Conference at the University of Paderborn 8/29-8/31/2022
Organizer: Zishan Ghaffar (University of Paderborn) / Holger Zellentin (University of Tübingen)
Speaking about the ‘Byzantine Qurʾān’ may initinally be surprising and even misleading – yet another revisionist and exclusivist approach to the Qurʾān, alongside attempts to understand the Qurʾān within a Syriac background or within the traditional framework for the life of the prophet Muhammad. Indeed, there has been – with a few noteworthy exceptions – a cautious reluctance in Qurʾānic scholarship to contextualize the proclamation of the Qurʾān within the wider historical background of the Near East. The reason for this could be the prima facie ahistorical character of the Qurʾān, which, taken on its own, does not usually refer extensively to concrete historical events in the life of the prophet Muhammad or to the wider context. But the ongoing progress in several disciplines (Epigraphy, Syriac Studies, Byzantine Studies, Ethiopian Studies etc.) with regard to the context of the Qurʾān at the beginning of the seventh century has paved the way for approaching the Qurʾān as a historical document that attests to political and religious developments in Late Antiquity and participates theologically in ongoing discourses. Several articles and studies in recent years promote the idea of the Qurʾān’s distinct historical awareness of contemporary political events, such as the Roman-Persian war (Howard-Johnston 2010; Tesei 2019; Ghaffar 2020; Cole 2018). Certain Qurʾānic themes such as eschatology (Shoemaker 2018) and law (Crone 1987, Cole 2020, Zellentin 2022) also appear to testify to the connection of the evolving theology of the Qurʾān within the context of Eastern Roman history – already in Mecca, yet especially so in Medina.
The conference aims systematically to engage with the Qurʾān in its Byzantine context and to explore elements of Qurʾānic theology, historiography, and liturgy that seem intertwined with Eastern Roman political, religious and cultural history. The conference will thereby attempt to broaden the understanding of the Qur’an beyond its primary Hejazi context by seeking to probe in how far the northern Byzantine neighbours of the nascent Islamic community proved relevant for the evolution of the Qurʾān.
