Scholars of Qurʾanic studies have commonly acknowledged the significance of pre-Islamic Syriac Christian literature for the study of the Qurʾan. By offering new evidence, the present volume refines and challenges the arguments of previous studies and unearths hitherto unexplored recurring themes and motifs. It focuses on selected themes related to prophets, military and non-military forms of jihād, concepts of darkness and light, depictions of the Garden and the Fire, Satan’s fall, and bodily purity. The volume also seeks to highlight the importance of Syriac texts to the Qurʾan’s theology relative to comparable Jewish and non-Syriac Christian sources. Moreover, it investigates how Qurʾanic concepts diverge from Syriac Christian parallels and develop a distinct theological message.

Contributors are Daniel Bannoura, Dmitrij F. Bumazhnov, Johanne Louise Christiansen, Ryann Elizabeth Craig, Ana Davitashvili, Mohammad Ghandehari, Mohammad Haghani Fazl, Mark Hoover, Nestor Kavvadas, Jacob M. Kildoo, Christian Lange, Gavin McDowell, MohammadReza Moini, and Lasse Løvlund Toft.