Flying means moving through the air with or as if with wings. The concept of flying appears in a variety of forms in the Qurʾān. Perhaps the closest reference to motion through the air is that of the flying mountain (cf. Q 2:63-93; 4:154) that rose into the air and hovered over the heads of the Children of Israel to compel them to keep the covenant. A related notion, that of propulsion through the air from one place to another, is associated with the  isrāʾ and  miʿrāj (Q 17:1), the night journey (see ascension) of the Prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to Paradise. This motif…

This phrase is a common translation of the Arabic word jāhiliyya, which is used by Muslims to refer to the historical period in west-central Arabia covering the centuries immediately prior to the mission of Muḥammad, a period characterised by ignorance of the divine truth. To the original audience of the Qurʾān, however, it almost certainly referred primarily to the moral condition of the individuals who, and the society that, opposed the mission of the Prophet (see opposition to Muḥammad), and only secondarily, if at all, to a defined historical epoch. It is also possibl…

The Fātiḥa (“Opener,” or, more properly, “The opening of/to scripture,” fātiḥat al-kitāb, see book), is the first sūra of the Qurʾān. It occupies a unique place, both formally and theologically, within the ʿUthmānic text of the Qurʾān and in ritual prayer (ṣalāt, see codices of the Qurʾān; ritual and the Qurʾān; prayer). Its seven brief verses come at the very beginning of the Qurʾānic text, a placement in contrast to the remaining 113 sūras, which are roughly arranged from longest to shortest. It is the one sūra that every Muslim must be able to recite by heart in order to perform the rit…

(See Early Western Korans Online)An edition of the Qurʾān in Arabic, printed by Tatars of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the nineteenth century, became known as the “ Kazan print” (Tat.,  Qazan basmasī). This edition received recognition as the first Qurʾān printed by Muslims. Throughout the century, it underwent multiple reprints and enjoyed immense popularity among the sizable Muslim population of the Russian Empire. Muslim publishers within and outside of the empire also widely adopted the Kazan typeset for issuing Qu…

The Polish–Lithuanian Qurʾānic manuscripts constitute a huge part of the Islamic heritage in East-Central Europe, mainly present-day Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine. Having its roots in the long-standing tradition of Muslim presence in a mostly Christian Catholic/Orthodox milieu, this manuscript legacy developed in a unique way, mainly due to the constant ethnic, social, and linguistic changes of the Tatar community. Since the middle of the 20th century, as this tradition became the focus of academic studies, these documents have been usually referred to as kitabs or keta…

Water is the liquid compound of oxygen and hydrogen on which every form of life depends. Of the four Heraclean elements, water has the highest number of attestations in the Qurʾān and appears in the greatest variety of forms. In its general sense, it is designated by the Arabic word māʾ. It subsists in the sky as clouds (saḥāb, muzn, muʿṣirāt, ghamāma, ʿarḍ), falls to the earth as rain (māʾ min al-samāʾ, wadq, maṭar) or hail (barad; see weather), or is condensed from the atmosphere as dew (ṭall). It rises from within the earth as springs (ʿayn, yanbūʿ) and is also accessible as wells  (biʾr, jubb; …

Flavius Mithridates, alias Guglielmo Raimondo Moncada, born around 1450, probably died in 1489 or 1490, was a translator of parts of the Qurʾān and of Muslim exegetical texts into Latin. He was a Sicilian scholar of Jewish origin who converted to Christianity in his youth and was active, in particular, in Sicily, Rome, at the court of Urbino, and in the entourage of the humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, for whom he was a teacher of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. In addition to numerous tra…

Sīra is a branch of Arabic literature that is devoted to the earliest salvation history of Islam and focuses on God’s actions towards and through his prophet Muḥammad, i.e. the revelation of the Qurʾān and the foundation of an Islamic community. The term sīra can also denote a work belonging to that literature. Sīra is the noun of kind (fiʿla) of the Arabic verb sāra, “to go,” “to travel,” etc., indicating the manner in which the action expressed by the verb is carried out (see Arabic language; grammar and the Qurʾān). Hence, it originally meant “way of going,” but its most frequent …

The reciters of the Qurʾān are those entrusted with the oral recitation of Qurʾānic passages, or of the entire text. The term “reciter” (Ar. sing. qāriʾ and muqriʾ) in its basic, most general meaning refers to one who reads or recites. With reference to the reciters of the Qurʾān, the plural qurrāʾ is used much more commonly than is muqriʾūn. In a broad sense, the term qurrāʾ is used in various sources to refer to both professional reciters, namely those who accepted payment for their recitation and were often employed by the state, and pious, non-professional…

Maurice Bucaille (1920-98) was a French physician whose fame relies primarily on his book La Bible, le Coran et la science, first published in 1976, which was translated into English  two years later. It had a global impact on both Muslim and non-Muslim apologists and scholars and paved the way for scientists to (re-)join the large number of Qurʾān commentators (mufassirūn, sing. mufassir) since it enabled them to interpret the Qurʾān from a so-called scientific perspective. Very soon after its publication, Bucaille’s book became an instrument by which Muslims not onl…

The Qurʾān has played a unique role in the history of Malay literature. While other great classics of the field of Malay literary studies wielded influence for a particular season and laid the groundwork for subsequent works, the Qurʾān has had a powerful presence throughout the many centuries of Malay literary activity, sometimes invisibly and at other times playing a significant role in its own right.The oldest surviving fragments of the Qurʾān from the Malay world date from around 1009/1600. But the Qurʾān was clearly present in the Southeast Asian region long before that time. In…

Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Abī Bakr b. Farḥ al-Anṣārī al-Khazrajī al-Qurṭubī (d. 671/1273) is best known for his al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān (“The comprehensive legal commentary of the Qurʾān”), a classic of Qurʾānic exegesis. Yet his dedication to the sacred book extended beyond the mere composition of this specific work to cover the rest of his intellectual production, all of which was conceived to complete, specify, or ratify the points he had made in his voluminous tafsīr. This scholarly endeavour even permeated through to the most personal aspects of his life…

Anthropology is a term that is used to refer to the study of several aspects of human life. A Qurʾānic anthropology is not found as one coherent and systematically organised system of thought, located in one sūra, but can be constructed from relevant terms and expressions found throughout the text, as elements in different, yet interdependent, modes of discourse, such as homiletics, polemics, and narrative. Concepts, expressions, and notions relevant for a Qurʾānic anthropology are closely interconnected with Qurʾānic theology. Topics such as the characteristics and condit…