The Quran and Adab: Conference Programme

24 April 2012

8:45 - Welcome

9:00 – 10:40 / Panel One: The Qur’an and the Concept of Adab, Chair: Stefan Sperl, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

• Adab Between Belles-lettres and the Qur’an: Redefining and Expanding the Boundaries, Nuha al-Sha‘ar, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
• The Qur’an and the Pre-modern Arabic System of Adab, Sarah Bin Tyeer, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

11:00 – 12:40 / Panel Two: Quoting the Qur’an: Theory and Techniques (al-Tha‘alibi, d. 429/1039), Chair: Wen-Chin Ouyang, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

• Between the Qur’an, Prose and Poetry: al-Tha‘alibi on the Registers of Speech, Bilal Orfali, American University of Beirut
• Major Techniques of Quoting the Qur’an: al-Tha‘alibi’s al-Iqtibas min al-Qur’an, Maurice Pomerantz, New York University

13:40 - 15:20 / Panel Three: The Qur’an in Poetry, Chair: James Montgomery, University of Cambridge

• The Qur’an and the Character of Classical Arabic Poetry, Ghassan El Masri, Dahlem Humanities Centre, Berlin
• Abbasid Poets and the Qur’an, Beatrice Gruendler, Yale University

15:40 - 17:20 / Panel Four: The Reception of the Qur’an in Qisas al-Anbiya’ and Folk Literature (the Arabian Nights), Chair: Beatrice Gruendler, Yale University

• The Place of the Qur’an in ‘The Sermons and Exhortations’ of Abu ‘Ubayd (d. 224/838), Andrew Rippin, University of Victoria, British Columbia

9:00 – 10:40 / Panel Five: The Qur’an, History and Rhetoric, Chair: Hugh Kennedy, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

• Futuh Historiography as Adab Literature? The Use of Qur’anic material in the Futuh al-Sham of al-Azdi (d. 175/791), Jens Scheiner, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen
• Qur’an Citation in Early Arabic Oration (khutba): Mnemonic, Liturgical, and Evidentiary Functions, Tahera Qutbuddin, University of Chicago

11:00-12:40 / Panel Six: The Qur’an and the Art of Quoting, Chair: Gerard Van Gelder, the University of Oxford

• Al-Ma‘arri’s al-Fusul wa’l-ghayat and the Qur’an: Issues of Prosody and the use of the Qur’an, Devin J. Stewart, Emory University, Georgia
• Qur’anic Exegesis as Belles-Lettres: The Case of the Epistles of the Pure Brethren (Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa‘), Omar Ali-de-Unzaga, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London

13.40-16.00 / Panel Seven: The Reception of the Qur’an in Mirrors for Princes, Chair: Eric Ormsby, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London

• The Discovery of Writing: Tracing the Literary Revolution of the Qur’an, Angelika Neuwirth, Freie Universität, Berli
• The Qur’an and Mirrors for Princes: Reading the Work of Tahir b. al-Husayn, Eisa Ali Alakoub, University of Aleppo
• ‘He who has been given wisdom has received abundant good’: The Reception of the Qur’an in Arabic and Persian Mirrors for Princes, Louise Marlow, Wellesley College, Massachusetts
• Speaking through the Qur’an: The hermeneutical interpretations of ‘Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani (d. 525/1099), Daryoush Mohammad Poor, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London

9:00-10.40 / Panel Eight: The Reception of the Qur’an in Devotional Literature and Islamic Mysticism, Chair: Ayman El-Desouky, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

• ‘Serving from Afar’ - the Adab of Interpreting the Qur’an in Islamic Mysticism, Steffen Stelzer, American University of Cairo
• al-Kharraz’s Mystical Reading of Prophetic Stories in the Qur’an, Nada Saab, Lebanese American University, Beirut

11:00-12:30 / General discussion, Chair: Nuha al-Sha‘ar