Qur'ānic Stories: God, Revelation and the Audience

ISBN-13: 9781474483186 / Angielski

Leyla Ozgur Alhassen

Opis

An exploration of storytelling and narrative devices in the Qur'anIn this book, Leyla Ozgur Alhassen approaches the Qur'an as a literary, religious and oral text that affects its audience. She looks at how Qur'anic stories function as narrative: how characters and dialogues are portrayed; what themes are repeated; what verbal echoes and conceptual links are present; what structure is established; and what beliefs these narrative choices strengthen. And she argues that in the Qur'an, some narrative features that are otherwise puzzling can be seen as instances in which God, as the narrator, centres himself while putting the audience in its place. In essence, this makes the act of reading an interaction between God and the audience.Qur'anic Stories demonstrates that a narratological and rhetorical approach to the canonised text can contribute new insights to our understanding of the Qur'an and its worldview.

Spis treści

1. Introduction: A Narratological, Rhetorical Approach to Qur’anic Stories; 2. Knowledge, Control and Consonance in Surat ?l ‘Imr?n 3:33-62; 3. God, Families and Secrets in the Story of Surat Maryam 19:1-58 ; 4. Evidence, Judgment and Remorse in Surat Y?suf; 5. Merging Words and Making Connections in Surat ?aha; 6. Surat al-Qa?a? and Its Audience; 7. Conclusions: Reading the Qur’an as God’s Narrative.