The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters which consist of individual verses. Besides its religious significance, it is widely regarded as the finest work in Arabic literature, and has significantly influenced the Arabic language. It is also the object of a modern field of academic research known as Quranic studies.
People of the Book or Ahl al-kitāb is an Islamic term referring to followers of those religions which Muslims regard as having been guided by previous revelations, generally in the form of a scripture. In the Quran they are identified as the Jews, the Christians, the Sabians, and—according to some interpretations—the Zoroastrians. Starting from the 8th century, some Muslims also recognized other religious groups such as the Samaritans, and even Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains, as People of the Book.
Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi, known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on tafsir, tarikh (history) and fiqh (jurisprudence), he is considered a leading authority on Sunni Islam.
Maryam bint Imran is revered in Islam. The Qur'an refers to her seventy times and explicitly identifies her as the greatest woman to have ever lived. In the Quran, her story is related in three Meccan surahs and four Medinan surahs. The nineteenth Surah, Maryam, is named after her. Moreover, she is the only woman named in the Quran.
Asma Barlas is a Pakistani-American writer and academic. Her specialties include comparative and international politics, Islam and Qur'anic hermeneutics, and women's studies.
The history of the Quran, the holy book of Islam, is the timeline and origin of the written compilations or manuscripts of the Quran, based on historical findings. It spans several centuries, and forms an important major part of the early history of Islam.
Herbert Berg is a scholar of religion. Trained at the University of Toronto's Centre for the Study of Religion in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he is currently a Visiting assistant professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College. He previously taught as a professor in the Department of International Studies and the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and was the Director of the International Studies from 2011 to 2018. At UNCW, he has been recognized with the University of North Carolina Board of Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching (2019), the Governor's Award for Excellence for "Outstanding State Government Service" (2013), the Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award (2013), the Board of Trustees Teaching Excellence Award (2012), the Distinguished Teaching Professorship Award (2012), and the Chancellor's Teaching Excellence Award (2006).
Those firmly rooted in knowledge is a recurring theme in the Qur'an and Sunnah. This term is of special interest for the Shi'a.
The Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān is an encyclopedia dedicated to Quranic Studies edited by Islamic scholar Jane Dammen McAuliffe, and published by Brill Publishers.
Breastfeeding is highly regarded in Islam. The Qur'an regards it as a sign of love between the mother and child. In Islamic law, breastfeeding creates ties of milk kinship that has implications in family law. Muslims throughout the world have varied breastfeeding traditions.
The Quran states that several prior writings constitute holy books given by God to the prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel, in the same way the Quran was revealed to Muhammad. These include the Tawrat, believed by Muslims to have been given by God to the prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel, the Zabur revealed to David (Dawud); and the Injil revealed to Jesus (Isa).
Abu ‘Imarah Hamzah Ibn Habib al-Zayyat al-Taymi, better known as Hamzah az-Zaiyyat (80-156AH), was one of the seven canonical transmitters of the Qira'at, or methods of reciting the Qur'an. His appellation "az-Zaiyyat" was given to him because he used to work transporting natural oils to Hulwan and then bringing cheese and walnuts back to Kufa. He was persian.
Abu Sa'id Uthman Ibn Sa‘id al-Qutbi, better known as Warsh (110-197AH), was a significant figure in the history of Quranic recitation (qira'at), the canonical methods of reciting the Qur'an. Alongside Qalun, he was one of the two primary transmitters of the canonical reading method of Nafi‘ al-Madani. Together, their style is the most common form of Qur'anic recitation in the generality of African mosques outside of Egypt, and is also popular in Yemen and Darfur despite the rest of Sudan following the method of Hafs. The method of Warsh and his counterpart Qalun was also the most popular method of recitation in Al-Andalus. The majority of printed Mushafs today in North Africa and West Africa follow the reading of Warsh.
Sayyidat Nisa' al-Alamin is a title of Fatima, daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. She is recognized by this title and by Sayyidat Nisa' al-Janna in Shia and Sunni collections of hadith, including the canonical Sunni Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. In particular, the hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari is narrated from Muhammad's wife Aisha. Muhammad is also said to have listed Fatima, Khadija, Maryam, and Asiya as the four outstanding women of all time, according to the Shia Abu al-Futuh al-Razi and the Sunni Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, among others.
Gabriel Said Reynolds is an American academic and historian of religion, who serves as Jerome J. Crowley and Rosaleen G. Crowley Professor of Theology and assistant professor of Islamic Studies and Theology at the University of Notre Dame. His scholarship focuses on World Religions and World Church, History of Christianity, Qur'anic Studies, Origins of Islam, and Muslim-Christian relations.
Al-Muharrar al-Wajiz fi Tafsir al-Kitāb al-'Aziz or shortly named al-Muharrar al-Wajiz, better known as Tafsir Ibn 'Atiyya, is a classical Sunni tafsir of the Qur'an, authored by the Maliki-Ash'ari scholar Ibn 'Atiyya.
The Cairo edition, or the King Fu'ād Quran or the Azhar Quran, is an edition of the Quran printed by the Amiri Press in the Bulaq district of Cairo on July 10, 1924. It is the first printed Quran to be accepted by a Muslim authority, this authority being Al-Azhar.
A fal-i Qur'an is a divinatory Qur'an used to predict and interpret the future for the user. The word fal-i comes from Persian and means divination. Islamic divinatory and occult practices grew in popularity during the Safavid Empire's rule, and manifested through practices such as astrology, geomancy, and the use of fal-i Qur'ans. The use of the fal-i Qur'an draws on previous practices across religions of using holy books for bibliomancy. Engaging in these divinatory tools allowed users to interpret events in their lives and offer advice. Fal-i qur'ans are often associated with falnama, decorated fortune telling books. A fal-i Qur'an is made up of a standard Qur'an with a divination chart, also referred to as a divination grid, at the end. The divination charts found in fal-i Qur'ans consist of a letter table and corresponding explanations which users can understand by following specific steps, to answer and offer advice to posed questions. The majority of fal-i Qur'ans still extant today are from the Safavid period, therefore created in the Safavid Quranic style. Safavid Qur'ans covered a range of styles from simple handwritten copies to very ornate and decorated versions with various colors.
