too late or indirect translations of the Greek
The Qurʾan: Manuscripts and Material
text. In this way, they are usually hardly mentioned
Culture in handbooks (Aland 1987) and with the exception
Joint session with SBL New Testament Textual of the nineteenth edition of Tischendorf and Altdorf,
Criticism never used as witnesses in critical editions. Therefore,
Theme: Comparative New Testament and the recent resumption of research on the Arabic
Qurʾanic Textual Criticism manuscripts of the NT is connected to the evolution
Juan Hernandez, Bethel University, Presiding of the discipline of NTTC; new trends in research have
Juan Hernandez is Professor of Biblical Studies at questioned the focus on the research of the original text,
Bethel University. His areas of expertise are the New advocating for the textual specificities of each witness.
Testament and early Christianity, with a special interest The second purpose was to demonstrate the usefulness
in New Testament textual criticism, especially the text of studying this manuscript tradition. We could see
of the Apocalypse and its reception history. that the text of the Pauline Letters in Vat. Ar. 13 is of
Sara Schulthess, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics surprisingly good quality, despite its complicated
transmission history—history which is also important
Sara Schulthess is a current Postdoctoral Fellow in the
for the study of Arabic-speaking communities. It shows
Digital Humanities team of Vital-IT, Swiss Institute of
us that the disinterest of NTTC for the tradition was
Bioinformatics. She received her Ph.D. in 2016 from the
largely unfounded from a diachronic perspective.
University of Lausanne and the Radboud University,
Regarding the history of reading, the manuscript also
Nijmegen. Her research focus is the Arabic manuscripts
shows interesting features, with some vocabulary
of the New Testament, particularly the Pauline Letters,
uses reflecting the Islamic milieu. What remains also
with a strong interest in Digital Humanities. She is
impressive is the lively debates existing on Muslim
currently working on the project HUMAREC (http://
websites about the Greek and Arabic NT: identities
p3.snf.ch/project-169869).
issues are at stake here. Various issues that crystallize
Claire Clivaz, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics in the study of Arabic manuscripts are reflected on
Claire Clivaz is Head of Digital Enhanced Learning websites, often in a polemical way (see http://www.
at the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (Vital-IT, answering-christianity.com/abdul-rahman_klimaszewski/3_
Lausanne, CH). She is leading research projects at old_manuscripts.htm). Consequently, it appeared as
the crossroad of New Testament and the digital essential to develop a third new purpose in the project,
transformations of knowledge. She is a member of to investigate this aspect and to participate in the
several scientific committees (IGNTP, EADH steering discussion by preparing an online digitized edition
committee, Humanistica, etc.) and editorial boards of the First Letter to the Corinthians. Encouraged by
(NTS, IDHR de Gruyter, etc.). She is co-leading a these results and findings, we are preparing now an
series with David Hamidovic by Brill «Digital Biblical application to continue this fund on Pauline Letters in
Studies», and research groups in Digital Humanities studying them in the unique twelfth century trilingual
(SBL, EABS). (Greek-Latin-Arabic) NT manuscript, the Marciana
Studying an Arabic New Testament Manuscript Gr. Z. 11 (=379).
(Vat. Ar. 13): So What?
This paper will present the final results of a Swiss
National Fund 2013–2016 project on the Pauline Letters
Arabic manuscripts in general, and First Corinthians
in the Vaticanus Arabicus 13 in particular (see unil.ch/
nt-arabe; http://p3.snf.ch/Project-143810).

IQSAweb.org 15
Michael Marx, Corpus Coranicum, Berlin- In conclusion, print editions from Cairo in 1924, Iran,
Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities India, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are
Michael Marx is the Administrative Director of the discussed in light of political implications that printing
research group Corpus Coranicum of the Berlin- of the text of the Qurʾan has had.
Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. This project Stephen J. Davis, Yale University
is publishing the first online catalogue of early Stephen J. Davis is Professor of Religious Studies,
Qurʾanic manuscripts, accessible (in beta version) History, and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
under www.corpuscoranicum.de. The databases of the at Yale University, specializing in ancient and medieval
Berlin/Potsdam project include a database of variant Christianity, with a special focus on the Eastern
readings and a text resource database, providing Mediterranean and the Near East. He also currently
the context of the environment of the Qurʾan from serves as Head of Pierson College (one of Yale’s
late antique literatures. Corpus Coranicum also undergraduate residential colleges) and as Chair of
provides a historical literary commentary on the the Council of Heads of College. He has published
Qurʾan. Marx is Editor- in-Chief of three databases: numerous articles and monographs, among them
Manuscripta Coranica, Variae Lectiones Coranicae (variant Christ Child: Cultural Memories of a Young Jesus.
readings, qira’at), and Texte aus der Umwelt des Korans,
providing material and literary evidence on the textual Marginalia Arabica: Traces of Christian Scribes,
transmission of the Qurʾan as well as on the cultural Patrons, and Readers
and religious context of the Qurʾan’s first milieu. In the Since 2013, I have directed a project to catalogue the
framework of the Coranica project (2011–2014, www. Coptic and Arabic manuscripts at the Monastery of
coranica.de) he conducted, together with Tobias Jocham, the Syrians in Egypt. That library collection contains
a radiocarbon measuring project of Qurʾanic and other over sixty biblical volumes dating from around the
later antique manuscripts. Currently he is directing a ninth or tenth century through the medieval and
French-German project on manuscripts from Fustat modern periods. In this paper, I will turn my attention
(Egypt), together with François Déroche. not simply to the biblical texts themselves but to the
colophons, statements of endowment, notes, prayers,
The Development of the Orthography of the Qurʾan and other insertions that provide a window into the
According to Manuscripts history of the texts, including their transmission and
Arabic orthography went through a period of reception by scribes, patrons, and readers across
development in precision in Islam’s first three different generations. These Arabic marginalia reveal
centuries. This paper will present observations on how the manuscripts as material objects came to
this development gleaned from the analysis of the function as privileged venues for monastic practices
orthography of key words found in the most ancient of piety.
parchment Qurʾan manuscripts from within this
period. Conclusions will be drawn as to the significance Daniel Brubaker, Rice University
of this development for the early transmission of the Daniel Brubaker is a postdoctoral researcher working
text of the Qurʾan in its written and oral forms. The with Qurʾans of the first-third hijri centuries, in
question about the genesis of the first detectable layer particular noting, describing, and analyzing scribal
of Qurʾanic orthography in light of earlier writing corrections and alterations. In the two years since
conventions will be discussed. Perhaps due to the belief achieving his doctorate from Rice, he has made
in an orally transmitted text, Muslim scholarship has research trips as a Rice Rockwell Scholar visiting
generally neglected the study of Qurʾanic manuscripts. Qurʾans in the UK, Ireland, Russia, Kuwait, Qatar,
However, we find in books like Ibn Abi Dawud al- and Uzbekistan noting and, when possible, collecting
Sijistani’s (d. 929) Kitab al-Masahif’s descriptions of images of these scribal features to incorporate in an
spelling in what Ibn Abi Dawud believed to be old intended monograph, as well as teaching and speaking
codices. Based on a large campaign of carbon datings on his research from time to time. Recently, he taught
that has been conducted in the framework of the the course on the Qurʾan at Southern Evangelical
German-French Coranica project, evidence is becoming Seminary and presented a paper on frequently
firmer that we have an accessible corpus larger than corrected verses in early Qurʾan manuscripts at the
2,000 folios of Qurʾanic manuscripts that are datable European Association of Biblical Studies in Brussels.
before 750 CE. Are the manuscripts Ibn Abi Dawud Most recently, he returned from a third research trip
had seen the oldest ones? How should we imagine to St. Petersburg, where he has been working with
the oldest, historically attested layer of Qurʾanic the manuscript E20 and the Qurʾans of the Marcel
manuscripts? Collection at the National Library of Russia.

16 IQSAweb.org
Corrections Involving the Word rizq (Provision) in When considered with primary reference to the
Early Qurʾans recitation rather than the written text, the ways in
An extensive survey of corrections in early Qurʾan which the verses are broken up and shaped as sound
manuscripts is revealing patterns that can complement impact the soundscape presented by the Qurʾanic text.
secondary literature of the period. A certain portion Considering the sound patterns of Surat al-Kahf in this
of corrections represent efforts to bring manuscripts way reveals the dynamic and varied possibilities for
in line with orthographic trends, while others are the ways in which the soundscape of the surah may
driven by other circumstances. This paper concentrates interact with its literary meanings.
attention on one word that is corrected frequently in Devin J. Stewart, Emory University
these manuscripts. See biography in People section on page 56.
Jennifer Knust, Boston University, Respondent
A Periphrastic Use of kull (all) in the Qurʾan
Jennifer Knust is Associate Professor of New
In a recent study, Thomas Bauer criticized European
Testament and Christian Origins at Boston University.
translators—and modern readers in general—
She is a specialist in the literature and history of
for interpreting the Qurʾanic construction kull +
ancient Christianity with a particular interest in the
indefinite singular to mean “each x” in opposition
transmission and reception of sacred texts and in the
to the construction kull + definite plural, which they
importance of gendered discourses to the production
understood to mean “all of the x’s” or “all x’s,” focusing
of an early Christian identity.
on the phrase ya’tina min kulli fajjin ‘amiq (Q Haj 22:27).
Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford, Respondent He argued instead that kull + indefinite singular such
See biography in People section on page 56. as kull bayt means rather “all the houses,” whereas kull
+ definite plural is rare in classical Arabic, and when
P19-332 it occurs, as in the Qurʾanic phrase kull al-thamarat (Q
2:266; 7:57; 16:11, 59; 47:15) would mean “all of the
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic various types of fruit.” This analysis is correct in my
Perspectives on the Qurʾanic Corpus view, but Bauer used evidence from classical Arabic
Theme: Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic poetry to make the point. His piece overlooked the fact
Perspectives on Specific Qurʾanic Surahs that the Qurʾan itself provides convincing evidence
Lauren E. Osborne, Whitman College that the construction kull + indefinite singular is
Lauren E. Osborne is Assistant Professor of Religion equivalent to a definite plural form. This point is
at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She actually made forcefully in medieval Islamic works
received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in on legal hermeneutics (usul al-fiqh), which identify
2014. Her research focuses on the recited Qurʾan, and the two structures as forms that convey the same
the interactions between text, sound, and affective general sense (‘umum), suggesting that they are in
experience; her book in progress on this subject is titled effect equivalent. Moreover, use of the construction
Iqra’!: Aesthetics and Experience of the Recited Qurʾan. kull + indefinite singular in the Qurʾan is conditioned
by rhyme, something that was ignored in Bauer’s
Fluidity in Sound: The Soundscape of Surat al-Kahf
study, despite the focus on poetry. Kull + indefinite
In this paper, I consider the soundscape of Surat al- singular occurs often in verse-final position, and it is
Kahf in terms of rhyme, rhythm, and assonance—the used in these cases as a periphrastic substitute for a
sound patterns of the words—in relation to the literary definite plural form in order to create the proper end-
meanings of the surah. In doing so, I argue that the rhyme. The juxtaposition of such Qurʾanic phrases as
sounds of the words of the Qurʾan are best understood inna ‘llaha la yuhibbu kulla khawwanin kafur (Q 22:38),
with specific reference as it is recited or read aloud, which uses kull + indefinite singular, with inna ‘llaha la
rather than through analysis of the fixed text—words yuhibbu ‘l-mu‘tadin “God loves not the transgressors”
on a page. While scant but valuable work has been (Q Baqarah 2:190) or wa’llahu la yuhibbu ‘l-mufsidin
done on sound patterns within the Qurʾan (by Sells, “God loves not the corrupters” (Q Ma’idah 5:64),
Stewart, Toorawa, and others), only a small portion suggest that the phrases are quite close in import and
of this work has considered longer surahs and longer convey a similar sense of generality: God does not
verses, or verses of varying lengths. In this regard, Surat love ungrateful traitors in general, or transgressors of
al-Kahf presents a particularly intriguing example for spreaders of corruption in general.
such a consideration, in that it is a longer mono-rhyme
surah—consisting of 110 total verses, all of which end
with an -a(n) sound—but those verses greatly vary
in length.
IQSAweb.org 17
Similarly, comparison of the phrases inna fi dhalika la- All of this is framed in the ring addressed to the
ayatin li-kulli sabbarin shakur (Q 14:5; 31:31; 34:19; 42:33) Prophet, putting him in line with Jacob and, more
to the phrase wa-fi ‘l-ardi ayatun li’l-muqinin (Q Dhariyat directly, Joseph as heir to the prophetic mission they
51:20) shows that kull with the indefinite singular form have been called to, emphasizing the Qurʾan’s unique
sabbar shakur corresponds to the plural form al-muqinin. conception of prophetology.
In such cases, kull + indefinite singular occurs in verse- Sarra Tlili, University of Florida
final position and serves to provide and appropriate See biography in People section on page 56.
end-rhyme of -ur, etc., when a plural form would give
the rhyme -un/-in. This is one of several standard types The Canine Companion of the Cave
of periphrasis in the Qurʾan that occur for the sake of In view of the prevalent assumption that dogs in Islam
rhyme, including the replacement of perfect verb forms are held in contempt, the mere presence of a canine
fa‘altum (you (pl.) did) or fa‘alu (they did) with the past character in the ashab al-kahf’s narrative (Q Kahf 18:9–22)
imperfect forms kuntum taf‘alun (you used to do/were is noteworthy. Indeed, after asserting that “Judaism,
doing) or kanu yaf‘alun (they used to do/were doing) Christianity, and Islam generally cast the dog in a
in order to provide the end-rhyme -un/-in. negative light,” David Gordon notes that a “striking
Jawad Anwar Qureshi, University of Chicago exception is the role of the dog in the early Christian and
Jawad Anwar Qureshi is a doctoral candidate in Islamic later Islamic myth of the ‘Cave of the Seven Sleepers’”
Studies at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School. (Gordon 2005). One notes, however, that the dog detail
His dissertation is entitled, “Sunni tradition in an age is absent from the extant early Christian versions of the
of revival and reform: Said Ramadan al-Buti (d. 2013) myth. Sidney Griffith asserts that there “is no mention
and his interlocutors.” He is also Assistant Professor of the dog in the pre-Islamic, Syriac tradition of the
of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the American Islamic ‘Youths of Ephesus’” (Griffith 2007). Thus, to date,
College in Chicago, where he teaches Qurʾanic Arabic the Qurʾan’s rendition of this story seems to be the
and Qurʾanic Studies, in addition to classes on Islamic only foundation for the view that the early Christian
thought. tradition assigned a role to the dog in this narrative.
A close reading of the cave pericope suggests that the
Ring Composition, Virtues, and Qurʾanic Qurʾan not only seeks to rewrite the Syriac story by
Prophetology in Surat Yusuf (Q 12) (re-)inserting the dog detail in it but that it seeks to
This paper focuses on the structure of Surat Yusuf, redefine the role of the dog among human societies.
arguing first that the surah demonstrates the most This animal, as Gordon explains, is consistently
prominent features of ring composition, then noting “located at a problematic boundary between ‘us’—
how its structure informs the larger argument of the living members of a human community—and
the surah concerning prophetology. The first half of ‘them’: the dead, wild animals, interloper, and human
Joseph’s story of betrayal, exile, slavery, temptation, enemies of that community” (Gordon 2005). Consistent
and imprisonment is mirrored inversely in the second with its classical role, the canine companion of the
half by his freedom, exoneration, elevation in society, cave is also located at the boundary, for whereas his
and reunion, forming a perfect chiasm. Scholarship human companions are inside the cave, he remains
has noted this chiastic structure and building on in the threshold of the cave. The dog separates his
the work of Michel Cuypers, I argue that the ring seemingly dead companions from the world of the
structure of Q 12 is in fact more intricate and detailed living. In a deeper sense, however, he and his sleeping
than scholarship has considered thus far and that Q companions are the true living and eventually wake
12 bears a number of distinctive conventions of ring up after the disbelievers perish. Moreover, unlike the
composition. Specifically, I demonstrate that Q 12 is prevalent motif of protecting human culture from wild
composed of not merely of one ring but that there are in nature, the dog in this narrative protects his believing
fact four distinct rings—a ring addressing the Prophet companions from the dangers of the culture of the
(which frames the surah), followed by Joseph’s dream, unfaithful. Rather than demarcating nature from
then Jacob’s narrative, and at the center is a retelling culture, the dog thus demarcates belief from disbelief;
of Joseph’s experience in Egypt. These are three rings he himself stands on the side of belief.
within a larger ring. After detailing the surah’s intricate
M. Issam Eido, Vanderbilt University
ring composition, using the surah’s ring structure, I
See biography above on page 11.
argue that each ring conveys a particular set of virtues,
namely, the Qurʾan’s monotheistic message and the
reality of revelation (Joseph’s ring), trust in God’s plan
along with patience through afflictions (Jacob’s ring),
and the truth of revelation (the dream ring).
18 IQSAweb.org
“Yujadiluna fi Qawmi Lut” (Q Hud 11:74): She is the author of two books on Christianity in
Abrahamic Argument and Rethinking of Late Antiquity (Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy;
Homosexuality in the Qurʾan Controlling Contested Places), and is currently working
Two well-known Abrahamic accounts mentioned on a new book that examines the rhetoric of memory
in the Bible and the Qurʾan have potential to create and violence in the early Syriac writings of Christians
new, positive perspectives on the religious values of who rejected the Council of Chalcedon (451 CE). Her
the Abrahamic religions. In his response to the divine scholarship has been supported by the NEH, the ACLS,
command, Abraham undoubtedly followed the the American Academy of Religion, and the American
divine order related to the slaughter of Isaac/Ishmael Philosophical Society.
(regardless of what the Jewish and Christian biblical Persisting in Religious Truth: Reading John of
and Qurʾan commentators have argued about the Ephesus during the Rise of Islam
reality of the divine command, or if God was actually In the late sixth century, the Christian leader John
testing Abraham to see if he would kill his own son). of Ephesus wrote his Church History and Lives of the
The Abrahamic response, as a human being, is very Eastern Saints, both of which renounced Byzantine
significant in comparison with his response to the persecution of his Syriac-speaking church that rejected
divine command for the destruction of Sodom, the the Council of Chalcedon (451 CE) and therefore
city of Lot’s people. When the angels visited him, imperial orthodoxy. By the middle of the seventh
they conveyed two contrary news items: good news century, Muhammad’s followers had taken control
on having Isaac after his and his wife Sarah’s sterility, of many of the regions where anti-Chalcedonian
and scary news about the destruction of Sodom. Christians survived despite decades of imperial
However, his response to the second one—arguing pressure, and by the late seventh/early eighth century,
with angels, namely God, for Lot’s people—is striking, Muslims began to welcome more freely non-Arab
since the people of Sodom were committing lustful converts to Islam. In response, Syriac-speaking anti-
and violent acts, but the most striking is the divine Chalcedonian Christians produced the Apocalypse of
response to Abraham’s argument by describing him as Pseudo-Methodius (ca. 692) to combat the growing threat
a forbearing, tender-hearted, and devout messenger. they believed Muslims posed to their community.
After a bitter struggle with having a child to be his While some scholars have studied Pseudo-Methodius’s
successor, Abraham, without any hesitation, followed Apocalypse in this context, none have added John of
the divine command on the slaughter of his beloved Ephesus’s texts to the discussion. The only surviving
successor Isaac/Ishmael. Analyzing these responses in manuscript of John’s Syriac Lives was produced
both of the biblical and Qurʾanic texts, as well as the in 688; part III of his Church History appears to be
exegetical works would open a vista on the meaning written by the same scribe; and part II of his Church
of Abraham’s argument (yujadiluna) and the Qurʾanic History survives in one ninth century manuscript that
response to homosexuality. Pseudo-Dionysius incorporated into his Chronicle in
the late eighth century. This paper will highlight some
S19-350 thematic echoes between John of Ephesus’s writings
The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition as they were preserved during the rise of Islam and
Joint session with SBL Syriac Literature and Interpretations the contemporaneous Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius.
of Sacred Texts and AAR Middle Eastern Christianity I argue that John’s texts, with their strong arguments
Theme: Christian-Muslim Relations about remaining steadfast in (anti-Chalcedonian)
Christianity in the face of government persecutions
Cornelia Horn, Martin-Luther University, Halle- and financial and political incentives to apostatize,
Wittenberg, Presiding resonated with Syriac-speaking anti-Chalcedonian
See biography in People section on page 57. Christians not only against the Chalcedonian empire
Tina Shepardson, University of Tennessee, of the sixth century, but also against Muslims in the
Knoxville late seventh and eighth centuries.
Tina Shepardson is a Lindsay Young Professor in the David Cook, Rice University
Department of Religious Studies at the University See biography above on page 11.
of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her scholarship focuses on
the political and rhetorical processes that shaped
perceptions of Christian orthodoxy from the fourth
through sixth centuries, particularly in Greek- and
Syriac-speaking communities.

IQSAweb.org 19
Making the Transition between Apocalypse in Zachary Ugolnik, Columbia University
Revelation to Revelation in Apocalypse Zachary Ugolnik is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department
There can be little doubt of the eschatological and of Religion and a Mellon Interdisciplinary Fellow at
apocalyptic themes inside the Qurʾanic text, no doubt the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory
the product of the events of the seventh century. These and Empirics (INCITE) at Columbia University. He
included wars, plagues, an appearance of Halley’s earned his M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School in
Comet in 610, and possibly climatic changes. However, 2009. He focuses on early and medieval Christianity
while one can say that there is a strong apocalyptic in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East and its
sense to the Qurʾan, there are no actual apocalypses interaction with Islam.
in the holy text. As with other elements of Islam, the Divine (Reflexive) Speech in John of Dalyatha (d. c.
development of apocalypse was one that was facilitated 780) and the Commentaries Attributed to Ja‘far al-
by the Muslims’ contact with Jews and Christians, and Sadiq (d. 765)
apparently does not come to full fruition until the This paper will compare the treatment of divine
end of the seventh century and the beginning of the speech in the writings attributed to two eighth-century
eighth. Nu‘aym b. Hammad al-Marwazi’s (d. 844) Kitab Middle Eastern thinkers: the Christian East Syriac
al-Fitan (‘The Book of Tribulations’) is an important writer John of Dalyatha (ca. 690–780) of present day
text for the study of Muslim apocalyptic literature. Northern Iraq, and the Shi’ah Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq (ca.
The book can be dated to approximately 819–20 (the 700–765) of Medina. I argue that in the highest stages
most recent identifiable events in the text), although of divine encounter in both writings, one transcends
it contains a good deal of historical material, some of the dualistic boundaries of the speaker and the one or
which can be dated back to the 720s. Most of the work, that who or which is spoken to. For John, this union is
however, is the product of two substantial losses for couched in the theology of the Trinity and deification,
the Muslims of Syria: the loss of the opportunity to where humanity, through emulating Christ, attains
conquer the Byzantine Empire and then, after the rise the status of a son of God. In the writings attributed
of the Abbasids in 747, the loss of empire altogether. to Ja‘far al-Sadiq, particularly in the commentaries on
‘The Book of Tribulations’ consists largely of Syrian Moses (a figure honored in both traditions), this union
Muslims hoping to relive the good old days, and is couched in notions of the divine absolute and the
trying to see some way that the Abbasids would be effacement that must occur when encountering it. This
overthrown. One of the key questions to be answered analysis hopes to shed insight on the understanding of
with regard to Nu‘aym is the role of the Qurʾanic divine participation and praise in this period.
citations in the text. Integrating the apocalyptic sense
of the Qurʾan into a literary apocalypse—a feat also Ashoor Yousif, University of Toronto
being carried out unbeknownst to Nu‘aym by the Ashoor Yousif is a Ph.D. candidate at University
author of Pseudo-Methodius in Christian circles only of Toronto, with two master’s degrees in Christian
just a few years before his time—was not very easy. Theology (Tyndale University) and Syriac Christianity
There are standard texts that indicate the suddenness (University of Toronto). His research interest lies in
of the Hour (e.g., Q 6:158, cited about a dozen times), the interdisciplinary study of religion, history, and
or ones that indicate the messianic promise of a future literature focusing on the fields of Middle Eastern
peaceable kingdom (e.g., Q 47:8, cited more than any (Syriac and Arabic) Christianity, Islam and Christian-
other in Nu‘aym). How exactly to take other texts Muslim relations during the early Abbasid milieu
and place them within a literary apocalypse, and (750–950 CE). His doctoral project examines the images
what precisely they are supposed to prove is an open of Abbasid caliphs in Syriac and Syro-Arabic sources.
question. Standard citations such as those concerning Patriarchate and Caliphate: Christian-Muslim Relations
Gog and Magog (e.g., Q 21:96) and the dabbatan min at the Highest Echelons of Early Abbasid Society
al-arḍ in Q Naml 27:82 appear, which is no surprise. In a series of ecclesiastical letters, Timothy I, the East
However, it is a bit odd that there is no attempt to cite Syrian Patriarch of the Church of the East, recounts his
or to integrate the Gog and Magog Qurʾanic citation cordial encounters and candid theological discussions
of Q Kahf 18:94, or to build off the Dhu ‘l-Qarnayn with the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi in Baghdad around
sequence. But as interesting as the Qurʾanic citations 781 CE. This is an important example of Christian-
themselves are, there is a whole range of citations that Muslim relations in the medieval period. Timothy’s
are not adduced. Probably the most unexpected are strong relationship with al-Mahdi was not, however, a
the Qurʾanic questions of when precisely is the Hour unique case: Christian sources preserve other examples
(e.g., Q 7:187, 79:42). of close relations between Christian clerics and Muslim
officials.

20 IQSAweb.org
While these sources often suggest a cooperative She is presently investigating intersections of gender
partnership between Muslims and Christians at the and ethnicity in the areas of economic development
highest echelons of Abbasid society, some illustrate and spiritual authority, and connections between
a hardening of religious positions even amidst a notions of justice, the production of private and
culture of interaction and exchange. Scholars have institutional wealth, and acts of charity within Syriac
highlighted this seeming contradiction, questioning Christian communities living under Muslim rule.
how to depict the history of Christian-Muslim relations Economic Justice, Economic Capital, and Religious
in the Abbasid context, especially among the elites, Authority in the Church of the East in the Early
and whether these relations should be understood Islamic Centuries
primarily as confrontational or amicable. My paper The geographical expansion of the East Syrian Church
is participating in this discussion, examining how of the East across Eurasia after the rise of the Islamic
Christian sources depict Muslim and Christian elites state occurred concomitantly with the growth of a
and their relations. It investigates the reasons for, and thriving market economy in the post-Sasanian and
the functions and impacts of, such literary depictions early Islamic periods. One of the most important arenas
on the two communities and their relations within the in which religious institutions and religious leaders in
Islamic milieu of the first Abbasid century (750–861 the church during this time established, demonstrated,
CE). To this end, I am specifically examining the and validated their spiritual authority and public power
images of the Abbasid caliphs and officials, and their was in the realm of economic activities and relations,
relations with the ecclesiastical officials in Syriac and which included the organization and preservation of
Arabic Christian accounts. In this paper, I highlight communal and individual wealth, entrepreneurial
the nature of the relations between the Christian projects, and acts of charity. This paper examines the
and Muslim communities, specifically as depicted in laws, attitudes, institutions, and activities of patriarchs,
the relations between the caliphs and the patriarchs bishops, monastic leaders, and lay elite in the Church
as the figureheads of the empire and the church. In of the East in relation to prevailing notions of economic
the process, I highlight the potential of the Christian justice, which were established in the late Sasanian
sources in reshaping the historical picture of the Middle period. The focus here on economic justice builds
East during this important period. In particular, I am on recent scholarship on the relationship between
shedding light on the history of Islamic civilization, wealth and voluntary/involuntary poverty and the
especially the caliphate’s history. Further, by examining fight against economic oppression in Christianity
early Abbasid history through the lens of Christian during Late Antiquity. In this study, I will also use
sources, I am underlining the history of the Christian evidence from East Syrian monastic texts, letters of
‘others’ within the Islamic milieu. Finally, I point out patriarchs and bishops, and the Synodicon Orientale to
the roles and methods these sources are playing, as demonstrate the significant emphasis by church and
literary devices, in identity formation, community lay elites on the positive existence and use of economic
solidification, and historical imagination. In summary, capital within the market economy as sound measures
I am seeking two main outcomes: the informational to protect and promote the quality of material life for
role of our historical sources in writing the history of both Christians and non-Christians in the fight against
the Middle East, and more importantly, their literary economic injustice and misery. I argue that religious
function in shaping the Christian communities. authorities at the local level in early medieval Iraq
Cynthia Villagomez, Winston-Salem State encouraged and engaged in the investment in lucrative
University economic ventures. These authorities portrayed sound
Cynthia Villagomez is Associate Professor of History investments and ventures as true acts of Christian piety
and Chair of the Department of History, Politics and and generosity, which were comparable and even equal
Social Justice, at Winston-Salem State University. She to charitable works. Lastly, I situate these investment
received her Ph.D. in Near Eastern History from the and entrepreneurial portrayals within a continuum of
University of California, Los Angeles in 1998. She has ancient Near Eastern teachings that connect economic
taught at a number of institutions including UCLA and justice to the preservation and perpetuation of religious
Wake Forest University. Her research and publications and political authority within the “circle of power.”
have focused on Christian-Muslim relations in the George Kiraz, Princeton University
early Islamic period and the significance of religious George A. Kiraz (Ph.D. 1996, University of Cambridge)
communal wealth within the Syriac Christian is the Director of Beth Mardutho (The Syriac Institute).
populations in Late Antiquity and the early medieval He has published on Syriac studies and computational
period. linguistics.

IQSAweb.org 21
Petitioning the Patriarch: The Syriac Orthodox in This paper offers a reading of Surah 4 by examining the
the Late Ottoman Empire relationship of its legal passages to its literary form, and
The Syriac Orthodox formed a millet (religious by contrasting it with the compositional and legislative
community) within Ottoman society. Their supreme features of Surah 2 and Surah 5. While this analysis
head was their patriarch of Antioch (‘the crown of our uses many of the same tools as analyses based on the
head’) whom they addressed with honorifics similar so-called Semitic rhetoric approach (e.g., scrutiny of
to those used for the sultan. Based on the patriarchal themes, lexicon, and repetition, as in Zahniser 1997
archive in Mardin, Turkey, this paper will discuss the and 2000), it offers a different picture of the surah as
lives of ordinary Syriac Christians in Ottoman society a whole. In particular, it attempts to understand the
and will concentrate on the religious matters that function of legislation embedded in Surah 4 in the
they petitioned their patriarch for such as marriage, context of the surah’s total literary and performative
inheritance, church organization, and community dynamics. Viewed from this perspective, Surah 4
leadership. The talk will also discuss the linguistic exhibits one kind of mirror image of Surah 2, in that it
ecosystem of this community demonstrating that they foregrounds its legislation and postpones relating the
rarely used Syriac, their liturgical language, but mostly Qurʾanic community to its biblical forebears. Surah
Arabic and Ottoman. Having said that, they mostly 4 also mirrors Surah 5 but in a very different way
used garshunography as a writing system, i.e., the from its reversal of the priorities of Surah 2. Whereas
writing of Arabic and Ottoman using the Syriac script. Surah 5 explores the possibilities for an antinomian
response to the biblical tradition (as suggested perhaps
P20-130a by Cuypers 2009 and Zellentin 2013), Surah 4, on the
other hand, promulgates detailed legislation that deals
Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic with the most sensitive of communal matters, namely
Perspectives on the Qurʾanic Corpus succession, sexuality, and warfare.
Theme: Surat al-Nisa’ (Q 4) Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Yale University, Presiding See biography in People section on page 56.
Shawkat M. Toorawa is Professor of Arabic literature
at Yale University. His The Qurʾan: Literary Dimensions Adjudicatory Responses in Surat al-Nisa’
is forthcoming with Edinburgh University Press. An important aspect of the elevated status that
Medinan surahs ascribe to Muhammad is the authority
Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania of “adjudicating” (hakama) communal questions and
Joseph E. Lowry is Associate Professor in the disputes (Q 3:23, 4:59–60, 65; 5:41–50, and 24:48, 51).
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Muhammad is portrayed as concretely performing
Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and a this role in a cluster of quasi-legal passages that
specialist in Islamic law, Arabic literature, and classical are introduced by the response formulae “they
Islamic thought. He is the author, among other works, ask you (yas’alunaka) about ...” or “they consult you
of Early Islamic Legal Theory: the Risala of Muhammad Ibn (yastaftunaka) with regard to ...” (Q 2:189, 217, 219, 220,
Idris al-Shafi‘i and the Co-Editor (with Devin Stewart 222; 4:127, 176; and 8:1). This paper will examine two
and Shawkat Toorawa) of Law and Education in Medieval such adjudicatory responses that are found in Surat
Islam: Studies in Memory of George Makdisi and (with al-Nisa’, namely, verses 127ff. and verse 176. At least
Devin Stewart) of Essays in Arabic Literary Biography prima facie, these verse clusters would appear to be
II: 1350–1850. supplementary to the surah’s basic layer, as posited
Law and Literary Form in Surat al-Nisa’ with already by Richard Bell: they provide answers to
Reference to Surat al-Baqarah and Surat al-Ma’idah questions arising from the legal corpus found at
The study of the Qurʾan’s legislation still remains the beginning of the text, specifically from verses
largely divorced from the study of surah form. Despite 2–10 and verse 12. If the impression that we are here
advances in approaches to the study of the literary confronted with secondary additions stands up to
arrangement of the Qurʾan’s lengthier surahs, the scrutiny, it remains to be ascertained what rationale
legal matter is not generally considered to structure motivates their placement in the middle and at the
surahs or to be structurally relevant to understanding end of Surah 4. Resources for an answer drawing on
compositional features. The three paradigmatic lengthy macrostructural compositional considerations were
Medinan surahs—Surat al-Baqarah, Surat al-Nisa’, and outlined in 1997 by Mathias Zahniser, but potential
Surat al-Ma’idah—exhibit an astonishing diversity of links to the immediately surrounding passages would
legislative moods. also appear to merit some consideration.

22 IQSAweb.org
I shall conclude by exploring whether the manner in Lexicon and Structure in Surat al-Nisa’
which the two passages in question were redactionally The repeated presence in Surat al-Nisa’ of lexical items
woven into the surah as a whole exhibits significant or word clusters that are either unique to the surah
parallels to other cases of redactional expansion in the or occur in a very limited number of other surahs
Qurʾan. Of particular interest is the question whether is strongly suggestive of both compositional and
the adjudicatory responses found in Surat al-Baqarah stylistic unity. Among other examples, the dis legomena
are amenable to a similar analysis. denoting “ill-conduct” (al-nushuz) and “the speck on
Hamza M. Zafer, University of Washington a date seed” (al-naqir) occur only within this surah:
See biography in People section on page 55. at verses 34 and 128, and 53 and 124, respectively.
Meanwhile, the collocation of kafi and shahidan (“to be
Prophetic Authority, Universalism, and Equivalence sufficient witness”) at verses 79 and 166 is present in
in Surat al-Nisa’ a mere two other surahs: Surat al-‘Ankabut and Surat
The legalistic content of Surat al-Nisa’ is interspersed al-Ahqaf; the terms “slander” (buhtan, vv. 22, 112, and
with a sequence of prophetological statements (Q 4:41, 156) and “blame” (junaha, vv. 23, 24, 101, 102, and 128)
54, 61, 65, 69–70, 80, 83, 136, 150, 152, 162–166, and 171) are specific, in turn, to Q 4, Q 24, Q 33, and Q 60, and
that hinge on three overlapping themes: complete to Q 2, Q 4, Q 5, Q 24, Q 33, and Q 60. The proposed
fidelity to prophetic authority; the universal occurrence paper will investigate Surah 4’s repeated vocabulary
of prophecy; and the equal validity of all prophetic in order to ascertain how lexicon structures the surah.
emissaries. In contrast to Surat al-Baqarah and Surat It will seek to establish the presence of a number of
Ali ‘Imran, the text of Surah 4 completely conflates diachronically specific turns of phrase but also to
divine and prophetic authority, man yuti‘i ‘l-rasula highlight how the use of recurring words and roots
fa-qad ata‘a ‘llah (v. 80, also v. 69 and v. 136) censuring creates cohesion and emphasis. While the repetition of
those who maintain any distinction in this regard, inna certain lexical items is predictable enough, given the
yufarriqu bayna ‘llahi wa-rusulihi (v. 150). This censure surah’s themes and foci—thus the key root h-k-m (“to
extends also to those who differentiate between the judge”) occurs in the surah 22 times; q-t-l (“to fight”)
various prophetic emissaries themselves, yaquluna is utilized 25 times—the five occurrences of the s-d-d
nu’minu bi-ba‘din wa-nakfuru bi-ba‘din (v. 150). Echoing root (“to turn away”), and the eight occurrences of the
other such statements in Medinan surahs, Surah 4 also d-‘-f root (denoting “weakness” and “oppression”), are
asserts that prophethood is not the privilege of any one less immediately justifiable.
community, ji’na min kulli ummatin bi-shahidin (v. 41). In
line with this universalized notion of prophethood, the P20-151a
surah subordinates an eclectic set of biblical typologies
(patriarchs, kings, etc.) to its internal prophetology (vv. The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition
162–166). In this paper, I explore the interrelatedness Joint session with SBL Biblica Arabica: The Bible in Arabic
of the three key prophetological themes in Surah 4: Among Jews, Christians, and Muslims
prophetic authority, prophetic universalism, and Theme: The Arabic Bible and the Qurʾan in the
prophetic equivalence. I suggest that this complex Jewish and Christian Tradition
prophetology is a critical component of the Qurʾan’s Ilana D. Sasson, Sacred Heart University, Presiding
program of community formation. Indeed, the three Ilana D. Sasson teaches Bible and Religion in the
themes reflect the text’s subtle negotiation of two Department of Philosophy, Theology and Religious
divergent ideas of communalism in late ancient Studies at Sacred Heart University. She received her
Near Eastern monotheisms—one that espouses a Ph.D. from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
strict soteriological exclusivism and the other that and worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor
champions supra-sectarian ecumenism. Meira Polliack at Tel Aviv University. Her topics of
Marianna Klar, SOAS, University of London research include the biblical commentary of Yefet ben
See biography in People section on page 56. Eli as well as other Judaeo-Arabic Bible commentary,
Genizah studies, Karaism, and the Jews in the Islamic
Middle Ages. Her book, The Arabic Translation and
Commentary of Yefet Ben Eli on the Book of Proverbs, was
published by Brill this year. It includes a critical edition
of the commentary as well as an extensive introduction.
Holger Zellentin, University of Nottingham,
Presiding
See biography in People section on page 57.
IQSAweb.org 23
 Islamic Studies
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Islam and the Tyranny of Authenticity:
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Aaron W. Hughes
This book provides a hard-hitting examination of the spiritual motivations, rhetorical moves, and political
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Khadiga Musa
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Davida Charney, University of Texas at Austin In this talk, I begin to extend and fill in Simon’s
Davida Charney is a full Professor in the Department outline. First I begin to trace the rhetorical strategies
of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Texas at used by a wider array of Rabbanites and Karaites.
Austin. In the early part of her career, she specialized The sophistication of the arguments highlights the
in academic and civic argumentation, publishing importance of rhetorical theory in the intellectual
numerous studies of scientific rhetoric, public policy environment of the surrounding Islamic culture.
argument, and the processes involved in learning to Second, I make a case for the importance of analyzing
write. Over the past five years, she has specialized annotations and interpretations of individual psalms,
in Jewish Studies, applying contemporary rhetorical particularly those known as lament psalms. By treating
theory to the Book of Psalms. This work has appeared the psalms as prophecy, the Karaites make all 150 of
in Biblical Studies journals and in a 2015 book, them available to individuals to use to entreat God to
Persuading God: Rhetorical Studies of First-Person Psalms intervene to solve their day-to-day problems as well
published by Sheffield-Phoenix Press. She will be as for the community to use to appeal for rescue from
spending spring 2017 visiting Meira Polliack at Tel exile. However, the range of topics addressed in the
Aviv University to work on her next project, tracing psalms is rather narrow for this purpose. In contrast,
the reception of petitionary and lament psalms by the Rabbanites included only about fifty psalms in their
Rabbanite and Karaite scholars. Her visit is being liturgy—mainly hymns and communal thanksgiving
supported by a Fulbright fellowship. psalms. It is no accident that they excluded most of the
The Dilemmas of Defining Psalms as Prophecy for sixty or so first person laments, because these are the
Rabbanites and Karaites most prayer-like. Their interpretations of these psalms
as prophecy—for example limiting interpretations of
It is well known that a basic difference between
Psalm 22 to Esther or King David, close off this avenue.
medieval Rabbanites and Karaites is the place of the
My aim is to show that the debates pushed both
psalms in Judaic liturgy. Both Rabbanites and Karaites
Karaites and Rabbanites into intractable interpretive
viewed the psalms as having a prophetic function for
dilemmas and rigid liturgical traditions.
Jews after the destruction of the second Temple. Both
included psalms in their liturgies. But Karaites and Meir Bar Maymon, Tel Aviv University
Rabbanites differed drastically in whether the psalms Meir Bar Maymon has a B.A. and M.A. degrees
were central or ancillary to a prayer service, in how in Biblical Studies from Tel Aviv University (2009,
psalms might be used in personal prayer, and in what 2011). His Master’s thesis is on masculinization and
ways psalms might legitimately be interpreted as demasculinization processes in the book of Judges. His
prophetic. These questions grew out of fundamental Ph.D. dissertation (2015), “Mythologies of Masculinities
disagreements over the nature of Judaic holy scripture and the Search of the [Male] Israelite Self in the
(whether or not it includes the Oral Law) and over Book of Ezekiel,” was written at Tel Aviv University
the proper relationship between God and individual and the Sciences Po Paris, under the supervision of
community members. The movements were both Professor Athalya Brenner-Idan and Dr. Michael
shaped by centuries of debates over these issues, not Mach. He approaches the Hebrew Bible through the
only between Karaites and Rabbanites but also among prism of cultural studies, political theology, and post-
proponents of each movement. The basic historical structuralism, with emphasis on the construction of
outline was drawn by Uriel Simon in his widely cited the subject and the relations to his or her sovereign.
book Four Approaches to the Book of Psalms, published Job: The First (Jewish) Subject and the Sovereignty
in Hebrew in 1982 and in English in 1991. Karaites of YHWH
(represented by Salmon ben Yeruham and Yefet ben Saadiah Gaon’s translation of the book of Job can
Eli) placed the psalms at the center of their liturgy; be viewed as a reflection of some of his ideas in his
while they considered the entire Hebrew Bible as theological treatise, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions.
a legitimate source for prayer, the book of Psalms Saadiah argued that Job lived around the time
was the foremost source. Rabbanites (represented of Abraham and was not Jewish; however, some
by Saadiah Gaon and Abraham Ibn Ezra) replaced researchers claim that for Saadiah, Job symbolizes
Temple rituals with their own communal and domestic Israel as a whole. While Saadiah’s premises of the
prayers. While they include psalms in their liturgies, translation of Job are based on the rabbinical school,
they must select them carefully and define them as his emphasis on the concept of the trial between an
something other than prayer. Simon focuses mainly individual and his God is different.
on the prefaces to the commentaries that lay out and
support the authors’ versions of Jewish theology as
well as critiquing and rebutting that of their opponents.
IQSAweb.org 25
Saadiah’s title, The Book of Theodicy, implies his Besides the source situation, epistemological and
theological purpose: to construct a solid image of methodical problems are observable both in Muslim
YHWH as the sovereign who forms the correct model tradition and orientalist Qurʾanic Studies. This paper
of a (righteous) individual, hence promoting the aims at reflecting on the object of research from
creation of Jewish subjectivity or individualism. The source-critical and methodological perspectives in
latter concept that is somehow alien to the rabbinical order to provide a basis of discussion for the question
school. By avoiding the theological construction of of contextuality. At first glance, I will outline, how the
YHWH as the sovereign who constructs a subject, and Arabian prophets are associated to biblical texts by
by rendering YHWH as a God that is not always the reference to the history of research. In a second step,
main focus of the Jewish community, the construction I shall argue for the contextuality of the respective
of Jewish individualism by the rabbinical school was Qurʾanic narratives with several pre-Islamic corpora,
incomplete. In my view, Saadiah intended to correct which are not of Christian or Jewish origin. These
this paradigm. Treating Job as the first subject, or the assumptions, which are mostly based on the analysis
first individual, while referring to Israel as a whole, is of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, will be furthermore
partially introduced by Saadiah and answers different contrasted with the results of previous research. In the
Islamic theological challenges. To illustrate my points, final part of the paper, current methods and approaches
I will analyze a specific chapter and focus on Saadiah’s of contextuality and intertexuality will be discussed in
translation—wording, syntax, and commentary—as the light of these research results.
his way to transmit the importance of the sovereignty Roberto Tottoli, Universita di Napoli
of YHWH and his connection to his subject, all the Roberto Tottoli is Professor of Islamic Studies at the
while promoting the formation of Jewish individualism Universita di Napoli, L’Orientale. He has published
that is a part of the Jewish greater body. Finally, studies on the biblical tradition in the Qurʾan and
I will compare Saadiah’s translation to the same Islam (Biblical prophets in the Qurʾan and Muslim
chapters in Yefet Ben Eli’s translation to see if there Literature; The Stories of the Prophets of Ibn Mutarrif al-
are differences between the two in their perception of Tarafi) and medieval Islamic literature. His most recent
Jewish subjectivity. publications include Ludovico Marracci at Work: The
Marianus Hundhammer, Friedrich-Alexander- Evolution of his Latin Translation of the Qurʾan in the Light
Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg of His Newly Discovered Manuscripts (co-authored with
Marianus Hundhammer is Lecturer at the Department Reinhold F. Glei) and Books and Written Culture of Islamic
of Islamic Religious Studies, University of Erlangen- World. Studies Presented to Claude Gilliot on the Occasion
Nuremberg, and was head of the Interdisciplinary of His 75th Birthday (edited with Andrew Rippin).
Studies on Yemen working group at the Center for Struggling with Meanings and Style: The Reception
Interdisciplinary Regional Studies (ZIRS), University of Surat al-Kahf in Latin Translations in Medieval
of Halle-Wittenberg, until 2014. His research interests and Modern Europe
include Qurʾan and Qurʾanic exegesis, customs and Surat al-Kahf has always been of particular interest to
traditions in popular Islam, Yemeni history, culture, the Western world, because of the themes it includes in
and literature, and early Islamic history. some passages. Latin translations have been facing the
The Arabian Prophets of the Qurʾan and the Bible: many questions related to the meaning of the passages
Remarks on Contextuality, Sources, and Methods in of the entire surah since the beginning of translation
Muslim Exegetical Traditions and Qurʾanic Studies activities in the twelfth century. The various Latin
As a part of Qurʾanic narratives, persons and groups translations produced in late medieval times and the
have been contextualized with biblical traditions early modern age (sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)
since the beginning of Muslim exegesis, and have have further deepened the study and comprehension
later become subject of orientalist Qurʾanic Studies. of this surah, introducing a further use of Qurʾanic
Different methods and sources have been used in exegetical literature to better understand and render
both traditions, which range from classical Muslim into Latin this chapter of the Qurʾan. A review of the
approaches of interpretation to methods of historical major Latin translations of the Qurʾan plus the vulgar
criticism, resulting in centuries of fruitful research. renditions of some of them will help us understand
However, within this scholarly field, the research this translation activity on Surah 18 and its relevance
landscape concerning the Arabian prophets Hud, for Christian Europe. The consideration of these Latin
Ṣalih, and Shu‘aib, and their people ‘Ad, Tamud, and translations will also include the recently discovered
Madyan, appears to be bleak. translation by Johann Zechendorff (d. 1662) and all
the major ones.

26 IQSAweb.org
Amongst the Latin translations, I shall focus on the My paper will demonstrate the value of comparison
major achievement in this field, i.e., the translation by for showing what is distinctive about each scriptural
Ludovico Marracci (d. 1700) who carried out the Latin tradition and how crucial a recognition of the biblical
translation plus Arabic edition and large commentary context is to that comparative project.
of the whole of the Qurʾan, which was considered John Span, Faculté Jean Calvin, Aix-en-Provence
the masterpiece in this field until the contemporary John Span is a Ph.D. student at the Faculté Jean Calvin,
period. Thanks to the newly discovered personal Aix-en-Provence, France.
manuscripts by Marracci, it is now possible to check his His dissertation research is on the utilization of a
four versions of the translation of the Qurʾan and thus “Christianized Qurʾanic hermeneutic” both
follow his progressive and continuous remaking, and historically and presently, as it applies to a missiological
what helped him during decades of revisions of Surah method called the CAMEL method. His research
18. As will become clear, the further use of Islamic interests include contextualization informed by the
literature prompted a better knowledge of the Qurʾanic likes of J.H. Bavinck as well as
text, but questions of Latin style and considerations Islamic Christology.
of the contents of the Qurʾan in relation to Christian
beliefs also contributed to producing the final version Christianized Qurʾanic Hermeneutics: A Historical
given to the printer. On the whole, this and previous Overview and Critique
works are all evidence of the significance of European The history of Christian-Muslims relations provides
studies on the Qurʾan and in particular on Surah 18. many notable examples of the interpretative use and
abuse of the Qurʾan by Christians. This paper will
D. Morgan Davis, Brigham Young University
survey the common approach used by Paul of Antioch
D. Morgan Davis, Brigham Young University, is the (fl. 1140–1180) in his “Letter to a Muslim Friend,” that
general Editor of the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative of Nicholas of Cusa (d. 1462) with his pia interpretatio,
which publishes the Islamic Translation Series—dual Kenneth Cragg (d. 2012) with his “Christian potential
Arabic-English editions of important philosophical and of the Qurʾan,” as well as the contemporary Kevin
theological works from the classical period of Islam. Greeson’s approach in his use of Q Ali ‘Imran 3:42–55 in
His own research focuses on comparative scripture the CAMEL method of outreach to Muslims. Common
and the function of sacred texts within religious to all, we will observe that they have employed a
communities. Christianized method of interpreting the Qurʾan at
The Bible as a Basis for a Comparative Analysis of the expense of the Islamic tafsir or exegetical traditions.
the Qurʾan and the Book of Mormon To illustrate this dynamic in modern terms we will
The Qurʾan and the Book of Mormon are the examine the usage of Q 3:49 by Kevin Greeson’s
foundational texts of Islam and Mormonism, CAMEL method, where he attempts to prove the
respectively. Because they emerged in radically divinity or divine attributes of the Muslim Jesus in a
different contexts, it is no surprise that they are very way that will be seen as largely illegitimate in light of
different kinds of texts in terms of genre (one is the Islamic tafsir tradition.
narrative, the other is not), language, and theology.
And yet beneath these very significant differences, P20-221
I will argue, lies a deep commonality that warrants
Qurʾan Seminar
comparative examination. Both the Qurʾan and the
Book of Mormon are read today by their respective Theme: Roundtable and Book Launch
faith communities as extensions of and correctives Mehdi Azaiez, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
to the Judeo-Christian tradition, and are each self- Panelist
consciously in dialogue with biblical stories and See biography in People section on page 57.
figures. It is the tie that each makes for itself to the
biblical tradition that allows us to discern categories Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston, Panelist
that can anchor meaningful comparisons between See biography in People section on page 55.
them. In this paper, I will discuss how the Qurʾan and Sidney Griffith, Catholic University of America,
the Book of Mormon both present specific prophetic Panelist
figures from the Bible as a way of establishing their own Sidney H. Griffith is Ordinary Professor Emeritus in
bona fides. While significant work has already been done the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages
on how the Qurʾan and the Book of Mormon each do and Literatures, in the School of Arts and Sciences, at
this on their own terms, a comparative approach has the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.
never yet been undertaken with any rigor.

IQSAweb.org 27
His areas of scholarly interest are Syriac Patristics, Fedeli taught at the University of Milan from 2004
Christian Arabic Literature, and the history of to 2012 and was Director of the Ferni Noja Noseda
Christian/Muslim relations, especially within the Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Her publications reflect
World of Islam and in the Early Islamic period. Recent her research interests in early Qurʾanic manuscripts.
publications include, The Church in the Shadow of the Her recent work on the Mingana-Lewis palimpsest has
Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam been uploaded to the Cambridge Digital Library (http://
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007); cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/minganalewis), establishing
The Bible in Arabic: The Scriptures of the “People of the a pioneer system for encoding the text of early Qurʾanic
Book” in the Language of Islam (Princeton, NJ: Princeton manuscripts through the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative).
University Press, 2013). Daniel Brubaker, Rice University
Asma Hilali, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, See biography above on page 16.
Panelist
Qurʾan Manuscript Treasures from the Museum of
Asma Hilali is a Research Associate in the Qurʾanic
Islamic Art, Doha
Studies Unit at The Institute of Ismaili Studies. She
studied Arabic Language, Literature, and Civilization The Museum of Islamic Art was opened in Doha in
at the University of Tunis. She completed a Ph.D. thesis 2008. A number of scholars visited the Museum at or
entitled, “The Theory of Authenticity in Hadith Sciences near its opening, some of them working on its Qurʾan
between the First and the Sixth century of Islam,” in manuscripts, among them Marcus Fraser, David
2004. From 2005 to 2008, Hilali held a postdoctoral Roxburgh, and Francois Déroche. However, in the
fellowship at the Graduate School of Asia and Africa in years since the museum’s opening, new acquisitions of
World Reference Systems (GSAA) at the Martin Luther early Qurʾan manuscripts have been made. I visited the
University in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. Since 2008, museum in 2015, photographing all pages—with a few
she has worked on an edition of the oldest manuscripts exceptions due to display mountings—of all Qurʾans in
of the Qurʾan, which were discovered in Sana’a within the collection that were of likely origin within the first
a French CNRS project. She includes the Qurʾan edition several hijri centuries, approximately 200 shelf numbers
work in her larger research project on the transmission at this point. In this paper, I survey and give highlights
of Qurʾan and hadith and “intermediary genres” during of the collections of the museum, with special attention
the three first centuries Islam. Along with this subject, to more recent acquisitions.
most of Hilali’s publications and conferences are Wasim Shiliwala, Princeton University
about the history of prophetic traditions, its process Wasim Shilwala is a Ph.D. candidate in the Near Eastern
of conceptualization, and the historical issues that Studies Department at Princeton University. His
surround it. research focuses on Islamic law and the transformations
Michael Pregill, Boston University, Panelist of modernity in the Middle East and South Asia. His
See biography in People section on page 58. dissertation is a comparative study of fatwas (legal
response) issued at the turn of the twentieth century
Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame, by prominent Egyptian and Indian scholars on topics
Panelist related to shifts in the realms of technology, society,
See biography in People section on page 55. and politics.
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Yale University, Panelist Islamic Law and Anomalous Readings of the Qurʾan
See biography above on page 22. Muslim scholars have long debated the validity
and epistemological status of anomalous (shadhdh)
recitations of the Qurʾan. Are they Qurʾan? To what
P20-227a
extent can they inform Muslim practices? What if
The Qurʾan: Manuscripts and Material those readings contain legal details not found in the
Culture standard ‘Uthmanic edition of the Qurʾan? This paper
Alba Fedeli, Central European University, will present an overview of these debates while also
Budapest, Presiding examining how differences over these questions played
Alba Fedeli is a Research Fellow at the Centre for out in the realm of substantive law. To accomplish this,
Religious Studies, CEU, Budapest, working on the first will be discussed varying definitions of what does
transmission of early Qurʾanic manuscripts through or does not count as an anomalous recitation, how it
phylogenetic analysis. She stirred up media frenzy compares to other types of recitations, and the extent
after the BBC announcement that the “Birmingham to which such recitations can be considered to be a
Qurʾan” manuscript dates to Muhammad’s lifetime. part of the Qurʾan.

28 IQSAweb.org
Then the practical implications of this discussion
will be explored by highlighting three cases where P21-155
anomalous recitations are debated in substantive The Qurʾan and Late Antiquity
law: their usage in prayer and the legal effects of Ibn Joint session with the SBL Religious Competition in Late
Mas‘ud’s variant readings of Q al-Ma’idah 5:38 (on Antiquity program unit
theft) and Q 5:89 (on expiation). Theme: Violence and Belief Beyond the Qurʾanic
By examining how the various schools of law ruled Milieu
on these cases, it will be shown how anomalous
readings, despite being lost and mostly forgotten, Lily Vuong, Central Washington University,
have nevertheless left their mark on Islamic law. Presiding
Given the recent increase of research on early Qurʾanic Lily Vuong is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
manuscripts, some of which contain non-canonical at Central Washington University, where she teaches
readings, this scholarly debate might prove to be courses on early Judaism and Christianity. She is the
relevant again quite soon. author of Gender and Purity in the Protevangelium of
James and Co-Editor of Religious Competition in the Third
Tobias Jocham, Corpus Coranicum, Berlin- Century CE: Jews, Christians, and the Greco-Roman World
Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and Religious Competition in the Greco-Roman World.
Between 2007 and 2013, Jocham was a student
assistant at the Corpus Coranicum project (www. Ra‘anan Boustan, University of California, Los
corpuscoranicum.de) and finished his M.A. with the title Angeles
“Studien zu den frühen Qurʾan-Handschriften Is. 1615 Ra‘anan Boustan is an Associate Professor in the
aus der Chester Beatty Library in Dublin—Zum Einsatz Department of History at the University of California,
elektronischer Datentechnik in der Textanalyse.” Since Los Angeles. He is currently collaborating with
then he has continued his research under the German- Karen Britt on the mosaic finds from the late antique
French Coranica project, focusing on the radiocarbon synagogue at Huqoq in the Lower Galilee. He is also
analysis of early Qurʾan manuscripts. At the present the Co-Editor of the journal Jewish Studies Quarterly.
time, he is working with François Déroche at the Karen Britt, Western Carolina University
Collège de France in Paris. Karen Britt is Visiting Research Scholar in the School
Carbon Dating of Qurʾanic Manuscripts of Art and Design at Western Carolina University. The
Recently, early Qurʾan manuscripts like the primary subject of her research and publications is late
Birmingham Qurʾan folios and the Tübingen Qurʾan antique mosaics in the eastern Mediterranean. Along
codex have made headlines because of the early dates with Ra‘anan Boustan, she is the mosaics specialist for
returned by radiocarbon dating tests. In the framework the Huqoq Excavation Project. She is also an Editor of
of the French-German Coranica project (funded by the the International Journal of Islamic Architecture.
German Research Council and the Agence Nationale Blood on the Floor: Representations of Violence
de la Recherche, Paris)—conducted by Tobias and Communal Self-Fashioning in the Synagogue
Jocham, Michael Marx, and Eva Yousef-Grob— the Mosaics at Huqoq
Corpus Coranicum project of the Berlin-Brandenburg The excavations directed by Jodi Magness in the fifth
Academy of Sciences has been quietly pursuing a century synagogue at Huqoq in lower Galilee from
project to carbon date a representative spectrum of 2011 to 2015 have revealed a series of impressive
parchment Qurʾans in the hope of establishing more floor mosaics. Among the most intriguing is a group
certain dating criteria for early Qurʾan manuscripts. of framed panels that display either martial or
This has been done in collaboration with the laboratory violent imagery. A pair of partially preserved scenes,
of the University of Zurich. Among the fragments uncovered at the southern end of the synagogue’s
studied were Qurʾans from Berlin, Leiden, Tübingen, East aisle, depicts episodes from the life of Samson; in
and other collections. This paper will present some of one, Samson is shown carrying off the gate of Gaza on
the findings of these tests as well as observations on the his shoulders (Judges 16:3), while the other displays
carbon dating of Qurʾan manuscripts in general. The the pairs of foxes with torches tied to their tails that
people responsible for the Coranica C14-dating project Samson sent forth to burn the fields of the Philistine
are gratified that their campaign in general is showing (Judges 15:4–5). Further to the North in the same aisle,
that this technique offers a new, albeit sometimes not a mosaic panel whose subject matter does not appear to
very precise tool for writing the textual history of the be biblical was uncovered. Unlike the Samson panels,
Qurʾan. this panel depicts multiple episodes from a narrative
that unfolds over three registers.

IQSAweb.org 29
In the bottom register, we see a fallen elephant, a dying Kharijite Militancy from a Late Antique Perspective
bull, and collapsed soldiers bleeding from wounds This paper will examine some implications of Thomas
inflicted by javelins. The middle register is composed Sizgorich’s approach to Kharijite militancy from a late
of a series of nine arches with a lighted lamp atop antique perspective. Specifically, it will focus on his
each; beneath the central arch a white-haired figure interest in the intersection of identity, martyrdom,
sits enthroned; the four arches to either side frame and militancy from Late Antiquity into the early
ornately dressed young men holding scabbards. At Islamic period, and how this approach opens new
the center of the top register, a military commander possibilities for the study of the Kharijites. The study
leading a bull faces a white-haired figure in white of the Kharijites is plagued by a problem of sources:
robes pointing skyward; each man is followed by an almost no Kharijite sources survive, and what does
entourage, a phalanx of soldiers, with a pair of battle survive is often late, fragmented, contradictory,
elephants in one case and a group of eight youths polemical, and heavily edited. What emerges from this
holding swords in the other. The iconography and welter of literatures is an image of the Kharijites as both
composition of the mosaic suggest that it portrays a militant and pious. Sizgorich’s approach allows for a
military encounter between armed Judaeans and a scholar to make a certain sense of the textual layerings
Greek army. This paper applies the insights of Thomas of the sources on the Kharijites even as it provides
Sizgorich into the role of violence in the formation of an overarching late antique context for some of their
religious communities in Late Antiquity to the realm content. Using reports about the Battle of Nukhayla
of material culture. We argue that although the Huqoq as an example, this paper will show how the local (in
mosaics invoke a heroic past during which Jews (or this case, Kufan) history of the early Kharijites partially
their ancestors) violently confronted the threat posed “flowed through the remembered deeds” of the martyrs
by the presence of “foreigners,” they also celebrate the of Nukhayla, even when that local history is submerged
possibility of ritualized friendship or military alliance. in later (and often hostile) sources. In this way, the stock
In juxtaposing blood spilled in battle with scenes of images of ascetic piety and militancy associated with
mutual recognition, the mosaics reflect the complex the martyrs of Nukhayla can be firmly contextualized
strategies of confrontation and accommodation in their late antique milieu, and these images can be
pursued by Galilean Jews within the context of late connected to the process of Kharijite identity formation
Roman Palestine. The Huqoq finds thus demonstrate that drove their production. Moreover, comparing the
how idioms of violence in mosaic art served as a Nukhayla cycle in non-Kharijites sources with what
resource for communal self-fashioning. can be found about it in Ibadi sources allows for an
Adam Gaiser, Florida State University appreciation of the historiographical forces shaping
Adam Gaiser earned his Ph.D. in 2005 from the the narrative in different directions. Although Sizgorich
University of Virginia in the history of religions, was not a specialist in the Kharijites, nor did he include
and teaches courses in Islamic studies at Florida the Ibadiyyah in his analysis, his work provides the
State University. His research mainly focuses on the basis from which to pursue new perspectives on the
early development of the Kharijites and Ibadiyyah. sources about the Kharijites.
His first book, Muslims, Scholars, Soldiers: The Nathan S. French, Miami University
Origin and Elaboration of the Ibadi Imamate Traditions, Nathan S. French is an Assistant Professor in the
explores the issue of the Ibadi imamate, while his Department of Comparative Religion, an affiliate in
second (forthcoming), Shurat Legends, Ibaḍi Identities: International Studies and Middle East and Islamic
Martyrdom, Asceticism and the Making of an Early Islamic Studies, and the Program Director of the study abroad
Community, investigates early Ibadi identifications with program in Oman and UAE at Miami University in
the Muhakkimah and shurat through the medium of Oxford, Ohio. He received his Ph.D. in 2013 from the
martyrdom and asceticism literature. He is currently University of California, Santa Barbara. Across his
working on an introduction to Muslim sectarianism, academic career, French has focused on his research
The Umma Divided: Muslim Sects and Schools. Gaiser also on questions of violence, religion, and subjectivity. In
teaches courses on Shi‘ism, Islam in North America, his monograph in progress, And God Knows the Martyrs,
Islamic law, the Prophet Muhammad, and the Qurʾan. French argues that the creed and methodology of
Jihadi-Salafism is an ascetical praxis and philosophical
theodicy.

30 IQSAweb.org
“Our Monasticism is Jihad”: On Pursuing the Such a linkage opens the possibility for critical
Numinous in Borderlands Classical and Jihadi- reflection upon the discourse of jihad offered by
Salafi Jihadi-Salafi authors and the identification of the role
In his eighth century collection of narrations on the and influence of non-Muslim discourses upon their
topic of struggle in the path of God, Abd Allah Ibn idealized path to martyrdom through struggle in
al-Mubarak (d. 181/792) reported on the authority of God’s path.
Mu‘awiyyah bin Qurrah and Anas Ibn Malik that when
questioned as to the monastic practices (rahbaniyah) P21-147
of Islam, Muhammad responded, “To every ummah Qurʾan Seminar
there is given a monasticism, and the monasticism
of this ummah is struggle in the path of God (al-jihad Theme: Panel 1: Q 27:45–58 (Narratives) and Q
33:28–37 (Women/Contemporary Events)
fi sabil allah).” Writing in critique of claims that Ibn
al-Mubarak was a partisan of early anti-monastic Panel 2: Q 49 (Contemporary Events) and Q 83
movements during the expansionary period of Islamic (Eschatology)
history, in Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity, Thomas Mehdi Azaiez, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
Sizgorich argued that the intentional diminution of the Presiding
self, an ascetical act for Ibn al-Mubarak, “made jihad See biography in People section on page 57.
a venue in which acts of martial valor or conquest (or
simple raiding, theft, or murder) could be reinscribed Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston, Panelist
as acts of piety and moments of communion with the See biography in People section on page 55.
numinous.” What became essential in the relationship Reuven Firestone, Hebrew Union College – Jewish
between the individual and divine, therefore, was the Institute of Religion, Panelist
notion that the divine promise and reward precedes See biography in People section on page 54.
all other spiritual, material, and political concerns.
Underlying this relationship, however, is the concept of Emad Mohamad, Indiana University, Panelist
the borderland, which Sizgorich defines as “a space in Emad Mohamed has a Ph.D. in linguistics and an M.A.
which no one cultural or political force is able to exercise in computational linguistics from Indiana University,
uncontested hegemony, and in which one is likely to and a B.A. in linguistics from Al-Azhar University.
encounter discursive economies which incorporate the Emad’s main interests are digital humanities for
influences of various cultural traditions and political Islamic Studies, Arabic linguistics, and the Qurʾan.
interests.” Considering Ibn al-Mubarak a participant Emad has been working on developing a Qurʾan
within such a milieu, Sizgorich opened to future ontology that aims to organize the Qurʾan and all the
study the possibility of jihad as a concept, doctrine, Qurʾanic literature in a way that supports human-
and behavior evolving in relation to both Muslim like inferencing, thus making Qurʾan research more
and non-Muslim communities. Although Sizgorich affordable.
would gesture toward a modern linkage of his work Andrew O’Connor, University of Notre Dame,
in Late Antiquity to the modern era in the Journal of the Panelist
American Academy of Religion in 2009, the relation of his Andrew O’Connor is a Ph.D. student in the World
work on the renunciative aspects of Ibn al-Mubarak’s Religions area of the Theology Department at the
jihad to the contemporary Jihadi-Salafi discussions of University of Notre Dame. He also holds a B.A. from
jihad has remained incomplete. Seeking to resolve this the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a M.A. in
linkage, this paper argues that Jihadi-Salafi discussions Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago.
of martyrdom operations (al-‘amaliyyat al-istishhadiyyah) His research interests include the Qurʾan and the
and suicide (intihar, qatl al-nafs) identify and create an historical development of Islamic theology.
idealized ascetical subjectivity that has been influenced
by Jihadi-Salafi appropriations and reconfigurations Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame,
of Ibn al-Mubarak’s renunciative jihad. With this Panelist
precedent established, the paper will argue that the See biography in People section on page 55.
appropriations of traditions and laws governing jihad
by contemporary partisans of Al-Qa’idah, the self-
proclaimed Islamic State, and other similar movements
occur within the borderland conditions identified by
Sizgorich as so crucial to the praxis of Ibn al-Mubarak.

IQSAweb.org 31
Stephen Shoemaker, University of Oregon, Panelist strands of the exegetical tradition. Why have certain
Stephen Shoemaker is Professor of Religious Studies pre-modern or early modern Qurʾanic commentaries
at the University of Oregon. He is a specialist on the gained immense popularity while others are treated
history of Christianity and the beginnings of Islam. His with distrust or have fallen into oblivion? Again,
primary interests lie in the ancient and early medieval hermeneutics play a key role in explaining their
Christian traditions, and more specifically in early fortune and misfortune. Through the examination of
Byzantine and Near Eastern Christianity. His research sources, light is shed on a broad range of issues that
focuses on early devotion to the Virgin Mary, Christian are of relevance to contemporary hermeneutics, from
apocryphal literature, and Islamic origins. He is the fundamentalist ideals to questions of ambiguity, from
author of The Death of a Prophet: The End of Muhammad’s narrativity to the role of reason, from apologetics to
Life and the Beginnings of Islam. da‘wah.
Banafsheh Madaninejad, Southwestern University
P21-239a Banafsheh Madaninejad is a Visiting Assistant
Qurʾanic Studies: Methodology and Professor in the Philosophy and Religion Departments
Hermeneutics at Southwestern University where she investigates
the post-revolutionary Iranian religious intellectual
Theme: Emergent Hermeneutics
movement. She also researches secularity as an
Farid Esack, University of Johannesburg, Presiding alternative to religious intellectualism as a seat
See biography in People section on page 54. of knowledge production and philosophic Shi’i
Johanna Pink, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg jurisprudence. In another life she worked for NASA as a
physicist turned programmer and made documentary
Johanna Pink is Professor of Islamic Studies at the
films about Iran.
Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg. She received
her Ph.D. from the University of Bonn and taught at The Iranian Religious Intellectual Movement and
the University of Tübingen and the Free University the Hermeneutics of a “Changing Qurʾan”
of Berlin. Her research focusses on the Muslim This paper attempts a preliminary theoretical
exegesis of the Qurʾan in the modern period in a conceptualization of what the post-revolutionary
historical perspective. She has a particular interest in Iranian religious intellectual movement has achieved
transregional comparison and has worked on Arabic, by way of a new Islamic theology. I propose that
Turkish and Indonesian Qurʾanic commentaries and an important contribution of the movement, so far,
translations. Her publications include a monograph on has been the philosophical/hermeneutic work done
Sunni tafsir in the modern Islamic world and a guest- around the issue of a “changing Qurʾan.” By looking
edited issue of the Journal of Qurʾanic Studies on Qurʾan at the four thinkers—Abdolkarim Soroush, Mohsen
translations in Muslim majority contexts. She has Kadivar, Abolqassem Fanaei, and Mostafa Malekian—
also published widely on the status of post-Qurʾanic the paper suggests that the post-revolutionary
religious minorities in Islamic law and contemporary religious intellectual movement in Iran has provided
Islamicate societies, as well as the history and politics four ways in which the Qurʾan “changes” with
of religion in Egypt. time. These four avenues for jumping over the wall
The Hermeneutics of Sources: Emergent of revelation are then used in instances of applied
Hermeneutics and the Tradition of Tafsir ethics to solve modern day issues. The four different
ways the Qurʾan has undergone or still experiences
No Muslim scholar or intellectual who engages
change can be addressed in the following way: 1)
with the Qurʾan today can avoid taking a position
the epistemological change which materializes in the
towards the tradition of Qurʾanic exegesis. Even the
process of an audience’s reception/understanding of
decision not to make use of that tradition is usually a
the Qurʾan is called ‘change through reception,’ 2) the
conscious one, and one that is frequently held against
ontological change the Qurʾan experienced during the
the exegete. In many contemporary works of exegesis,
tanzil process, ‘change during tanzil,’ 3) the ontological
however, the tradition of tafsir is very much alive. This
changes suggested by all the thinkers to a subset of
paper proposes to pursue the question of sources in
actual Qurʾanic verses that some go so far as to call
contemporary Qurʾanic exegesis. Based on examples
scientifically or historically erroneous or ethically
from different types of recent exegetical works, it
wanting because of the tanzil processes’ cultural
asks what sources the exegetes use and why, what
situatedness (historicity) is referred to as ‘change due
sources they ignore, and what this tells us about their
to historicity,’ and finally, ‘change in the lawh’ is the
hermeneutics. In a broader perspective, the paper
change that Fanaei suggests the eternal Qurʾan, al-lawh
will discuss the contemporary relevance of specific
al-mahfuz, as imagined by God and as it exists in the
32 IQSAweb.org
heavens, experiences as humanity’s understanding of These efforts are significant in finding a place for
God’s message changes. This ontological characteristic, the existence of LGBTQ communities in the Sunni
Fanaei suggests, is the only way we can account for the Muslim-majority Indonesia, as well as to further
lawh keeping up with the other three changes in the the plurality of intellectual traditions within Islam.
Qurʾan and guarantee the theological integrity of divine For sure, Indonesian LGBTQ Muslims are not the
knowledge. The fourth thinker, the philosopher Mostafa first who pioneered the whole discussion on Islam
Malekian, has left the religious intellectual movement and sexuality. However, their presence—with other
and has since garnered a sizable following within Iran. Muslim pro-LGBTQ advocates—is opening a space
While the three Islamist thinkers have carved out a for interrogating the practices of literalist readings of
niche for themselves within the religious spectrum, the Qurʾan that, in the context of Indonesia, often goes
trying to reconcile the believer’s rational and religious hand in hand with patriarchal Qurʾanic interpretations.
commitment, Malekian calls the hermeneutic project a There are several questions that the paper would like
failure and has abandoned the religious realm for the to address. First, how do LGBTQ communities in
secular. Siding with the evidentialists, Malekian claims Indonesia conduct their interpretation and reading
that historicity or a changing lawh does not erase all of Q 7:80–84?; second, what are the hermeneutics that
cases of irreconcilability between religious and rational they employ in their efforts to present alternative
commitment. It tackles the issue of Qurʾanic errors perspectives on the Qurʾanic notion of sexuality?; and
but cannot square away the greater demand religion third, how and when is their specific reading on the
makes of its practitioners to close off some of their notion of sexuality in the Qurʾan in conversation with
core reasoning faculty and obey the commands of an its international counterparts (e.g., Barlas 2002; Ali
unfalsifiable God and Prophet. Malekian’s alternative 2006)? For the purpose of this paper, we will interview
to the theological solution for reconciling rational and several LGBTQ activists in Indonesia who are involved
religious commitment is what he calls the rationality and in re-reading and reinterpreting the Qurʾan to explore
spirituality (‘aqlaniyyat va ma‘naviyyat) project. Adding the limit of sexual inclusiveness offered by the Qurʾanic
Malekian to the group of thinkers was important because teachings. Results of the interviews will be analyzed
his work highlights where the border between Islamist within the feminist hermeneutics as proposed by Asma
and secular thought lies in Iran. The “changing Qurʾan” Barlas and Kecia Ali. Consideration will be given
hermeneutic strategy and the many nuanced pathways to socio-political, historical, cultural, and religious
to reconciling rational and religious commitment that contexts specific to LGBTQ communities in Indonesia
have materialized as a result are important because which influence the ways they interpret the Qurʾan.
they are examples of vibrant Islamic theological, These specific contexts are particularly important
philosophical, and ethical traditions that, while due to recent upsurge of anti-LGBTQ protests in the
having integrated Western hermeneutic discourses, country that place the communities in a defensive
nevertheless remains thoughtfully independent. position and oblige them to present alternative
Lailatul Fitriyah, University of Notre Dame perspectives on sexuality in Islam. Furthermore, we
Lailatul Fitriyah is a Ph.D student in the Department will also see alternative epistemological ties between
of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Her the Qurʾanic position on sexuality and perspectives
research interests include Islamic feminism, Qurʾanic offered by Islamic jurisprudence that the LGBTQ
hermeneutics, theological anthropology, Islamic communities employed to find their place in the Sunni-
peacebuilding theories, and normative theories of heterosexual-cisgender-Muslim-majority society.
international relations. Yusuf Rahman, Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN)
Bahram Naderil, Northwestern University Syarif Hidayatullah
Bahram Naderil is an Arryman Fellow in the Yusuf Rahman, is a Lecturer at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah
Department of Anthropology at Northwestern Jakarta, Indonesia. He received his M.A. and Ph.D.
University. His research interests include feminism, degrees from the Institute of Islamic Studies at
queer studies, anthropology and sexuality, and McGill University Canada. He has published journal
Indonesian studies. articles and also published a chapter entitled “The
Controversy around H.B. Jassin: a study of his al-
The People of Lut: Indonesian LGBTQ’s Reading on Qurʾanu‘l-Karim Bacaan Mulia and al-Qurʾan al-Karim
Q A‘raf 7:80–84 Berwajah Puisi” in a book edited by Abdullah Saeed,
The object of the paper is to investigate the hermeneutical Approaches to the Qurʾan in Contemporary Indonesia, and
efforts taken up by LGBTQ Muslims in Indonesia to “Nasr Abu Zayd’s Literary Approach” in Coming to
re-read and reinterpret the Qurʾan, particularly on Q Terms with the Qurʾan, edited by Khaleel Mohammed
A‘raf 7:80–84. and Andrew Rippin.
IQSAweb.org 33
Feminist Kiyai, K.H. Husein Muhammad: An Blairite hermeneutics also deals with potentially
Indonesian Interpretation on Gendered Verses in the illiberal sentiments concerning (or ‘perversions’
Qurʾan of) scriptures by turning to the importance of “less
Husein Muhammad, feminist ‘alim or kiyai, the literal” readings, communal checks on problematic
principal of Dar al-Tauhid Islamic boarding school individual interpretation, and the overriding authority
in Arjawinangun Cirebon, West Java, Indonesia, has of more “liberal” founding figures, in this case
written various articles and books on women’s issues Muhammad. Crucially for Blair, Muhammad and the
and gender problems. Growing up in conservative core of the Qurʾan are constructed as “revolutionarily
family and graduating from Al-Azhar University, progressive.” While all this belongs among broader
Muhammad became one of the main proponents of liberal readings of the Qurʾan in the West, this also
Islamic feminism in Indonesia. Besides having founded gives us some insight into more precise contexts for
a pesantren (Islamic boarding school), Muhammad Blair’s liberal Qurʾan. Blair was developing such ideas
established the Fahmina Institute in 2000, an NGO when he was trying to break the Labour Party from
which strives to promote community empowerment its more socialist past and construct it as a kind of
and gender justice based on the pesantren tradition, revolutionary centrism. This, too, provided a means of
and the Fahmina Islamic Studies Institute, a higher reapplying, implicitly renouncing, and appropriating
Islamic education, which aims to build a tolerant and older language of a more radical Qurʾan and radical
unprejudiced Indonesian Islam. This paper will discuss Mohammed in the Labour tradition, a socialist tradition
his approach to interpreting the Qurʾanic verses on which could also include Jesus, the Bible, Marx, and
women’s issues, and his contribution in the light of the any number of English radicals. Blair also developed
discourse of gender and feminism in Islam, as well as his ideas during the War on Terror as a means of trying
in mainstream gender discourse in Indonesia. to claim legitimacy for the invasions of Afghanistan and
James Crossley, St. Mary’s University, London Iraq and justify a monopoly on use of violence, as well
as avoiding the complexities involved in the rise of Al-
James Crossley is Professor of Bible, Culture, and
Qa’idah. Blair’s use of the Qurʾan as an implicit political
Politics in the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study
authority has been significant. The Blairite notion of
of the Bible, St. Mary’s University, London. He got
true and false (or ‘perverted’) interpretations of the
his Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham (2002)
Qurʾan has been developed further by David Cameron
and has previously worked at the universities of
in his dealing with ISIS, as Blair’s binary continues to
Exeter and Sheffield. He has published widely in the
dominate political discourses concerning Islam.
area of Christian origins and contemporary political
constructions of the Bible, including their relationship
to constructions of religion and Islam and concepts of
P21-250
scripture. His most recent book is Harnessing Chaos: The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition
The Bible in English Political Discourse Since 1968 and he Theme: Late Antique Perspectives on Qurʾanic
is currently working on a history of religion and the Ontology and Law
English Left since the 1930s.
Cornelia Horn, Martin-Luther University, Halle-
Tony Blair’s Liberal Qurʾan Wittenberg, Presiding
The reception and construction of the Bible in See biography in People section on page 57.
contemporary English political discourse is receiving
increasing attention. Less attention, however, has been Holger Zellentin, University of Nottingham
paid to the Qurʾan, which continues to be used in See biography in People section on page 57.
mainstream political discourse. The most prominent The Noahide Covenant from the Bible to the Qurʾan
figure has been Tony Blair. Blair claimed to read the This paper argues that the basis of the Qurʾan’s purity
Qurʾan every day in order to understand global events laws lies in the Gentile purity requirements found
and for personal instruction. If we look across Blair’s in the Hebrew Bible, and that their long and varied
constructions of the Qurʾan, it is clear that it represents development especially throughout Late Antiquity can
a pure form of tolerant, liberal, democratic Islam/ be traced in some detail. In His covenant with Noah, God
religion which needs to be rediscovered from beneath is portrayed as ordaining all of humanity to abstain from
the later corruptions of history. Indeed, Blair’s Islamic shedding the blood of humans and from consuming that
history is presented as one of gradual decline from the of animals. This double prohibition of blood informs
divinely-revealed, progressive Qurʾan and its earliest later legislations that continuously develop and reframe
enlightened interpreters through to dictatorship and, the prohibition in various cultural contexts, all the while
ultimately, to those who would join or sympathize with looking back at the covenant with Noah.
groups like Al-Qa’idah.
34 IQSAweb.org
Witnesses to this process includes texts as varied as the Muslims while avoiding the danger of marginalizing
Holiness Code (Lev 17–26), the letters of Paul, the Acts the blind and disabled among them.
of the Apostles, the Tosefta and the Talmudim, fathers David Bertaina, University of Illinois at Springfield
of the church such as Origen, Tertullian, and Cyril of David Bertaina is Associate Professor of Religion in
Alexandria, and the Eastern Church canons. While the History Department at the University of Illinois
some Latin and Greek fathers, chiefly Augustine and at Springfield. He studies the religious history of the
John Chrysostom, side-lined and eventually abolished late antique and medieval Middle East. Bertaina is
the strict prohibition of blood, the mainstream of the specifically interested in medieval encounters between
Christian tradition not only embraced but expanded Christians and Muslims.
the purity regulations both Jews and Christians had
imposed on Gentiles. In line with this expansive The Bodily Resurrection in the Qurʾan and Sixth-
understanding of the Gentile purity laws, the Arabic Century Syriac Christian Literature
Qurʾan and the Greek Clementine Homilies, whose Scholars have long noted that the Qurʾan is filled
Syriac reception history is increasingly recognized, are with references to eschatological matters such as the
distinguished by a special legal affinity. Understanding resurrection of the body, the time of the resurrection,
the relationship between the traditions reflected in both and the promise of a final judgment. Some of these
of these texts within the broader context of Gentile Qurʾanic verses accuse their opponents of denying
purity regulations throughout Late Antiquity allows the literal resurrection of a physical body. Traditional
us better to appreciate distinct nature of the Qurʾan’s scholarship has claimed these passages occurred
purity requirements, as well as the often overlooked role between Muhammad and polytheists during the
of Gentile purity in Greek and Syriac Christian culture. Meccan period. More recently, however, scholars have
noted that many of the audience’s critiques contained
Tanner Lowe, Duke University
within Qurʾanic passages reflect themes derived from
Tanner Lowe is a third year Master of Divinity monotheistic polemics. But if Jews and Christians both
student at the Divinity School of Duke University. His agreed on the resurrection of the body, then why would
research interests include the New Testament and the the Qurʾan elicit any concern over the doctrine unless
intersection of disability studies and religious practice. it came from a polytheist milieu? Over the course of
Surat ‘Abasa, John 9 and a Hermeneutic of Disability the sixth century and into the early seventh century, a
In this paper, I attempt to illustrate how a hermeneutic theological debate in the Eastern Mediterranean raged
of disability can help bring fresh insight into the text over Trinitarian language. The short-lived Tritheist
of Surat ‘Abasa, the case of the Prophet frowning and movement, a faction involved in intra-Miaphysite
turning away from the blind man. I first examine disputes (Syrian Orthodox and Coptic), confessed a
how the Qurʾan and the New Testament respectively triple godhead and gained some notable followers in
employ the motifs of vision and blindness to speak of Egypt, Syria-Palestine, and Arabia. Some Tritheists
belief and understanding and how this characteristic argued that the resurrected body must be immortal
use has skewed commentators’ interpretations of this as well as eternal, and that the physical body was
surah in particular. I then briefly interpret John 9, a mortal and corruptible. Literary responses to Tritheism
biblical text often applied to stigmatize people with by orthodox Christians proliferated to counter such
disabilities, through a disability hermeneutic in order doctrines, such as the renewed promotion of the
to bring to light its liberating elements for people with Legend of the Sleepers of Ephesus. Given this historical
disabilities. Turning to Surah 80, I employ a similar debate at the turn of the seventh century in the Eastern
hermeneutic of disability to emphasize the aspects of Mediterranean, it is worthwhile to examine the context
this passage that lift up the blind man as a model to be of certain passages in the Qurʾan that reaffirm the
emulated. These elements include: the agency of the bodily resurrection and to consider whether they might
blind man who approaches the Prophet, his submission be patterned after intra-Christian polemics.
to and dependence on God, and the contrast made
between the blind man and the Prophet’s audience. George Archer, Georgetown University
By doing so, I hope to show that reading this sacred George Archer is a professorial Lecturer in the
text from a perspective of disability helps to illuminate Department of Theology and Religious Studies at
seldom considered elements of the story. Thus, a Georgetown University. His interests include Qurʾanic
hermeneutic of disability need not be a critical way Studies and late antique Islam, with specific concern
of disrespecting the Qurʾan itself but rather a tool for for Qurʾanic structure and orality. He is the author
seeing the weaknesses in human interpretations of the of several articles on the Qurʾan and early Islam, and
Qurʾan and, I think, a fruitful way forward for both his first manuscript, The Place Between Two Places: the
respecting and honoring the text of the Qurʾan for all Qurʾanic Barzakh is forthcoming with Gorgias Press.

IQSAweb.org 35
Kun fa-yakun: The Qurʾan’s Command to “Be!” as a
Refutation of Trinitarianism P21-348
In the received text of the Qurʾan, we are told that The Qurʾan and Late Antiquity
when God wishes something to be, he merely Joint session with Society for Ancient Mediterranean
commands it, “Be!” (kun) and so it is. Often invoked Religions Greco-Roman Religions and the SBL Student
(correctly) as a sign of God’s power, as well as Advisory Board
(creatively) a mystic meditation and (debatably) as Theme: Teaching Ancient Mediterranean Religions
evidence of creation ex nihilo, the command to “Be!” from Rome to Islam
is also a powerful argument against certain forms of
Annette Yoshiko Reed, University of Pennsylvania,
late antique Trinitarianism. The first century Gospel
Presiding
according to John opens famously with its prologue
stating that the Word—Christ—was with God “in the Annette Yoshiko Reed is Associate Professor and
beginning,” that Christ is somehow divine, and Christ Graduate Chair in the Department of Religious Studies
is the one “through whom all things were made.” It is a at the University of Pennsylvania, where she also serves
foundational statement of all high Christologies, i.e., of as Director of the Center for Ancient Studies.
any of the various claims that Jesus is a divine figure. Richard S. Ascough, Queen’s University
John’s prologue is also a representation of the opening Richard S. Ascough is a Professor in the School of
creation scene in Genesis. If Jesus is divine, then he Religion and cross-appointed to the Department of
must be present before the foundations of the world as Classics at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. His
mentioned in Genesis. But Jesus as the divine Son does research and teaching focuses on the history of early
not appear there in any obvious way, while the other Christianity and Greco-Roman religious culture with
persons of the Trinity seem to. And so John posits Jesus particular attention to various types of associations. He
as the “word” which God expresses in Genesis; the has published widely in his field along with articles on
power which comes from him and activates the entire teaching and learning, and regularly leads workshops
creation. Christ is there after all. Later Christians would and consultations through the Wabash Center for
attempt to expand on that equation of the Son with the Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.
creative word in Genesis, thus offering more powerful His more recent publications include Greco-Roman
arguments against low christological Christians, Jews, Associations: Texts, Translations, and Commentary, vol.
and “pagans.” One example of this appears in Ephrem 1. Achaia, Central Greece, Macedonia, Thrace (with John
the Syrian’s homilies “On Faith.” There he claims that Kloppenborg) and Associations in the Greco-Roman
the presence of the uncreated Son as described by World: A Sourcebook (with John Kloppenborg and
John is clear because God says “Let there be!” (nehwe) Philip Harland).
when he creates. Ephrem claims that this must mean Erin K. Vearncombe, Princeton University
that God is speaking to some intelligent being, for if Erin K. Vearncombe studies religions of Mediterranean
God was not speaking to someone who was carrying antiquity with a focus on the origins and development
out the order, he would have just said “Be!” (hway). of the early Jesus movement. Recent research combines
The Qurʾanic voice is aware of this kind of argument cultural anthropological work with scholarship on
and volleys back by claiming that this is exactly what dress and the body in order to evaluate the role of
happens: God just says “Be!”. Indeed, it repeats this clothing in the construction of Christian identity. She is
argument in eight different passages—many of which also interested in the relationships among religion, text,
relate to the creation of Jesus himself. Positioning and material culture. Her current project explores the
these eight Qurʾanic passages into a larger discussion use of sacred texts as objects, specifically the wearing
with the late antique biblical lore not only adds to our of gospel texts for preventative or protective purposes.
understanding of the Qurʾanic milieu, it allows us to Vearncombe is a Lecturer at Princeton University,
understand why this command is so often related to teaching in both the Princeton Writing Program and
the creation of the Qurʾanic Jesus. the Freshman Scholars Institute.
Who Wins in a Fight, Cybele or Isis? Strategies
for Learner-Centered Teaching on Ancient
Mediterranean Religions
Getting students engaged in the classroom has
long been both a desideratum and a challenge for
instructors. In the past decade or so, universities
and colleges have been giving increasing attention
to pedagogical concepts that put the student at the
36 IQSAweb.org
center, such as “learner-centered teaching” (providing Andrew Durdin, University of Chicago
students with the tools they require in order to play Andrew Durdin is a Ph.D. candidate in History of
their own lead role in the creation of meaning), Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School
“active learning” (including case-based, field-based, and a Lecturer in the Humanities at the University of
inquiry-based, problem-based, and experiential- Michigan-Dearborn. His research focuses on ancient
based learning), and “authentic learning” (students Mediterranean religions, magic and religion in the
engaging in real or realistic activities similar to those Roman Empire, and scholarly historiography of ancient
they will encounter in the workforce). Often, however, religions.
practical examples of strategies that implement such The Ancient Romans and Their “Religion”
theories are drawn from the physical sciences (e.g.,
Scholars’ realization that “religion” is a modern
labs; industry partnerships) and the social sciences
category—and is thus particularly anachronistic
(e.g., qualitative research; internships). Applications
for understanding the pre-modern world—has led
within the humanities are somewhat more difficult to
to instructive research in the study of the ancient
come by, particularly in disciplines and subfields such
Mediterranean world. Setting aside this modern
as Classics and ancient religions, where the subject
category has often resulted in fresh readings of ancient
under scrutiny lies in the distant past. Too often,
sources and has attuned scholars to contextual clues
instructors default to “Q & A” lecturing or, at best,
that had previously been obscured by naturalizing
periodic group discussions, as a means of fostering
this abstraction. The goal of this paper is to explore
interactivity. And while lecturing and discussions
how this disparity between ancient materials and
remain important pedagogical strategies, they do not
the modern category of religion functions not only
address the pedagogical theories named above. More
as a useful research tool, but also as an instructive
should and can be done to foster engaged and effective
pedagogical tool. In the winter quarter of 2015, I had
student learning, particularly through in-class activities
the opportunity to teach a course for the University of
and assignment design. In this co-presented paper, two
Chicago undergraduate program in Religious Studies.
instructors teaching in two separate institutions will
I designed the course, entitled “The Ancient Romans
illustrate a variety of innovative activities that foster
and their ‘religion,’” with two goals in mind: first,
such interactive, engaged student learning in courses
to familiarize students with the sources for ancient
on Greek and Roman religions and Christian origins.
Roman ritual and the dominant scholarly paradigms
We will include examples such as the “three-step”
for studying these; second, and more importantly, to
interview for interrogating an ancient text; creating
raise the question: how does thinking of the Romans
and role-playing Mithras initiation rituals; debating
as having a “religion” challenge the way the term is
Christian identity and “othering” discourse around
understood today? In designing the syllabus, selecting
magic; undertaking problem-based detective work
the readings, and conducting the class sessions (80
in finding clues for uncovering small group practices
minutes, twice a week), I tried to thematize for the
in antiquity; and using smart-classroom technology
students, in different registers, a set of questions:
for comparing and contrasting deities. Such activities
what do we fail to see when we interpret pre-modern
not only address multiple learning styles among
cultures based on a concept that so thoroughly
students, they are designed to encourage students
organizes our contemporary world? How can we
to be accountable for their own learning process
conceptualize and speak about the ancient Romans and
as they make their own discoveries about course
their ritual practices without invoking the concept of
materials, guided by specific prompts that leave
religion? What cultural nuances and complexities are
space for the collaborative exploration of ancient texts,
illuminated by doing so? If the ancient Mediterranean
archaeological data, secondary sources, and theoretical
world can easily seem removed from modern concerns,
frameworks. In our experience, student responses to
the idea of religion can suffer from the opposite
these activities have been overwhelmingly positive.
tendency: it can seem natural and universal to the
Students not only like the fun and creativity involved,
point of needing little explanation. For many students,
they have articulated how their learning has been
religion is simply an unsurprising part of a checklist of
enhanced through allowing them to engage directly
features, along with law, economy, etc., that comprises
with real historical and exegetical problems that face
every human society. In class, students often speak
scholars of antiquity.
of religion as though they know precisely what it is.

IQSAweb.org 37
In the course above, I attempted to cultivate a classroom Modern, secular, Western millennials participate in
setting where we could examine more carefully and a host of different groups with similarly rich and
meticulously the assumptions students brought to the abundant affiliations in modern society. Productive
table about religion and how these assumptions can pedagogy thus arises from comparing the various
often affect their interpretations of the world, perhaps attributes and functions of modern affiliations,
unbeknownst to them. Throughout the quarter, we deploying second order categories to facilitate
used ancient Rome as a case to interrogate common comparison, and then applying these categories to
concepts about religion and to test these concepts ancient Mediterranean religions. The theory of non-
methodically against the rich detail and nuance of essentialized taxonomy can be derived variously, from
Roman culture. For the students, the sustained and Wittgenstein (family resemblances) and biological
careful investigation of Roman culture generated speciation (polythetism), while the importance of
both congruencies and incongruencies with their own second order categories is prevalent in a host of fields
preconceptions of both religion and antiquity. With and is well articulated by J.Z. Smith among others
each course reading, I prompted students to consider (e.g., map is not territory). I will introduce the above
how classification matters and to recognize that calling theorizing on taxonomy that I do in class, as well as
certain texts, practices, communities, and institutions introduce and discuss a non-exhaustive list of the
“religious” can tilt interpretation in advance and eclipse second-order categories I have successfully used to
other interesting evocations and contexts. describe and compare modern affiliations to ancient
Paul Robertson, Colby-Sawyer College religions. A handful of the more important second-order
Paul Robertson received his B.A. in the interdisciplinary criteria: hierarchical/democratic, centralized/dispersed,
Classics/Religion major from Reed College in 2006, and nature of recruitment, un/official, personal/institutional,
his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Brown University public/private, charitable/internal, membership costs,
in 2013. Hired as an adjunct instructor at Colby- relation to existing affiliations, morals/norms, rituals,
Sawyer College while he finished his dissertation, he clothing, food, and initiation practices. Along these lines,
was promoted to Teaching Fellow and then Assistant modern affiliations such as sports, clubs, organizations,
Professor, his current position. Now in his fifth year at Facebook groups, cohorts, and fraternities/sororities
Colby-Sawyer, Robertson teaches courses in the theory can map onto ancient religious practices and group
of religion, Religious Studies, Classics, and ancient formations such as Mithraism, lares and penates, the
Mediterranean thought. His first book Paul’s Letters and cult of Magna Mater, imperial cult, early Christian meal
Contemporary Greco-Roman Literature: Theorizing a New and prayer, Jewish temple sacrifice, and even other
Taxonomy uses taxonomical theory and quantitative ancient groupings such as collegia. I will end with a
data mapping to describe and characterize the more extensive case study to demonstrate the type of
topography of ancient Mediterranean religious activity in-class or take-home assignment I build into such a
and textual production. lesson, which attendees may freely take back to their
institutions and use as they see fit.
Teaching the Taxonomy of Social Phenomena:
Categorizing and Comparing Religious Groups in Greg Fisher, Carleton University
the Ancient Mediterranean Greg Fisher earned a D.Phil. from Keble College at
The students at my secular, mostly atheistic/agnostic, the University of Oxford. He is Associate Professor in
liberal arts college often have difficulty understanding the College of the Humanities and the Department of
strong religious affiliation. Even more difficult for such History at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, where
students is the task of understanding the richness of he teaches courses on Greek, Roman, and Persian
religious affiliations in the ancient Mediterranean, with history. He is the author of Between Empires: Arabs,
religions overlapping with spheres political, economic, Romans, and Sasanians in Late Antiquity, the editor of
familial, sexual, ethnic, and tribal. Among students Arabs and Empires Before Islam, and, with Jitse Dijkstra,
vaguely monotheistic, a final layer of conceptual Co-Editor of Inside and Out: Interactions Between Rome
difficulty is the polytheistic and hierarchical nature of and the Peoples on the Arabian and Egyptian Frontiers in
ancient Mediterranean religion, with some religions Late Antiquity.
public and others private, some foreign and some
local, some official-institutional and some individual-
charismatic. In my own teaching, I have found success
in teaching ancient Mediterranean religions through
a focus on taxonomizing the data via second-order
categories.

38 IQSAweb.org
Silo Busting: Teaching the pre-Islamic Religious “We Have Made You Nations and Tribes…”:
Landscape as a Roman Historical Problem Teaching Islam in a First Millennium Context
As a member of a Classics Department whose five full- Courses on Late Antiquity or the first millennium
time research faculty and instructors teach everything offer unique opportunities to expose undergraduate
from Latin and Greek to the history of archaic Greece students to the background to the rise of Islam in the
to ancient Persia, it can be a challenge trying to find broadest possible perspective. Placing Islam in a larger
a suitable venue for the teaching of the Near Eastern (sometimes much larger) historical context allows
pre-Islamic religious landscape. My own solution us to cast light on the typically underexposed links
to this problem has been to make the fertile world between the empires of antiquity, especially Christian
of Roman Christianity, Himyarite Judaism, Persian Rome, and the emergence and expansion of Islam in
Zoroastrianism, and the emergence of Islam itself the seventh century CE. Approached through the lens
into a Roman history issue. While this has helped to of the first millennium, an increasingly popular rubric
ensure a large student audience in years two, three, and for the study of Late Antiquity and the early Middle
four of the undergraduate cycle, I have encountered Ages, Islam’s deep roots in the religion, culture, and
numerous problems in making content available—the society of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East
difficulty of engaging students on a “touchy subject” are readily demonstrated to students. However,
like ancient religious violence, for example, or the in practical terms, in organizing a course around
lack of availability of suitable teaching materials the paradigm of the first millennium, one rapidly
such as primary sources in translation that can be encounters the problem of scope creep. How far back
successfully used in a second-year history course. In must one go to show meaningful precedents? How
this paper I will discuss the successes and failures of far forward to show intriguing consequences? How
my experiences thus far, and examine what can be far West of the Mediterranean and Near East should
done pedagogically to bring late antique Near Eastern one seek comparanda—and how far East? One quickly
religious history successfully into the undergraduate encounters another problem, that of the general
Classics curriculum. unfamiliarity of most undergraduates with ancient
Elizabeth DePalma Digeser, University of history, geography, or the academic study of religion,
California-Santa Barbara which can further limit the rate of progress through
Elizabeth DePalma Digeser is Professor of History the material and constrain opportunities to construct
at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her meaningful comparisons. Drawing on my experience
research focuses on the intersection of religion and in teaching a dcourse on “Religion and Empire in Late
politics from the third to fifth centuries CE. Courses Antiquity” three times in the last several years, each
she teaches include world history to 1000 CE and the time with significantly different audiences, methods,
history of Late Antiquity. and coverage of the topic, I will highlight some of
the ways the instructor of such a course can draw on
Cities and Empires: Integrating the Study of Early the breadth and richness of the first millennium, yet
Islam within World and Mediterranean History through careful selection of material keep the scope
At UCSB, my area of expertise in Late Antiquity lies and depth of the course manageable. In this, the art
chronologically between our historian of Classical of creative juxtaposition is key: bringing texts and
Greece/Achaemenid Persia and my colleague who images from what appear to be disparate contexts
studies the Mamluk Sultanate. Classes that touch upon together to instill an instinct for pattern recognition in
Late Antiquity, then, are key places for our students to students, enabling them to understand the conjunctions
learn about early Islam, whether in my lower-division of religion and power—of authority, community,
world history class or my upper-division course on memory, and history—that are so typical of this period,
Late Antiquity. This paper will discuss and evaluate and in some sense still meaningful today.
one model that I have found useful, namely exploring
the diachronic history of key cities and their role as
nodes within different networks of culture contact,
tradition, and new ideas.
Michael Pregill, Boston University
See biography in People section on page 58.

IQSAweb.org 39
 Reports
Executive Summary
It is with great pleasure that the International Qurʾanic Studies Association (IQSA) holds its 2016 annual
meeting in San Antonio, Texas. This year’s conference hosts approximately twenty sessions with over sixty
presenters and discussants coming from across the globe. The following report by the executive director
summarizes the progress of IQSA throughout 2016 as well as its future plans.

Governance & Non-Profit Status Donations & Sponsorships

The board held its spring 2016 meeting in Atlanta. IQSA shares its gratitude with its donors and
The executive director reported to council IQSA’s sponsors for 2016. To the Windsor Foundation for
financial, operational, and administrative activity. their generosity, the board who made the general
The board discussed updates within the standing reception possible, DeGruyter Press for sponsoring
committees, and approved (1) the contract with The Qurʾan Seminar book launch, and to all of you
Lockwood Press for IQSA publications and (2) the who have given generously—thank you. IQSA
MOU with Beit Al-Hikma for the 2017 International is an independent tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit
Meeting to be held in Tunisia. The board also offered organization. This means that our world-class
feedback to and a positive evaluation of the executive programming and publishing is only possible
director and treasurer. through your generosity and participation. Senior
colleagues, professionals, and partner organizations
Member Benefits & Membership Updates are especially encouraged to give generously. You
The three-tiered membership system introduced at may feel inclined to sponsor a particular cause—
the start of 2016 has been a success and remains in such as publications, annual or international
place for the foreseeable future. There was a 10% meetings, general or graduate receptions, and so
increase in membership over the past year, from on. If you believe in fostering Qurʾanic scholarship,
200 to 220. This number demonstrates a slow and building bridges, and using scholarship as a means
steady pace of growth. We recognize the importance for peace and mutual understanding, please give.
of keeping membership costs low while having Please make your tax-deductible donation at http://
running an ambitious operational budget. members.iqsaweb.org/donate.
Member benefits are accessible through IQSAweb.
org. They include the Review of Qurʾanic Research Expenditure & Operations
(RQR), the Qurʾan Seminar Commentary, IQSA As projected, expenditure for 2016 alone is $20,000.
Membership Directory and, by early 2017, the This figure does not include minor outstanding costs
Journal of the International Qurʾanic Studies Association from 2015. Projected revenue and donations in the
(JIQSA). The first issue of JIQSA was completed amount of $23,600, minus fees, covered these costs.
and submitted to the publisher in October 2016 For 2016 as well, the board and other IQSA members
and is pending release. Submissions to the second showed great leadership by donating to IQSA,
issue are complete and going through the editing while turning down support for the spring and fall
process. JIQSA will be published once annually for meetings.
first the three years. The Publications and Research Revenue from membership dues and advertising
Committee has accepted its first two book length are both up from last year. Projected expenditure
manuscripts for publication soon. for 2017 will rise to at least $25,000 on account of
JIQSA and forthcoming books are published by publishing JIQSA and holding the 2017 International
IQSA in partnership with Lockwood Press. Print Meeting. Shorts terms goals include expanding
versions are available for purchase on demand. our membership base, increasing advertising, and
building donor support to meet our growing costs.

40 IQSAweb.org
Reminders for 2016
Friends and members of IQSA should feel free to Join the IQSA Discussion Group on Yahoo! by writing
send all general inquiries to [email protected]. Stay to [email protected], like us on Facebook,
up to date by joining us online. Please do not forget and follow us on Twitter (@IQSAWEB). We thank
to subscribe to our blog by joining the mailing list you for your support and participation, and we look
from IQSAweb.org. forward to seeing you both July 2017 in Carthage,
Tunisia, and November 2017 in Boston, MA!
Emran El-Badawi

IQSA Nominations Committee

The task of the Nominations Committee is to suggest All other members of the international Programming
to the Board of Directors a number of suitable Committee whose first time ends this year, i.e., Majid
candidates for IQSA leadership positions. Once the Daneshgar, Abdullah Saeed, and Nayla Tabbara,
board has approved a ranked list, the Nominations have equally been nominated for one further and
Committee reaches out to the first nominee and final term. Mehdi Azaiez will serve as the 2017
discusses the open position. During 2016, the Tunisia chair.
Nominations Committee consisted of four members: Finally, Reuven Firestone was reappointed to the
Karen Bauer, Alba Fedeli, Gabriel Reynolds, Devin Publications and Research Committee, succeeding
Stuart, and Holger Zellentin, who chaired the Michael Pregill (who has been nominated to remain
committee. The following nominations have been on the committee) as chair. All other members of
approved by the Board of Directors and will be put the Publications and Research Committee whose
to the vote of our members for confirmation at the first term ends this year, i.e., Sean Anthony, Mehdi
annual meeting in San Antonio. Azaiez, and Catherine Bronson, have also been
This year, the committee had to fill a substantial nominated for one further and final term. Moreover,
number of important positions beginning in 2017, David Powers will succeed Gerald Hawting to head
partially by reappointment, and partially by the IQSA monograph series, Mehdy Shaddel has
appointing new candidates. We have nominated been appointed as blog coordinator, and Munther
Abdullah Saeed to succeed Gerald Hawting as Younes and Amir Hussain have both been added to
president elect in 2017; Gerald will be our president the committee.
in 2017. We have nominated Sarra Tlilli to succeed In its deliberation, the Nominations Committee
Ebrahim Mousa on the Board of Directors, to which sought to balance a large number of requirements an
we nominated Fred Donner and Gabriel Reynolds ideal candidate would fulfill, including a scholar’s
for one further and final term. commitment to IQSA, public profile, and contribution
As replacements for Devin Stewart and Gabriel to the field. Among the suitable candidates, we also
Reynolds, whose tenures on the Nominations sought to balance IQSA’s leadership in terms of
Committee (which is not renewable) will end by gender, religious commitments, and geographic
the end of 2016, we have nominated Farid Esack representation, issues whose importance continues
and Hamza Zafer. The initial (and equally non- to grow. In order to reach this goal, the committee
renewable) term of Holger Zellentin as committee continues to solicit nominations from the general
chair has been extended until the end of 2018, in IQSA membership.
accordance with our bylaws. Likewise, Nicolai As chair of the committee, I want to express my
Sinai was reappointed as chair to the Programming gratitude to all new, current, and parting members
Committee for one further and final term. of the committee for the smooth and effective
Mun’im Sirry was reappointed to the international work during this past year. My special thoughts to
Programming Committee, succeeding Daniel Andrew Rippin, whose untiring dedication to IQSA,
Madigan (who has been nominated to remain on the and to the field of Islamic Studies more broadly, will
committee) as chair. not be matched.
Holger Zellentin

IQSAweb.org 41
 IQSA Programming Committee
Members: Marianna Klar, Cecilia Palombo, Michael 1. Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic
Pregill, Andrew Rippin, Nicolai Sinai (chair), Devin Perspectives on the Qurʾanic Corpus
Stewart, Sarra Tlili. Chairs: Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau and Sarra
IQSA’s Programming Committee (PC) is responsible Tlili
for the academic content of the Annual Meeting and 2. Historical Context, Manuscripts, and
reports to the Board of Directors. It approves new Material Culture
program units, oversees the operation of existing Chairs: Keith Small and Luke Treadwell
ones, and shapes future meetings in the light of its 3. The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition
evaluation of past ones. At the PC’s meeting at Atlanta, Chairs: Cornelia Horn and Holger
it was felt that the committee, which until then had Zellentin
only had five members, would be well served by
4. Qurʾanic Studies: Methodology and
two additional persons, and IQSA’s Nominating
Hermeneutics
Committee proposed to appoint Marianna Klar and
Chairs: Karen Bauer and Farid Esack
Cecilia Palombo, the latter serving as a graduate
student representative. Both graciously accepted 5. Qurʾan Seminar
their nomination and immediately began taking Chairs: Mehdi Azaiez and Clare Wilde
active part in the PC’s deliberations. 6. The Qurʾan and Late Antiquity
After the San Antonio meeting, IQSA’s five inaugural Chairs: Greg Fisher and Michael Pregill
program units will have run for three years, with a As in the previous year, the Call for Papers for IQSA’s
sixth unit—The Qurʾan and Late Antiquity—having 2016 meeting was published in early January, and
run for two years. The PC is currently engaged by April submissions for all program units had been
in discussions about the future profile of IQSA’s received and reviewed by the unit chairs. IQSA’s six
program unit portfolio. The current shape of IQSA’s programming units will hold or cosponsor a total of
program units is still as follows, although a certain thirteen panels at the 2016 meeting, apart from the
number of changes will be implemented next year: presidential address.
Nicolai Sinai

Archway at the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas

IQSAweb.org 43
 IQSA Publications & Research Committee
Convened in December 2013, the IQSA Publications Over the course of 2016, the various branches of
& Research Committee (PRC) is tasked with IQSA Publishing have all undergone significant
supervising the various branches of the IQSA growth and development.
publishing division, which was established in fall
^^ Review of Qurʾanic Research (RQR)
2013 by a task force consisting of Michael Pregill,
Andrew Rippin, and Devin Stewart. In keeping Under the leadership of Catherine Bronson and
with the plan first outlined by this task force, the Sean Anthony, RQR began publishing book reviews
PRC currently oversees the three branches of IQSA online in January 2015. The review has maintained
Publishing: a peer-reviewed journal (the Journal a schedule of monthly publication and is currently
of the Qurʾanic Studies Association, commencing available only to IQSA members.
publication in 2016), an online review (the Review of ^^ Journal of the International Qurʾanic Studies
Qurʾanic Research, which commenced publication in Association (JIQSA)
January 2015), and a monograph series (IQSA Studies
in the Qurʾan, currently under development, with the The official Call for Papers for JIQSA was issued in
first volume scheduled to be published in 2017). fall 2015. Beginning in fall 2016 with the publication
of the first issue, JIQSA will publish one issue
The current members of the PRC are: annually. Submissions are now invited for the 2018
Michael Pregill (Chair of PRC and Co-Editor of issue; interested parties should contact the editors at
JIQSA) [email protected].
Sean Anthony and Catherine Bronson (Co-Editors of ^^ IQSA Studies in the Qurʾan (ISIQ)
Review of Qurʾanic Research)
Under the guidance of Head Editor G. R. Hawting,
Mehdi Azaiez a monograph series is currently under development.
Ryann Craig (JIQSA Publishing Intern and Graduate The first volume of the series is Michel Cuypers, A
Student Representative) Qurʾanic Apocalypse: A Reading of the Last Thirty-Three
Vanessa De Gifis (Co-Editor of JIQSA) Surahs of the Qurʾan, a translation of the author’s Une
apocalypse coranique. Lecture des trente-trois dernières
Reuven Firestone
sourates du Coran (2014). Publication is anticipated in
G. R. Hawting (editor of IQSA Studies in the Qurʾan) late 2017.
John Kutsko (ex officio) Michael Pregill
Nicolai Sinai (ex officio; Chair of Programming
Committee)

44 IQSAweb.org
 IQSA International Conference 2016
The International Qurʾan Conference will be cohosted by the International Qurʾanic Studies
Association (IQSA) and Beit al-Hikma (The Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts), in
Carthage, Tunisia on July 4–6, 2017 at the Zarrouk Palace. This International Qurʾan conference will
be a forum where the Islamic tradition and rigorous academic study of the Qurʾan of the world
will meet, and various approaches to the Qurʾan will be critically discussed. All those interested
should visit IQSAweb.org and subscribe to the IQSA discussion group (by sending an e-mail to
[email protected]), in order to remain updated and receive further details on the
conference, program units, and Call for Papers.

Famous Ruins of Carthage, Carthage, Tunisia

IQSAweb.org 45
 Participation and Membership
IQSAweb.org
IQSAweb.org has all the information necessary for you to benefit from IQSA and for you to get involved. On
this site, visitors can familiarize themselves with IQSA’s governance, resources, and programs, as well as learn
about its policies, vision, and history. To receive updates, subscribe online by entering your e-mail address
where it states “Follow IQSA by E-Mail” on the left margin of IQSA’s website.

Online Discussion Group:

Join the Yahoo! Discussion Group to share ideas, discuss, and collaborate with other scholars and members of
IQSA. Join by writing to [email protected].

Weekly Blog Updates:

The IQSA blog has attracted widespread international interest and participation of scholars, students, and the
general public. The blog includes weekly updates about IQSA, information on its academic meetings (North
American and International), schedules for other conferences and colloquia taking place around the world,
and various stories and reports on new research. IQSA strongly encourages all those working on new and
exciting Qurʾanic Studies projects to contribute to the IQSA blog.

Become a Member of IQSA:

Become a member of IQSA, join from the IQSA website, located under “Membership & Governance.” Be sure
to follow IQSAweb.org for updates about this and other matters. Through the website, members will receive
access to our publications, including:
^^ Review of Qurʾanic Research
^^ Qurʾan Seminar project
^^ Membership Directory
^^ Bilingual English-Arabic Journal of the International Qurʾanic Studies Association (2016–2017)
If you are interested in getting involved, writing for the IQSA blog, or have advertising or other inquiries,
please write to [email protected]. Do not forget to find IQSA on Facebook and Twitter!

Donate:
Support IQSA’s work by making a tax-deductible contribution. Donate online at members.iqsaweb.org/donate or
e-mail us at [email protected].

46 IQSAweb.org
 IQSA Mission and Vision
Mission Statement:
Foster Qurʾanic Scholarship

Strategic Vision Statement:

The International Qurʾanic Studies Association is the first learned society devoted to the study
of the Qurʾan from a variety of academic disciplines. The Association was founded to meet the
following needs:
^^ Regular meetings for scholars of the Qurʾan
^^ Cutting edge, intellectually rigorous, academic research on the Qurʾan
^^ A bridge between different global communities of qurʾanic scholarship
^^ Regular and meaningful academic interchange between scholars of the Bible and scholars
of the Qurʾan
^^ Involvement of Islamic scholarly institutions and faith communities
The Association offers its members opportunities for mutual support, intellectual growth, and
professional development through the following:
^^ Advancing academic study of the Qurʾan, its context, its relationship to other scriptural
traditions, and its literary and cultural influence
^^ Collaborating with educational institutions and other appropriate organizations to
support qurʾanic scholarship and teaching
^^ Developing resources for diverse audiences, including students, faith communities, and
the general public
^^ Facilitating broad and open discussion from a variety of academic perspectives
^^ Organizing congresses for scholarly exchange
^^ Publishing qurʾanic scholarship
^^ Encouraging and facilitating digital technology in the discipline
^^ Promoting cooperation across global boundaries

Core Values:
^^ Accountability ^^ Openness to Change
^^ Collaboration ^^ Professionalism
^^ Collegiality ^^ Respect for Diversity
^^ Critical Inquiry ^^ Scholarly Integrity
^^ Inclusivity ^^ Tolerance

IQSAweb.org 47
 Announcing IQSA Boston 2017
The International Qurʾanic Studies Association 3. The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition
will meet in November 2017 with SBL/AAR in 4. The Qurʾan: Methodology and
Boston, MA. Hermeneutics
The meeting will feature IQSA’s annual 5. Qurʾan Seminar
presidential address. Participants will need
to become IQSA members through IQSAweb. IQSA encourages submission of papers
org, and then register for the IQSA conference delivered at the Annual Meeting for publication
through Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). in the Journal of the International Qurʾanic Studies
Association.
IQSA is therefore pleased to invite submissions
for the Boston 2017 Annual Meeting in the The official Call for Papers will begin in
following program units: December with a deadline of March 1, 2017.
All those interested should be subscribed to
1. Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic
the blog on IQSAweb.org, in order to remain
Perspectives on the Qurʾanic Corpus
updated and receive further details on the
2. The Qurʾan: Historical Context, conference, program units, and Call for Papers.
Manuscripts, and Material Culture

Boston Common Public Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

48 IQSAweb.org
 Forthcoming 2017
A Qurʾanic Apocalypse. A Reading of the Thirty-Three Last Surahs of the Qurʾan, by Michel Cuypers;
translation by Jerry Ryan
Having explored the structure of the long fifth surah in his book Le Festin (2007; translated, The
Banquet, 2009), Michel Cuypers applies rhetorical analysis to the thirty-three small surahs (81–114)
at the end of the Qurʾan. His reading of the text proceeds according to the principles of Semitic
Rhetoric, thereby illustrating the internal coherence of each of these surahs, in addition to the
semantic connections between them. These surahs, which have traditionally been considered small,
independent textual units, in fact are a semantically coherent ensemble, made up of a number
of hierarchical sub-ensembles. Two principal themes dominate these surahs: eschatology (Day of
Judgment and resurrection) from the emergence of Muhammad’s prophetic mission (81), through
the triumph of his preaching (110). As in Le Festin, the author adds perspectives on intertextuality
to his rhetorical analysis. The image which emerges from these surahs, which date from the Meccan
period, is that of a messenger tasked with the announcement of the Day of Judgement and, in this
perspective, to call the rich to more justice to the needy and to more sincerity in religion, themes
which are also found together with the biblical prophets.

IQSAweb.org 49
 “ a work of extraordinary significance ”
—PROF. ALI ASANI, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Visit the HarperOne booth 630 at the AAR/SBL

annual meetings for 40% OFF The Study Quran.
Use code SBLAAR16 for the same discount plus
free U. S. shipping at HC.com. Offer ends 11/30.

TheStudyQuran.com
 Call For Papers
Journal of the International Qurʾanic Studies Association
The Journal of the International Qurʾanic Studies ^^ Conscious of authorial perspective and
Association (JIQSA) is a peer-reviewed annual positionality, and explicit about aims,
journal devoted to the scholarly study of the Qurʾan. theoretical posture, and methodology.
Our goals are to ^^ Reflective about their impact on larger
^^ Publish scholarship of high technical issues and debates in the academic field
quality on the Qurʾan, discussing its of Qurʾanic Studies and in broader public
historical context; its relationship to other discourses around the Qurʾan and Islam.
religious text traditions; and its literary, To submit an article for consideration for publication
material, and cultural reception. in JIQSA, please e-mail a complete manuscript
^^ Cultivate Qurʾanic Studies as a growing (in the range of 8,000–12,000 words) and abstract
field with a distinctive identity and focus, (approx. 400 words) to [email protected]. Authors
while acknowledging relevant linkages are encouraged to conform their submission to our
to the study of the Bible as well as Islamic current style guidelines, available at https://iqsaweb.
tradition, including tafsir. files.wordpress.com/2014/10/jiqsa-guidelines-and-style-
^^ Facilitate crucial conversations about the sheet.pdf.
state of the field in Qurʾanic Studies and Co-Editors:
the future of the discipline. Michael Pregill, Boston University, USA
^^ Connect diverse scholarly communities Vanessa De Gifis, Wayne State University, USA
from around the world on issues of
common concern in the study of the Editorial Board:
Qurʾan. Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, Paris-Sorbonne Université
We invite submission of original, quality research Michel Cuypers, Dominican Institute for Oriental
articles for consideration for publication in JIQSA. Studies, Cairo, Egypt
Methodologies of particular interest to the journal Majid Daneshgar, University of Otago, New Zealand
include historical-critical, contextual-comparative,
Sidney Griffith, Catholic University of America
and literary approaches to the Qurʾan. We especially
(Emeritus), USA
welcome articles that explore the Qurʾan’s origins
in the religious, cultural, social, and political Asma Hilali, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
contexts of Late Antiquity; its connections to Daniel Madigan, Georgetown University, USA
various literary precursors, especially the scriptural John C. Reeves, University of North Carolina at
and parascriptural traditions of older religious Charlotte, USA
communities; the historical reception of the Qurʾan
Andrew Rippin, University of Victoria (Emeritus),
in the West; the hermeneutics and methodology of
Canada and the Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
Qurʾanic exegesis and translation (both traditional
and modern); the transmission and evolution of the Uri Rubin, Tel-Aviv University (Emeritus), Israel
textus receptus; Qurʾan manuscripts and material Keith Small, London School of Theology, UK
culture; and the application of various literary and Devin J. Stewart, Emory University, USA
philological modes of investigation into Qurʾanic
style, compositional structure, and rhetoric. Sarra Tlili, University of Florida, USA
Articles to be considered for publication may reflect
a variety of disciplinary perspectives, but should be:
^^ Located in and engaged with the relevant
scholarly literature, building on existing
knowledge.

IQSAweb.org 51
 Review of Qurʾanic Research
The Review of Qurʾanic Research (RQR) is a new Access to complete RQR documents is available to
online companion to the International Qurʾanic IQSA members only.
Studies Association (IQSA). IQSA is committed to Catherine Bronson is Assistant Professor of Arabic
the advancement and dissemination of high quality and Islam at the University of Notre Dame. She
scholarship on the Qurʾan and to the facilitation specializes in Arabic pedagogy, Islamic intellectual
of deeper understandings of the Qurʾan through thought, the religious traditions of the late antique
scholarly collaboration. RQR is an online resource Near East, and gender constructions in Islam.
that features reviews of cutting-edge scholarship in Her research and publications focus on how the
the field of Qurʾanic Studies and allied fields. interpretation and formulation of the Qurʾan
Reviewers: Our editorial board solicits reviews from during the formative period of Islam influenced
appropriate academic reviewers for each volume doctrine, culture, and civilization. Her article “Eve in
reviewed. RQR editors request that reviewers write Formative Period of Islamic Exegesis” in Görke and
their review in a timely manner (usually 90 days) Pink (eds.), Tafsir and Islamic Intellectual History, looks
and in accordance with best scholarly practices. at the origins of the intrinsic paradoxes produced by
Authors who wish to submit their own reviews for the vying images and personas of Eve found in the
consideration are considered on a case by case basis. early Islamic tradition.
Submissions: While RQR acts mainly as a Sean W. Anthony is Associate Professor in the
clearinghouse for the review of new scholarly Department of Near Eastern Languages and
publications (monographs, translations, edited Cultures at The Ohio State University. His books
texts, reference works, etc.), published works of include The Caliph and the Heretic: Ibn Saba and the
cultural and religious significance that fall outside Origins of Shi’ism, Crucifixion and the Spectacle of Death:
the traditional domain of academic publication Umayyad Crucifixion in its Late Antique Context, and
may also be reviewed. Publishers and authors who an edition-translation of Ma’mar ibn Rashid’s The
wish to submit their publications for review in RQR Expeditions. His research and publications focus on
should contact the RQR Editors, Catherine Bronson the emergence of Islam and the origins of its sacred
(University of Notre Dame) and Sean Anthony (The and sectarian traditions.
Ohio State University) at [email protected].

River Walk, San Antonio, Texas

52 IQSAweb.org
 Qurʾan Seminar
The Qurʾan Seminar is a research project organized Passages have also been selected with the following
by the International Qurʾanic Studies Association criteria in mind:
(IQSA). At the heart of the project is the collaborative 1. Passages on themes of central importance
study of selected qurʾanic passages. Of particular to the text itself
interest to this study are the following questions:
2. Passages which collectively represent a
1. The structure of the Qurʾan (its logical, diversity of literary genres
rhetorical, and literary qualities, or naẓm)
3. Passages of interest to the academic field
2. The Qurʾan’s intertextual relationships of Qurʾanic Studies
(with both biblical and other literary
The beginning point for most new discussions is
traditions)
the annual meeting of IQSA, during which time
3. The Qurʾan’s historical context in Late sessions of the Qurʾan Seminar take place. As a rule,
Antiquity the passages discussed during those sessions will
The methodology of the Seminar is Qurʾanist inasmuch be presented on the forum section of the Qurʾan
as scholars are encouraged to address the Qurʾan Seminar website during the following year. Those
directly and not to rely on classical exegesis as a lens interested in the Qurʾan Seminar are encouraged to
through which to view the text. submit proposals to participate in those sessions. The
The Qurʾan Seminar website (IQSAweb.org) Call for Papers is regularly announced in December,
has two principal elements. First, the website with the Annual Meeting taking place the following
includes a database of passages of the Qurʾan with November.
commentaries from a range of scholars. This database For questions about the Qurʾan Seminar or issues
is meant to be a resource for students and specialists with the registration process, please contact mehdi.
of the Qurʾan alike. The commentaries might be [email protected].
quoted and referenced by citing the corresponding
url. Access to the Qurʾan Seminar website is open to
all members of IQSA.
Secondly, the website includes an active forum in
which additional qurʾanic passages are discussed.
At regular intervals the material on the forum
will be saved and moved to the database, and
new passages will be presented for discussion
on the forum. As a rule, the passages selected for
discussion are meant to be long enough to raise
a variety of questions for discussion, but short
enough to lend that discussion coherence.

IQSAweb.org 53
 People
Reuven Firestone, Hebrew Union College,
B OA R D OF DI R E C T OR S Jewish Institute of Religion – Past President
Farid Esack, University of Johannesburg – Reuven Firestone is Professor of Medieval Judaism
President and Islam at Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles,
Farid Esack is a South African scholar of Islam and Senior Fellow of the Center for Religion and Civic
public intellectual who completed the Darsi Nizami Culture at the University of Southern California, and
in traditional madrasahs in Karachi, Pakistan, and founder of the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement
his Ph.D. at the University of Birmingham, UK. Since in Los Angeles. Author of seven books and over one
2000, Esack has been teaching at the University of hundred scholarly articles on the Qurʾan and the Bible,
Johannesburg (UJ), where he is Professor in the Study Judaism, Islam, their relationship with one another and
of Islam and head of its Department of Religion with Christianity, and phenomenology of religion, his
Studies. In addition to serving as a Commissioner for books include An Introduction to Islam for Jews; Children
Gender Equality in the first South African democratic of Abraham: An Introduction to Judaism for Muslims;
government (appointed by President Mandela) and Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam; Who are the Real
heading a number of leading national and international Chosen People: The Meaning of “Chosenness” in Judaism,
not-for-profit entities, he has taught religion, Islamic Christianity and Islam; and Holy War in Judaism: the Fall
Studies, and Qurʾanic Studies in South Africa and Rise of a Controversial Idea. He received rabbinical
(University of Western Cape, Cape Town and UJ), ordination from Hebrew Union College and the
Europe (Universities of Amsterdam and Hamburg), Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic Studies from New York
the United States (College of William and Mary, University.
Union Theological Seminary, Xavier University, and Fred M. Donner, University of Chicago
Harvard Divinity School) and in Asia (International Fred M. Donner is Professor of Near Eastern History
Islamic University of Islamabad and Gaja Mada in the Oriental Institute and Department of Near
University in Yogjakarta). In addition to many peer- Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University
reviewed articles, Farid Esack is the author of several of Chicago. His main field of research is the origins of
monographs, including Qurʾan, Liberation & Pluralism: Islam and early Islamic History. He is the author of
An Islamic Perspective of Interreligious Solidarity Against Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam and
Oppression, On Being a Muslim: Finding a Religious Path Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic
in the World Today, and An Introduction to the Qurʾan. Historical Writing.
His current research interests (Jews in the Qurʾan
and socio-economic justice in the Qurʾan) reflect his Jane McAuliffe, Library of Congress
scholarly interest both in contemporary Islam and in Jane McAuliffe is the inaugural Director of National
the classical tafsir tradition. and International Outreach, a new division of the
Library of Congress. She is also the immediate past
Gerald Hawting, SOAS, University of President of Bryn Mawr College and former Dean of
London – President-Elect Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University. McAuliffe
Gerald Hawting is an Emeritus Professor in the is general Editor of the six-volume Encyclopaedia of
Department of History at the School of Oriental and the Qurʾan, the first major reference work for the
African Studies, University of London since 2009. He Qurʾan in Western languages. Other books include
specializes in the study of the emergence and early The Norton Anthology of World Religions: Islam, The
development of Islam, and among his publications Cambridge Companion to the Qurʾan, With Reverence for
are The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam and the Word, Abbasid Authority Affirmed, Qurʾanic Christians:
“Pilgrimage to Mecca: Human Responses to a Divine An Analysis of Classical and Modern Exegesis, and the
Command” in Klaus Herbers and Hans Christian forthcoming The Qurʾan: A Norton Critical Edition. She
Lehner (eds.), On the Road in the Name of Religion: is past President of the American Academy of Religion
Pilgrimage as a Means of Coping with Contingency and and a member of the American Philosophical Society,
Fixing the Future in the World’s Major Religions. the Council on Foreign Relations, and the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences.

54 IQSAweb.org
Ebrahim Moosa, University of Notre Dame
Ebrahim Moosa is Professor of Islamic Studies at E X E C U T I V E OF F IC E
the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston –
International Peace Studies and in the Department of Executive Director
History. Moosa codirects, Contending Modernities, the Emran El-Badawi is Associate Professor and Program
global research and education initiative examining Director of Middle Eastern Studies at the Department
the interaction among Catholic, Muslim, and other of Modern and Classical Languages at the University
religious and secular forces in the world. Moosa has of Houston (UH). He is author of The Qurʾan and the
published influential essays on Islamic law, theology Aramaic Gospel Traditions (Routledge, 2013), co-author
as well as contemporary Muslim ethics and political of A History of the Classical Middle East (Cognella,
thought. His interpretative and historical research on forthcoming) and editor of Communities of the Qurʾan
questions of tradition, ethics, and law includes two (in progress). He teaches courses on Islamic Civilization
monographs as well as edited and co-edited books. His as well as the modern Middle East. At UH he is
prize-winning book Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination responsible for three undergraduate degree programs,
was awarded the Best First Book in the History of consulting for the private sector and government,
Religions by the American Academy of Religion. His and partnering with community organizations on a
other publications include What is a Madrasa? and the variety of initiatives. El-Badawi is founding Executive
forthcoming coedited book, The African Renaissance and Director and Treasurer of the International Qurʾanic
the Afro-Arab Spring. Studies Association, starting his first term in 2014. He
Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre received his Ph.D. with honors from the Department
Dame – Chair of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the
Gabriel Said Reynolds did his doctoral work at Yale University of Chicago.
University in Islamic Studies and is currently Professor Irfana Hussain – Executive Assistant
of Islamic Studies and Theology in the Department of Irfana Hussain is the Executive Assistant for the
Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Among International Qurʾanic Studies Association. She studied
his works on the Qurʾan is The Qurʾan and Its Biblical Religious Studies and Islamic Studies at the University
Subtext. In 2012–13 he directed, along with Mehdi of Texas-Austin and South Asian Studies at the
Azaiez, “The Qurʾan Seminar,” a year-long collaborative University of California-Berkeley. She has professional
project dedicated to encouraging dialogue among experience in non-profit management, writing and
scholars of the Qurʾan, the acts of which will appear editing, and leadership development.
as The Qurʾan Seminar Commentary. He is currently
a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Mehdy Shaddel – Blog Coordinator
Nantes (France), Chair of the Executive Board of Mehdy Shaddel is a scholar of Islamic history
the International Qurʾanic Studies Association, and specializing in the political history of the early caliphate
completing a brief commentary on the Qurʾan for Yale (632–836 CE), the Arabic historiographical tradition,
University Press. At Notre Dame, he teaches courses the historical Muhammad, the Qurʾan, and late ancient
on theology, Muslim/Christian relations, and Islamic religion. He has written several articles on such topics
origins. as the second Muslim civil war, ethno-religious
identities in the Qurʾan, and Islamic eschatology.
Hamza M. Zafer, University of Washington –
Ryann Elizabeth Craig, The Catholic
Secretary
Hamza M. Zafer is the Assistant Professor of Islamic University of America – Graduate Assistant
History and Classical Arabic at the University of Ryann Elizabeth Craig is a Ph.D. candidate in Semitic
Washington in Seattle. His research expertise is in early Languages at The Catholic University of America
Islamic political and intellectual history (pre-900 CE). (CUA) in Washington, DC, where she studies early
He works primarily on early and pre-Islamic Arabian Syriac and Christian Arabic engagement with Islam
sources in Arabic, Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew, Greek, and and the Qurʾan as a proof-text in Christian-Muslim
Ge’ez. He is currently finishing work on a book titled polemics. She is involved in university-wide academic
The Mother of Cities: A pre-history of the Islamic Empire. skills support programs, pedagogy training initiatives,
and coordinates CUA’s undergraduate and graduate
tutoring program. She is the project manager for the
CCME Project, a digital archive for the preservation
and dissemination of the cultural record of Syriac
Christian communities.

IQSAweb.org 55
 She has cultivated a special interest in the study of
P RO GR A M M I NG COM M I T T E E the Qurʾan and its interaction with late antique texts.
Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford – Chair Devin J. Stewart, Emory University
Nicolai Sinai studied Arabic and Philosophy at Devin Stewart is Professor of Arabic and Islamic
Leipzig, Cairo, and the Freie Universität Berlin, and Studies at Emory University. His research has focused
subsequently did a doctorate on the Qurʾan and early on Islamic law and legal education, the text of the
qurʾanic exegesis at the latter institution. Since 2011, Qurʾan, Shi’ite Islam, Islamic sectarian relations, and
he has been teaching at the University of Oxford, Arabic dialectology. His published works include
where he is currently an Associate Professor of Islamic Islamic Legal Orthodoxy: Twelver Shiite Responses to the
Studies and a Fellow of Pembroke College. His research Sunni Legal System and a number of articles on
interests lie in the literary and historical-critical study of leading Shi’ite scholars of the sixteenth, seventeenth,and
the Qurʾan, Islamic exegesis, and the history of Arabic eighteenth centuries. His work on the Qurʾan includes
philosophy. “Saj’ in the Qurʾan: Prosody and Structure” in the
Andrew Rippin, University of Victoria Journal of Arabic Literature and “Rhymed Prose” in the
Andrew Rippin is Professor Emeritus of Islamic History revised edition of the Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾan.
at the University of Victoria in Canada, where he was Sarra Tlili, University of Florida
Dean of the Faculty of Humanities from 2000–2010. Sarra Tlili is an Assistant Professor of Arabic
He has recently been appointed as a Senior Research Language and Literature at the University of Florida,
Fellow at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, as Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.
well as a Research Associate at School of Oriental and She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of
African Studies, London. He was elected a Fellow of the Pennsylvania Department of Near Eastern Languages
Royal Society of Canada in 2006. Rippin is the author and Civilizations in 2009. Her main areas of research
and editor of numerous books, among which are The are animals in Islam, stylistics of the Qurʾan, and
Qurʾan and its Interpretative Tradition, which gathers Tunisian literature. Her publications include Animals
many of his articles, and the textbook Muslims, Their in the Qurʾan, “All Animals Are Equal, or Are They:
Religious Beliefs and Practices (now in its fourth revised The Ikhwan al-Safa’s Animal Epistle and its Unhappy
edition). His research interests include the formative End” in the Journal of Qurʾanic Studies, and “Innocence,
period of Islamic civilization, the history of the Qurʾan, Experience, and Liberation: The Maturation Process in
and the history of qurʾanic interpretation. al-Midani ibn Salih’s Work” in Arabica.
Marianna Klar, SOAS, University of London Michael Pregill, Boston University (ex officio)
Marianna Klar is Research Associate in the Centre See biography on page 58.
of Islamic Studies, SOAS, University of London.
Her research focuses on the Qurʾan’s structure, its
narratives, and its late antique context. She has also
P RO GR A M M I NG U N I T C H A I R S
published on tales of the prophets within the medieval Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic
Islamic historiographical tradition, and is currently Perspectives on the Qurʾanic Corpus
investigating the degree of textual variation exhibited
within manuscript copies of al-Kisa’i’s Qisas al-anbiya’.
Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, Paris-Sorbonne
A guest-edited volume of articles on Tabari and his Université
hermeneutics will be appearing under her aegis in the Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau is Postdoctoral Fellow at the
Journal of Qurʾanic Studies, Spring 2016. Laboratoire d’excellence RESMED, Conversions and
Religious Controversies Department in Paris. She has
Cecilia Palombo, Princeton University also taught as instructor in Islamic Studies in different
Cecilia Palombo is a Ph.D. student at Princeton universities in Europe: Groningen, Strasbourg and
University, working under the supervision of Michael Aix-en-Provence. Her main field of research is Qurʾanic
Cook on the interaction of Christians and Muslims Studies and early Islam. She has recently published
in medieval Islam, with a focus on early Islamic Le Coran par lui-même. Vocabulaire et argumentation du
administration, as well as on questions of social and discours coranique autoréférentiel.
intellectual history. She has a background in Classics
and late ancient history, which she studied in Rome, Sarra Tlili, University of Florida
See biography above, page 56.
focusing on Eastern Christianity and the early Islamic
period. Before Princeton, she was a graduate student in
Islamic Studies and History (M.Phil.) at the University
of Oxford.
56 IQSAweb.org
The Qurʾan: Historical Context, Manuscripts, Qurʾanic Studies: Methodology and
and Material Culture Hermeneutics
Keith E. Small, London School of Theology Karen Bauer, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Keith E. Small is a manuscript consultant to the Bodleian Karen Bauer (Ph.D., Princeton University, 2008) is a
Library at Oxford for their qurʾanic manuscript Research Associate in the Qurʾanic Studies Unit of the
collection and an Honorary Fellow to the Bodleian’s Institute of Ismaili Studies, where she researches the
post-graduate research center, the Centre for the Qurʾan and qurʾanic exegesis (tafsir). She has published
Study of the Book. Keith has presented his research widely on tafsir and on gender in Islamic thought
at academic conferences in Europe and the USA. and has recently begun a project on emotion in the
He has published two major books, Textual Criticism Qurʾan. Her publications include Gender Hierarchy in the
and Qurʾan Manuscripts and Qurʾans: Books of Divine Qurʾan: Medieval Interpretations, Modern Responses, and
Encounter. Aims, Methods, and Contexts of Qurʾanic Interpretation
(ed.), and she has written articles on topics such as
Luke Treadwell, University of Oxford
women’s right to be judges in medieval Islamic law,
Luke Treadwell is University Lecturer in Islamic
the potential and actual audiences for medieval tafsir,
Numismatics, Khalili Research Centre, Oriental
and the relationship between documentary evidence
Institute, University of Oxford, and Curator of Islamic
and tafsir in contracts of marriage.
Coins, Heberden Coin Room, Ashmolean Museum.
He teaches Islamic art and archaeology in the Khalili Farid Esack, University of Johannesburg
Research Centre, Oxford. His research interests are: See biography above, page 54.
Islamic history, material culture, iconography and
craftsmanship before the Mongols, with an emphasis Qurʾan Seminar
on Central Asia and Iran. Mehdi Azaiez, Katholieke Universiteit
The Qurʾan and the Biblical Tradition Leuven
Mehdi Azaiez is Assistant Professor of Islamic
Cornelia Horn, Martin-Luther University, Theology at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
Halle-Wittenberg He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Aix-en-
Cornelia Horn, Ph.D. (The Catholic University of Provence. His main fields of research are Qurʾanic
America, 2001) and Dr. phil. habil. (Tübingen, 2011), is Studies and early Islam. During 2012–2013, he was
the Heisenberg Professor of Languages and Cultures of an instructor in Islamic Studies at the University of
the Christian Orient at the Martin-Luther University, Notre Dame and codirector, along with Gabriel Said
Halle-Wittenberg. Her current research focuses on Reynolds, of the “Qurʾan Seminar,” an academic project
shared traditions and other intersections between dedicated to increasing scholarly understanding of the
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism as well as on the qurʾanic text. He recently published Le Contre-discours
religious, social, and cultural history of the Eastern coranique and Le Coran. Nouvelles approches.
Mediterranean and the Caucasus.
Clare Wilde, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Holger Zellentin, University of Nottingham Clare Wilde is an Assistant Professor of Islamic Origins
Holger Zellentin (Ph.D., Princeton University, 2007) in the faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at
is Associate Professor in Judaism at the University the University of Groningen. She earned her Ph.D. in
of Nottingham, a mid-career Fellow at the British Church History at The Catholic University of America.
Academy, and recipient of the Philip Leverhulme Her primary research interests are late antique themes
Prize. Before coming to the United Kingdom, he found in the Qurʾan and early Christian responses
taught in New Brunswick, NJ, and Berkeley, CA. to the Qurʾan. Recent publications include “We shall
His publications include The Qurʾan’s Legal Culture: not teach the Qurʾan to our children” in Jens Scheiner
The Didascalia Apostolorum as a Point of Departure and and Damien Janos (eds.), The Place to Go: Contexts of
Rabbinic Parodies of Jewish and Christian Literature. His Learning in Baghdad from the Eighth to Tenth Centuries and
current research seeks to integrate Jewish and Christian Approaches to the Qurʾan in Early Christian Arabic Texts.
Late Antiquity with Qurʾanic Studies.

IQSAweb.org 57
The Qurʾan and Late Antiquity Abdullah Saeed, University of Melbourne
Abdullah Saeed is currently the Sultan of Oman
Michael Pregill, Boston University
Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies and Director of
Michael Pregill is Interlocutor in the Institute for the
the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies
Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations at Boston
at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is also a
University, where he is the coordinator of Mizan
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities. His
(www.mizanproject.org), a new digital scholarship
research focuses on the negotiation of text and context,
initiative, and edits the peer-reviewed, open access
ijtihad, and interpretation. Among his publications are:
Mizan: Journal for the Study of Muslim Societies and
Islamic Banking and Interest; the coauthored Freedom
Civilizations. Previously, he was Associate Professor in
of Religion, Apostasy and Islam; Interpreting the Qurʾan:
the Department of Religious Studies at Elon University
Towards a Contemporary Approach; The Qurʾan: An
in North Carolina. His main areas of academic
Introduction; Islamic Political Thought and Governance
specialization are the Qurʾan and its interpretation;
(ed.); Islam and Human Rights (ed.); and Reading the
the origins of Islam in the late antique milieu; and
Qurʾan in the Twentieth Century: Towards a Contextualist
Muslim relations with non-Muslims. Much of his
Approach. He is currently working (with Andrew
research focuses on the reception of biblical, Jewish,
Rippin) on a major research project on the reception
and Christian traditions in the Qurʾan and Islamic
of ideas associated with critical historical approaches
discourse.
to the Qurʾan in Muslim higher education institutions.
Saeed works closely with various government
I N T E R NAT IONA L P RO GR A M M I NG
COM M I T T E E departments and international organizations and
contributes to their projects relating to Islam and
Daniel Madigan, Georgetown University – Islamic thought. He is currently a member of the
Chair UNESCO Commission of Australia of the Department
Daniel Madigan, S.J. is an Associate Professor and of Foreign Affairs of Australia. He contributes to print
Director of Graduate Studies in the Department and electronic media on Islamic issues. He has a
of Theology at Georgetown University. His main wide range of professional and research relationships
fields of teaching and research are Qurʾanic Studies, around the world, and is on the editorial board of
interreligious dialogue (particularly Muslim-Christian several international refereed journals. He is also
relations), and comparative theology. He has also well-known for his interfaith activities in Australia and
taught as a visiting professor at Columbia University, overseas, and for his contributions to this area, he was
Ankara University, Boston College, and Central awarded the Order of Australia in 2013.
European University. He published The Qurʾan’s Self-
Image: Writing and Authority in Islam’s Scripture.
Majid Daneshgar, University of Otago
Majid Daneshgar is Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the
Mun’im Sirry, University of Notre Dame University of Otago, New Zealand. He completed
Mun’im Sirry is an Assistant Professor of Theology his Ph.D. at the University of Malaya, where he also
in the Department of Theology with additional worked as Assistant Professor of Religion and Islamic
responsibilities for the “Contending Modernities Studies. His main research interests focus on Islam in
Initiative” at the Kroc Institute for International the Malay-Indonesian world, and qurʾanic exegesis
Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. He earned and science in the nineteenth and early-twentieth
his Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of centuries. He recently co-edited a volume with Peter
Chicago’s Divinity School. His academic interest G. Riddell and Andrew Rippin entitled The Qurʾan in
includes political theology, modern Islamic thought, the Malay-Indonesian World. Context and interpretation.
Qurʾanic Studies, and interreligious relations. His He has published articles and reviews in Indonesian
publications have appeared in several peer-reviewed and the Malay World, Oriente Moderno, Der Islam, Islam
journals, including Arabica, BSOAS, Interpretation, and Christian-Muslim Relations, Religious Studies Review,
Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Journal of Semitic and Oxford Islamic Studies Online.
Studies, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, The Muslim
World, Studia Islamica, and Die Welt des Islams. His most
recent book is entitled Scriptural Polemics: the Qurʾan
and Other Religions.

58 IQSAweb.org
Nayla Tabbara, Adyan Foundation Gerald Hawting, SOAS, University of
Nayla Tabbara is Director of the Institute of Citizenship London
and Diversity Management at Adyan Foundation, See biography above, page 54.
a Lebanese Foundation for Interreligious Studies
and Spiritual Solidarity (www.adyanvillage.net). She John F. Kutsko, Society of Biblical Literature
has a Ph.D. (2007) in Science of Religions from Ecole (ex officio)
Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne) and Saint John F. Kutsko was named Executive Director of the
Joseph University. She lectures in Religious and Islamic Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) beginning July
Studies at Saint Joseph University and the Near East 2010. He holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages
School of Theology. Her course topics are: qurʾanic and Civilizations from Harvard University and is an
exegesis, Qurʾanic Studies, Sufism, Christian-Muslim affiliate faculty member at Emory University. In 2012,
dialogue, Christians in Qurʾan and hadith, women he received a grant to explore the formation of a learned
and transmission of knowledge in Islam, and Islamic society for scholars of the Qurʾan, which in 2014 became
feminism. She has publications in the fields of Islamic the International Qurʾanic Studies Association, and
theology, Qurʾanic Studies, Sufism, Islamic feminism, serves as its consultant. He also serves on the editorial
and cross-cultural education, and has a long experience advisory board for the Journal of General Education. He
in working on curricula for education on diversity and was a contributing editor of The SBL Handbook of Style
religions. and directed its 2014 revision. He is author of Between
Heaven and Earth: Divine Presence and Absence in the
P U BL IC AT IONS A N D R E SE A RC H Book of Ezekiel and Co-Editor of The King James Version
COM M I T T E E at 400: Assessing Its Genius as Bible Translation and Its
Literary Influence.
Michael Pregill, Boston University – Chair
See biography above, page 58. Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford (ex
officio)
Sean W. Anthony, Ohio State University See biography above, page 56.
See biography above, page 52.

Mehdi Azaiez, Katholieke Universiteit NOM I NAT IONS COM M I T T E E

Leuven Holger Zellentin, University of Nottingham
See biography above, page 57. – Chair
Catherine Bronson, University of Notre See biography above, page 57.
Dame Karen Bauer, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
See biography above, page 52. See biography above, page 57.
Vanessa De Gifis, Wayne State University Alba Fedeli, Central European University,
Vanessa De Gifis is Assistant Professor of Islamic Budapest
Studies and graduate advisor for Near Eastern See biography above, page 28.
Languages at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI,
where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre
in Islamic intellectual culture and the Qurʾan. Her Dame
book, Shaping a Qurʾanic Worldview, applies classical See biography above, page 55.
Arabic-Islamic rhetorical and grammatical-semantic
theories to analyze references to the Qurʾan in early Devin J. Stewart, Emory University
medieval caliphal politics. With a sustained interest in See biography above, page 56.
the scriptural underpinnings of Muslim moral theology
and social thought, her current research undertakes a
close semantic study of the theme of divine favor in
the Qurʾan, with an eye to better understanding the
history of its interpretative uses and its implications
for Muslim conceptions of social harmony up to our
own time.
Reuven Firestone, Hebrew Union College,
Jewish Institute of Religion
See biography above, page 54.
IQSAweb.org 59
60 IQSAweb.org
 ‫ما يحدث اآلن أن كثريا ً من االسئلة طُرحت‪ ،‬ومناهج عملية أُستحدثت‪ ،‬وتخصصات ومجاالت‬
‫متعددة األبعاد باتت متاحة للباحثني‪.‬‬
‫)د‪ .‬وداد القايض‪ ،‬جامعة شيكاغو(‬
‫القرآن كتاب مقدس مهم ومصدر إِلهام لعقيدة املاليني من الناس‪ .‬من املهم جدا ً أن نحاول‬
‫أن ندرس هذا الكتاب وتاريخه لإلستفادة منه ‪ ،‬لكل من املجتعات اإلسالمية واملجتمعات األخرى‪.‬‬
‫)د‪ .‬سيدين جريفيث‪ ،‬الجامعة األمريكية الكاثوليكية(‬
‫من أهم ما جذبني لدراسة القرآن هو جودة النص الشعري وعمقه وتعقيده وهو مصدر إِلهام بجامله‪.‬‬
‫أتحدث هنا كانسان متذوق وال أتحدث كمسلم‪ ،‬لقد جذبني القرآن بعمق معانيه وتعقيداته‪.‬‬
‫)د‪ .‬روفني فايرستون‪ ،‬كلية اإلتحاد العربية‪ ،‬املعهد اليهودي لدراسة الديانات فرع كاليفورنيا(‬
‫أعتقد أن هذه محاولة من باحثي القرآن للعمل مع باحثي الكتاب املقدس وتبادل املناهج‬
‫واألدوات‪ ،‬ولإلتطالع عىل مناهج تفسريية وتأويلية قيمة يف دراسات الكتاب املقدس وإن أمكن‬
‫تطبيق هذه املناهج عىل دراسة القرآن‪ .‬هذا تحديدا ً مث ٌري جدا ً إلهتاممي‪.‬‬
‫)د‪ .‬رضا أصالن‪ ،‬جامعة كاليفورنيا – ريفَرسايْد(‬

‫أنا مهت ٌم بدراسة القرآن ألنني قد إكتشفت يف بداية مسرييت املهنية أن مخطوطات القرآن تم‬
‫نسيانها لفرتة طويلة‪ .‬من ذلك الوقت أخذت بالتبحر عميقاً يف دراسة القرآن وكيفية دمجه يف الرتاث اإلسالمي‪.‬‬
‫)د‪ .‬فرانسوا ديروش‪ ،‬املدرسة التطبيقية لل ِّدراسات ال ُعليا باريس(‬
‫يهمني عمل باحثي القرون الوسطى عندما يتصدون ويحاولون اإلجابة عىل أسئلة صعبة من‬
‫وجهات نظر مختلفة‪ .‬بنفس الوقت أستمتع مبشاهدة باحثني معارصين يواجهون تحديات‬
‫مامثلة يف وقتنا الحارض من أن أجل إيجاد وإبتكار حلول جديدة‪.‬‬
‫) د‪ .‬أندرو ريبني‪ ،‬جامعة فيكتوريا‪ ،‬كولومبيا كندا(‬