Anic Passages Research Articles

LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF ISIS’ MISCONTEXTUALISATION OF THE QURANIC VERSES: PROPAGANDA STRATEGY

The key multilingual propaganda documents and media modes have been used as primary sources for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) propaganda strategy. To further expand the discussion on the propaganda intentions by ISIS, the researchers demonstrated the study conducted that attempted to explore the role of miscontextualisation of Qur’anic verses through ISIS’s linguistic propaganda strategy from a socio-political perspective. The study seeks to illustrate how ISIS utilised its miscontextualisation of Qur’anic verses through its linguistic propaganda strategy to justify its extreme actions for achieving the socio-political goals. It uses linguistic stylistics to demonstrate that ISIS made a piece-meal usage of the Qur’an by miscontextualisation of Qur’anic verses through its propaganda publications to justify its extreme actions. It systematically situates the particular Qur’anic passages that ISIS uses within the wider Qur’anic passages/chapters in which they originate. More specifically, this contextualisation highlights the discrepancies between the original contexts of these passages and their miscontextualisation by ISIS. The results of the study revealed that all linguistic strategies that comprise ISIS’s discourse revolve around four main themes: Khilaafah, Imamah, Jihad, and Hijrah. These connections are important because they clarify the priorities inherent in ISIS’s discourse as an instrument for achieving socio-political gains and agendas.

The Repose of the Spirits: A Sufi Commentary on the Divine Names (By A?mad Sam??n?, [Translator: William C. Chittick)

Reviewed by: The Repose of the Spirits: A Sufi Commentary on the Divine Names by William C. Chittick John Zaleski (bio) The Repose of the Spirits: A Sufi Commentary on the Divine Names William C. Chittick Albany: State University of New York Press, 2019. 708 Pages. William Chittick has brought to an English-speaking audience, in an attractive and fluid translation, an extensive medieval commentary on the divine names and divine love. The Repose of the Spirits (Rawḥ al-arwāḥ), written by Aḥmad Samʿānī (d. 1094/1140), is structured as an exposition of 102 names of God derived from the Qur’an, from Hū (“He”) to al-Ṣabūr (“the Patient”). It represents the earliest Persian example of this genre, numerous Arabic versions of which have been studied by Daniel Gimaret.1 Like the authors of these Arabic commentaries, Samʿānī typically begins his discussion of each divine name by providing a brief definition and by marshalling relevant Qur’anic passages. Yet unlike many of the Arabic commentators, Samʿānī is little concerned with unraveling the etymology of God’s names and unbothered by the theological problem of how creatures can name their transcendent creator. It is, rather, the spiritual significance of God’s names and what they say about the divine-human relationship that interests Samʿānī and has drawn the attention of his translator. The central theme of Samʿānī’s discussion is the mutual love of God and his friends. His discourse is allusive. He speaks in stories, mixes metaphors and images, and switches easily between Persian and Arabic (which constitutes roughly ten percent of the work and is indicated in the translation by being placed in italic font). To illustrate Samʿānī’s approach, the second divine name is Allāh itself, which Samʿānī defines as denoting him who has the power to “innovate and devise” (p. 4). Yet by the end of the chapter, Samʿānī has turned his focus to the love that God devises in the human heart: “Know that in reality, even if God were to send union’s tent and proximity’s dome into hell, the friends of the Garden of the Beginningless, who became drunk on the song of the nightingales of the unseen attraction, would make hellfire into their eyes’ collyrium” (p. 6). Chittick’s translation captures with an appealing rhythm this rush of Sufi technical terms (union, proximity) and imagery (intoxication, the song of the nightingale). The sense that emerges from these images is that of the all-enduring love for the Beloved that animates God’s friends. In many cases, it is easy enough to follow Samʿānī as he draws the strand of a given divine name through the chapter and intertwines it with the central [End Page 102] thread of God’s love. For example, in chapter 82 on the name al-Tawwāb (“the Ever-Turning”), the focus of Samʿānī’s remarks is repentance (tawba), that is, the turning of the human to God, and the prior turning of God to the human that enables this repentance. This mutual conversion, Samʿānī indicates, is the fruit of God’s love; the Qur’anic He turned toward them so that they would turn (Q 9:118) points toward He loves them and they love Him (Q 5:54). In other chapters, however, there does not appear to be a clear connection between the ideas and images invoked by Samʿānī and the meaning of the divine name that launches the chapter. In these cases, as Chittick notes, the discussion of God’s names serves merely as a “pretext for delving into the mysteries of the divine love that permeates the universe” (p. lxi). The primary significance of this work thus lies not in being the earliest Persian commentary on the divine names, but in providing an extended reflection in beautiful prose on the love of God, well before that of the more famous “lovers” of the Persian tradition, such as Rūmī (d. 672/1273) and Ḥāfeẓ (d. 792/1390). In spite of its significance, as well as its survival in several manuscript libraries, Samʿānī’s Repose of the Spirits...

The practices of a raqi (Islamic exorcist) in Stockholm

This article investigates in depth the practices of a Stockholm-based raqi. In the first section, the principles and methods of his version of ruqya (Islamic exorcism) are described: which Qur’anic passages he perceives as being most suitable to read in the cases of different afflictions, how he complement his reading with the use of his right palm to detect the possession, and his use of the “satanic meridians,” i.e., pressure points to use to facilitate the eviction of stubborn djinns. Later, the cases of five patients are discussed in order to shed light upon those who seek out his services. One particularly interesting example concerns a patient who regularly takes ruqya against sorcery. Despite the fact that she does not believe in sorcery herself, she considers ruqya more beneficial for her well-being than Western treatments. Next, the raqi’s perspective on psychotherapy and on mental illness in general are then presented. Finally, the problems of non-contextualized interviews versus ethnographic observations carried out as part of fieldwork for the purposes of gathering information are illustrated.

Investigating a Controversial Islamic Apocalyptic Figure: The Dajjāl

ABSTRACT This article is an attempt to discuss the figure of al-Masīḥ al-Dajjāl, ‘the deceiving Messiah’, as one of the ten major ‘signs of the Hour’. According to Islamic sources, his arrival will announce the approach of the Hour, or the End Times, the eschatological event which the Qur’an portrays with powerful imagery. While the Qur’an does not explicitly mention the name ‘Dajjāl’ or allude to his function before the coming of the Day of Judgement, his role as an important sign of the Hour is widely assumed and references to it are scattered throughout Islamic texts. Who is the Dajjāl? How is he presented in the Islamic tradition? This article explores both the space given to these eschatological themes in qur’anic passages and Prophetic traditions (Hadiths), and the interpretations of such events in the most influential mainstream commentaries of the Sunni tradition and in present-day scholarship.

Approaches to the Investigation of Speech Genres in the Qur'an

This contribution provides a methodological overview of the investigation of speech genres in the Qur’an. Drawing on Biblical form criticism, the ethnography of speech, and Bakhtin's theory of speech genres, as well as recent studies devoted to the form criticism of the Qur’an and earlier Qur’anic studies scholarship on individual genres, it points out the importance of generic conventions for the interpretation of Qur’anic passages, highlights the types of evidence on which investigators ought to focus in the investigation of genres, and identifies oversights and pitfalls that have affected earlier scholarship and should be taken into account in future work. Close attention must be paid to generic labels, meta-generic discourse, repeated elements, conventional features of individual genres such as introductory formulas, concluding formulas, and characteristic words, phrases, and constructions. The discussion highlights the ways in which texts that belong to individual genres are embedded in suras or longer passages within suras and points out that the Qur’an not only draws on pre-existing genres but also modifies and transforms them.

Review: The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur’an: Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis from Late Antiquity to Islam, by Michael Pregill

Review: <i>The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur’an: Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis from Late Antiquity to Islam</i>, by Michael Pregill

Speech Genres and Interpretation of the Qur’an

This essay provides an overview of the investigation of genres in Qur’anic studies to date and argues for the utility of the theory of speech genres for the interpretation of the Qur’an generally. Drawing on this approach, it addresses several Qur’anic passages whose interpretation has been a matter of debate. Attention to the generic conventions of the various types of speech that are contained in Islam’s sacred text may help resolve a number of long-standing and current interpretive debates.

Tasting fire

Several Qur’anic passages suggest humans will experience God’s punishments through their sense of ‘taste.’ While the Qur’an conveys some of the ways that taste functions and relays knowledge in both earthly and paradisiacal realms, it is in the context of punishment that taste delivers the divine message more forcefully and directly than the other senses. The responses sparked by the horror of God’s pressing abhorrent flavors on one’s tongue, and down one’s throat, prompted the most strident disbeliever to cultivate a more righteous and receptive character, so that s/he may ‘taste mercy

How do Conceptions of Allah’s Being in Islam Compare with those of God’s Being in Christianity?

How do conceptions of Allah’s being in Islam in relate to conceptions of God’s being in Christianity? Two Qur’anic passages that describe Allah’s being, Surah 112 and Surah 24:35, lead to the claims Allah is unity and Allah is the light. Drawing on Islamic theology and a breadth of tafsir (commentary) literature, I study these two claims pertaining to Allah’s being (tawhid). Then I examine a Christian understanding of God’s unity, and the meaning of ‘God is light’ in 1 John 1:5, drawing on trinitarian theologians and biblical commentaries. Next the implications of these studies for Islamic and Christian doctrines of creation will also be analysed. The conclusion addresses whether the Islamic and Christian conceptions of the divine being studied are comparable, compatible, contrasting, or contradictory. The goal is to contribute toward the wider discussion of the inter-relation between the Islamic Allah and Biblical God.

Sharia Law, Traditional Justice and Violence against Women: Lessons from Sudan

There has been a great deal written about the relationship between sharia law and international human rights law, particularly with regards to the treatment of women. The tensions between sharia law and international law norms of equality and non-discrimination have been well documented, and the possibilities for interpreting sharia law in a manner that accords with international human rights law have been insightfully explored by scholars of human rights and Islamic law. It has been shown that Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, justice and equality. It has been said that the Qur’anic passages describing the role of women should be understood in the context in which they were written, which was a time in history in which women were seen as vastly inferior to men in almost every society throughout the world, particularly in the Arabian peninsula. Read in this context, it is argued, Islam must be seen as an advocate for gender equality, and should thus be interpreted as standing for gender equality today. This paper argues that, while this may indeed be the preferred interpretation of Islam, this is of little assistance to women in countries such as Sudan whose national legislation enshrines and enforces the most discriminatory aspects of sharia law.

TARİHİN BİR KAYNAĞI OLARAK KUR’AN: KUR’AN’IN AYETLERİNİN TARİHLENMESİNDE YENİ BİR YAKLAŞIM

In this paper, we will introduce a method that we try to develop to detect the Qur'anic chronology in a way that is not speculative. For this we will use a method that matches the chronological knowledge we have and the expression patterns contained in the Qur'anic passages. In fact, it is argued that we can more accurately detect the chronology of expressions rather than the chronology data of passages on the basis of this method. Because the data concerning the history of Qur'anic passages are insufficient and controversial. We can be closer to the truth if we test the contradictions and alliances of the narrations and the evaluations at the level that the narrators and evaluaters never planned, that is, at the level of expression. Then we can use the history of different expression patterns to determine the history of any passage that brings them together.

Muslim Feminists` Reading of the Quran: A Juristic Analysis on Family Law Issues

Muslim feminist movement represents an indigenous voice among the contemporary literature on women and family. Its main contention is that women in Muslim society are accorded less favourable treatment especially in terms of legal rights. To remedy the situation, feminist scholarship`s main argument is that there is a need for feminist-reading of the sacred texts so as to purge the juristic legacy of male-biased views and achieve justice and equality for Muslim women in contemporary families. One principal methodological framework for this idea to materialise is to embark on the re-reading of the Qur`an from the women`s perspective. In this context, this paper presents issue-based analysis of Amina Wadud`s reading of the relevant Qur`anic passages on family law matters and finds that in spite of its merits, its main handicap lies on its methodological flaws, both in terms of approach and outcome. Methodologically, it is regarded as selective and ultra-vires of Islamic methodology of legal reform. It terms of impact, it is suspected as being tainted with Western inspired assumptions of rights in terms of justice and equality between the genders. To overcome this impasse, the paper argues for a mediated holistic approach to harmonise relations between men and women in the family. Keywords: Family law, gender equality, justice, Muslim feminist.

Residual-based approach for authenticating pattern of multi-style diacritical Arabic texts.

Arabic script is highly sensitive to changes in meaning with respect to the accurate arrangement of diacritics and other related symbols. The most sensitive Arabic text available online is the Digital Qur’an, the sacred book of Revelation in Islam that all Muslims including non-Arabs recite as part of their worship. Due to the different characteristics of the Arabic letters like diacritics (punctuation symbols), kashida (extended letters) and other symbols, it is written and available in different styles like Kufi, Naskh, Thuluth, Uthmani, etc. As social media has become part of our daily life, posting downloaded Qur’anic verses from the web is common. This leads to the problem of authenticating the selected Qur’anic passages available in different styles. This paper presents a residual approach for authenticating Uthmani and plain Qur’an verses using one common database. Residual (difference) is obtained by analyzing the differences between Uthmani and plain Quranic styles using XOR operation. Based on predefined data, the proposed approach converts Uthmani text into plain text. Furthermore, we propose to use the Tuned BM algorithm (BMT) exact pattern matching algorithm to verify the substituted Uthmani verse with a given database of plain Qur’anic style. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is useful and effective in authenticating multi-style texts of the Qur’an with 87.1% accuracy.

The Qur’an’s Message on Spirituality and Martyrdom: A Literary and Rhetorical Analysis

Is the Qur’an a spiritual text that links human existence to divine benevolence? Or does the Qur’an advocate martyrdom and justify violence against non-believers? This debate acquired new urgency with the rise of terrorism perpetrated in the name of Islam in the later decades of the twentieth century. On the one hand, the Qur’an provides spiritual guidance to millions of Muslims around the world. On the other, Islamic terrorist organizations draw inspiration from the Qur’an. Some Western experts also cite Qur’anic passages as supporting violence and terrorism. This paper interprets the Qur’an in the tradition of Arab scholars of the early medieval period (eighth century CE) who began al-balāgha, a study of literary devices used in the rhetorical expression of the Qur’an. The paper analyzes how literary and rhetorical elements in the Qur’an have shaped its message on man’s relationship with the divine, as well as two key theological concepts in Islam: requital and final judgment. The paper demonstrates how an appreciation of the Qur’an’s literary and rhetorical elements is critical to understanding its spiritual message, as well as its stance on violence and martyrdom.

The &lt;i&gt;Qibla&lt;/i&gt;: An Allusion to the &lt;i&gt;Shema?&lt;/i&gt;

In this article it is argued that the Qiblah passages in the Qur’an, which are commonly understood as referring to the direction of the prayer, are directly engaging with and interpreting the Shema passages in Deuteronomy and their Talmudic commentaries. By defining and applying the method of intertextual polysemy, nine points of intertextuality are identified between the various Qur’anic, Biblical, and Talmudic passages. Against this background, the article implies that narrations from traditional Qur’anic commentaries are lacking in their interpretation of these passages, since they do not employ any extra-Quranic contexts to explain their meaning. Through the method of intertextual polysemy, the alternative thesis propounded here is that the historical reference for the Qiblah passages is the Shema.

An epistemic defeater for Islamic belief?

We aim to further develop and evaluate the prospects of a uniquely Islamic extension of the Standard Aquinas/Calvin model. One obstacle is that certain Qur’anic passages such as Surah 8:43–44 apparently suggest that Muslims have reason to think that Allah might be deceiving them. Consistent with perfect/maximally good being theology, Allah would allow such deceptions only if doing so leads to a greater good, so such passages do not necessarily give Muslims reason to doubt Allah’s goodness. Yet the possibility of deception of the faithful threatens to provide a subjective defeater for the (epistemic) reliability of their cognitive faculties. (‘Even if Allah can be morally good while deceiving, how do you know you aren’t being deceived for a greater good on a more macro level, such as about the nature of the Qur’an?’) Similar in structure to Alvin Plantinga’s Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism (EAAN), this defeater threatens to undermine all of a Muslims warrant claims. We consider and evaluate the reply that there are other Qur’anic passages and/or additional conceptual resources in the Islamic tradition that provide grounds for thinking that God’s faithfulness or truthfulness is more centrally and securely embedded in a Muslim’s noetic structure than such doubts. Specifically, we will argue that under certain conditions, there exists a subjective defeater for some Muslims that, unlike McNabb’s approach, isn’t based off of the proper function condition but Plantinga’s truth aimed condition.

Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna’s Philosophical Works

Preface to the Second Edition (2013) Acknowledgments Introduction to the First Edition (1988) Layout of the Work PART ONE DOCUMENTS ON AVICENNA AND THE ARISTOTELIAN TRADITION Chapter 1. Personal Texts by Avicenna and His Disciples on His Relation to the Aristotelian Tradition Chapter 2. An Inventory and Relative Chronology of Avicenna's Major Philosophical Works. Their Organization and Contents in Relation to the Aristotelian Tradition PART TWO AVICENNA'S RECEPTION OF THE ARISTOTELIAN TRADITION Chapter 3. Avicenna's Intellectual Upbringing: The Autobiography and Its Interpretation Chapter 4. Avicenna's Conception of the History of Philosophy Chapter 5. Avicenna's Conception of the Praxis of Philosophy PART THREE AVICENNA'S INTEGRATION OF THE ARISTOTELIAN TRADITION Chapter 6. The Resolution of the Major Points of Conflict with the Aristotelian Tradition Chapter 7. The Evolution of Avicenna's Attitude toward Aristotle, the Aristotelian Tradition, and His Own Work Chapter 8. The Elaboration of Methods CODA. Avicenna's Philosophical Project APPENDIX. Inventory of Avicenna's Authentic works Index of Names and Places Index of Avicenna's Works with Passages Cited Index of Lemmata Index of Qur'anic Passages Index of Manuscripts Index of Greek Words Index of Arabic Words Index of Technical Terms Bibliography

Nature as Muslim: Applying a Qur'anic Concept to the Bible

Eco-sensitive readings of both the Bible and the Qur'an have become common in recent years as scholars have drawn upon insights and methods from environmental studies to inform their interpretations of biblical and qur'anic passages. This article attempts to put the two texts in conversation with one another on this topic to show how what one of them has to say about the natural world can have an effect on how we understand and interpret the other. Some have argued that the Qur'an's view of nature is that it is “muslim” because it submits and conforms itself to the divine will. This article applies that idea to selected biblical texts that refer to various elements of the natural world. Rereading these passages from the Bible through the lens of the Qur'an's concept of nature as muslim can enable us to see important aspects of the biblical view of the environment that we might otherwise miss.

Controversies in contemporary Islam

Introduction 1. Islam and leadership of the community 2. Islam and the Qur'an 3. Islam and God 4. Islamic design 5. Islam and nationalism 6. Islam and equality 7. Islamic economics 8. Islam and morality 9. Islam and law 10. Islamic education 11. Islam and the Other 12. Islam and belief 13. Islam and Sufism 14. Islam and entertainment. Glossary. Bibliography. Index of Qur'anic passages.

Measure for Measure: Prophetic History, Qur'anic Exegesis, and Anti-Sunnī Polemic in a Fāṭimid Propaganda Work (BL Or. 8419)

The acephalous British Library manuscript Or. 8419 is currently catalogued as a qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ or compilation of Islamic narratives about the prophets. However, an examination of its contents reveals that although it does focus on the various prophets – including Muḥammad himself – and their missions, the text is more accurately characterised as Ismāʿīlī taʾwīl, a commentary on Qur'anic passages that draws parallels between the struggles of the prophets of the past and the persecution of the Shīʿa in the present. The central argument of the text is that while the Shīʿī Imāms and their supporters continue the legacy of the prophets and their virtuous followers in the past, the majority of the Muslim community has gone astray just as the Jews and Christians did before them, especially in their denial of the claims of the ahl al-bayt. Various indications in the text suggest that it was produced as propaganda supporting the claims of the Fāṭimids at an early juncture in the dynasty's history, possibly during the reign of the first caliph-Imām, al-Mahdī.