In 1947, Cairo University refused his doctoral dissertation presented to the Department of Arabic entitled The Narrative Art in the Holy Qur'an(al-Fann al-qasasi fi al-Qurʾan al-karim), as he suggested that holy texts are allegoric and that they should not be seen as something fixed, but as a moral direction.[3] As a pupil of Amin al-Khuli[fr], he stated that one can study the Qur'an from a literary point of view.[4] Indeed, the aim of Muhammad is to convince people. So he uses all rhetorical ways at his disposal, which includes metaphors, biblical and pre-islamic narratives. In Khalafallah's opinion, historical truth is not the main goal, but rather the religious and ethic sense conveyed by these stories.[5] Khalafallah has been accused to treat the Speech of God as if it was a human product. Yet, he does not question the authenticity of the revelation.[6] He takes up a traditional theme, that of the inimitability (iʿjaz) of the Qur'an - the first title of his thesis was Min asrar al-iʿjaz, (“On the Secrets of the Qurʾan’s inimitability").[7] He was fired from his teaching position and transferred to the Ministry of Culture.[3]
Afterwards, he started a thesis on a non-religious subject and received his doctorate in 1952. He ended his career at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.[3][1]
His doctoral thesis has finally been published in 1954.[8] His master's thesis, al-Jadal fī l-Qurʾān (“Polemic in the Qurʾān”) has been published with the title Muhammad wa l-quwâ l-mudadda ("Muhammad and the opposition forces"), Cairo, 1973.[9][10]
He wrote Mafāhīm Qurʼānīyah ( "Quranic concepts"), published in arabic in 1984,[11]al-Qur'ân-wa mushkilat hayâti-nâ l-mu'âsira ("The Qur'an and our contemporary problems") and al-Qur'ân wa l-dawla ("The Qur'an and the State"). But these works are less innovative than his doctoral thesis.[12]
Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Iṣfahānī, also known as Abul-Faraj, was a writer, historian, genealogist, poet, musicologist and scribe. He was of Arab-Quraysh origin and mainly based in Baghdad. He is best known as the author of Kitab al-Aghani, which includes information about the earliest attested periods of Arabic music and the lives of poets and musicians from the pre-Islamic period to al-Isfahani's time. Given his contribution to the documentation of the history of Arabic music, al-Isfahani is characterised by George Sawa as "a true prophet of modern ethnomusicology".
Muhammad ibn Isa, commonly known by his nisbaal-Tirmidhi, was a 9th-century Islamic scholar and traditionalist who compiled the Sahih al-Tirmidhi, one of the Kutub al-Sitta in Sunni Islam.
Liberalism and progressivism within Islam involve professed Muslims who have created a considerable body of progressive thought about Islamic understanding and practice. Their work is sometimes characterized as "progressive Islam". Some scholars, such as Omid Safi, differentiate between "Progressive Muslims" and "Liberal advocates of Islam".
Zaydism is one of the three main branches of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali‘s unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. Zaydism is typically considered to be a branch of Shia Islam that comes closest to the Sunni, although the "classical" form of Zaydism over the centuries had changed its posture with regard to Sunni and Shia traditions multiple times, to the point where interpretation of Zaydi as Shia is often based on just their acceptance of Ali as a rightful successor to Muhammad. Zaydis regard the rationalism as more important than Quranic literalism and in the past were quite tolerant towards Sunni Shafiism, a religion of about half of the Yemenis.
Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Juzayy Al Gharnati was an Andalusian Maliki-Ash'ari scholar and poet of Arab origin.
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd was an Egyptian Quranic thinker, author, academic and one of the leading liberal theologians in Islam. He is famous for his project of a humanistic Quranic hermeneutics, which "challenged mainstream views" on the Quran, sparking "controversy and debate." While not denying that the Quran was of divine origin, Zayd argued that it was a "cultural product" that had to be read in the context of the language and culture of seventh century Arabs, and could be interpreted in more than one way. He also criticized the use of religion to exert political power. In 1995 an Egyptian Sharia court declared him an apostate, this led to threats of death and his fleeing Egypt several weeks later. He later quietly returned to Egypt where he died.
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm was an Andalusian Muslim polymath, historian, muhaddith, jurist, philosopher, and theologian, born in the Caliphate of Córdoba, present-day Spain. Described as one of the strictest hadith interpreters, Ibn Hazm was a leading proponent and codifier of the Zahiri school of Islamic thought and produced a reported 400 works, of which only 40 still survive. In all, his written works amounted to some 80,000 pages. Described as one of the fathers of comparative religion, the Encyclopaedia of Islam refers to him as having been one of the leading thinkers of the Muslim world.
Abū Manṣūr ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Thaʿālibī (961–1038), was a writer famous for his anthologies and collections of epigrams. As a writer of prose and verse in his own right, distinction between his and the work of others is sometimes lacking, as was the practice of writers of the time.
Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Anṣārī al-Qurṭubī was an Andalusian Sunni Muslim polymath, Maliki jurisconsult, mufassir, muhaddith and an expert in the Arabic language. He was taught by prominent scholars of Córdoba, Spain and he is well known for his classical commentary of the Quran named Tafsir al-Qurtubi.
In Islam, ’i‘jāz or inimitability of the Qur’ān is the doctrine which holds that the Qur’ān has a miraculous quality, both in content and in form, that no human speech can match. According to this doctrine the Qur'an is a miracle and its inimitability is the proof granted to Muhammad in authentication of his prophetic status. It serves the dual purpose of proving the authenticity of its divineness as being a source from the creator as well as proving the genuineness of Muhammad's prophethood to whom it was revealed as he was the one bringing the message.
A number of terms are used in Islam to refer to the claims of events happening that are not explicable by natural or scientific laws, subjects where people sometimes invoke the supernatural. In the Quran the term āyah refers to signs in the context of miracles of God's creation and of the prophets and messengers. In later Islamic sources miracles of the prophets were referred to by Muʿjiza (مُعْجِزَة), literally meaning "that by means of which [the Prophet] confounds, overwhelms, his opponents"), while miracles of saints are referred to as karamat (charismata). I'jaz al-Quran – literally the inimitability of the Quran – refers to the Quranic claim that no one can hope to imitate its perfection, this quality being considered the primary miracle of the Quran and proof of Muhammad's prophethood. In recent decades, the term I'jaz has also come to refer to the belief that the Quran contains "scientific miracles", i.e. prophecies of scientific discoveries. Kharq al'adad – "a break in God's customary order of things" – was a term used in "theological or philosophical discussions" to refer to miraculous events. Karamat – "gifts or graces" – was usually used for miraculous performances of Sufi saints often used to convert unbelievers to Islam.
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn aṭ-Ṭayyib al-Bāqillānī, often known as al-Bāqillānī, was an Sunni Arab polymath who specialized in theology, jurisprudence, logic and hadith who spent much of his life defending and strengthening the Ash'ari school of theology within Islam. An accomplished rhetorical stylist and orator, al-Baqillani was held in high regard by his contemporaries for his expertise in debating theological and jurisprudential issues. Al-Dhahabi called him "The Learned Imam, Incomparable Master, Foremost of the Scholars, Author of many books, The Example of Articulateness and Intelligence."
ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, commonly known as Ibn Umar, was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of the second Caliph Umar. He was a prominent authority in hadith and law. He remained neutral during the events of the first Fitna (656–661).
Amīn al-Dawla Abu'l-Ḥasan Hibat Allāh ibn Ṣaʿīd ibn al-Tilmīdh was a Christian Arab physician, pharmacist, poet, musician and calligrapher of the medieval Islamic civilization.
Idris Kandhlawi was a Pakistani Sunni scholar during the mid-twentieth century, widely recognized for his contributions to various fields of Islamic studies, including hadith, Quranic studies, Islamic jurisprudence, Prophetic biography, and theology. Holding the titles of Sheikh al-Hadith and Sheikh al-Tafsir, he traced his lineage to Abu Bakr on his father's side and Umar on his mother's side. He studied in Thana Bhawan under Ashraf Ali Thanwi. He studied hadith, first at Mazahir Uloom under Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri, and later at Darul Uloom Deoband under Anwar Shah Kashmiri. He started his professional career at Madrasa Aminia and later went to Darul Uloom Deoband. In 1929 he took a position in Hyderabad State, where he had access to the Asafia Library. This experience enabled him to produce a five-volume Arabic commentary on Mishkat al-Masabih titled Al-Taleeq al-Sabeeh, of which the first four volumes were published in Damascus. His scholarly work garnered recognition in the Arab world. He later assumed the roles of Sheikh al-Tafsir at Darul Uloom Deoband and Sheikh al-Hadith wa al-Tafsir at Jamia Ashrafia. In addition, he served as the Chancellor of Islamia University of Bahawalpur during its tenure as Jamia Abbasia.
Riddles are historically a significant genre of Arabic literature. The Qur’an does not contain riddles as such, though it does contain conundra. But riddles are attested in early Arabic literary culture, 'scattered in old stories attributed to the pre-Islamic bedouins, in the ḥadīth and elsewhere; and collected in chapters'. Since the nineteenth century, extensive scholarly collections have also been made of riddles in oral circulation.
Thaʽlab (ثعلب), whose kunya was Abū al-ʽAbbās Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā was a renowned authority on grammar, a muhaddith (traditionist), a reciter of poetry, and first scholar of the school of al-Kūfah, and later at Baghdād. He was a keen rival of Al-Mubarrad, the head of the school of al-Baṣrah. Thaʽlab supplied much biographic detail about his contemporary philologists found in the biographical dictionaries produced by later biographers.
Abū al-Qāsim ibn Firruh ibn Khalaf ibn Aḥmad al-Ruʿaynī al-Shāṭibī, 538–590 AH / 1144–1194 CE, was an Islamic scholar from Xàtiva who worked in the field of qira'at, Qur'an recitation methods.
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