Muhammad Mustafa al-Azami Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 398 | Size: 10 MB
The History of the Qur’anic Text from Revelation to Compilation : A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments
The Qur’an reigns supreme in Muslim
hearts as the most sacred of texts: a profusion of exalted ideas to
rouse the mind, noble histories to stir the soul, universal truths to
awaken the conscience and precise injunctions directing humanity to its
own deliverance, all distilled into the melodious essence that is the
Word of Allah. Through fourteen centuries Muslims have persevered in
championing the text against corruption, memorising its every word and
contemplating its every phrase, so that in our own times untold millions
have enthusiastially committed each letter to heart.
Beginning with a catalogue of ancient and
contemporary attacks on the Qur’an, this expansive book provides unique
insights into the holy text’s immaculate preservation throughout its
history, as well as exploring many of the accusations levelled against
it. The reception of divine revelations, Prophet Muhammad’s role in
teaching and disseminating these verses, the text’s compilation under
his guidance and the setting of its final external shape shortly after
his death, are meticulously and scientifically examinded alongside such
topics as the origins of Arabic, its palaeography and orthography, the
so-called Mushaf of Ibn Mas’ud, and the strict methodology employed in
assembling textual fragments.
By way of comparison the author
investigates the histories of the Old and New Testaments, relying
entirely on Judaeo-Christian sources including the Dead Sea Scrolls and
uncovers a startling range of alterations that touch almost every fact
of the Biblical Scriptures. Using this as a springboard for assessing
Western theories regarding the Qur’an, he makes a sophisticated yet
passionate case for questioning the aims of Western scholarship in
continuously undermining Islam’s holy book, and illustrates convincingly
that such research, motivated by more than mere curiousity, has no
scientific bearing on the Qur’an’s integrity.
This monumental effort, a scholarly work
composed in an impassioned tone, provides a welcome foundation for
sincere study at a time when assailing the Qur’an has become all too
common.
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