History of the Qur'an: Approaches and Explorations

The Qur'ān is the sacred religious
book of Muslims around the world. Yet its history, from its inception in seventh-century
Arabia to its transmission in the modern world, remains understudied. The
twelve chapters in this book address this lacuna by examining multifaceted
stages in the Qur'ān's history and transmission through a broad range of
methodological and theoretical approaches. The volume examines the earliest
material evidence of the Qur'ān through its manuscript tradition and explores
their content and form. This includes a focus on the Qur'ān's unique
orthography and insights into the Sanaa manuscripts. Additionally, this work
provides new insights by broaching upon critical moments in the Qur'ān's
history, such as the codification of Abu Bakr. A crucial component of the book
deals with approaches to the variant readings of the Qur'ān, understood as
being sanctioned through narrations on the aḥruf. It explores fresh
insights into how Muslim scholars theorised such variances and the way they
related them to the qira'āt, including how they approached the
variant codices of prominent companions. Furthermore, this work explores
understudied non-Qur'ānic transmissions of the Qur'ān alongside the historical
development of Qur'ān translations. This volume advances the field of Qur'ānic
studies and Qur'ānic history.