History of the Quran (book)

Not to be confused with History of the Quran.

The Geschichte des Qorans (History of the Quran) is a foundational German work of modern Quranic studies by Theodor Noldeke (1836–1930). Published originally in 1860, the work continued to be revised and expanded by Noldeke's students and successors between 1909 and 1938.

Theodor Noldeke

In 2013, it was translated into English.

Overview

The Geschichte, a primarily philological work written in German, emerged from his dissertation he began during his university studies, which was completed in 1856 and titled De origine et compositione surarum qoranicarum ipsiusque Qorani. Compared to earlier works studying the Quran by Western writers, Nöldeke uncoupled the study of the text from inquiries into the life of Muhammad and, unlike predecessors of his such as William Muir, did not have a missionary zeal. Instead, Nöldeke studied the Quran for its own sake. One of the most important aspects of Nöldeke's argument was his periodisation of the Quranic surahs into a tripartite Meccan phase (Early, Middle, and Late Meccan surahs) followed by a Medinan phase (an idea already conceived by his predecessor, Gustav Weil). In this, Nöldeke, though he did not follow the traditional chronological division of surahs exactly, did follow it in some detail. At the same time, Nöldeke also considered his division to be malleable and tentative to a degree as opposed to absolute and deciding. As such, Noldeke's work also produced a consensus among Western scholars that the Quran reflected the preaching of Muhammad in Mecca and Medina. Noldeke also accepted a canonization event during the reign of the third caliph, Uthman.

Noldeke's chronology

• Group 1. First Meccan Period (48 Surahs): Surahs 96; 74; 111; 106; 108; 104; 107; 102; 105; 92; 90; 94; 93; 97; 86; 91; 80; 68; 87; 95; 103; 85; 73; 101; 99; 82; 81; 53; 84; 100; 79; 77; 78; 88; 89; 75; 83; 69; 51; 52; 56; 70; 55; 112; 109; 113; 114; 1
• Group 2. Second Meccan Period (21 Surahs): 54; 37; 71; 76; 44; 50; 20; 26; 15; 19; 38; 36; 43; 72; 67; 23; 21; 25; 17; 27; 18
• Group 3. Third Meccan Period (21 Surahs): 32; 41; 45; 16; 30; 11; 14; 12; 40; 28; 39; 29; 31; 42; 10; 34; 35; 7; 46; 6; 13
• Group 4. Medinan Period (24 Surahs): 2; 98; 64; 62; 8; 47; 3; 61; 57; 4; 65; 59; 33; 63; 24; 58; 22; 48; 66; 60; 110; 49; 9; 5

Expansions by Noldeke's successors

First published in 1860, the Geschichte continued to be revised and expanded by Noldeke's students and successors (Friedrich Schwally, Gotthelf Bergsträsser and Otto Pretzl) until 1938. Revisions and expansions by Schwally appeared between 1909 and 1919; supplements by Bergsträsser appeared from 1926 to 1929; and by Pretzl's were all published in 1938. The expansions by Bergsträsser and Pretzl brought into particular focus the subject of the variant readings (qirāʼāt) of the Quran including how they had been received in the history of classical scholarship.

Reception

Though Nöldeke's work has been followed closely by some and rejected by others, it has been so influential that at least one scholar has referred to his work as "the rock of our church".

In 2013, a complete translation of the volume into English was published.

References

Sources

• Shah, Mustafa (2020). "The Corpus of Qur'anic Readings (qirāʾāt)". In Shah, Mustafa; Haleem, M.A.S. Abdel (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies. Oxford University Press. pp. 194–216.
• Noldeke, Theodor; Schwally, Friedrich; Bergsträßer, Gotthelf; Pretzl, Otto (2013). The History of the Qurʾān. Brill.
• Stewart, Devin (2017). "Reflections on the State of the Art in Western Qurʾanic Studies". In Bakhos, Carol; Cook, Michael (eds.). Islam and Its Past: Jahiliyya, Late Antiquity, and the Qurʾan. Oxford University Press. pp. 4–68.