About The Book

Ever since its revelation over fourteen hundred years ago, the Qur'an has been the focus of considerable scholarly research. The present work represents one of the finest contemporary examples of Qur'anic scholarship written by a scholar who has spent a lifetime studying and teaching Qur'anic studies.

In the course of five rich sections, Prof Adnan Zarzour considers an incredible range of topics including the nature of Qur'anic revelation, the history of the Qur'an's compilation, an exploration of the Qur'an's language, style and the nature of its stylistic inimitability and artistic features. Other themes explored here include the impact of the Qur'an on Islamic civilization, as well as the various classical sub-disciplines of Qur'anic studies, including the study of the variant readings (qirat), the reasons for revelation (asbab al-nuzal), and abrogation (naskh).

Prof Zarzour also explores contemporary scholarship on the Qur'an, notably through a critical evaluation of modern tendencies such as the claim that the Qur'an contains scientific miracles, as well as through an evaluation of some of the most scintillating modern works of Qur'anic commentary (tafsir). This invaluable work will considerably enrich anyone's library and will serve as a reference work for generations to come.

About The Author

Prof Adnan Muhammad Zarzour gained his undergraduate degree from the University of Damascus faculty of Shari'a in 1960, and his Masters and PhD from Dar al-cilium, Cairo University. Over a long and productive career, he has taught at numerous universities throughout the Arab world.

He is currently a visiting professor at Qatar University. His scholarly work covers a wide spectrum of fields including: Qur'anic and Hadith studies, Islamic theology, intellectual history, scholarly biography, and studies in contemporary political philosophy, covering the topics of human rights, secularism and nationalism.

About The Translator

Dr Adil Salahi's main career has been in radio and print journalism, and for over 30 years he was editor of ‘Islam in Perspective’, a twice-weekly full-page column in the Arab News, a Saudi daily newspaper.

He teaches at the Markfield Institute of Higher Education, Leicester, England. After working for the BBC Arabic Service for several years, he worked for the Arabic daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat.