EDITED WITH TRANSLATIONS BY IBN WARRAQ Respect for the faith of sincere believers cannot be allowed either to block or deflect the investigation of the historian ... Maxime Rodinson Preface and Acknowledgments 13 Transliteration and Other Technical Matters 17 PART 1. INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction Ibn Warraq 23 2. What Is the Koran? Toby Lester 107 PART 2. BACKGROUND 2. Towards a Prehistory of Islam Yehuda D. Nevo 131 PART 3. A QUESTION OF LANGUAGE 1. Syriac Influence on the Style of the Koran Alphonse Mingana 171 2. Some Additions to Prof. Jeffery's Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur'an D. S. Margoliouth 193 3. The Arabic Readers of the Koran Paul E. Kahle 201 4. The Beginnings of Classical Arabic C. Rabin 211 5. The Role of the Bedouins as Arbiters in Linguistic Questions and the Mas'ala Az-Zunburiyya Joshua Blau 228 6. Some Suggestions to Qur'an Translators A. Ben-Shemesh 238 PART 4. SOURCES OF THE KORAN: ESSENIAN, CHRISTIAN, COPTIC 1. Introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls Ibn Warraq 245 2. The Qumran Scrolls and the Qur'an Eric R. Bishop 251 3. An Essenian Tradition in the Koran Marc Philonenko 268 4. A Qumranian Expression in the Koran Marc Philonenko 283 5. A Possible Coptic Source of a Qur'anic Text Wilson B. Bishai 288 6. Introduction to Raimund Kobert Ibn Warraq 296 7. The Shahadat az-45r: The False Witness Raimund Kobert 301 8. On the Meaning of the Three Final Words of Sura XXII.30- 31 Raimund Kobert 303 9. Early and Later Exegesis of the Koran: A Supplement to Or 35 Raimund Kobert 311 PART 5. SURAS, SURAS, SURAS 1. Introduction to Sura IX.29 Ibn Warraq 319 2. Some Minor Problems in the Qur'an Franz Rosenthal 322 3. Koran IX.29 Claude Cahen 343 4. A Propos de Qur'an IX.29: Hatta Yu<tu L-Gizyata wa-hum Sagiruna Me'ir M. Bravmann and Claude Cahen 348 5. The Ancient Arab Background of the Koranic Concept al- Gizatu an Yadin Meir M. Bravmann 350 6. "'An Yadin" (Qur'an IX.29): An Attempt at Interpretation M. J. Kister 364 7. Koran and Tafsir: The Case of ",an Yadin" Uri Rubin 372 8. Koran XXV. 1: Al-Furgan and the "Warner" C. Heger 387 9. The Buddha Comes to China Michael Schub 391 10. The Secret Identity of Dhu 1-Kifl Michael Schub 394 PART 6. EMENDATIONS, INTERPOLATIONS 1. Studies Contributing to Criticism and Exegesis of the Koran J. Barth 399 2. A Qur'anic Interpolation A. Fischer 436 3. Regarding Qur'an CI.6 A. Fischer 462 4. Three Difficult Passages in the Koran C. C. Torrey 466 5. A Strange Reading in the Qur'an C. C. Torrey 481 6. Some Proposed Emendations to the Text of the Koran James A. Bellamy 488 PART 7. RICHARD BELL: INTRODUCTION AND COMMENTARY 1. Introduction to Richard Bell Ibn Warraq 517 2. From Introduction to the Qur'an Richard Bell 524 3. From A Commentary on the Qur'an Richard Bell 553 PART 8. POETRY AND THE KORAN 1. The Strophic Structure of the Koran Rudolf Geyer 625