How is the Qur'an organized? Does its structure convey meaning? Why did the Islamic tradition neglect the study of the Qur'an's unusual configuration until the twentieth century? In The al-Baqara Crescendo, Nevin Reda introduces a bold new avenue of research: the poetics of Qur?anic narrative structure. Focusing on Surat al-Baqara, the longest and most challenging of the suras, she uncovers the beauty and rationale behind the Qur?an s unusual organization. Reda argues that the sura often dismissed by Muslim traditionalists and Orientalist critics as a baffling collection of disjointed...