The Qur’an in Europe, A European Qur’an: A History of Reading, Translation, Polemical Confrontation and Scholarly Appreciation

The broad interest in the emergence and presence of Islam and Muslims by Europe goes back to the centuries immediately following Muslim conquests and spread through the Mediterranean (from the 1st ce. AH / 7th cen. AD). A number of studies in the previous decades have discussed the perceptions and evaluations of Islam by Europeans from the Middle Ages till modern times, at times focusing on the Qur’an. How the Islamic holy text was known, collected in manuscripts, translated, read, used and polemically discussed in its contents from the 12th century until contemporary times is a chapter of European intellectual activity. Recent research and above all the projects financed by the European commission, which are currently being carried out, are a contribution to the study of the Qur’an and in particular to the history of the presence of the Qur’an in European consciousness. In this field the project “EuQu – The European Qur’an” is particularly significant; it has the ambition to demonstrate how the reading and uses of the Qur’an were important in the intellectual, cultural and religious developments of Europe through the ages

L’Ésotérisme shi‘ite, ses racines et ses prolongements / Shi‘i Esotericism : Its Roots and Developments, sous la direction de Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, édité avec Maria De Cillis, Daniel de Smet, Orkhan Mir-Kasimov

À l’heure où la publication dans des journaux scientifiques prend de plus en plus d’importance dans l’évaluation de la carrière des chercheurs, les études générales sont généralement publiées sous la forme d’ouvrages collectifs, alors que les monographies sont souvent des versions améliorées de thèses de doctorat. Dans le cas des ouvrages collectifs, il est crucial que le responsable de la publication et son équipe de recherche présentent leur approche scientifique de façon claire et cohérent..

Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ as Genre and Discourse: From the Qurʾān to Elijah Muhammad

The study of qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ, the Islamic tales of the prophets, has a distinguished pedigree in the Western academy, but much work remains to be done in the field. Although there have been numerous studies of individual prophetic figures over the last few decades, focused studies of specific works in the literary genre of qiṣaṣ have generally been lacking. Moreover, many studies of prophetic narratives tend to privilege exegetical works over other literary sources, including works in the genre of qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ itself. Despite the apparent contradiction, however, I would argue that the broad dissemination of qiṣaṣ-type material throughout different genres suggests that qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ is better approached as a form of discourse reflecting specific ideological purposes, in particular the appropriation of the biblical tradition and positioning of Muḥammad, the Qurʾān, and Islam as the natural culmination of the Israelite prophetic legacy. As the field develops, clear desiderata remain to be addressed, such as the incorporation of Shi’i, postclassical, and modern reflections on the prophets into the discussion, as well as the full integration of different genres and types of material, for example visual culture, into the field. All of these expressions are tied together by the common aim of shaping the portrayal of these figures in ways that reflect the diverse understandings of Islam among particular authors and communities

The evolution and uses of the stories of the Prophets

This is a stable archival PDF of an open-access, peer-reviewed journal volume originally published at www.mizanproject.org/journal

The study of Islam and Muslims and the History of Religions

The paper analyuzes the problematic relation between islamology and history of religions and the various attitudes emerging in the two fields. A specific emphasis is given to the recent story of islamic studies after II World war, the contact with emerging cultural studies and the new attitudes in the research. The paper draws some final lines on the problematic relations between Islamic studies and Muslim belief