Qur’ānic Stories
God, Revelation and the Audience
Explores the use of storytelling and narrative devices in the Qur’an
- Explores the use of storytelling and narrative devices in the Qur’an
- Draws on narratology, rhetoric and Qur’anic studies to develop a new methodology
- Examines the interaction of the text, audience, characters and narrator
- Analyses Qur’anic commentary: classical and modern; Sunni, Sufi and Shi‘i
- Studies stories that represent the variety of Qur’anic narrative: Surat Yūsuf; Surat Āl ‘Imrān; Surat Maryam; Surat Ṭaha; and Surat al-Qaṣaṣ
Leyla Ozgur Alhassen approaches the Qur’an as a literary, religious and oral text that affects its audience. She looks at how Qur’anic stories function as narrative: how characters and dialogues are portrayed; what themes are repeated; what verbal echoes and conceptual links are present; what structure is established; and what beliefs these narrative choices strengthen.
Ozgur Alhassen argues that, in the Qur’an, some narrative features that are otherwise puzzling can be seen as instances in which God, as the narrator, centres himself while putting the audience in its place. In essence, this makes the act of reading an interaction between God and the audience.
- Introduction: A Narratological, Rhetorical Approach to Qur’anic Stories
- Knowledge, Control and Consonance in Surat Āl ‘Imrān 3:33–62
- God, Families and Secrets in the Story of Surat Maryam 19:1–58
- Chapter Four: Evidence, Judgment and Remorse in Surat Yūsuf
- Merging Words and Making Connections in Surat Ṭaha
- Surat al-Qaṣaṣ and Its Audience
- Conclusions: Reading the Qur’an as God’s Narrative
This monograph is an impressive addition to the growing number of studies on the Qur’an as a literary text. [...] For all readers of this extraordinary performative text, whatever their background, motive, or outlook, the stories come alive with a fresh, invigorating and engaging analysis, at once exploratory and comprehensive.
[...] the perspectives offered by the author benefit from a wealth of insights and originality.
By directing readers’ attention to the Qur’an’s narrative strategies for building relationships within and between some of its most important surahs, Ozgur Alhassen makes a welcome contribution to the growing number of studies focusing on the Qur’an’s sophisticated rhetorical choices.
