EMQ » April–June 2021 » Volume 57 Issue 2
Edited by: Mustafa Shah and Muhammad Abdel Haleem
Oxford University Press, 2020
944 pages
US$136.00
Reviewed by Dr. David Cashin who served with SIM for nine years in Bangladesh and is currently Professor of Intercultural and Islamic studies at Columbia International University, Columbia, South Carolina.
In spite of the price tag, this book is a must in all mission agencies that work in the Muslim world as well as in all Christian colleges and other agencies that have a heart for Muslims.
The Handbook is a compilation of studies on all aspects of the Qur’an; historical setting, text transmission, structures, themes, translation, and exegesis. Each article contains an excellent bibliography. The volume also brings together a good balance of perspectives from both Muslims and Westerners, producing a collection of varied and not especially concordant opinions.
A common theme of the book is the rejection of revisionist historians of Islam, such as Wansbrough and Crone (178, 204, 280), accompanied by an uncritical acceptance of revisionist biblical scholars, a combination that fits nicely with the Islamic narrative of Christian origins (152). There is clearly a narrative at work here which I would identify as fostering a liberal Islam. There is a general rejection of the concept of naskh (abrogation; 521).
Textual variants to the Qur’an are admitted (178) and, we are told, medieval exegetes were fully aware of this (196). The Muslim street-level narrative of Qur’anic transmission is no longer tenable and is being gently modified here. Nevertheless, the Qur’an is praised as “an exceptionally matchless text” (374) that confirms the status, authenticity, and divine origin of Muhammad’s message (375).
Controversy surrounds the Qur’an’s position on politics, jihad, and women. One Muslim author’s exegesis of jihad verses leads to the conclusion that “Qur’anic jihad is … categorically not ‘holy war’” (523). Another author disagrees, concluding that warfare is at the core of the religion (612). With a similar liberal bent, the former author finds “uncompromising gender egalitarianism inherent in the Qur’an” (527) and that misogyny comes from the Jews, Christians, and medieval exegetes (532). Most of her perceptions are based on a “holistic reading” (534) of the text that rejects the primacy of Medinan Suras, and she does not address the verses that shake this system (Q. 2:223).
Missiologically, this volume documents the move towards a liberal Islam that is being generated primarily by the Muslim communities of the West. This will be welcomed in countries such as Indonesia. But it does raise questions that Muslims from the Arabic-speaking world will find difficult to swallow. This is a radical revision of Islam with plenty of challenges to the traditional narratives.
