Only a month ago, The Religion Guy proposed that people with COVID-imposed time on their hands take this opportunity to study Islam’s holy book, the Quran, which is so vital for 21st Century faith and also for national security and politics in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
The Guy Memo especially recommended “The Study Quran” (HarperOne), with its fresh new translation and elaborate commentary. This work was produced by a team of North American Muslim scholars led by Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University.
Now, by coincidence, The Guy alerts fellow writers to the release of an equally path-breaking publication: “The Quran with Christian Commentary” (from the Zondervan line at HarperCollins). The Guy believes this is a first for a Christian publisher, and quite a bold innovation.
The extensive verse-by-verse commentary is by Mennonite Brethren scholar Gordon D. Nickel (Ph.D., Calgary), who directs the Islam program at the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies in India and he formerly taught in Pakistan. His chief consultant was J. Dudley Woodberry (Ph.D., Harvard), an Islamic studies professor and former dean at Fuller Theological Seminary with research experience in 35 Muslim countries.
This work arrives with fond blurbs from experts at universities in Birmingham (U.K.), Bonn, Brussels and Oxford. Nickel’s commentary, and topical articles from a dozen other specialists on Islam, accompany the well-regarded English translation of the Quran by A.J. Droge of the University of Toronto at Scarborough (Equinox Publishing, 2012).
Obvious news angles abound.
The commentary explains and responds to Islam’s viewpoints on Jesus (yes a prophet and messiah, but neither crucified nor divine) and on Jews and Christians, and attacks upon the Bible’s veracity. There’s important discussion of interpretations in Islam’s minority Shi’a branch and of the complex history of Quran texts, which were standardized at a crucial 1924 conference in Cairo.
From the standpoint of religious knowledge, those are central questions. Nickel’s tone seeks to be friendly and respectful but — important for journalism and for cultural awareness otherwise — he clearly defines the substantial differences in belief between the world’s two dominant religions.
Journalists will be particularly interested in the Quran’s 126 verses on killing and fighting in terms of religious duty, analyzed by Ayman W. Ibrahim of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “The Quran is not primarily about warfare,” he writes, but the theme is prominent well beyond the important sura (= chapter) 9, with significant content about hostility aimed at non-Muslims. Interpretation “can be very difficult” for Muslims, he says. Are these sayings “mandatory,” as early commentaries taught, or do they only describe and apply to long-past situations?
Another timely article, on treatment of women, comes from Linda Darwish of Canada’s St. Francis Xavier University. She says that, in practice, women’s voices have been muted or absent while men created Islamic culture, applying the Quran’s “problematic passages” as “normative ideas, laws, or standards of practice.” (Nickel supports Droge’s translation of much-discussed verse 4:34 as saying husbands should “strike” rebellious wives as a last resort.)
For balance, the media will want to seek Muslim scholars’ reactions to these Christian interpretations, perhaps from Nasr or his collaborators on the “Study Quran,” or university professors on nearby campuses.
Intriguing thoughts: Should Muslims be encouraged to read this book? Why, or why not? And should Muslim scholars produce such a modern commentary on the Bible?
Contact for Nickel and book publicity: Amy Bigler, Amy.bigler@harpercollins.com and (616) 698-3514. For translator Droge: a.droge@utoronto.ca
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