How to Read the Qur'an: A New Guide, with Select Translations - Softcover

Carl W. Ernst

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0748650709 ISBN 13: 9780748650705

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2012

Synopsis

With new translations of 725 verses, this compact introduction and reader's guide to the Qur'an gives non-Arabic speakers the most precise translations available together with the tools they need to understand the text. It deals with sensitive issues regarding the interpretation of sacred texts and helps students to understand the differing points of view and major debates. A substantial explanatory introduction summarises the historical and literary issues and engages with the religious and political context of understanding the Qur'an today, including an appreciation of the ritual and oral uses of text.

About this title

About the Author

Carl W. Ernst is W.R. Kenan Professor of Religious Studies at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Director of the Carolina Center for the Study of Middle East and Muslim Civilizations at UNC Global. He is author of several books including 'Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World' (EUP, 2004), 'Sufi Martyrs of Love' (Palgrave, 2002) and 'Teachings of Sufism' (Shambhala Publications, 1999).

From the Back Cover

This book offers a compact introduction and reader's guide for anyone, non-Muslim or Muslim, who wants to know how to approach, read, and understand the text of the Qur'an. Using a chronological reading of the text according to the conclusions of modern scholarship, Ernst offers a nontheological approach that treats the Qur'an as a historical text that unfolded over time, in dialogue with its audience, during the career of the Prophet Muhammad.

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0748650709
• ISBN 13: 9780748650705
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288