Workshop Cultural Responses to the Qur’an AAR

Workshop: Cultural Responses to the Qur’an, 18 November 2011, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting (AAR), USA

Friday 18th November 2011 American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting (AAR), Van Ness Room, Hilton Union Square Hotel, San Francisco, USA, 8:30 am – 1:00 pm

The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS), LondonIn association with the Qur’an Group of the American Academy of Religion Organised by Dr Nuha Al-Sha‘ar, Research Associate, Qur’anic Studies Unit, IIS.This workshop aims to generate discussion in order to situate the reading and interpretation of the Qur’an in a wider social and cultural context. It will explore how concepts, stories, images and the language of the Qur’an influenced those working in the fields of folklore, music, Sufism, philosophy and other literary and artistic forms, and how in turn they contributed to the reception history of the Qur’an.

By exploring the engagement with, and exegesis of, the Qur’an in a variety of genres in a wider cultural framework, the workshop will complement the emphasis of current research on the professional scholastic circles of tafsir, and will indirectly contribute to the understanding of the extent and boundaries of tafsir and its relations to other genres.