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Abstract
The Quran is a holy book containing various theological and social teachings and guides humans to the straight path. It’s just that when the Quran is present and consumed by the community, it experiences various responses which are implemented in many living Quran practices – positioning the Quran beyond its capacity as a text in their lives. These phenomena seem to be a concrete indicator of the expression often labeled to the Quran as a ṣāliḥ li-kulli zamān wa-makān or relevant to various situations and conditions. This article examines the practice of living the Quran in the Gentasari Village community, Kroya, Cilacap. Researchers used various instruments to explore data sources, such as interviews, observations, and documentation or studies of related documents. In clarifying the validity of the data, the researchers carried out an extension of participation and triangulation of sources and methods. From the research conducted, it can be seen that: 1) some of the Gentasari Village Community position the Quran as objects that have magical powers, 2) The implications of this view are implemented in their various receptions of the Quran, including: as a medium of treatment, as a medium of protection from spirits, repel reinforcements, as a medium to facilitate life’s problems – such as ease in death, ease of delivery, and requests for the birth of an ideal baby, who inherit the characteristics of figures in the Quran, such as Prophet Yunus, Prophet Muḥammād PBUH, Maryām, and so on.
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Abstract
The occurrence of variant versions of the same story is not uncommon in the Qurʾān. In response to this phenomenon, different approaches have been developed; one of which was Wansbrough’s variant traditions hypothesis. The hypothesis, which emerged mainly from an analysis of three accounts of the prophet Shuʿayb’s story in the Qurʾān, posits that the different tellings of the same story existed as independent pericopes that later found their way into the text of the Qurʾān, a claim that has many implications on the authorship and composition of the Qurʾān. Consequently, the reactions to this hypothesis were varied. In this paper, I present one of the critiques to the hypothesis, that of Stewart. Then, I employ elements of textual criticism to provide further ways for viewing the variant traditions. I do this by drawing attention to empirical evidence from the Near East, pre-Islamic poetry, orality theory, and to some of the internal characteristics of the Qurʾān. The general conclusion is neither surprising nor new: Wansbrough’s findings regarding the genealogy of the variant traditions and the authorship of the Qurʾān are far from self-evident.
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Abstract
Neurobiology depicts the human brain as the organ of intellect. It has located in the brain the stations for cognition (e.g., sight and hearing) and for feelings and experience (e.g., pain, anger and face recognition). It has even sited in the brain the places involved in moral functions (e.g., judgement and lies). However, the locale of the self itself has escaped from it; so has the one assigned with ontological questions. The Quran invites its reader to seek knowledge and apply reason; however, it never introduces a term for the instrument of knowing, the brain. Instead, the intellectual roles are attributed to the heart and chest, a position that allows for a literal interpretation of these artefacts in the Book. The foundational objective of this work is to appraise this interpretation in the light of the lessons drawn from scientific studies. More than simply acknowledging the pre-knowledge of the Quran of some new scientific findings, this research seeks to re-appraise the meanings of the relevant Quranic ayahs in view of those findings. It reveals the literal significance of the terms ‘heart’ and ‘chest’ used in the Scripture but in a different context and also shows that Quranic depictions of neurobiological concepts are prescient. It finds the Quran furnishing a fuller picture of the intellect. It shows that a physical depiction of human intellect in the Quran is not only possible but indispensable. Importantly, this example yet again identifies the scope of the Quranic ayahs for fulfilling current multidisciplinary needs.
From its Hijazi Origins to its Classical Reading Traditions
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What was the language of the Quran like, and how do we know? Today, the Quran is recited in ten different reading traditions, whose linguistic details are mutually incompatible. This work uncovers the earliest linguistic layer of the Quran. It demonstrates that the text was composed in the Hijazi vernacular dialect, and that in the centuries that followed different reciters started to classicize the text to a new linguistic ideal, the ideal of the ʿarabiyyah. This study combines data from ancient Quranic manuscripts, the medieval Arabic grammarians and ample data from the Quranic reading traditions to arrive at new insights into the linguistic history of Quranic Arabic.
From its Hijazi Origins to its Classical Reading Traditions
Author:
What was the language of the Quran like, and how do we know? Today, the Quran is recited in ten different reading traditions, whose linguistic details are mutually incompatible. This work uncovers the earliest linguistic layer of the Quran. It demonstrates that the text was composed in the Hijazi vernacular dialect, and that in the centuries that followed different reciters started to classicize the text to a new linguistic ideal, the ideal of the ʿarabiyyah. This study combines data from ancient Quranic manuscripts, the medieval Arabic grammarians and ample data from the Quranic reading traditions to arrive at new insights into the linguistic history of Quranic Arabic.