Author Archives: claudehanley

John Wansbrough’s account of the relationship between the Qur’an and the life of Muhammad effectively reverses both the traditional Islamic view, as well as the more positive assessments of 20th century Western scholars.  In the first place, Wansbrough argues that the Qur’an “suggests…the product of an organic development from originally independent traditions during a longContinue reading “Qur’anic Origins and Christian Theology’s Engagement with Islam”

Ignaz Goldziher’s account of the development and authority of the sunna is often at pains to emphasize the extreme concern which “rigorists” often expressed with the concept.  The sunna governing a particular area of human behavior were derived from the words and, later, actions of the Prophet. On these grounds, pious Muslims strove to conductContinue reading “Blog Post 1-22”

Abi Talib’s exegesis of Q 2:30 contains this remark on the creation of Adam: “The skin of the earth had both good and bad in it, which accounts for why some people are good and some are bad.”   It is a claim further adverted to by other interpreters exegeting other passages. Remarking on aContinue reading “Protology and Eschatology in the Islamic Exegesis”