Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation by John Wansbrough

Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation by John Wansbrough

One of the most innovative thinkers in the field of Islamic Studies was John Wansbrough (1928-2002), Professor of Semitic Studies and Pro-Director of London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies. Critiquing the traditional accounts of the origins of Islam as historically unreliable and heavily influenced by religious dogma, Wansbrough suggested radically new interpretations very different from the views of both the Muslim orthodoxy and most Western scholars.


Originally published in 1977, Quranic Studies presents an in-depth textual exegesis of the Quran based on form analysis. Noting the persistent use of monotheistic imagery stemming from Judeo-Christian sources, he interpreted the rise of Islam as the development of what was originally a Judeo-Christian sect. As this sect evolved and differentiated itself from its Judeo-Christian roots, the Quran also evolved and was continuously in flux for over a century. Wansbrough concluded that the canonization of the text that we today call the Quran, and even the emergence of the concept of "Islam," probably did not occur till the end of the eighth century, more than 150 years after the death of Muhammad.
Although his work remains controversial to this day, his fresh insights and approaches to the study of Islam continue to inspire scholars. This new edition contains a valuable assessment of Wansbrough’s contributions and many useful textual notes and translations by Andrew Rippin (professor of history, University of Victoria).

Excerpt from the introduction

The academic study of the Qur’an, it has often been remarked, lags far behind the study of the Bible while being, at the same time, closely modeled after it. Not only are the resources available to scholars of the Qur’an much more limited than those available to their biblical-scholar counterparts, but the depth of methodological experimentation in dealing with the scriptural text has been severely limited in comparison. This situation is illustrated by consideration of the sheer quantity of scholarship that has been produced and the number of scholarly landmarks that exist in the field. Modem biblical scholarship fills a library many times the size of that devoted to the Qur’an. Each subdiscipline of biblical studies has its own set of “classics.” By contrast, it is still possible to point to individual works in the history of the study of the Qur’an and declare them the pivotal texts that provide the foundations for all later studies.

Two nineteenth-century authors set the tone, perspective, assumptions, and approach for much of modern scholarship on the Qur’an. Abraham Geiger (d. 1874) is most famous as the founder and leader of the German Jewish Reform movement. In 1832 Geiger submitted a contest entry (written in Latin) to the University of Bonn that was published the following year in German marks the beginning of the European scholarly quest for the sources of Muslim scripture in Judaism and, to a lesser extent, Christianity. No longer was the Qur’an being approached from the medieval perspective of polemic grounded in the notion that Muhammad was a religious impostor. Geiger’s work set a new direction for scholarship because its working assumption was that Muhammad was sincere in his religious mission. Geiger’s study was motivated by the underlying thrust of post-Enlightenment work generally, which promoted a sense of curiosity to which no particular value was added over and above the desire to know the previously unknown.


Author: John Wansbrough
 Publication Date:1977
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