The Story of the Qur’an: an introductory overview
- Week 1: “The Civilization of the Book”: Overview of the Islamic intellectual heritage
- What understandings and approaches to religion did the Qur’an inspire?
- Broad outline of the different disciplines, paradigms, and orientations of Islamic knowledge in Muslim intellectual history
- Go over objectives and outline of what we will be doing this year
- Week 2: Modes of revelation: How was the Qur’an revealed?
- How the Prophet received and conveyed revelation
- The Qur’an as an ongoing process and dialogue
- Compilation of the Qur’an into a “book”
- Week 3: Chronology and themes of the Qur’an
- What were the themes of revelation in the different periods of the Prophet’s life?
- Approaching the Qur’an through the sirah (life of the Prophet), and approaching the sirah through the Qur’an
- Week 4: Interpreting and Understanding the Qur'an (the tafsir literature)
- What are the different types of Qur'anic commentary (tafsir) and their approaches to the Qur'an?
- What are the different methods used to understand the Qur'an?