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Toto · 01-15-2008, 01:04 AM

Lost Archive Recovered: Missing for a half century, a cache of photos spurs sensitive research on Islam's holy text

This Wall Street Journal story is fascinating on many fronts. In 1944, British Air Force bombers destroyed a Jesuit library in Munich, and Anton Spitaler, a scholar of Arabic, announced that a collection of photographs of ancient Qur'ans had been destroyed, killing a project to study the evolution of the Qur'an. But actually, for reasons that are not clear, Spitaler was lying - he had the photos, and after his death in 2003, the project is getting underway again.

Quote:

Ms. Neuwirth, a professor of Arabic studies at Berlin's Free University, now is overseeing a revival of the research. The project renews a grand tradition of German Quranic scholarship that was interrupted by the Third Reich. The Nazis purged Jewish experts on ancient Arabic texts and compelled Aryan colleagues to serve the war effort. Middle East scholars worked as intelligence officers, interrogators and linguists. Mr. Spitaler himself served, apparently as a translator, in the German-Arab Infantry Battalion 845, a unit of Arab volunteers to the Nazi cause, according to wartime records.

During the 19th century, Germans pioneered modern scholarship of ancient texts. Their work revolutionized understanding of Christian and Jewish scripture. It also infuriated some of the devout, who resented secular scrutiny of texts believed to contain sacred truths.

The revived Quran venture plays into a very modern debate: how to reconcile Islam with the modern world? Academic quarrying of the Quran has produced bold theories, bitter feuds and even claims of an Islamic Reformation in the making. Applying Western critical methods to Islam's holiest text is a sensitive test of the Muslim community's readiness to both accommodate and absorb thinking outside its own traditions.

makerowner · 01-15-2008, 08:05 AM

I remember hearing a story that some old Qur'aans were found in Yemen or something and that they had some differences with the current text. Does anyone know where I could find more information about that?

Salam · 01-15-2008, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by makerowner

I remember hearing a story that some old Qur'aans were found in Yemen or something and that they had some differences with the current text. Does anyone know where I could find more information about that?

That won't be strange, since the reason of collecting the parts of the Quran in the time of the Caliph Othman was the differences that happened to the Quran.

Different regions have different styles of Arabic, so people started to write down the Quran according to their reading, and people started to fight each other because of that. So, the caliph Othman collected the Quran in one book "Mus-haf" in the Qurayshi Arabic style. Which is Mohammad's Arabic.

Also, Sunni traditions claim that some of the prophet's companions have their own copy of the whole Quran, and they had more/less chapters than the Quran we have today.

Roger Pearse · 01-15-2008, 09:23 AM

This is a very interesting story indeed -- thank you Toto.

It is good to hear that this material has been preserved. It would be even nicer if it was online!

andrewcriddle · 01-15-2008, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by makerowner

I remember hearing a story that some old Qur'aans were found in Yemen or something and that they had some differences with the current text. Does anyone know where I could find more information about that?

There is an interesting article (with some controversial ideas) at
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199901/koran

Andrew Criddle

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01-15-2008, 08:05 AM	#2
makerowner Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Ottawa, Canada Posts: 1,962	I remember hearing a story that some old Qur'aans were found in Yemen or something and that they had some differences with the current text. Does anyone know where I could find more information about that?

01-15-2008, 09:23 AM	#4
Roger Pearse Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: N/A Posts: 4,370	This is a very interesting story indeed -- thank you Toto. It is good to hear that this material has been preserved. It would be even nicer if it was online!

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