Mohsen Goudarzi

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Mohsen Goudarzi Taghanaki is an Iranian Quranic studies scholar and assistant professor of Islamic studies at Harvard Divinity School. [1]

Contents

He investigates the Qur’an and early Islamic history through multiple analytical lenses, such as literary, linguistic, comparative, and historical methods. [2] He is especially focused on understanding how the Qur'an reveals the religious developments of Late Antiquity and the early Islamic period. [1]

Biography

Early life and education

Goudarzi grew up in Tehran, Iran. [3] Following high school, he earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer engineering. [3] Subsequently, he pursued a master's degree in religious studies at Stanford University, driven by a longstanding interest in the humanities and religious history. [3] Goudarzi received his PhD from Harvard University in 2018. [4]

Career

Mohsen Goudarzi became a faculty member at Harvard Divinity School in July 2021. Before that, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota, starting in 2018. [1] [5] [6]

Personal life

Mohsen Goudarzi is married to Narges Afshordi. [7]

Scholarly views and contributions

Classification of Quranic studies scholars

Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi classify Quranic studies scholars into four main groups. "Traditionalists" accept the conventional Muslim narrative about the Quran's compilation and canonization. "Revisionists," including scholars like Wansbrough, Patricia Crone, Alfred Louis de Prémare, and David Powers, view the process as more complex and extended. "Skeptics" doubt the traditional accounts but at the same time find the revisionist theories unconvincing. Lastly, "neotraditionalists," such as Motzki, Muhammad Muhaysin, and Michael Cook (who transitioned from revisionism), critically examine the sources to support key aspects of the traditional account, without accepting it fully at face value. [8] Although this classification has been generally accepted by many scholars, [9] Mun'im Sirry finds it "problematic as it is based on the pejorative assumption that traditionalists are, by definition, not critical." [10]

Textual history of the Quran

Sadeghi and Goudarzi seeks to demonstrate that the transmission of the Quran occurred "most likely via hearers who wrote down a text that was directed by the prophet." [11]

According to Éléonore Cellard, Sadeghi and Goudarzi's textual reconstruction is "currently the most complete edition of the Saṇā palimpsest." [12] Marijn van Putten states that Sadeghi and Goudarzi's work "has significantly contributed to a better understanding of the textual history of the Quran." [13] According to Seyfeddin Kara, this study has produced "ground-breaking results", adding that "there have been subsequent studies of the Ṣanʿāʾ palimpsests but nevertheless they did not fundamentally challenge the findings of Sadeghi and Goudarzi about the early closure of the Qurʼanic canon." [14]

Scripturology

Goudarzi defends a two kitab hypothesis, arguing that the Torah and the Qur'an are the only two scriptures referred to as "kitāb" by the Qur'an due to their unique nature as comprehensive texts providing historical and legal knowledge. In contrast, the Injil, or Gospels, is not considered a complete "kitāb" in the same way as the Torah. [15] According to Nicolai Sinai, Goudarzi's arguments for two kitab hypothesis is "rigorous and sophisticated". [15] His thesis has been endorsed by Saqib Hussain in his 2022 Oxford PhD dissertation. [16]

Ishmaelite particularism

Goudarzi contends that the Qur'an introduces a unique form of particularism, without discarding its universalist tendencies, not rooted in Israelite traditions but in Ishmaelite ones, emphasizing the descendants of both Israel and Ishmael. [17] According to Holger Zellentin, such a scheme already appears to align with the Qur'an's broader narrative concerning Israelite law. [17]

Works

Related Research Articles

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A surah is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. Its plural form in Arabic is suwar.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Ma'idah</span> 5th chapter of the Quran

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Hejr</span> 15th chapter of the Quran

Al-Ḥijr is the 15th sūrah. It has 99 āyāt (verses).

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Al-Furqan is the 25th chapter (sūrah) of the Qur'an, with 77 verses (āyāt). The name Al-Furqan, or "The Criterion", refers to the Qur'an itself as the decisive factor between good and evil. This Surah is named Al-Furqan from the 4th word in the 1st ayat.

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Collyridianism was an alleged Early Christian movement in Arabia whose adherents worshipped the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, as a goddess. The existence of the sect is subject to some dispute by scholars, as the only contemporary source to describe it is the Panarion of St. Epiphanius of Salamis.

The history of the Quran, the holy book of Islam, is the timeline ranging from the inception of the Quran during the lifetime of Muhammad, to the emergence, transmission, and canonization of its written copies. The history of the Quran is a major focus in the field of Quranic studies.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanaa manuscript</span> Early Quranic palimpsest

The Sanaa palimpsest or Sanaa Quran is one of the oldest Quranic manuscripts in existence. Part of a sizable cache of Quranic and non-Quranic fragments discovered in Yemen during a 1972 restoration of the Great Mosque of Sanaa, the manuscript was identified as a palimpsest Quran in 1981 as it is written on parchment and comprises two layers of text.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic holy books</span> Religious scriptures seen by Muslims as holy

Islamic holy books are certain religious scriptures that are viewed by Muslims as having valid divine significance, in that they were authored by God (Allah) through a variety of prophets and messengers, including those who predate the Quran. Among the group of religious texts considered to be valid revelations, the three that are mentioned by name in the Quran are the Tawrat, received by prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel; the Zabur (Psalms), received by David; and the Injeel, received by Jesus. Additionally, the Quran mentions God's revealing of the Scrolls of Abraham and the Scrolls of Moses.

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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early Quranic manuscripts</span> Documentary texts in Islamic studies

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mohsen Goudarzi". Harvard Divinity School (HDS). Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  2. ↑ "The Qur'an and Its Cultic Subtext". Yale MacMillan Center Council on Middle East Studies. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Call of the Qur'an". Harvard Divinity School (HDS). 2022-11-03. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  4. ↑ Loynes, S.P. (2021). Revelation in the Qur'an: A Semantic Study of the Roots n-z-l and w-ḥ-y. Texts and Studies on the Qurʾān. Brill. p. 165. ISBN   978-90-04-45297-8 . Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  5. ↑ Hayden, Maria (2019-01-10). "Qur'anic Studies Professor Joins RELS". College of Liberal Arts. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  6. ↑ Naughton, Michael (2020-05-24). "Islamic Studies scholars join Harvard Divinity School faculty". The Siasat Daily – Archive. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  7. ↑ "Mohsen Goudarzi and Narges Afshordi". The Harvard Crimson. 2024-04-10. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  8. ↑ Bearman, P.; Peters, R. (2016). The Ashgate Research Companion to Islamic Law. Taylor & Francis. p. 57. ISBN   978-1-317-04305-8 . Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  9. ↑ Benmessaoud, Sanaa; Fareh, Shehdeh; Abidi, Leila (2024-01-21). "Images of the Qur'an in Western scholarship: a socio-narrative approach". Cogent Arts & Humanities. 11 (1). Informa UK Limited. doi: 10.1080/23311983.2024.2303183 . ISSN   2331-1983.
  10. ↑ Sirry, M. (2021). Controversies over Islamic Origins: An Introduction to Traditionalism and Revisionism. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 117. ISBN   978-1-5275-7134-1 . Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  11. ↑ Salama, M. (2024). God's Other Book: The Qur'ān Between History and Ideology. University of California Press. p. 218. ISBN   978-0-520-39184-0 . Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  12. ↑ Cellard, Éléonore (2021). "The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 80 (1): 1–30. doi:10.1086/713473. ISSN   0022-2968.
  13. ↑ van Putten, Marijn (2019). ""The Grace of God" as evidence for a written Uthmanic archetype: the importance of shared orthographic idiosyncrasies". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 82 (2): 271–288. doi:10.1017/S0041977X19000338. hdl: 1887/79373 . ISSN   0041-977X.
  14. ↑ Kara, S. (2024). The Integrity of the Qur'an: Sunni and Shi'i Historical Narratives. Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Scripture and Theology. Edinburgh University Press. p. 9-10. ISBN   978-1-4744-6223-5.
  15. 1 2 Sinai, N. (2023). Key Terms of the Qur'an: A Critical Dictionary. Princeton University Press. p. 594. ISBN   978-0-691-24132-6 . Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  16. ↑ Hussain, M. S. (2022). Wisdom in the Qur'an [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.
  17. 1 2 Zellentin, H.M. (2022). Law Beyond Israel: From the Bible to the Qur'an. Oxford studies in the Abrahamic religions. Oxford University Press. p. 108. ISBN   978-0-19-967557-9 . Retrieved 2024-08-16.
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