The course will proceed through a number of provocative reform movements and thinkers in recent I... more The course will proceed through a number of provocative reform movements and thinkers in recent Islamic history, many of which began to emerge in the 18 th and 19 th century. During this period, Islam was confronted by
... They include the caste system in India, Jewish strategies for circumventing the Sabbath law, ... more ... They include the caste system in India, Jewish strategies for circumventing the Sabbath law, male competitive events in the USA, and ... For example, he mentions the theory that Muhammad merely feigned illiteracy in order to emphasize the miraculous nature of revelations but ...
Preface - Introduction - Jesus in the Qur' n - s through Christian Eyes - s and the Church Hi... more Preface - Introduction - Jesus in the Qur' n - s through Christian Eyes - s and the Church Historian - Muhammad and the Christians - Muhammad and Jesus - Currents and Encounters - Shi'ites and Sufis - Classical Exegesis - Jesus' Return: Qur'an 4:159 - Jesus' Return: Continued - The Crucifixion: Non-Muslim Approaches - The Meaning of the Verb Tawaffa - Muslim Interpretation of Shubbiha La-Hum - The Miracles: Creating Birds from Clay - The Miracles: Raising the Dead to Life - The Virginal Conception: Non-Muslim Perspectives - The Virginal Conception: Razi's Comments on 19:16-22a - The Representation of Jesus in the Shi'ite Commentaries - The Representation of Jesus in the Sufi Commentaries - Postscript - Notes - Bibliography - Index
Most Western scholars hold that the long Medinan sūras are collections of unrelated material. Thi... more Most Western scholars hold that the long Medinan sūras are collections of unrelated material. This article sets out to challenge the consensus by examining one of these sūras, Sūrat al-Maↄida, and demonstrating that it has a coherent structure. The author detects various verbal cues that indicate transitions in the discourse. On the basis of these cues, he identifies eleven sections and two identical free-standing āyas. He shows that each section is linked to its predecessor by a text-linguistic device such as ‘hooked key-words’ and ‘parallel introductions’, or that it is connected to it thematically. He notes the presence of chiasmus as a stylistic feature in vv64 and 67, and argues that it is an organisational principle at other levels. Most significantly, he marshals lexical evidence for considering that Sections 1 to 5 are paired with Sections 6 to 10 but in reverse order, and that Section 11 corresponds both to Section 2 and Section 9. The article ends with speculation that this structure may be related to the use of the fingers for counting and the practice of extending the right index finger when testifying to the divine unity.
Page 1. CHRIST IN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY m By Neal Robinson Page 2. Page 3. CHRIST IN ISLAM AND C... more Page 1. CHRIST IN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY m By Neal Robinson Page 2. Page 3. CHRIST IN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY This Page 4. Page 5. Christ in Islam and Christianity by Neal Robinson State University of New York Press Page 6. ...
And [He shall appoint him] a messenger to the Children of Israel [sayingJ "Lo! I have come to you... more And [He shall appoint him] a messenger to the Children of Israel [sayingJ "Lo! I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. Lo! I create for you from clay something resembling the form of birds and I blow into it and it becomes birds by God's leave. And I heal the blind from birth and the leper and I bring the dead to life by God's leave. And I declare to you what you eat and what you store up in your houses. Surely in that there is a sign for you if you are believers," S. 3:49. The Qur'Bn's concurrence with the Christian view that Jesus worked miracles provides common ground for Muslim-Christian dialogue. On the Muslim side Ali Merad has written that, from the perspective of the Qur'iin, actions of Jesus such as creating living creatures and raising the dead to life-albeit by God's leavewere unprecedented and exalted him to a unique position among the human messengers of God.' Writing independently and from a Christian standpoint, Kenneth Cragg has suggested that the Qur'anic proviso that Jesus' miracles were performed "by God's leave" is potentially a mediating feature between the Qur'Bn and the New Testament because the latter asserts that everything which Jesus said and did was by divine authority and leave.2 The aim of the present study is to put such dialogue on a surer footing by examining how one of the miracles attributed to Jesus in the QuIJBn is handled in some of the major Muslim commentaries of the classical period. The miracle which we have selected for this purpose is the creation of birds from clay which is referred to in S. 3:49 and again in S. 5110. This might seem an odd choice because, unlike healing the blind and the leper and raising the dead to life, this miracle is not mentioned in the canonical gospel^.^ The choice can be justified, however, on the grounds that the Qur'anic miracle of the birds raises important theological and Christological issues. In particular three features of the Qur'anic references to this miracle might be thought to imply that Jesus was allowed to
The qur'ānic material about Abraham corresponds in broad outline to the biblical sto... more The qur'ānic material about Abraham corresponds in broad outline to the biblical story although it contains some novel features, including the claim that Islam is the religion of Abraham and that together with Ishmael he rebuilt the Kaaba. The article surveys the largely negative ...
Although this book contains a wealth of information about the past, it is not really a work of hi... more Although this book contains a wealth of information about the past, it is not really a work of history. Nor, despite the fact that the author is Emeritus William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology in Cambridge, is its principal focus ethnographic. Convinced that religious ...
The cover illustration of this book is a photograph ofMuslim women praying'. Judging by thei... more The cover illustration of this book is a photograph ofMuslim women praying'. Judging by their posture and the look on the faces, they are participating in a dhikr session rather than performing s Ç alaÅh. The relevance of the photograph is never explained. However, for ...
The course will proceed through a number of provocative reform movements and thinkers in recent I... more The course will proceed through a number of provocative reform movements and thinkers in recent Islamic history, many of which began to emerge in the 18 th and 19 th century. During this period, Islam was confronted by
... They include the caste system in India, Jewish strategies for circumventing the Sabbath law, ... more ... They include the caste system in India, Jewish strategies for circumventing the Sabbath law, male competitive events in the USA, and ... For example, he mentions the theory that Muhammad merely feigned illiteracy in order to emphasize the miraculous nature of revelations but ...
Preface - Introduction - Jesus in the Qur' n - s through Christian Eyes - s and the Church Hi... more Preface - Introduction - Jesus in the Qur' n - s through Christian Eyes - s and the Church Historian - Muhammad and the Christians - Muhammad and Jesus - Currents and Encounters - Shi'ites and Sufis - Classical Exegesis - Jesus' Return: Qur'an 4:159 - Jesus' Return: Continued - The Crucifixion: Non-Muslim Approaches - The Meaning of the Verb Tawaffa - Muslim Interpretation of Shubbiha La-Hum - The Miracles: Creating Birds from Clay - The Miracles: Raising the Dead to Life - The Virginal Conception: Non-Muslim Perspectives - The Virginal Conception: Razi's Comments on 19:16-22a - The Representation of Jesus in the Shi'ite Commentaries - The Representation of Jesus in the Sufi Commentaries - Postscript - Notes - Bibliography - Index
Most Western scholars hold that the long Medinan sūras are collections of unrelated material. Thi... more Most Western scholars hold that the long Medinan sūras are collections of unrelated material. This article sets out to challenge the consensus by examining one of these sūras, Sūrat al-Maↄida, and demonstrating that it has a coherent structure. The author detects various verbal cues that indicate transitions in the discourse. On the basis of these cues, he identifies eleven sections and two identical free-standing āyas. He shows that each section is linked to its predecessor by a text-linguistic device such as ‘hooked key-words’ and ‘parallel introductions’, or that it is connected to it thematically. He notes the presence of chiasmus as a stylistic feature in vv64 and 67, and argues that it is an organisational principle at other levels. Most significantly, he marshals lexical evidence for considering that Sections 1 to 5 are paired with Sections 6 to 10 but in reverse order, and that Section 11 corresponds both to Section 2 and Section 9. The article ends with speculation that this structure may be related to the use of the fingers for counting and the practice of extending the right index finger when testifying to the divine unity.
Page 1. CHRIST IN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY m By Neal Robinson Page 2. Page 3. CHRIST IN ISLAM AND C... more Page 1. CHRIST IN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY m By Neal Robinson Page 2. Page 3. CHRIST IN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY This Page 4. Page 5. Christ in Islam and Christianity by Neal Robinson State University of New York Press Page 6. ...
And [He shall appoint him] a messenger to the Children of Israel [sayingJ "Lo! I have come to you... more And [He shall appoint him] a messenger to the Children of Israel [sayingJ "Lo! I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. Lo! I create for you from clay something resembling the form of birds and I blow into it and it becomes birds by God's leave. And I heal the blind from birth and the leper and I bring the dead to life by God's leave. And I declare to you what you eat and what you store up in your houses. Surely in that there is a sign for you if you are believers," S. 3:49. The Qur'Bn's concurrence with the Christian view that Jesus worked miracles provides common ground for Muslim-Christian dialogue. On the Muslim side Ali Merad has written that, from the perspective of the Qur'iin, actions of Jesus such as creating living creatures and raising the dead to life-albeit by God's leavewere unprecedented and exalted him to a unique position among the human messengers of God.' Writing independently and from a Christian standpoint, Kenneth Cragg has suggested that the Qur'anic proviso that Jesus' miracles were performed "by God's leave" is potentially a mediating feature between the Qur'Bn and the New Testament because the latter asserts that everything which Jesus said and did was by divine authority and leave.2 The aim of the present study is to put such dialogue on a surer footing by examining how one of the miracles attributed to Jesus in the QuIJBn is handled in some of the major Muslim commentaries of the classical period. The miracle which we have selected for this purpose is the creation of birds from clay which is referred to in S. 3:49 and again in S. 5110. This might seem an odd choice because, unlike healing the blind and the leper and raising the dead to life, this miracle is not mentioned in the canonical gospel^.^ The choice can be justified, however, on the grounds that the Qur'anic miracle of the birds raises important theological and Christological issues. In particular three features of the Qur'anic references to this miracle might be thought to imply that Jesus was allowed to
The qur'ānic material about Abraham corresponds in broad outline to the biblical sto... more The qur'ānic material about Abraham corresponds in broad outline to the biblical story although it contains some novel features, including the claim that Islam is the religion of Abraham and that together with Ishmael he rebuilt the Kaaba. The article surveys the largely negative ...
Although this book contains a wealth of information about the past, it is not really a work of hi... more Although this book contains a wealth of information about the past, it is not really a work of history. Nor, despite the fact that the author is Emeritus William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology in Cambridge, is its principal focus ethnographic. Convinced that religious ...
The cover illustration of this book is a photograph ofMuslim women praying'. Judging by thei... more The cover illustration of this book is a photograph ofMuslim women praying'. Judging by their posture and the look on the faces, they are participating in a dhikr session rather than performing s Ç alaÅh. The relevance of the photograph is never explained. However, for ...
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 2013
The reviews of my monograph Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur'an (B... more The reviews of my monograph Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur'an (Brill, 2013) have varied greatly in their approach and tone. This review by Dr. Neal Robinson in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft picked up on many details of my study, and I was privileged to have a scholar of this calibre read and evaluate my book as he did.
Shaqpaq-Ata: Inscriptions of the Underground Mosque and Necropolis
The texts of the Arabic inscriptions of the Shaqpaq-Ata complex are being published for the first... more The texts of the Arabic inscriptions of the Shaqpaq-Ata complex are being published for the first time in the series “Epigraphic Monuments of Kazakhstan”. The complex is located in Tubqaraghan district in Manghistau Province. 225 inscriptions are included in the album. Each inscription is accompanied by a photograph, printed text, and commentary to the translation. The album includes a research section (Introduction) and indices.
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