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An exploration of storytelling and narrative devices in the Qur'an
In 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.
Key Features
¿ Draws on narratology, rhetoric and Qur'anic studies to develop a new methodology to analyse Qur'anic stories
¿ Examines the interaction of the text, the audience, characters and the narrator, while analysing Qur'anic commentary (classical and modern; Sunni, Sufi and Shi'i)
¿ Studies stories that represent the variety of Qur'anic narrative: Surat Yusuf; Surat Al 'Imran; Surat Maryam; Surat ¿aha; and Surat al-Qa¿a¿
Leyla Ozgur Alhassen is a Visiting Scholar in the Near Eastern Studies Department at the University of California, Berkeley.
List of contents
1. Introduction: A Narratological, Rhetorical Approach to Qur'anic Stories; 2. Knowledge, Control and Consonance in Surat Al 'Imran 3:33-62; 3. God, Families and Secrets in the Story of Surat Maryam 19:1-58 ; 4. Evidence, Judgment and Remorse in Surat Yusuf; 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.
About the author
Leyla Ozgur Alhassen is Visiting Scholar in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2011, focusing on Arabic literature. Dr Alhassen has published articles in journals such as Religion and Literature, Religion and the Arts, Comparative Islamic Studies, The Muslim World and Journal of Qur'anic Studies.
Summary
Leyla Ozgur Alhassen approaches the Qur'an as a literary, religious and oral text to show 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.
