The Quran: An In-Depth Introduction [2654]

General Information

• Credits: 6 ECTS
• Prerequisites: Bachelor's or Licence level (or equivalent); proficiency in English
• Learning format: asynchronous distance learning – 100% e-learning
• Language of instruction: English
• Course access: available at any time of year
• Disability liaison officer: Cécile Boucherle

Course Overview

This course offers an in-depth introduction to the Qur’an, combining a broad overview with focused analyses. It clearly distinguishes academic inquiry from confessional readings by examining the Qur’an as a historical, textual, and cultural object. The first part explores how Muslims have understood, transmitted, and engaged with the Qur’an through doctrine, recitation, and exegesis. Drawing on the available sources, the second part investigates the history of the text’s composition and canonisation, situating its emergence within the context of the Late Antique Near East. The third part examines the Qur’an as a text, considering its literary genres, structure, language, rhetoric, and debates surrounding its chronology. Taken as a whole, the course provides an understanding of what the Qur’an is, where it comes from, and how it has been read, transmitted, and interpreted up to the present day, in constant dialogue with contemporary scholarship.

Course Objectives

This course enables you to:

• Understand the main academic approaches to the study of the Qur’an and the major debates in contemporary scholarship.
• Explain traditional Muslim understandings of the revelation, transmission, and authority of the Qur’anic text.
• Analyse the historical evidence concerning the emergence, composition, and canonisation of the Qur’an.
• Identify the literary, linguistic, rhetorical, and structural features of the Qur’anic text.
• Develop a critical and contextualised approach to the Qur’an, distinguishing confessional perspectives from historical and scholarly approaches.

Course Competencies

This course is linked to the following competency:

• Master the beliefs, the foundational texts and the scholarly language of Islam.

Course Outline

Introduction
Section 1 Muslim perspectives and approaches to the Quran
Section 2 History of the Quran
Section 3 The Quran as a text: Form, structure, and content

Assessment Methods 

Course assessment is based on:

• tracking and completion of the course and of all learning activities. These activities, designed as essential practice and learning exercises, may be completed multiple times and are not factored into the final grade,
• the final assessment quiz, which constitutes the graded evaluation.

Learning Format

The course is taught entirely online via the MyDomuni platform, accessible 24/7.
Learning resources include:

• written course materials;
• supplementary documents and, depending on the content, video resources;
• interactive learning activities (quizzes, exercises);
• a discussion forum with the course instructor and fellow participants.

Prerequisites

This course is open to anyone holding a Bachelor's degree or Licence (or an equivalent qualification) in theology, the humanities, social sciences, or a related field, or with significant personal or academic experience related to the topics covered.

A good command of written English is recommended to facilitate understanding of the content and participation in the activities offered.

Accessibility

The course is accessible at any time, from any internet-connected device, via the MyDomuni platform.
For students with disabilities, specific support can be arranged upon request to ensure equitable access to course content and activities.

Disability liaison officer: cecile.boucherle@domuni.eu. 

Selective Bibliography

• Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi (ed.), Dictionary of the Quran, Paris, Robert Laffont, 2007.
• Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi and Guillaume Dye (eds.), The Quran According to Historians, 3 vols., Paris, Cerf, 2019. [Vol. 1: “Studies on the Context and Genesis of the Quran”; Vols. 2a and 2b: “Commentary and Analysis of the Quranic Text”].
• Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi and Guillaume Dye (eds.), History of the Quran: Context, Origin, and Composition, Paris, Cerf, 2022.
• Michel Cuypers and Geneviève Gobillot, The Quran, “Idées reçues” series, Paris, Le Cavalier Bleu, 2007 (several reprints).
• François Deroche, The Quran: A Plural History. An Essay on the Formation of the Quranic Text, Paris, Seuil, 2019.