The Origins of the Koran

This article concerns the book. For a textual history of the Qur'an, see Origin and development of the Qur'an.

The Origins of The Koran: Classic Essays on Islam’s Holy Book, is a 1998 book edited by historian and scholar of Islam Ibn Warraq. It contains a collection of 13 critical studies of the Qur'an written over the past two centuries by historians and scholars of the Middle East Ibn Warraq, Theodor Nöldeke, Leone Caetani, Alphonse Mingana, Arthur Jeffery, David Samuel Margoliouth, Abraham Geiger, William St. Clair Tisdall, Charles Cutler Torrey and Andrew Rippin.

The book examines widely held beliefs about the historical origins and sources of the Islamic holy book. It challenges the notion that the Qur'an is error free, a view held by most Muslims.

Divided into four parts, the book presents an examination of the Qur'an. After an introduction in Part One, Part Two focuses on the difficulty, perceived by the authors, of establishing a reliable Qur'anic text, while Part Three claims to detail the Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian sources of the Qur'an. Part Four attempts to disprove the historical reliability of the earliest Islamic sources.

Contents

Part One: INTRODUCTION

External links

• Chapter One: Introduction -Ibn Warraq
• Chapter Two: The Koran -Theodor Nöldeke

Part Two: THE COLLECTION AND THE VARIANTS OF THE KORAN

• Chapter Three: Uthman and the Recension of the Koran -Leone Caetani
• Chapter Four: Three Ancient Korans -Alphonse Mingana
• Chapter Five: The Transmission of the Koran -Alphonse Mingana
• Chapter Six: Materials for the History of the Text of the Koran -Arthur Jeffery
• Chapter 7: Progress in the Study of the Koran Text -Arthur Jeffery
• Chapter 8: A Variant Text of the Fatiha -Arthur Jeffrey
• Chapter 9: Abu 'Ubaid on the Verses Missing from the Koran -Arthur Jeffrey
• Chapter Ten: Textual Variations of the Koran -David Samuel Margoliouth

Part Three: THE SOURCES OF THE KORAN

• Chapter Eleven: What Did Muhammad Borrow From Judaism? -Abraham Geiger
• Chapter Twelve: The Sources of Islam -William St. Clair Tisdall
• Chapter Thirteen: The Jewish Foundation of Islam-Charles Cutler Torrey

Part Four: MODERN TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE KORAN

• Chapter Fourteen: Literary Analysis of Koran, Tafsir, and Sira: The methodologies of John Wansbrough -Andrew Rippin

Reviews

Herbert Berg in his review from the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies summarized the essays lauding the inclusion of the essay by Theodor Nöldeke while panning the inclusion of William St. Clair Tisdall's as "not a particularly scholarly essay". He concluded "[i]t seems that Ibn Warraq has included some of the essays not on the basis of their scholarly value or their status as 'classics', but rather on the basis of their hostility to Islam. This does not necessarily diminish the value of the collection, but the reader should be aware that this collection does not fully represent classic scholarship on the Quran."

Todd Lawson said regarding the book that "arrogance and amateurish assumptions abound; and all is sounded in the key of gormless hysteria...It must be said that it undoubtedly demonstrates the editor's diligence and industry in finding churlish things to say about the Qur'an in English. It is difficult to recommend this production, except perhaps for antiquarian interests and the archaelogy of the study of Islam."

See also

• A summary of The Origins of The Koran: Classic Essays on Islam's Holy Book
• Textual Criticism of the Koran
• Dr. Muhammad Mohar Ali, The Qur'an and the Orientalists: An Examination of their Main Theories and Assumptions.