The Qur’an A Biography Other titles in the Books That Shook the World series: Available now: Plato’s Republic by Simon Blackburn Darwin’s Origin of Species by Janet Browne Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man by Christopher Hitchens Marx’s Das Kapital by Francis Wheen Forthcoming: The Bible by Karen Armstrong Homer’s The Iliad and the Odyssey by Alberto Manguel Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations by P. J. O’Rourke Clausewitz’s On War by Hew Strachan Published in Great Britain in hardback in 2006 by Atlantic Books. Atlantic Books is an imprint of Grove Atlantic Ltd. Copyright © Bruce Lawrence 2006 The moral right of Bruce Lawrence to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders. The publishers will be pleased to make good any omissions or rectify any mistakes brought to their attention at the earliest opportunity. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 1 84354 398 2 eISBN 978 1 78239 218 7 Designed by Richard Marston Printed in Great Britain by [ ] Atlantic Books An imprint of Grove Atlantic Ltd Ormond House 26–27 Boswell Street London WC1N 3JZ www.groveatlantic.co.uk For Dr Ibrahim Abu Nab, who lived the truth of ‘seeking God’s purpose every day’. (Qur’an, Chapter 55:29) CONTENTS Acknowledgements A Note on Translations A Note on Romanization Introduction ARAB CORE 1 The Prophet Muhammad: Merchant and Messenger 2 The Prophet Muhammad: Organizer and Strategist 3 ’A’ishah: Muhammad’s Wife and Custodian of His Memory 4 The Dome of the Rock: Jerusalem Landmark, Qur’anic Icon EARLY COMMENTARIES 5 Ja’far as-Sadiq: Shi’ite Imam and Qur’anic Exegete 6 Abu Ja’far at-Tabari: Sunni Historian and Qur’anic Exegete LATER INTERPRETATIONS 7 Robert of Ketton: Polymath Translator of the Qur’an 8 Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi: Visionary Interpreter of Divine Names 9 Jalal ad-din Rumi: Author of the Persian Qur’an Author of the Persian Qur’an ASIAN ECHOES 10 Taj Mahal: Gateway to the Qur’anic Vision of Paradise 11 Ahmad Khan: Indian Educator and Qur’an Commentator 12 Muhammad Iqbal: Pakistani Poet Inspired by Qur’anic Motifs GLOBAL ACCENTS 13 W. D. Mohammed: Qur’an as Guide to Racial Equality 14 Osama bin Laden: Qur’an as Mandate for Jihad 15 AIDS Victims and Sick Women: Qur’an as Prescription for Mercy Epilogue Glossary of Key Terms Further Reading Index ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My debts are too many to permit more than brief acknowledgement here. My first and enduring debt is to Ibrahim Abu Nab of Amman. A gifted translator, journalist and filmmaker, Ibrahim opened his heart as well as his home to me when I visited him back in the 1980s. We spent long evening hours reading, discussing and translating the Noble Qur’an. I have benefited from his insight into A Book of Signs (the Qur’an is at once the Noble Qur’an and A Book of Signs. See below pp. 8 & 15) and his reverence for its divine origins. I honour his memory by dedicating this book to him. In several chapters I have used some of the privately circulated translations of Shawkat Toorawa. I am indebted to him for permission both to cite his lyrical renditions and to modify them slightly in this biography of A Book of Signs. Equally am I beholden to five of my former students, Rick Colby, Jamillah Karim, Scott Kugle, Rob Rozehnal and Omid Safi, for their extraordinary insight into the shaping and reshaping of this text. To my colleague, Ebrahim Moosa, who read the whole of the manuscript with the heart of a believer and the eye of a critic, I give special thanks. My life’s partner, Miriam Cooke, did so much that no words of mine are adequate. I invoke Rumi. Quoting the Prophet’s dictum, Mawlana once observed that ‘women totally dominate men of intellect and possessors of hearts’. May this book be its beneficiary! A NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS Notes on translation are as necessary with respect to the Qur’an as they are futile. No single translation in English satisfies. The closest is Thomas Cleary, The Qur’an: A New Translation (Starlatch Press, 2004), often cited, or paraphrased, in the chapters above. It completes his earlier, condensed effort, The Essential Koran (HarperSanFrancisco, 1994), which some may still prefer, if only because it, unlike the 2004 rendition, offers an introduction and partial commentary. The most satisfying English translations with commentary and/or textual apparatus are A. J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted (Macmillan, 1955) and M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an: A New Translation (Oxford University Press, 2004). For those who want both an English translation and the Arabic original with which to compare it, Ahmed Ali has provided Al-Qur’an: A Contemporary Translation (Princeton University Press, 1988). The Qur’an exceeds the efforts of the most skilled and dedicated translators. It must be heard to be appreciated in its Arabic cadences, its inexpressible rhythms, its calibrated scales. The most available partial recitations can be found in the audio CD that accompanies Michael Sells’ original, evocative study, Approaching the Qur’an: the Early Revelations (White Cloud Press, 1999). For an insider’s introduction to the elements of traditional and progressive interpretation of the Qur’an, consult Farid Esack, The Qur’an: A Short Introduction (Oneworld Publications, 2002), and for the delights and dilemmas of teaching the Qur’an in the modern European or American university, see Jane D. McAuliffe, ‘Disparity and Context: Teaching Quranic Studies in North America’ in Brannon M. Wheeler (ed.), Teaching Islam (Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 94–107. Jane D. McAuliffe is also the General Editor for what will be the major reference work in English on the Qur’an for at least the next fifty years: Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an (E. J. Brill, 2001–2005). Its five volumes total slightly less than 2,700 pages, and include extensive cross-referencing as well as some illustrations in volume 2.