The Qur'ân's Self-Image
eBook - PDF

The Qur'ân's Self-Image

Writing and Authority in Islam's Scripture

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The Qur'ân's Self-Image

Writing and Authority in Islam's Scripture

About this book

Islam is frequently characterized as a "religion of the book," and yet Muslims take an almost entirely oral approach to their scripture. Qur'ân means "recitation" and refers to the actual words Muslims believe were revealed to Muhammad by God. Many recite the entire sacred text from memory, and it was some years after the Prophet's death that it was first put in book form. Physical books play no part in Islamic ritual. What does the Qur'ân mean, then, when it so often calls itself kitâb, a term usually taken both by Muslims and by Western scholars to mean "book"? To answer this question, Daniel Madigan reevaluates this key term kitâb in close readings of the Qur'ân's own declarations about itself.


More than any other canon of scripture the Qur'ân is self-aware. It observes and discusses the process of its own revelation and reception; it asserts its own authority and claims its place within the history of revelation. Here Madigan presents a compelling semantic analysis of its self-awareness, arguing that the Qur'ân understands itself not so much as a completed book, but as an ongoing process of divine "writing" and "re-writing," as God's authoritative response to actual people and circumstances.


Grasping this dynamic, responsive dimension of the Qur'ân is central to understanding Islamic religion and identity. Madigan's book will be invaluable not only to Islamicists but also to scholars who study revelation across religious boundaries.

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Yes, you can access The Qur'ân's Self-Image by Daniel Madigan in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Theology & Religion & Islamic Theology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. CONTENTS
  5. LIST OF FIGURES
  6. LIST OF TABLES
  7. PREFACE
  8. A NOTE FOR THE NON-ARABIST
  9. TABLE OF TRANSLITERATIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS
  10. INTRODUCTION
  11. 1. THE QUR'ÂN AS A BOOK
  12. 2. THE QUR'ÂN'S REJECTION OF SOME COMMON CONCEPTIONS OF KITÂB
  13. 3. SEMANTIC ANALYSIS AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF KITÂB
  14. 4. THE SEMANTIC FIELD OF KITÂB I : VERBAL USES OF THE ROOT K-T-B
  15. 5. THE SEMANTIC FIELD OF KITÂB II: TITLES AND PROCESSES
  16. 6. THE SEMANTIC FIELD OF KITÂB III: SYNONYMS AND ATTRIBUTES
  17. 7. THE ELUSIVENESS OF THE KITÂB : PLURALS, PARTITIVES, AND INDEFINITES
  18. 8. THE CONTINUING LIFE OF THE KITÂB IN MUSLIM TRADITION
  19. APPENDIX: THE PEOPLE OF TUE KITÂB
  20. BIBLIOGRAPHY
  21. INDEX OF QUR'ÂNIC QUOTATIONS
  22. GENERAL INDEX