John Wansbrough Research Articles

Fred M. Donner's Views on Orientalist Thought about the Distinction between the Qur'an and Hadith

The purpose of this paper is to explore Fred M. Donner’s views on the distinction between the Qur'an and Hadith among orientalists. This study describes Donner's views on orientalist thought, especially John Wansbrough who stated that the Qur'an and Hadith originate from the same time. This paper uses a qualitative study in the type of library research with a descriptive qualitative analysis method to analyze and elaborate on the views of Fred M. Donner. The results of this study show that, in contrast to the hadiths which enthusiastically discuss political topics, the Al-Qur'an rarely provides answers about the political leadership of its followers. Second, unlike the hadiths, which are full of anachronistic allusions and explanations of earlier prophets, the Qur'an does not include any reference to events that occurred after previous prophets. Third, the textual vocabulary and preferences of the Qur'an and hadith when discussing religious practices vary. The contrast set forth above thus refutes claims made by non-Muslim academics that the hadith were created at the same time as the Qur'an or were written before it. Because the hadith was made after the date of birth of the Qur'an, in a certain setting.

Kritik Orientalis dalam Aspek Ontologis Studi Al-Qur’an

This article analyzes the Orientalists who study the Qur'an, they are Abraham Geiger, Theodore Noldeke, William Muir, and John Wansbrough. This research uses descriptive analysis methods to find out how Orientalists view and think about the Qur'an. The main data is collected from books related to Orientalist thought as well as from scientific journals. The results found several Orientalist views of the Qur'an in the ontological aspect. Geiger argues that the Qur'an is influenced by Judaism which includes: various stories in the Qur’an, morals, and laws, about life, language, and faith. The Prophet Muhammad took a lot of Jewish cultures and integrated them into Islam. Meanwhile, Noldeke alleged that the Qur'an was composed by the Prophet Muhammad and that many of its contents were plagiarized from the Bible. His criticism of the Qur'an can be summarized in two points. First, he stated that the meaning of the ummiy of Rasulullah was not unable to read and write, but the opposite of ahl kitab. Second, according to him, the Qur'an is not a revelation. Muir attempted to rearrange the chronology of the Qur'an from a historical perspective and initiated a chronological theory. Meanwhile, John considers the Qur'an not as a holy book but as a collection of notes on the prophetic concepts of the Arab nation and aims to elevate the status of the Arab nation.

Modern Muslim Objections to Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī

Abstract According to most Sunnī scholars of ḥadīth, two works can be considered sources for historically accurate and authentic reports about the words and actions of the Prophet Muḥammad, the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhārī and the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim, frequently referred to in union as the Ṣaḥīḥayn. These two works have achieved canonical status in Sunnī Islam. The narrators who appear in these collections and the content of what they report are popularly considered to be unassailable. However, the authenticity and historicity of such ḥadīth have been subject to severe criticism and skepticism by a number of Western academics beginning with Gustav Weil in 1848 and continuing with Ignaz Goldziher, Joseph Schacht, John Wansbrough and others. A few academics have alluded to the existence of a similar skepticism among Muslim modernists, but there has been little systematic study of these voices. A handful of twentieth century Muslims have openly objected to the canonical culture of sanctifying ḥadīth found in the Ṣaḥīḥayn with books lambasting their authenticity. This investigation reviews seven of these works and considers key themes in their methods of argumentation. The authors not only deny the authenticity of ḥadīth in the collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, but also reject key doctrines associated with classical Sunnism and the authority of Sunnī ḥadīth scholars who traditionally defined orthodoxy and evaluated ḥadīth on behalf of the community.

Philology and the Last Supper: A Lesson from Qur’an Prehistory for Gospel Prehistory?

Abstract Qur’an researchers associated with philology and the recent revisionist paradigm (voices such as Alphonse Mingana, Christoph Luxenberg, John Wansbrough, Fred M. Donner, Andrew Rippin, Gabriel Said Reynolds, Emran Iqbal El-Badawi, Robert M. Kerr, and Ibn Warraq) evidence a methodological disparity with NT researchers. While Qur’an historians allow meaningful input from philology by appropriating a sensible linguistic milieu that can accord with the Qur’an’s linguistic phenomena, particularly Aramaic or Syriac influence on the Qur’an’s Arabic, several voices in Last Supper research (including Matthias Klinghardt, Dennis E. Smith, and Paul F. Bradshaw) pursue Greco-Roman symposial and/or pagan influences contrary to philological findings. This article considers philology in Qur’an studies and in NT studies and examines anew the Aramaic influence evident in Mark’s Last Supper. Research by Raymond A. Martin and Joachim Jeremias is especially noted. This article seeks to pose NT researchers with the following question: Is there a lesson to learn from scholars working in Qur’an studies?

Is Mālikī Qunūt a Medinan Practice Or an Egyptian One?

The questions of how Muslim legal schools developed, and how some jurists became dominant legal authorities have been the subject of some scholarly debate. In a chapter entitled “Competing Theories of Authenticity in Early Mālikī Texts,” Jonathan Brockopp argued against Norman Calder, Patricia Crone and John Wansbrough. All three maintained that the development of Islamic law reflected a linear move ‘from dependence on an individual Shaykh to dependence on God’s Prophet. Brockopp suggested a dialectic process, where this linearity competes with a different frame of authority where some jurists are raised by their followers to the status of a final authority, despite or at the expense of the Prophetic tradition. This study, which examines the early Mālikī texts on qunūt (the special non-Qur’anic recitation in certain prayers), partially corroborates Brockopp’s criticism of these three theorists. However, it questions the wide applicability of his “Great Shaykh Theory.” It shows a more complex process, where at least three, not two, competing legal desires (to establish textual authenticity, to consider the reverent position of key jurists, and to reconcile the two in case of conflict) dictate, not necessarily the arrangement of materials, but certainly legal preferences of the authors of these texts.

OTENTISITAS AL-QUR’AN PERSPEKTIF JOHN WANSBROUGH

This paper discusses the views of John Wansbrough, about the authenticity of the Qur'an. The issue raised in this paper is Wansbrough's claim that the Qur'an is an imitation of the Bible. In answering the problem of library research, the researcher uses the description-analytic method through categorization or grouping in accordance with the data obtained. The study found that John Wansbrough's conclusion that the Qur'an was an imitation of the Bible was that the sources of the Qur'an were allegedly derived from previous religious sources, namely Judaism and Christianity. One of the evidences revealed by Wansbrough is by referring to the story of the Prophet Muhammad in QS. al-Isrā’: 1. According to him the story of isrā is a story taken from the previous religion, the exodus of Moses. He strengthened his opinion by explaining that the pronunciation of asrā bi ‘abdihi found elsewhere explained the story of Moses and also the next verse in the QS. al-Isrā’: 2 it shows the story of Moses.

John Wansbrough dan Historisitas Alquran

This paper discusses the historicity of the Quran in the view of John Wansbrough. By using the literature riview method, this study answers how Wansbrough views the historical aspects of the Quran. this study finds John Wansbrough addes another analytical consideration in understanding the history of the Quran. This is the application of the literary method which focuses on the analysis of the logic and the suitability of the use of language at the time of the revelation of the Quran.

JOHN WANSBROUGH: STUDI ATAS TRADISI DAN INSTRUMEN TAFSIR ALQUR’AN KLASIK

This study discusses John Wansbrough's thoughts on Alquran interpretations, which emphasize the two important points as its focus of the study; interpretation paradigm and positioning of the scriptural interpretations. Based on the content analysis method as its analytical tool from the various works, both those directly and indirectly related to Wansbrough's thoughts, the results of this study showed that there are two lines of understanding of interpretations: first, the interpretation is seen as an act of interpreting the scriptures, in which in its process there are rules, work procedures, and thinking patterns that continue to grow. The existence of an exegete becomes a parameter of the interpretations produced. Interpretation and exegete are two things that are interrelated each other. Second, interpretation has an exegetical device inherent in the interpreter, which then produce the exegetical types of explicative elements or procedural devices used by an interpreter.

Kemunculan Lingua Sacra dalam Sejarah al-Qur’an (Perspektif John Wansbrough)

The language of the Qur’an has long been disputed in the history of Qur’anic exegesis. It particularly related to the discourse of Arabic rhetoric and in turn has also sparked a considerable controversy especially in the context of “kalam” sectarianism (madhhab kala>mi>). John Wansbrough, a famous Western scholar, is one of those who paid much attention on the issue in his monumental work, Qur’anic Studies. The work is regarded as one of the exponents of the “historical-critical” study of the Quran that contains several key issues, including the intersection of the Qur’an with Arabic rhetoric discourse, which in turn is also responsible for the emergence of sacred sense in the two domains. Starting with Wansbrough’s key issues on Qur’anic Studies, this article provides a brief introduction to his thought about the emergence of the concept of the sacred language (lingua sacra) in the history of the Qur’an and some of the implications thereof.Keywords: John Wansbrough, lingua sacra, rhetorical exegesis, majaz.

Crystallization of The Quran: An Analysis of John Wansbrough’s Theory

In the early nineteenth century, modern scholars began to explore materials of Quranic studies within the framework of a historical-critical method. Novel arguments were presented in challenging the traditional account of the formation of the Quran with a various range of theory. It seems that the most radical assessment was demonstrated by John Wansbrough in his exceptional works, Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural. The literary analysis employed by John Wansbrough in his study on the Quran lead to a novel historic inference. This article aims to explore the theory of late crystallization of the Quran as proposed by John Wansbrough. This study is the qualitative research in which the researcher uses the study of the comparative text analysis. The resulting study asserts that Wansbrough’s theory is a new discovery which has given the new impact and the new path in the Quranic studies. His conclusion is not accepted by all scholars. Some scholars regarded Wansbrough’s evidence that he used as an argument is not absolutely convincing.

AL-QUR’AN MENURUT PANDANGAN ORIENTALIS (Studi Analisis ‘Teori Pengaruh’ dalam Pemikiran Orientalis)

ewline"> This article tries to discuss the discourse proposed by modern westernscholarship regarding to the study of polemicies about Qur’anic studies,that it is an inflence theory developed in nineteen century. The scholarsused historical criticism as one of biblical method. Shortly, by using thishistorical criticism, they attempted to trace back the inflence of Jewish orChristian ideas toward the Qur’a>n. As a result this paper fids that whenMuhammad came up with some Qur’anic doctrines, such as the history ofprophethood, as well the terminology in the Qur’an; were not simply allegedor adopted from both of Jewish and Christian. This polemecies issue werepopularized mainly by Abraham Geiger, then followed by Teodor Noldeke,William Muir, and John Wansbrough that will be on this article.

Form Criticism or a Rolling Corpus: The Methodology of John Wansbrough through the Lens of Biblical Studies

John Wansbrough’s scholarship on the Qur??n has had a significant impacton Qur??nic Studies over the last forty years. His ideas continue to stimulateresearch into historical and literary dimensions of the Qur??n, even thoughassessments vary greatly regarding the plausibility of some of his major ideas,and his subtle arguments can be difficult to follow. This essay clarifies andevaluates Wansbrough’s thinking about the composition of the Qur??n byelucidating the models from Biblical Studies that he appropriated. Detailedtreatment is given to biblical form criticism and Wansbrough’s application ofthis method to the qur??nic accounts of the prophet Shu?ayb. It is suggestedthat Wansbrough’s form-critical research yielded positive insights into theQur??n, but also left certain questions unanswered. It is then proposed thatanother model taken from Biblical Studies, the idea of a “rolling corpus”as developed in research on the book of Jeremiah, can sharpen and refineWansbrough’s conclusions.

Contents

3 Editors’ Introduction: The Qurʾān between Bible and Tafsīr Michael E. Pregill and Vanessa De Gifis 11 The Problematic of Prophecy: 2015 IQSA Presidential Address Reuven Firestone 23 Response to Reuven Firestone’s 2015 IQSA Presidential Address Ebrahim Moosa 29 The Current State of Qurʾānic Studies: Commentary on a Roundtable Discussion Karen Bauer 47 Form Criticism or a Rolling Corpus: The Methodology of John Wansbrough through the Lens of Biblical StudiesMichael Graves 93 Did Ḥafṣah Edit the Qurʾān? A Response with Notes on the Codices of the Prophet’s Wives Sean W. Anthony and Catherine L. Bronson 127 “Nothing but Time Destroys Us”: The Deniers of Resurrection in the Qurʾān Patricia Crone† 149 Bukhārī’s Kitāb Tafsīr al-Qurʾān Christopher Melchert 173 Afterword: The Academic Study of the Qurʾān—Achievements, Challenges, and Prospects Devin Stewart and Gabriel Said Reynolds القرآن: ما بعد أبي زيد وما قبل المصحف 187 علي مبروك†

Form Criticism or a Rolling Corpus: The Methodology of John Wansbrough through the Lens of Biblical Studies

Form Criticism or a Rolling Corpus: The Methodology of John Wansbrough through the Lens of Biblical Studies

The diplomacy of empire: Fatimids and Zirids, 990–1062

AbstractOver a period of some forty years, 380/990–421/1030, the Fatimids in Egypt exchanged embassies with their Zirid viceroys in Ifrīqiya after these had been recognized as a hereditary dynasty, and to a lesser extent with their Kalbid deputies in Sicily.Sijillātor official letters of the Fatimid chancery, accompanied by sumptuous presents, invested the Zirids with their authority and favoured them with important announcements, while the Zirids replied in kind. The embassies were ostentatiously welcomed by the Zirids as proof of their legitimacy, while serving to maintain the connection with Cairo on which the Fatimids were similarly dependent for the sake of their imperial standing in the world. The importance of that connection to both dynasties was shown in the 440s/1050s, when it was broken by the Zirids and restored by a Fatimid intervention, celebrated in a fresh series ofsijillāt. With their emphasis on the style as much as the substance of the messages, the exchanges are excellent illustrations of mediaeval diplomatic correspondence as described by John Wansbrough inLingua Franca in the Mediterranean.

Kajian atas Pemikiran John Wansbrough tentang Al-Qur’an dan Nabi Muhammad

The study of Islam among Western thinkers seems not monolithic. In the real of orientalists who use historical analysis to respond Islam with a negative value, such as regarding Islam none more than a Christian heresy. Meanwhile, a positive understanding toward Islam has done by some Islamolog, such as W. Montgomery Watt. The differences are more based on their worldview, phenomenological approach, and interpretations. Then, other understanding of Islam according to sociologists, secularists, humanists, and Western modernists. This article discusses the views of John Wansbrough toward al-Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad. The study focused on the work of John Wansbrough, entitled “Qur’anic Studies Source and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation”. There are three issues raised in this article: Wansbrough’s view on al-Qur’an, Muhammad prophethood, and Isra’ (nocturnal journey). Regarding to al-Qur’an, wansbrough sees that al-Qur’an has influenced by Jews and Christian, it is fusion of tradition, and even it is the creation of the post-prophetic. Therefore, the critism from other thinkers, such as orientalists as well as coming from Muslims themselves also received a sufficient portion. There are two methods utilized by Wansbrough, historical method and literary analysis. He used historical approach to study the contents of al-Qur’an, and literary analysis to analyze the revealed stories in the Qur’an.

New Orientalist Suggestions on the Origins of Islam

AbstractAfter the quite shocking new theories on early Islam in the 1970s (Patricia Crone, John Wansbrough), a new wave of theories arose after 2000, this time mostly by German scholars. Many of the new theories are contradictory and did not find broad support among academic scholars, but some have drawn broad public attention. This contribution gives a summary of the major new theories and concludes with a critical analysis, giving priority to serious research about Qur’an manuscripts and interpretation.

Muhammad’s Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society (review)

Reviewed by: Muhammad’s Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society Christine D. Baker Muhammad’s Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society. By Leor Halevi. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. 416 pp. $35.00 (cloth). In Muhammad’s Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society, Leor Halevi cogently argues that an examination of the development of specific Islamic funerary practices in the eighth and ninth century can shed light on the Islamification of Arab society as a whole. More controversially, however, Halevi also contends that the development of these practices were not meant to unite the nascent Islamic community but were viewed by religious elites as an opportunity for social construction and a chance to demarcate boundaries between Muslims and non-Muslims while establishing a distinct hierarchy with religious experts at the top. [End Page 453] Theoretically, the earliest Muslims tried to follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad in establishing rituals for burying and mourning the dead. However, as Halevi points out, the memories of these earliest events in Islamic history were contested, even at this early period. Thus, the decisions about what constituted proper praxis were left largely in the hands of the early Islamic jurists who, during the course of the seventh through ninth centuries, developed a corpus of decisions relating to proper funerary practices. Halevi argues that these key decisions on how Islamic society should comport itself in the face of death served to circumscribe the borders of the nascent Islamic community and differentiate Islamic practice from both its pre-Islamic Arabian tribal roots and Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian practices. Halevi’s study contains seven chapters, each focusing on a different facet of emerging Islamic funerary rites: tombstones, preparation of the corpse for burial, shrouds, wailing for the dead, funerary processions and communal prayers, tomb construction, and beliefs about the afterlife and the fate of the spirit/corpse after death. In each of these chapters, he analyzes how it is possible to see debates over proper Islamic funerary practices as the site of contention in broader deliberations over what constituted an Islamic society. As public events involving a large number of social actors, funerals became the ideal site for Islamic legalists and pietists to craft a distinct Islamic identity. The development of Islamic tombstones reflect this larger process of change. Halevi uses the inscriptions on tombs as a record of religious trends and popular practice independent from the legal discussions of proper practice. Thus, he is able to show that while the earliest tombs lacked Qur’anic inscriptions, by the late eighth century standardized Qur’anic epitaphs on tombs became de rigueur. Most interestingly, Halevi connects this discussion of an emerging Islamic style of tombstones with long-standing debates on the canonization of the Qur’an. Because these eighth-century Qur’anic inscriptions correspond precisely to the ‘Uthmanic codex of the Qur’an, Halevi challenges John Wansbrough’s theory of scriptural polygenesis and argues that these early tombs confirm a process of scriptural diffusion. Within the process of Islamification of funerary rituals, Halevi shows the conflicts within the nascent community regarding what constituted proper practice. Debates over the proper preparation of a Muslim corpse for burial reveal growing anxieties about maintaining appropriate social and sexual boundaries in the emerging Islamic polity. Could a man prepare his wife’s body for burial even though the bond of marriage was severed at death? Was it appropriate to perfume and beautify the [End Page 454] body before interment? Did washing a corpse render the washer ritually impure? Dramatic difference of opinion emerged between Medinan and Basran / Kufan jurists about the answers to these questions. Halevi thoroughly explores these dissimilarities and attributes them to the difference between the Medinan and southern Iraqi contexts: while the Medinan code reflects Jewish and Zoroastrian notions of ritual purity, the Iraqi codes invert these practices. Halevi argues that the southern Iraqi sectarian milieu led the Kufan and Basran jurists to work harder to differentiate Islamic practice from those of the other monotheistic faiths in their community. In addition, Halevi contends that Medinan and Iraqi jurists actively sought to shape collective memory in order to develop a...

Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation. Edited by John Wansbrough. Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2004. Pp. xli + 316. $36.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewQuranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation. Edited by John Wansbrough. Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2004. Pp. xli + 316. $36.Paul M. CobbPaul M. CobbUniversity of Pennsylvania Search for more articles by this author University of PennsylvaniaPDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 68, Number 2April 2009 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/604696 Views: 18Total views on this site * Permission to reprint a book review in this section may be obtained only from the author.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Quranic Studies

Since its first release in 1977 by Oxford University Press, Quranic Studieshas become part of a wider body of published scholarship that is taking afresh look at the traditional renditions of early Islamic history. Apart fromthis book, John Wansbrough (1928-2002), who was professor of SemiticStudies at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), alsowrote The Sectarian Milieu (Oxford University Press: 1978). Others havesince continued to research the formative period of Islam in a similar fashion.Among the most controversial contributions in this genre wasHagarism: The Making of the Islamic World (Oxford University Press:1977), a joint project of Patricia Crone (who did her Ph.D. underWansbrough) and Michael Cook (who also taught at SOAS until 1986).Thescholars belonging to this “school” of history writing have been characterizedas representatives of a “renewed scepticism” (Mohammed Arkoun),“revisionists” (R. Stephen Humphreys), and even practitioners of “badOrientalism” (Leonard Binder).This last characterization is indicative of the direction in which the discussionshave moved. Rather than having a continued exchange of viewsinformed by scholarly arguments, which this highly specialist and arcanesubject matter would certainly merit, the debate was, regrettably, soondominated by ideological overtones. Due to new communication technologies,it became part of a discourse that went far beyond what would havebeen its normal readership. Now, Quranic Studies has been released again,enhanced with a foreword, new annotations, and a glossary by AndrewRippin, a Qur’anic studies expert from Victoria University in Canada.Rippin undertook this venture in order to counter some of the ideologicaland non-scholarly ways in which the book has been used during the firsttwenty-five years of its existence. In fact, the editor even questions whetherall of those voicing the strongest opinions about this book have actuallyever read it.That would indeed be most remarkable, because Wansbrough’s study isat a level of erudition that few can hope to master. Unfortunately, that is alsoits main drawback: For the non-specialist, and by that I mean the Islamicistwhose interests lie outside scriptural exegesis, this erudite book poses a ...