An interesting phenomenon that has gained much attention in contemporary Qur’anic studies is the regular allusion to Judeo-Christian tradition and biblical material. This essay explores the terminology surrounding Mary, the mother of Jesus, and explains how the Qur’an is applying a particular Christian literary genre to this New Testament figure. The primary purpose of this … Continue reading Mary, daughter of Amram, sister of Aaron: A Qur’anic error or deliberate allusion?

I read an excellent paper by Sean Anthony, titled "Further Notes On The Word  Ṣibgha in Qur'an 2:138." I thought I'd comment on some of the content in the paper which I found quite significant. I encourage those interested to have a look at the full paper. The verse 2:138 of the Qur'an uses a … Continue reading The “Dye of God”, baptism, and Qur’anic interaction with Christian themes.

I am currently enjoying reading through Joseph Witztum’s thesis on the Qur’an and the Syriac tradition. Witztum’s aim is rather simple; he wishes to show that there is a background of Syriac tradition present in the Qur’an. Syriac Christians were quite prolific preceding and continuous with the Islamic period, producing thousands of works (many of … Continue reading Some thoughts on “allusions” in the Qur’an common to Syriac (and other pre-islamic) tradition.

I always found some word choices in the Qur'an somewhat puzzling, or rather, difficult to understand, when I read Qur'anic translations. Abdel Haleem, in his recent article, "The Role of Context in Interpreting and Translating the Qur'an," explores how context gives generic Qur'anic words, such as al-Rahman, meanings that slightly diverge from the generic usage. As … Continue reading Interesting article on the sensitivity to context of Qur’anic words

I came across an early Muslim personality who I found to be very interesting: Ali ibn Rabban Al-Tabari. A Syriac Christian, son of a Syriac Christian, who served most of his life in the courts of the Abbassids. He had a reputation for his talent as a physician, and he authored the medical work "Firdaws … Continue reading Ali ibn Rabban Al-Tabari

For some time now I have heard a lot of good things about the masterful 20th century exegete, "Abd al-Hameed al-farahi" (also known as Hamiduddin Farahi). I recently finally decided to take a look at his renowned tafsir, "Tafsir Nizaam al-Qur'an". He was truly the father of modern literary criticism of the Qur'an, setting forward … Continue reading Farahi on the “name of God” in the Qur’an and Jewish tradition

As-salaamu Alaykum, It has unfortunately been a very long time since I posted on this blog. I wish to return back to it in the near future. A lot has gone on over the last year or so which left me in a bit of uncertainty about what I want to do, but now I've … Continue reading The future of this blog