Books and Written Culture of the Islamic World

Abstract

Claude Gilliot (b. 1940) stands at the forefront of Qur’anic and especially tafsīr studies in today’s western academic world. His expertise extends also into other Islamic fields, notably theology, and his well-known encyclopedic learning and bibliographic erudition are as striking as the depth and breadth of his scholarly corpus and the sharp wit that all who know him have come to expect in their encounters with him. The book under review is a fitting tribute from twenty colleagues, nine writing in English, eight in French, and three in German across several fields of Islamic studies. The book’s first section (pp. 3-130), “Authors,” consists of seven contributions, each of which treats one Muslim or European non-Muslim author or text, four of which pertain to Qur’anic studies and three to other areas. Three of the four Qur’anic contributions discuss different interpretive approaches through elucidation of exemplary texts. Pierre Larcher offers a close analysis of four Qur’anic phrases or sentences that pose particular problems of textual variants or readings as they are treated by al-Farra’ (d. 822) in his Ma‘ānī al- Qur’ān. Andrew Rippin gives a trenchant discussion of polysemy as a ...