Geschichte des Qorāns

Theodor Noldeke

The Geschichte des Qorāns (History of the Quran) is a foundational German work of modern Quranic studies by Theodor Noldeke (1836–1930). Published originally in 1860, the work continued to be revised and expanded by Noldeke's students and successors between 1909 and 1938. It represented a major leap forward in the field, aided by access to collections of manuscripts in Germany and the recent publication of the al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾan, a major 15th-century traditional commentary on the Quran by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, in 1857. In this work, Noldeke reassessed the traditional chronology of the Quran. He placed each surah of the Quran into either a Meccan or a Medinan period, with the Meccan period coming first. The Meccan period was also split into Early, Middle, and Late Meccan phases.

In 2013, Noldeke's Geschichte was translated into English.

Background and publication

The Geschichte, a primarily philological work written in German, emerged from a dissertation Nöldeke began during his university studies, which was completed in 1856 and titled De origine et compositione surarum qoranicarum ipsiusque Qorani (On the origin and composition of the Qur'anic suras and the Qur'an itself). Compared to earlier studies of the Quran by Westerners, Nöldeke uncoupled the study of the scripture from inquiries into the life of Muhammad. Furthermore, unlike predecessors such as William Muir, Nöldeke did not have a missionary zeal. Instead, Nöldeke studied the Quran for its own sake.

Chronology

One of the most important aspects of Nöldeke's argument was his periodisation of the Quranic surahs into a tripartite "Meccan" phase (Early, Middle, and Late Meccan surahs) followed by a "Medinan" phase (an idea already conceived by his predecessor, Gustav Weil). Nöldeke followed the traditional chronological division of suras (i.e. the division used by Muslim scholars), but deviated from it in places. At the same time, Nöldeke also considered his division to be malleable and tentative to a degree as opposed to absolute and deciding. As such, Noldeke's work also produced a consensus among Western scholars that the Quran reflected the preaching of Muhammad in two distinct locations, namely Mecca and Medina. Noldeke also accepted that a canonization event occurred during the reign of the third caliph, Uthman.

• Group 1. First Meccan Period (48 Surahs): Surahs 96; 74; 111; 106; 108; 104; 107; 102; 105; 92; 90; 94; 93; 97; 86; 91; 80; 68; 87; 95; 103; 85; 73; 101; 99; 82; 81; 53; 84; 100; 79; 77; 78; 88; 89; 75; 83; 69; 51; 52; 56; 70; 55; 112; 109; 113; 114; 1
• Group 2. Second Meccan Period (21 Surahs): 54; 37; 71; 76; 44; 50; 20; 26; 15; 19; 38; 36; 43; 72; 67; 23; 21; 25; 17; 27; 18
• Group 3. Third Meccan Period (21 Surahs): 32; 41; 45; 16; 30; 11; 14; 12; 40; 28; 39; 29; 31; 42; 10; 34; 35; 7; 46; 6; 13
• Group 4. Medinan Period (24 Surahs): 2; 98; 64; 62; 8; 47; 3; 61; 57; 4; 65; 59; 33; 63; 24; 58; 22; 48; 66; 60; 110; 49; 9; 5

Reception

Though Nöldeke's work has been followed closely by some and rejected by others, it has been so influential that at least one scholar has referred to his work as "the rock of our church". For decades, it was the only substantive scholarly introduction to the Quran in any European language.

In 2013, a complete translation of the volume into English was published.

Revisions

After initial publication in 1860, the Geschichte was revised and expanded by Noldeke's students and successors Friedrich Schwally, Gotthelf Bergsträsser and Otto Pretzl until 1938. Revisions and expansions by Schwally appeared between 1909 and 1919, and this included a new chapter not present in the previous edition, titled "Recent Christian Research on the Qur’an". Additional supplements by Bergsträsser appeared from 1926 to 1929, and Pretzl's supplements were later published in 1938. The expansions by Bergsträsser and Pretzl brought into particular focus the subject of the variant readings (qirāʼāt) of the Quran including how they had been received in the history of classical scholarship.

See also

• Bazargan chronology

References

Sources

• Ernst, Carl (2011). How to Read the Qur'an: A New Guide, with Select Translations. University of North Carolina Press.
• Noldeke, Theodor; Schwally, Friedrich; Bergsträßer, Gotthelf; Pretzl, Otto (2013). The History of the Qurʾān. Brill.
• Shah, Mustafa (2020). "The Corpus of Qur'anic Readings (qirāʾāt)". In Shah, Mustafa; Haleem, M.A.S. Abdel (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies. Oxford University Press. pp. 194–216.
• Stewart, Devin (2017). "Reflections on the State of the Art in Western Qurʾanic Studies". In Bakhos, Carol; Cook, Michael (eds.). Islam and Its Past: Jahiliyya, Late Antiquity, and the Qurʾan. Oxford University Press. pp. 4–68.
• Stewart, Devin (2024). "Ignoring the Bible in Qur'anic Studies: Scholarship of the Late Twentieth Century". ReOrient. 9 (1): 131–169.

External links

• Full copy of Geschichte des Qorâns (Archive.org)