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| Acknowledgements | |
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| Introduction | |
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| The Qur'an in its context | |
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| The world of the Prophet Muhammad | |
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| Prophet Muhammad's life as part of the context | |
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| Socio-historical context and cultural language | |
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| Ethical language of the Qur'an: context and women | |
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| Intellectual currents that influenced Muslim engagement with the Qur'an | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| Revelation and the Qur'an | |
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| The nature of revelation | |
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| Forms of revelation in the Islamic context | |
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| Revelation: God's speech in human language | |
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| The Qur'an as purely divine revelation | |
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| Spoken word and written word | |
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| Revelation and interpretation | |
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| Towards a broader understanding of revelation | |
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| Levels of revelation of the Qur'an | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| The Qur'an as scripture | |
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| Structure of the Qur'an | |
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| Compiling the Qur'an as a single text | |
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| Challenges by Western scholars of the Qur'an | |
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| Evolution of the script of the Qur'an and its presentation | |
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| The nature of the Qur'anic text: the idea of inimitability | |
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| Connection between the Qur'an and the traditions of the Prophet | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| Major themes and text types | |
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| God | |
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| Spiritual beings | |
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| Satan - the symbol of evil and disobedience | |
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| Creation | |
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| Earlier prophetic figures | |
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| Faith and other religions | |
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| Historical events of the Prophet's time | |
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| Life after death | |
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| Human behaviour | |
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| Types of texts in the Qur'an | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| The Qur'an in daily life | |
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| Reciting the Qur'an | |
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| Handling the Qur'an | |
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| Ritual purity and cleanliness | |
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| Desecration of the Qur'an | |
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| Qur'anic texts and calligraphy | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| Western scholarship and the Qur'an | |
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| Early Western scholarship on Islam and the Qur'an | |
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| Later Western scholarship on Islam and the Qur'an | |
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| Contemporary Western scholarship on Islam and the Qur'an | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| Translation of the Qur'an | |
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| Early Muslim interest in Qur'anic translation | |
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| Non-Muslims and translation of the Qur'an | |
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| Muslims and translation of the Qur'an | |
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| Muslim discourse on translation | |
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| Translation: a case study | |
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| Some commonly available translations of the Qur'an in English | |
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| Translations of the Qur'an on the Internet | |
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| Summary | |
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| Notes | |
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| The Qur'an and other scriptures | |
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| Muslim understandings of scripture | |
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| Jewish and Christian scriptures in the Qur'an | |
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| Muslim views on 'distortion' of Jewish and Christian scriptures | |
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| Scholarly engagement with Jewish and Christian sources | |
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| Muslim attitudes to Jewish and Christian scriptures | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| Ethico-legal teachings | |
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| Scripture and religious law | |
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| Types of ethico-legal texts in the Qur'an | |
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| Adaptability of ethico-legal teachings | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| Selected exegetical principles and ideas | |
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| Tradition- or reason-based exegesis | |
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| Selected principles in Qur'anic exegesis | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| Approaches to Qur'anic exegesis | |
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| Early exegesis | |
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| Three broad trends of exegesis | |
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| Other key trends | |
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| Exegesis in the modern period | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| Modern interpretation of the Qur'an | |
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| Differences between textualists and contextualists | |
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| Fazlur Rahman | |
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| Amina Wadud | |
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| Muhammad Shahrour | |
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| Mohammed Arkoun | |
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| Khaled Abou El Fadl | |
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| Summary | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Notes | |
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| Glossary | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Index | |