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Instructions for the Written Assignment
Select one of the following online articles:
Toby Lester, What is the Koran? Atlantic Magazine (Jan. 1999).
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/01/what-is-the-koran/304024/
Zakir Naik, The Quran and modern science: compatible or incompatible?
http://sunnahonline.com/library/the-majestic-quran/430-quran-and-modern-science-compatible-or-incompatible-the
Riffat Hassan, Are human rights compatible with Islam?
http://www.religiousconsultation.org/hassan2.htm
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, The Quranic concept of justice
http://them.polylog.org/3/fan-en.htm
Write a critical review on the article that you select. Your review must do several things:
? Give a brief outline (4 paragraphs maximum) of the main claim(s) that the author is making about the Qur�an.
? Locate the article within the six categories of the approaches to the Qur�an given by Farid Esack that we discussed in class at the beginning of the semester, and explain in detail why it belongs to this category.
The six categories:
(1) Ordinary Muslims: These are average believers, who read the Quran as a devotional act and reverence it as God’s word, but have not studied it at an advanced level. They do not typically examine its textual history or concern themselves with the details of how it is interpreted.
(2) Confessional Muslim scholars: These are believing Muslims who have studied the Quran and its interpretation at an advanced level, often though not always at a Muslim institution of higher learning (such as al-Azhar, the Islamic University of Medina, etc). However, some have studied at secular universities, or have gained their knowledge through personal, informal study. They write about the Quran from a religious perspective, and their primary purpose is to convince others to believe and practice Islam as they do. Their writings may be addressed primarily to other Muslims, or to people in general. Some write detailed commentaries on the Quran, others may write about its history, or debate claims made about the Quran by non-Muslim writers.
(3) Critical Muslim scholars: These are also believing Muslims who have studied the Quran and its interpretation at an advanced level. They may also have studied at a Muslim institute of higher learning. The key difference between them and confessional Muslim scholars is that their writings are not motivated by a desire to convince others to share their religious beliefs or practices. They ask and seek to answer critical questions about the Quran’s history, literary features, interpretation, etc.
(4) Participant-observers: They have typically studied the Quran at an advanced level at a secular university. While they are not believing Muslims, they study the Quran and/or how it has been interpreted with an evident sensitivity to Muslim beliefs and attitudes. They generally accept traditional Muslim views about the origins and history of the Quran. They too ask and seek to answer critical questions various aspects of the Quran’s history, as well as how particular Muslim cultures of groups past or present experience or understand the Quran.
(5) Revisionists: They have studied the Quran at an advanced level, usually at a secular university. They offer new theories about the origins and development of the Quran, that differ significantly from traditional Muslim views on these issues. While other academic, non-revisionist scholars may not agree with their views, they do concede that revisionists theories have some basis in historical evidence and rational argument. Their scholarship is not motivated by religious beliefs.
(6) Polemicists: They may or may not have studied the Quran at an advanced level. They are not usually academics. Their motivation for writing about the Quran varies, but it is typically because they want to convert others to their religion or ideological viewpoint. They may selectively quote from (or link to) books or articles by academics, but the overall tone of their writings is polemical.
Your review must clearly state in the opening paragraph which category the article that you have chosen best fits into (bearing in mind that these are general categories, and not every piece of writing on the Quran will fit neatly into one of them). Explain in detail why you are categorizing the article in this way. Give specific example demonstrating why this category is the best fit.
Your review must demonstrate that (1) you have understood what the writer is trying to do, what sources he/she has used, and how his/her argument is constructed, and (2) that you have critically reflected on what the writer is trying to achieve.
Bear in mind that labels or indictments do not substitute for analysis therefore, it is not enough to say that an article is polemical because you find it offensive. Your review must give specific example from the article which support the argument that you are making.
This is an academic assignment. Therefore, your review must be based on historical evidence and rational arguments that are open to assessment by any educated person regardless of
whatever philosophical, religious, or other beliefs he/she may or may not hold. Reviews that make theological arguments will receive a mark of zero.
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