Islamic Studies Qur'an and Textual Criticism
by
Shady Nasser
  • LAST MODIFIED: 07 January 2025
  • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195390155-0315

Introduction

Unlike the Qurʾan, the Hebrew Bible and New Testament traditions have been extensively studied in the past three centuries. While scholarly editions of texts are often based on rigorous studies of their manuscript traditions, the current text of the Qurʾan relies instead on one traditional text, the so-called ʿUthmānic recension. A critical edition has never been produced for the Qurʾan based on extant manuscripts. The scholarly consensus that the study of a text should be based on the analysis of the oldest and best manuscripts does not apply to the case of the Qurʾan, which relies on Muslim traditional sources that render the text based on the “consensus” of Muslim scholars. Western scholarship on the Qurʾan already acknowledges this shortcoming and tries to circumvent it through different methods. According to Andrew Rippin in “The Present Status of Tafsir Studies,” one of Arthur Jeffery’s major interests was to construct a printed text of the Qurʾan complete with a critical apparatus of textual and orthographic variants, but the project did not come to fruition. That being said, the study of Qurʾanic manuscripts is experiencing a significant surge in growth and vitality due to the widespread availability of digital manuscripts. With the discovery and digitization of more manuscripts, it might not be too far in the future that we get such a critical edition.

General Overview

Lester 1999 offers a nontechnical discussion of the textual tradition of the Qurʾan and some of its controversies. A survey and bibliography of the academic discourse on the matter can be found in Tottoli 2020. Since the Qurʾan was centrally and authoritatively fixed in a very early period (late seventh century), textual deviations from the officially codified version (the ʿUthmānic recension) were theologically delegated to an inferior status of being noncanonical material rejected by Muslim clergy. Jeffery 1935 and Bellamy 2001 draw attention to the challenges of applying methods of textual criticism to the Qurʾan. Concerning challenges of materiality, though fragments and incomplete manuscripts of noncanonical Qurʾans survived today, there has been a continuous process over the past fourteen hundred years to suppress and dispose of noncanonical Qurʾan manuscripts through direct extermination, for example, the third Caliph’s burning of the noncanonical codices, restricting access and archiving, erasing, rewriting, and amending the text, for example, the Sanaa palimpsest and al-Ḥajjāj’s emendations. Nöldeke, et al. 1909–1938 is still the best work to consult on these issues, which constitute critical moments in the origins, collections, and history of the Qurʾanic text. Until we have a larger and more diverse body of Qurʾanic manuscripts, any attempt to create a critical edition of the Qurʾan will be based on surviving fragments that largely conform to the traditional text. Small 2011 discusses these problems of materiality and attempts to apply Western methods of textual criticism to select Qurʾanic manuscripts. The emergence of the currently used version of the Qurʾan is discussed in Rezvan 1992. Textual criticism of the Qurʾan can be treated on several fronts: the study of extant manuscripts, including their orthography, canonical and noncanonical variant readings, falsification and textual corruption, the Aramaic origins/readings, and Arabic grammar and language.

  • Bellamy, James. “Textual Criticism of the Koran.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 121.1 (2001): 1–6.

    DOI: 10.2307/606724

    A short essay on the challenges of applying textual criticism to the Qurʾan. A few examples of corrections or emendations to the text of the Qurʾan are proposed by the author.

  • Jeffery, Arthur. “Progress in the Study of the Qur’an Text.” The Moslem World 25 (1935): 4–16.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-1913.1935.tb00058.x

    Discusses early-20th-century efforts and challenges to construct a critical edition of the Qurʾan.

  • Lester, Toby. “What Is the Koran?” The Atlantic Monthly 283.1 (January 1999): 43–56.

    A nontechnical discussion of academic views on the Qurʾan and its textual tradition.

  • Neuwirth, Angelika, and Nicolai Sinai, ed. The Qurʾan in Context. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2010.

    A collection of over twenty-five essays related to the formation of the Qurʾan in its late antique context. Several articles discuss textual aspects of the Qurʾan and its codification. The introduction sheds light on the difficulties of producing a so-called critical edition of the Qurʾan.

  • Nöldeke, Theodor, Gotthelf Bergsträsser, Friedrich Schwally, and Otto Pretzl. Geschichte des Qorâns. 3 vols. Leipzig: Dieterich’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1909–1938.

    Although published more than a century ago (reprint, 2006), Nöldeke’s work is still the best study of the Qurʾan based on the historical-critical method. It is the foundation of all subsequent scholarship with an emphasis on the origins, collections, and history of the text. English translation: Wolfgang Behn, trans., The History of the Qurʾan (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2013).

  • Rezvan, Efim A. “The Qur’ān between Textus Receptus and Critical Edition.” In Les problemes poses par l’edition critique des texts anciens et medievaux: Volume en collaboration internationale Institut d’Etudes Medievals. Edited by Jacqueline Hamesse, 291–310. Paris: Louvain-la-Neuve Université Catholique de Louvain, 1992.

    Discusses the challenges of coming up with a critical edition of the Qurʾan vis-à-vis the current standard Egyptian edition.

  • Rippin, Andrew. “The Present Status of Tafsir Studies.” The Muslim World 72.3–4 (1982): 224–238.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-1913.1982.tb03245.x

    Discusses scholarly developments in the field of Qurʾanic hermeneutic with a short introduction on the challenges of producing a critical textual edition of the Qurʾan.

  • Small, Keith E. Textual Criticism and Qur’ān Manuscripts. Lanham, MD, and Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books, 2011.

    A unique attempt of applying Western methods of textual criticism to Seven verses of the Qurʾan (Q. 14:35–41) from twenty different manuscripts. The introduction of the book discusses issues related to textual criticism and the Qurʾan with a survey on the state-of-the-art scholarship on the topic.

  • Tottoli, Roberto. “Textual Criticism and Bibliography: The Case of Qurʾanic Studies.” Annali dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli 42.1 (2020): 208–222.

    Problems and challenges of textual criticism in Qurʾanic studies with a survey and critique of the scholarly literature on the topic.

  • Welch, Alford T., Rudi Paret, and James Douglas Pearson. “al-Ḳurʾān.” In KHE–MAHI. Vol. 5 of Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2d ed. Edited by Clifford Edmund Bosworth, 400–432. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1986.

    A solid essay with lengthy sections on issues related to textual criticism and prints of the Qurʾan. Published electronically 2012.

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