Tag Archives: Quran

Murad Hofmann: Der Islam im 3. Jahrtausend. Eine Religion im Aufbruch

This book by Murad Hofmann on “Islam in the Third Millennium – a Religion on the Rise” has been published in German only. Murad Wilfried Hofmann, a doctor of law and for many years a German ambassador, has his claim to fame as a cele29 brity. He converted to Islam over 20 years ago, made various pilgrimages to Mecca and has written some very well known promotional materials for Islam.

Hans Zirker: Der Koran. Zugänge und Lesarten

Hans Zirker is professor for Catholic Fundamental Theology at the University of Essen and has herewith published a further book on “Islam”. In five chapters, he proves his ability to give an introduction into basic facts about Qur’anic studies for nonexperts and to provide insiders with fascinating insights into and new perspectives of this theme.

Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an

After approximately four decades the “battleship” of modern Islam studies, the Encyclopaedia of Islam (“EI”), was completed and published by the renowned publisher E.J. Brill in eleven large volumes and on CD-ROM. At the same time this publisher issued another encyclopedia: the Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an (“EQ”). One might wonder about the publication of an encyclopedia in addition to the EI. There seem to be two main reasons for this.

David Cook: Understanding Jihad

“Islam is peace”. This sentence could be heard especially frequently after September 11 th , 2001, from groups within organized Islam in Germany. It was said that there was no “holy war” in Islam, that “jihad” was to be understood as a moral-spiritual “effort” to walk “on the path of God” (“Great Jihad”). It was proclaimed that Islam abhors every kind of violence against human beings, apart from the right to self-defense (“Small Jihad”). The word “Islam”, of course, has the same linguistic root (s-l-m) as the word “salam” (peace), but is really a different word, and means “submission, devotion”.

(Deutsch) Kein Beweis für göttliche Offenbarung des Korans in ägyptischen Inschriften

(Deutsch) Seit gut dreißig Jahren ist die Behauptung, dass der Korantext wissenschaftlich nachweisbar ein Wunderwerk ist, ein wichtiges muslimisches Argument für den Wahrheitsanspruch des Islam. Mit dieser Behauptung wird intensiv für den Islam geworben. In muslimischen Publikationen werden inzwischen mindestens 200 verschiedene angeblich wissenschaftlich nachprüfbare Beweise für den Wundercharakter des Korans aufgeführt. Es wurde dazu folgendes recherchiert:

Revelation and prophethood – Koran and Bible Compared

Whoever reads the Koran from beginning to end will realize that much is said about the “prophets”. They play a key role in the concept of revelation in the Koran – and, of course, for Muhammad and his preaching. The Koran, like the Bible, depicts prophets as mortal humans; however, they have a much more significant role for revelation in the Koran than in the Bible. This is true particularly for Muhammad.

Who is God in the Koran?

The Koran does not contain any passages which comprise any kind of systematic description of the characteristics of God. In Arabic he is called “Allah”, which means simply “The God”. God does not introduce himself in the Koran like he does in the Old Testament, with the words “I am who I am”, (Exodus 3,14, NASB) but remains hidden – a mystery.