Exploring the Qur’an

Abstract

Exploring the Qur’an: Context and Impact is a highly perceptive, technicalstudy of the Qur’anic text that seeks to exonerate the Qur’an from claimsof extremism, intolerance, or incoherence. This is accomplished throughcontextualizing the content and highlighting the impact of the Qur’anicmessage as applied throughout history. The underlying premise of its approachis that a perceptive and faithful reading of the Qur’an will resultin the Qur’an exonerating itself through consistency in its own messages,rhetorical devices, and norms. In essence, it is a specific way of applyingtafsīr al-Qur’ān bil-Qur’ān (explanation of the Qur’an by the Qur’an). Thisbook is unique in the field of Qur’anic coherence in that it presents a consistentmethod of interpretation that is applied to a diverse range of Qur’anicsubjects, not simply a study of the Qur’an’s structure nor primarily of itsArabic. It builds on previous efforts, such as Mustansir Mir’s summary ofHamid al-Din ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Farahi’s work on Qur’anic oaths, Majmū‘ati-Tafsīr-i-Farāhī, yet advances its own distinctive premise. The book hasthree sections, each consisting of several chapters, five of which are originalto this book. This does not detract from the cohesiveness of the book. AbdelHaleem’s technical yet accessible style pervades throughout and consistencyin his chosen axioms of interpretation tie the book’s parts together ...