Key Terms of the Qur'an: A Critical Dictionary

This book is a comprehensive and multidisciplinary guide to understanding key Quranic terms, their meanings, translations, and historical context. It explores the relationship of Quranic terms to earlier traditions and makes critical use of later Muslim scholarship. It is accessible to readers with little or no Arabic knowledge and is an essential companion to the critical interpretation of Islamic scripture.

Format: Hardback
Length: 840 pages
Publication date: 11 July 2023
Publisher: Princeton University Press

This comprehensive single-volume companion is an invaluable resource for delving into the critical interpretation of Islamic scripture. It offers detailed and multidisciplinary coverage of a vast array of key Quranic terms, providing insightful entries on crucial expressions such as allāh (“God”) and al-raḥmān (“the Merciful”). The book explores the meanings of these terms in Quranic usage, discusses their translation into English, and highlights their role in expressing the unique understanding of God, humans, and the cosmos found in the Quran.

In addition to its examination of Quranic terminology, the book also conducts a comprehensive but nonreductionist investigation of the relationship between Quranic terms and earlier traditions, including Jewish and Christian literature, pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, and Arabian epigraphy. By drawing on a wealth of comparative material, the dictionary provides a deeper understanding of the historical and cultural context in which the Quran was written.

While the dictionary is primarily focused on ascertaining the intended meaning of the Quran to its original recipients in late antique Arabia, it also makes selective and critical use of later Muslim scholarship alongside an extensive body of secondary research in English, German, and French from the nineteenth century to the present. This interdisciplinary approach ensures that readers gain a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the Quranic terms under study.

The entries in this dictionary are organized in a user-friendly format, with concise overviews and substantial essays covering a wide range of topics. Each entry is accompanied by extensive footnotes and a comprehensive bibliography, making it an essential resource for scholars, students, and anyone interested in exploring the rich linguistic and theological dimensions of the Quran.

Whether you are a beginner or an advanced student of Arabic or Islamic studies, this dictionary.

Weight: 1680g
Dimension: 188 x 264 x 53 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691241319