In the Presence of the Sublime Qur’an

Abstract

This volume represents an especially modern viewpoint with regard to understandingthe Qur’an and its message, while also being firmly embedded intraditional approaches and methods for its interpretation. The commentaryconsists of a number of lectures originally given in Persian by AbdolaliBazargan as a weekly lecture series in Irvine, CA. These lectures, a portionof which have been translated and edited into this single volume, were initiallypresented to groups of lay Muslims interested in the general theme of “becomingacquainted with the Qur’an” (p. xiv).The author, Abdolali Bazargan, is part of the laity himself: an architectby profession. While not having been fully trained in the traditional sciences98 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 34:2of Qur’anic interpretation, his strong interest in Qur’anic exegesis (accordingto the editor) has led him to spend “the last 55 years researching it and writing20 books in the field of Qur’anic sciences” (p. xiv). This volume is thus a laycommentary on the Qur’an’s “short surahs,” namely al-Fātiḥah and the lastjuz’ (chapters 78-114). Although no specific argument or thesis holds the entiretyof the work together, it nevertheless stands as a representative sampleof modern (educated) Muslim engagement with the text of the Qur’an and itsramifications for their lived religious tradition, particularly in the modernworld ...