Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qur'n (IEQ): Raison d'tre and Project Summary

Author(s): MUZAFFAR IQBAL

Source: Islamic Studies, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Winter 2008), pp. 537-543
Published by: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad
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Islamic Studies 47:4 (2008) pp. 537-543

Profile
IntegratedEncyclopedia of 'theQur'an

d'etre and Project

(IEQ): Raison

Summary
MUZAFFAR IQBAL

'Uthman binAffan 4* relatedthat theProphet ft said:

4The

best among you

is the one who

learns and teaches the Qur'an.)

Bukhari,

Conceived

as

reference work

based

on

fourteen

Sahih, Fada'il

centuries

al-Qur'an

of

Islamic

scholarship,The Integrated
Encyclopediaof theQur'an (IEQ) strivesto bring to
the English-speakingworld a unique blend of classical and contemporary
Islamic

scholarship

on the Qur'an

in an accessible

and reader-friendly

format.

It ismeant forbothMuslim and non-Muslim general readerswho are looking

for an authentic

and itsmessage,

source of
on
in-depth and scholarly knowledge
as well as academic scholars, whether
specializing

the Qur'an
in the field

ofQur'anic studiesor working more generally in other disciplines related to

Islam.

The Qur'an, Muslims

and IEQ

Today only about 20 percent of allMuslims understand the language of the

Qur'an. This inabilityto directlyaccess themulti-layered linguisticrichnessof
*
General Editor: Muzaffar Iqbal; Associate Editors: Anis Ahmad; Afifi al-Akiti;Mohammad
Akram; Muhammad al-Ghazali;Gibril Fouad Haddad; Language Editor: Muhammad IsaWaley;
Assistant Editors: Basit Kareem Iqbal; Zacharia al-Khatib;General Consultant: Adi Setia.

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MUZAFFARIQBAL

538

the original text of theQur'an is often combined with a lack of sufficient

trainingin reading theQur'an?even in translation?especially for thosewho
are schooled through a modern Western-style educational system.Since the
Qur'an remains a fundamentalpart of their lives at so many levels of
existence, millions of Muslims look for different translations, exegeses,
dictionaries,and translationsof classical textson theQur'an in order to engage
with it at a deeper level.These sources are useful to some extent,but since
classical textswere not intended to be used without guidance, those readers
who lack trainingin reading these textsaremore likely to be confused than
enlightened. For instance,when one encounters thirteen different (and
sometimesmutually conflicting)opinions on one verse inJamical-Bayan 'an
Ta'wll Ayy al-Qur'an>Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari's (d. 310/923) monu
mental tafslr,or when one finds seven differentsayingsof the Prophet H in
referenceto one verse in Isma'il b. 'Umar IbnKathlr's (d. 774/1373) Tafslral
Qur'an al-Azlm, one needs to have the requisite trainingin tafslrand hadlth
methodology and scholarshipto understand thiswealth ofmaterial. Thus, The
IntegratedEncyclopedia of theQur'an will be an invaluable source as a concise
and authentic referencework which presents thisvast repositoryof classical
Islamic literatureon theQur'an in a languageandmanner that is accessible to
modern

readers.

The Qur'an,

non-Muslims and IEQ

If thepaths to theQur'an have become restrictedforMuslims due to barriers

of language and education, they are almost completely blocked for a vast
majority of non-Muslims.This exclusion is a dual calamity: countlessmen and
women

are never

to come
really able

to encounter

theWords

of the Creator,

and also, as a result,a fundamentaldivide separates thosewho believe in the

Qur'an and thosewho do not. In away, thisdivide has existed ever since the
Qur'an

was

first revealed

some fourteen centuries

ago, but the contemporary

situation isunlike thepast; the rapid shrinkingof the globe in somany realms

of human

existence?geographical,

intellectual, political,

social, economic?has

made it impossible for any community to live in isolation.Thus thosewho

believe in the finalrevelationof theCreator and thosewho do not now live in
close proximity to one another in somany dimensions of space and time.This
has generated a great deal of frictionand simultaneouslya rapid growth of
interest

in the Qur'an

by non-Muslims.

As

a result,

the number

of non

Muslims who have actually opened one of themany available translationsof

theQur'an has increasedexponentially in recentyears.After reading the first
fewpages, however, a greatmany of thesereadersfind itdifficultto continue,
for theyencountera textunlike any theyhave ever read.

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INTEGRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA

OF THE QUR'AN

539

They find neither coherence nor logical connections of the kind most
familiarto them.Moreover, the imageryof theQur'an remainsutterlyforeign
to them even in the best of translations,not to speak of itsmiraculous totum
simul?the simultaneous totality (al-wahdatal-mawdii'iyyah)--thatcreates the
whole in every part. In themulti-layered coherence of theQur'an, all its
themes emerge in shortpassages, creatingan inimitable interplaybetween its
With somany
imagery,oaths, parables, chronicles,warnings, and glad tidings.
elements of text coalescing, separating,reuniting,and reemphasizing each
other at numerous levels, the result can be a total incomprehensibilityand
confusion.

Often all that a sincerenon-Muslim reader gains out of his or her first
encounterwith the Qur'an is an overall sense of alienation. Those who
attempt to understand itsmessage throughother books findfew representative
works inWestern languages.Books by non-Muslim scholarsare rarelyof help,
for theyoften serveonly to enlarge the canon ofOrientalist writing.Neither
has the burgeoning fieldof contemporaryacademic studiesmade a significant

positive contribution in this regard.Most Muslim scholarshipon theQur'an,

on the other hand, remains inaccessible to non-Muslims as well as to
Westernized Muslims for reasons of language, style,basic premises, format,
and content. The paucity of genuine resources available to such seekers
looking for an authentic source to understand themessage of theQur'an will
be somewhat alleviated by The IntegratedEncyclopedia of theQur'an, which
will provide scholarlymaterial in amanner and formatfamiliarto them.

The Qur'an, theAcademy andIEQ

Non-Muslim academic scholarshave yet another dilemmawhen approaching
theQur'an. They cannot commit themselvesto any position about theDivine
origin of theQur'an; their professional obligation is to maintain a certain
detachment from the object of their study.Yet, in this case, the object itself
makes it impossible tomaintain suchneutrality,for theQur'an demands that
one must

interaction

settle the fundamental

can occur:

one must

issue of its authorship before any further

either accept or reject the Qur'anic
claim that

it is aDivine Revelation.
A corollary ofwhatever choice theymake is theirposition
regardingthe
Prophet ^. Acceptance of theQur'an as a Divine Revelation simultaneously
entails the acceptance of theProphetMuhammad M as the finalMessenger of
Allah and the seal of prophecy. If they reject the Qur'anic claim, they
simultaneously reject his prophethood and thereby find themselves in the
difficultposition of questioning his honesty and truthfulness?somethingthat
polemical writers have done forcenturies.Such scholars,thus, findthemselves

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MUZAFFARIQBAL

540

in an irresolvabledilemma: if they commit to a position on theQur'an, they

sacrificetheir 'impartiality';if theydo not, they cannot legitimatelyinteract
with the text they are studying.This dilemma has been recognized by a
number of academic scholars,who

further admit that no resolution is

available.

Against this historical background,IEQ brings to the academicworld a

work, sharingwith its sources thepremise that theQur'an is
unique reference
a revealed text while simultaneouslymaintaining scholarly norms and
standards. Academic
Qur'an

that

scholars will,

presents,

in

therefore, welcome

concise

form,

fourteen

a reference work
centuries

of

on the

Islamic

scholarship,even though theymight not fully agreewith its basic premises.

Those who work in the specialized field of Qur'anic studies and have the
linguistic ability to directly access the vast corpus of Muslim scholarship
produced over the last fourteenhundredyearswill also findIEQ appealing,for
itmakes available in one work materials and resourcesthatare scatteredover a
vast body of sometimes inaccessibletexts.
IEQ will serve as a useful startingpoint fornew dimensions of intensive
research, for it brings to the academic world hundreds of well-referenced
sources from the reservoirof Islamic scholarshipon theQur'an. Researchers
in disciplines other than Qur'anic studies, especially those without the
linguisticskills to directlyaccess the formidablecorpus ofQur'anic sciences in
the original,will also appreciate IEQ because it fulfilsone of their essential
needs.

Key FeaturesofIEQ
The IntegratedEncyclopedia of theQur'an draws its entries from the
thematic

structure of the Qur'an

itself. The

editors have

striven to cover

all themesof theQur'an and have assignedproportionate space to articles

in relation to theirrelative importancein theQur'an. This featureof IEQ
becomes apparent fromthe "ThematicList ofArticles" (to be included in
Volume 7), which presents an index of articlesunder Qur'anic themes
such as Faith (al-Iman) and its various dimensions; Deeds (al-a'mal);
Calling toward Allah (al-da'wah ila 'Hah); Jihad (al-Jihad);Economic
Relations [aUaldqat al-maliyyah); Juridical Relations (al-'alaqat al
qada'iyyah); Chronicles and History (alqasas wa 'l-ta'rikh);theQur'an
itselfas a themeof theQur'an (al-Qur'an);Other Religions (al-diyanatal
ukhra); Sciences and Arts (al-'uliimwa %funuri)\and the like.Muslim
scholars have built a tradition of exacting scholarship over the past
fourteencenturieswhich explicates each theme in detail, keeping inview
its precise relationshipwith the overall message of the Qur'an. This

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INTEGRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA

OF THE QUR'AN

541

internal thematic unity of the Qur'an, often overlooked in works

produced by non-Muslim scholars,also provides a coherent schema for
cross-references;it thereby facilitatesa broader understanding of the
message

of the Qur'an.

IEQ assumes serious engagement,but no prior knowledge ofArabic or of

It employs English-language lemmata with certain
the Qur'an.
makes article location
modifications and its intensivecross-referencing
easy.

IEQ integratesa large body of classical scholarshipon theQur'an and

makes it available to contemporaryreaders.This integrationtakesplace at
several levels?from the conception of the overall framework to the
individual entries?and results in a scholarlywork that is simultaneously
and classical.

contemporary

The editorshave identifiedapproximately650 entriesand severalhundred

cross-references

covering

all concepts,

places,

and persons mentioned

in

theQur'an. Entries have been divided into fivecategories: special,major,

medium, minor, and shortaccording to theirword count and assigned to
Muslim scholars specializing invarious fieldsofQur'anic studies.

IEQ will bring to theEnglish-speakingworld a breadth of knowledge on

theQur'an seldom found in any singlework in aWestern language. It
draws

its

scholarly

acumen

from

fourteen

centuries

of Qur'anic

scholarship. It embraces a variety of perspectivespresent in the Islamic

exegetical

literature, and provides

a much-needed

alternative

to works

on

the Qur'an by Orientalists as well as by contemporary non-Muslim

academic scholars. Muslim and non-Muslim specialists focusing on
Qur'anic studies, scholars and students in all disciplines in academic
institutions,and serious readerswill discover an illuminatingbreadth of
knowledge inThe Integrated
Encyclopediaof theQur'an.
Potential readership includesacademic specialistsin the fieldofQur'anic
studies, faculty in religious studies departments,
any aspect of Islam, graduate students, Muslims

researchers
interested

engaged with
in an in-depth

studyof theQur'an, and non-Muslims seeking specialized knowledge on

concepts,

places,

and person mentioned

Editorial and Organizational

in the Qur'an.

Structure

The Project has a two-tiered editorial structure: (i) an International

Advisory Board, consisting of senior scholarswho are consulted and
reliedupon forgeneral guidance and expertise;and (ii) an editorialboard
consisting of a General Editor, fiveAssociate Editors, threeAssistant

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MUZAFFAR

542

IQBAL

Editors, and one Language Editor. Please see the project website for
biographical

notes < www.iequran.com

>.

Originally conceived as a project of the Center for Islam and Science

(CIS), Canada, IEQ now enjoys the support of many universities,
academic and research institutionsfromaround theworld. This growing
support is indicativeof a broadly feltneed for such awork. Please see the
worldwide listof supportinginstitutionson theprojectwebsite.

Established in 2000, Center forIslam and Science (CIS) is an independent

research center dedicated to the promotion of research and diffusionof
knowledge on all aspects of Islam. CIS operates under an international
advisory board and a local executive committee. It is a registerednot-for
a
profit organization in the province of Alberta and registeredcharity
with revenueCanada (Charityno. 86447 2899 RR0001). For more details
on the work

of the Center,

< www.cis-ca.org>.
please visit

In 2008, the Society forQur'anic Studies (SQS), Pakistan,was especially

formed for collaboratingwith CIS on thisproject.Registered under the
SocietiesAct XXI of 1860 (Registrationno. KAR-0277 of 2008-09), SQS
functionsas an independentresearchorganizationwith itsown board of
trustees.

Works
Competing
IEQ will directly competewith Brill's Encyclopediaof theQur'an (?Q), which
is by far the only other extensive reference
work on theQur'an in English.
IEQ, however, differssubstantiallyfromEQ in itsconception,organization of
material, as well as sources.As noted above, IEQ will bring to theEnglish
speakingworld a substantial amount of source material that is currently
unavailable to non-specialists,much ofwhich was not used inEQ. Since IEQ
will be written fromtheperspectiveofMuslim scholarswho affirmthedivine
origin of theQur'an, itwill provide a much-needed counterbalance to the
existing non-Muslim scholarship on the Qur'an. From a non-Muslim
perspective,IEQ will be valuable because itwill provide unique and valuable
insightsintoMuslim understandingsof theQur'an as well as a richnessof
sourcematerial largely inaccessible to people who do not know Arabic and
other languagesspoken in theMuslim world.
Various Editions of IEQ and Translations
Initiallypublished byAl-Qalam Publishing <www.alqalam.org>, Canada, in
English, IEQ will also be printed and distributed in various parts of the
Muslim world in partnershipwith local publishers; thiswill ensure its easy

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INTEGRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA

OF THE QUR'AN

543

and affordableavailability throughouttheMuslim world. Each of its seven

volumes will be approximately 550 pages each.We hope to have German,
French, Spanish, and Italian translationsas well. We are already exploring
ways to produce its Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, FarsI, Malay, and Bahasa
Indonesianversions. IEQ will also be launchedas an onlinework.
?t6a

ttlB

PublicationSchedule(Inshd'Allah):
Volume 1 (A-B): Ramadan 1432/August2011
ISBN: 978-1-926620-00-8
Volume 2 (C-E): Ramadan 1433/July2012
ISBN: 978-1-926620-01-5
2013
Volume 3 (F-H): Ramadan 1434/July
ISBN: 978-1-926620-02-2
Volume 4 (I?O): Ramadan 1435/June2014
ISBN: 978-1-926620-03-9
Volume 5 (P-So): Ramadan 1436/June2015
ISBN: 978-1-926620-04-6
Volume 6 (Sp-Z): Ramadan 1437/June2016
ISBN: 978-1-926620-05-3
Volume 7 (Indices):Ramadan 1438/May2017
ISBN: 978-1-926620-07-7
Set
Complete
(7Volumes):
ISBN: 978-1-926620-06-0

Contact Information
Center forIslam and Science, 349-52252Range Road 215,
Sherwood Park, AB T8E 1B7,Canada.
Website:

www.iequran.com

Email: ieq@iequran.com

$ $ $

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