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The Qur’ān is the sacred religious book of Muslims around the world. Yet its history, from its inception in seventh-century Arabia to its transmission in the modern world, remains understudied. The twelve chapters in this book address this lacuna by examining multifaceted stages in the Qur’ān’s history and transmission through a broad range of methodological and theoretical approaches. The volume examines the earliest material evidence of the Qur’ān through its manuscript tradition and explores their content and form. This includes a focus on the Qur’ān’s unique orthography and insights into the Sanaa manuscripts. Additionally, this work provides new insights by broaching upon critical moments in the Qur’ān’s history, such as the codification of Abu Bakr. A crucial component of the book deals with approaches to the variant readings of the Qur’ān, understood as being sanctioned through narrations on the aḥruf. It explores fresh insights into how Muslim scholars theorised such variances and the way they related them to the qira’āt, including how they approached the variant codices of prominent companions. Furthermore, this work explores understudied non-Qur’ānic transmissions of the Qur’ān alongside the historical development of Qur’ān translations. This volume advances the field of Qur’ānic studies and Qur’ānic history.
‘Presenting a diverse range of perspectives and arguments, this book avidly explores not only the historical contours of the transmission of the text of the Qur’an, but also the conceptual frameworks and paradigms that intricately shaped its reception.’
Mustafa Shah, SOAS University of London, UK
Editor of The Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies
‘This volume brings together a variety of different authors of various backgrounds, and paints a strikingly comprehensive picture of the history of the Qur’an. It successfully brings material evidence, and traditional Qur’anic sciences into conversation and integrates them to present new and thought-provoking insights.’
Marijn van Putten, Leiden University, Netherlands
Author of Quranic Arabic: From Its Hijazi Origins to Its Classical Reading Traditions
'Redhwan Karim's edited volume is a timely and significant contribution to the dynamic and rapidly advancing field of the history of the Qur'an, offering cutting-edge research particularly on the oral and textual transmissions of the Qur'an.'
Muhammad Husain Kazi, Cambridge Muslim College
Acknowledgements v
Stylistic Conventions vii
List of Contributors ix
1. Towards a History of the Qur’ān
F. Redhwan Karim 1
2. Early Qur’ānic Manuscripts: An Overview
François Déroche 27
3. Ancient Scribes and Qur’ānic Manuscripts:
Uncovering Scribal Practices in the Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest
Éléonore Cellard 65
4. Writing About the Qur’ān: Scribal Practices of
Qur’ānic Studies Manuscripts from the Fourth/
Tenth century
Yousry Elseadawy 89
5. The Compilation of the Qur’ān during
the Reign of Abu Bakr
Ammar Khatib and Nazir Khan 121
6. Rasm (Qur’ānic Orthography): The Written
Representation of the Recited Text of the Qur’ān
M.A.S. Abdel Haleem 163
7. The View of ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas’ūd on the
‘Uthmānic Qur’ān Compilation
Zahed Fettah 193
8. An Alternative Opinion on the Reality of the
‘Seven Aḥruf’ and Its Relationship with the Qirāʾāt
Yasir Qadhi 221
9. The Multifaceted Sanad Traditions of Extra-Muṣḥaf Qur’ānic Transmission
Khairil Husaini Bin Jamil 281
10. Multivocality, Variegation, and the Trajectories
of “Text”: Ausgangstexte as an Approach to
Qur’ānic Pluriformity
Stephen Cúrto 307
11. The Recitations of the Shīʿah Imams and its
Role in the History of the Qur’ān
Meysam Kohantorabi 355
12. Shaping the Qur’ān’s Journey:
A Global History of Translation
Afsan Redwan 381