The Qur'an's Self-Image: Writing and Authority in Islam's Scripture

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 272 pages
• Published by: Princeton University Press June 1, 2001
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0691059500
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0691059501
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Weighs: 1.1 pounds

Product Review
This is a well-researched and carefully thought out book on the highly complex issue of the Qur'an's self-referential terms to its own status as Scripture. Particularly illuminating are Daniel Madigan's clear and profound engagements with the semantic content of key Qur'anic words. . . . [T]here is much food for thought here. -- Review

This is a well-researched and carefully thought out book. . . . [T]here is much food for thought here. -- Ama Afsaruddin, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences

Product Review
Madigan presents a welcome overview of modern Qur'an scholarship.
(Choice,/i> )

This is a well-researched and carefully thought out book on the highly complex issue of the Qur'an's self-referential terms to its own status as Scripture. Particularly illuminating are Daniel Madigan's clear and profound engagements with the semantic content of key Qur'anic words. . . . [T]here is much food for thought here.
(Ama Afsaruddin American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences )

Reader Reviews
Madigan's sweeping literary analysis of the term 'kitab' and its Arabic root "k-t-b" will prove to be immensely valuable for uncovering the earliest Quranic conception of the nature of Muhammad's recieved revelation. What results in Madigan's analysis is a picture of a uniquely Quranic conception of divine revelation and given to humanity--one that itself points to the transcendent supratextual nature of the Qur'an itself. What appears to me to make this work even more balanced and useful is the dialogue that Madigan often enters into with other classical Islamic sources while constructing his own independent position. The discussion of al-Shafi'i's reatment of the Quranic trope "al-kitab wa-l-hikma" is particularly notable. The text itself is beautifully printed and includes both Arabic texts and translations of the sources quoted. One could hope that the high quality exhibited here will quickly become the standard rather than the exception in the field.