This volume of essays in honor of the late Norman Calder contains articles on a variety of topics that will interest scholars and students of Middle Eastern cultures. Contributors are renowned, like Calder, for their sophisticated and challenging approaches to Arabic and Islamic texts.

In recent years, the study of the Qur'an and its interpretation has expanded to incorporate insights gained from historical, biblical, literary and critical studies. A variety of approaches to the Qur'an and the Muslim exegetical tradition are currently available. Approaches to the Qur'an consists of thirteen essays by leading scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, in the fields of qur'anic studies and Islamic studies. Taken together, they offer a sample of the aims, methods and topics of enquiry now being pursued. Each study has a full critical apparatus, and the book includes a consolidated...