Skip to 0 minutes and 11 seconds People hold starkly different views about the Qur’an. Some approach it reverently. Some historically. Some try to combine both approaches. Yet no matter who we are and what we believe, we can all agree on two things. First, the Qur’an remains the scripture of Islam, inspiring the lives of over a billion people, whose values continue to shape the world in which we live. The Qur’an matters. Secondly, the Qur’an contains a highly developed view of Judaism and Christianity. This view continues to shape the Muslim views of Jews and Christians on the one hand, and non-Muslim views of Islam on the other. Understanding how the Qur’an relates to Judaism and Christianity allows us better to understand the past as well as the present.
Skip to 1 minute and 3 seconds We invite you to join a team of international experts in exploring what we can know about the Qura’n’s relationship to Judaism and Christianity. We will learn about the history of the study of the Qur’an in traditional Islam and in Western universities. We will probe the unique Arabian character of the Qur’an and trace what Arabian culture in turn may have shared with Judaism and Christianity.
Skip to 1 minute and 34 seconds We will try to understand why the Qur’an is similar to the bibles of the Jews and of the Christians, and how the Qur’an differs from these scriptures in specific and meaningful ways. We will explore the laws laid down in the Qur’an in light of the laws of late antique Jews and Christians and in light of the laws of later Islamic communities. Most importantly, we will try to understand the continuities between Judaism, Christianity, and the Qur’an, and in this continuity, try to appreciate the Islamic difference.
Skip to 2 minutes and 12 seconds This course invites you to develop and to reassess the question and to deepen your own views of the Qur’an, no matter what they are. And we will discuss what we learned in focused debates. You will have the opportunity to interact directly with many of the scholars teaching the course. What drives us is the vision that the more we learn about the Qur’an in its historical context, the more we will understand the significance of Islam. And the more we know about Islam, the more we equally learn about Judaism and Christianity. This is a unique course, and we hope that you can join the conversation.
