Workshop

Between History and Philology: Quranic Manuscripts beyond Manuscript Studies

Date: Tuesday 17 December 2019
Time: 14:00 - 18:00 hour
Location: Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden
Room: 30

Workshop on the use of Quranic manuscripts for the study of the textual and transmission history of the Quran

In the past two decades, the study of quranic manuscripts has advanced immeasurably. Based on the results of this work, we can now affirm that the Quran is a product of the seventh century of the Common Era, and evidence for variant readings, textual variants, and orthographic practices is proliferating. In the light of this advancement in our knowledge of quranic manuscripts, it is time for scholars to put manuscript evidence to use in writing the textual and transmission history of the Quran. Despite the occasional pessimism expressed with regard to the value of quranic manuscripts in any study of the canonical history of the text, recent research has demonstrated that the use of stemmatics and the analysis of variants can shed much light on the process of the codification of the (consonantal) text and its readings. The present workshop, therefore, aims to contribute to our understanding of the textual history of the Muslim canon based on such evidence.

Programme

14:00-14:15 | Welcome address | May Shaddel, Leiden University and Marijn van Putten, Leiden University

14:15-15:00 | Whence Quran Manuscripts? Determining the Regional Provenance of Early Quranic Codices | Ala Vahidnia, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran

15:00-15:30 | Understanding the Ibn Masʿūdoid Codices: A Comparison of DAM 01-29.1 and the Mashhad Codex | Marijn van Putten, Leiden University

15:30-16:00 | Mysterious Letters, Abu Lahab and al-Kawthar in Early Christian Arabic Texts: Polemics or Attestations of Textual Variation? | Clare Wilde, Groningen University

16:00-16:30 | Coffee break

16:30-17:00 | Arabe 330b: The Discovery of Two Canonical Readings | Barış İnce, Leiden University

17:00-17:30 | TBA | Adam Bursi, Utrecht University

17:30-18:00 | Concluding Remarks: From Codification to Canonization: Comparative Perspectives | May Shaddel, Leiden University