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The basmala has historical precedents in pre-Islamic usage. Al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538/1144) long ago noted the ancient Arabs' use of the formula “in the name of [the deities] al-Lāt [or] al-ʿUzzā” (1:29). Toufic Fahd (42), citing the Taʾrīkh of al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923) and the Kitāb al-Aghānī of Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī (d. 356/967), describes bi-smika llāhumma (“in your name, O God”) as an epistolary formula used by “the ancient Arabs” to begin any written document. Theodor Nöldeke points out parallels to bi-smi llāh in Jewish and Christian bibles in the recurring formula “in th…

Ḥadīth qudsī (plur. aḥādīth qudsiyya, lit., holy tradition; also ḥadīth ilāhī, ḥadīth rabbānī, plur. aḥādīth ilāhiyya/rabbāniyya, lit., divine tradition; khabar, report, plur. akhbār, sometimes used instead of ḥadīth) designates a direct-discourse statement ascribed to God—hence the preferred translation “divine saying”—that is not from the Qurʾān but is reported normally in ḥadīth format, with supporting isnād (chain of transmitters), on the authority of the prophet Muḥammad. A divine saying is distinguished formally from a Qurʾānic revelation and…

Addressing the issue of “scripture” in relation to the Qurʾān is at once a straight-¶ forward and a complicated venture. It is straightforward because in many respects the Qurʾān itself puts forward a generic concept of scripture that is consistent with that widely used today in the general study of religion. It is complicated because it raises numerous questions of historical, sociological and theological import for any understanding of either Islamic scripturalism or the relation of Islamic scripturalism to that of other religious traditions (see theology and the qurʾān ). In shor…

The quality of spoken, as opposed to written, communication. The Arabic Qurʾān emerged against the backdrop of a long history of oral poetic composition and recitation (see poetry and poets; orality and writing in arabia). It is a composite text consisting of oral recitations born in ¶ an oral culture of great refinement and long tradition. It is hard to over-emphasize the importance of oral poetry among the northern Arab tribal nomads (q.v.) of the pre-Islamic world (see pre-islamic arabia and the qurʾān; arabs; bedouin). Their major art form was the spoken word of poetry, and…

The invocation bi-smi llāhil-raḥmāni l-raḥīm(i), “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,” also known as the tasmiya, “naming/uttering (God's name),” occurs 114 times in the Qurʾān: at the head of every sūra except the ninth, which is entitled “Repentance” (Sūrat al-Tawba or Sūrat al-Barāʾa), and also in q 27:30 as the opening of Solomon's (q.v.) letter to the queen of Sheba (see bilqīs ). Of the 113 occurrences at the head of a sūra, only the first, that before the opening sūra, Sūrat al-Fātiḥa (see fātiḥa ), is commonly reckoned as an āya, i.e. as q 1:1, although the other 11…

The first sūra of the Qurʾān, “The Opener,” more properly “The Opening of Scripture” ( fātiḥat al-kitāb, see book ). It occupies a unique place formally and theologically in 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 stand at the ¶ head of the qurʾānic text, the remaining 113 sūras being arranged roughly from longest to shortest. It is the one sūra that every Muslim must be able to recite by heart in order to perform the ritual prayer (full legal observance of …

[German Version] (Jul 9, 1885, Hvena, Sweden – Feb 25, 1947, Linköping). The scholarship of the Swedish Lutheran bishop Tor Andrae embraced Islam, the history of religions, and religious psychology. At Uppsala he studied philosophy, history, languages, and theology. He served as a pastor from 1912 to 1924 and as a bishop from 1937 to 1947; he became a lecturer…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Judaism – III. Christianity – IV. Islam I. Religious Studies Any kind of written document relating to a religious symbol system (Symbols/symbol theory) can be considered a holy Scripture. The existence of a written text as a criterion is a convenient starting point for a systematic orientation within the variety of religious texts produced throughout history. The process of reducing something to written form always implies more or less distanced reflection on what …

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Church History – III. Fundamental Theology – IV. Orthodox Law – V. Eastern Poetry – VI. Islam – VII. Buddhism – VIII. Taoism I. History of Religion The canon can be defined as a complex process of selection of documents regarded as authoritative; from the totality of the extant written tradition, documents are set apart according to certain criteria as holy or inspired (Inspiration/Theopneustia). Although the concept of the canon as a normative collection…