Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Introduction Part One: Phenomenology 1. The Qur'an as Experienced by Muslims Listening to the Qur'an Having the Qur'an by heart The Qur'an in everyday life Part Two: Chronology 2. Anchoring the Revelations in Space and Time Introduction The miracles attributed to the Prophet Combing the Qur'an for clues to its provenance Qur'anic clues to the date of the revelations Early biographies of Muhammad A plausible chronological framework for the revelations Concluding discussion 3. An Alternative Account of the Rise of Islam Introduction Stepping outside the Islamic tradition Critical appraisal Conclusion 4. Traditional Resources for Determining the Chronological Order of the SurahsIntroduction Reports about the occasions of the revelation Literature about abrogating and abrogated ayahs Traditional lists of Meccan and Madinan surahs The surah headings in the standard Egyptian edition Conclusion 5. Western Attempts at Dating the Revelations Introduction The Noldeke-Schwally classification of the surahs The difficulties involved in dating individual surahs Bell's attempt at dating the surahs and surah sections The best working hypothesis? Concluding discussion Part Three: Morphology, Structure and Coherence 6. The Formal Elements in the 'Early Meccan' Surahs Introduction Surah openings Oaths Eschatological sections Narrative sections Signs sections Revelation sections Polemical sections Didactic questions and answers Messenger sections Miscellaneous Conclusion 7. The Structure of the Meccan SurahsIntroduction 'Early Meccan' surahs in a single register 'Early Meccan' surahs in two registers 'Early Meccan' surahs in three registers Bipartite 'early Meccan' surahs in four or more registersOther 'early Meccan' surahs in four or more registers'Middle and late Meccan' surahs with narrative sectionsOther 'middle and late Meccan' surahsThe interrelationships of the registers in the Meccan surahs 8. The Interrelation of Structure, Sound and Meaning in Three Meccan SurahsIntroductionThe integrity of Surah 103The role of word-play in Surah 104 Structure, sound and meaning in Surah 78 9. The Integrative Role of Sound and Intertextuality IntroductionSurah 79: 'Has the account of Moses reached thee?' Surah 17: The Night Journey 10. The Madinan Surahs IntroductionThe survival and adaptation of the six principal registersThe refrains which mention the divine namesIntroduction to Surah 2Surah 2: The prologue (vv.1-39) Surah 2: Criticism of the Children of Israel (vv.40-121) Surah 2: The Abrahamic legacy (vv.122-152) Surah 2: Legislation for the new nation (vv.153-242)Surah 2: The struggle to liberate the Ka'bah (vv.243-283) Surah 2: The epilogue (vv.284-286) 11. The Dynamics of the Qur'anic DiscourseIntroduction The implied speaker as both 'We' and 'He' The implied speaker as 'I' The implied speaker and embedded speakers The omniscient perspective of the implied speaker The implied privileged addressee The objectification of the Messenger Sudden changes in person and number Conclusion 12. The Order of the Surahs: The Decreasing-Length RuleIntroductionThe surahs and their names The decreasing-length rule: alleged precedents and parallelsExplaining the exceptions to the decreasing-length rule The alleged order of the surahs in the manuscripts of Ibn Mas'ud and UbayyThe dovetailing of consecutive surahsConclusion 13. The Order of the Surahs: Islahi's Explanation IntroductionSummary of Islahi's viewsIslahi's analysis of Surahs 50-66 Evaluation of Islahi's approach Islahi's approach and the exceptions to the decreasing-length rule Conclusion PostscriptAppendix A: Table for converting ayah numbers Appendix B: A note on English translations of the Qur'anBibliography Notes IndexesIndex of references to the Bible and Pseudepigrapha Index of Qur'anic passages Index of persons Subject index

Promotional Information

Clearly written, this is a very useful, important, and interesting book that will provide scholars with much to talk about concerning the way one is to read the Qur'an. [Robinson] does a great deal with topics that need much more discussion than they usually receive. -- John Kelsay, Richard L. Rubenstein Professor of Religion, Florida State University If anyone asked me to recommend a clear and comprehensive introduction to the nature and role of the Qur'an, I would look no further than Neal Robinson's Discovering the Qur'an. -- Oliver Leaman, professor of philosophy, University of Kentucky, and author of An Introduction to Classical Islamic Philosophy I have no doubt that this book is a major publication in its field. -- Martin Forward, executive director of Aurora University's Center for Faith and Action, Illinois, and Helena Wackerlin Professor of Religious Studies

About the Author

Neal Robinson is a senior lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Leeds. He is also the author of Islam: A Concise Introduction (Georgetown University Press, 1999).

Reviews

Based on a magisterial command of Arabic, English, French, and German sources [Discovering the Qur'an is] a major analysis of the internal coherence of the Qur'an, taking into account the interrelationship of structure, intertextuality, meaning, and sound. Muslim World Book Review An intelligent, sophisticated, and provocative book on a perplexing subject. International Journal of Middle East Studies