Readings in Quranic Studies

Ustadh Farid Dingle

As a second step in Quranic studies (Ulum al-Quran) for students and teachers, this course delves a little deeper and much more intimately into the key reference works for Quranic studies and tafsir.

Course Goals

• See first hand how many key genres of tafsir work
• Understand the matrix upon which tafsir is built
• Familiarise yourself with some key works on legal and ritual rulings in the Quran, key works on ahadith directly to do with the verses of the Quran, and how the Quran is literally and linguistically analysed
• Understand what the Ten Canonical recitations are, how they were recorded, and how they can be accessed
• Understand the role of Arabic poetry in the understanding of the Quran

Syllabus

• Lesson 1: Codifying the Quran recital: A review of As-Saba fi al-Qira’at by Ibn al-Mujahid (245-324 AH), and a reading of the section on Surat Maryam.
• Lessons 2 and 3: Linguistic and Literary Analysis of the Quran: Ma’ani al-Quran works in general; a reading of Sura al-Fatiha and the first few verses of Sura al-Baqara from the earliest grammatical and rhetorical companions to the Quran: Ma’ani al-Quran by al-Akhfash (215 AH), and Majaz al-Quran of Abu Ubayda (110 – 209 AH).
• Lesson 4: Punctuating the Quran: a reading of Sura al-Fatiha and Sura al-Asr from al-Nahas’ (338 AH) al-Qat’ wa al-i’tinaf
• Lessons 5 and 6: Legal and ritual rulings in the Quran: readings from the tafsirs of al-Tabari, Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jassas, Ibn al-Arabi, the Iklil of al-Suyuti, and the tafsir of Dr Wahba Zuhayli.
• Lesson 7: Where Poetry and the Quran meet: readings from Ibn Khalawayhi’s (d. 370) Tariqiyat، the Badi’ al-Quran of Ibn Abi Isba’ (585 to 654 AH),
• Lesson 8: The Miracle of the Quran: Abdul Qahir al-Jurjani’s al-Risala al-Shafiya.
• Lessons 9 and 10: Late tafsir: Sura al-Naba from the marginal glossa [hawashi] of on the tafsir of Baydawi by Zada, Shihab and Ibn Tamjeed; Bediüzzaman Said Nursi’s tafsir of Sura Al Fatiha.