Understanding the Qur'an : Themes and Style

NEW PAPERBACK EDITION OF THE HIGHLY ACCLAIMED GUIDE TO THE QUR'AN AND ITS INTERPRETATION BY A WORLD AUTHORITY ON ISLAMThe tenets of Islam cannot be grasped without a proper understanding of theQur'an. In this important introduction, now revised and updated for a newpaperback edition, Muhammad Abdel Haleem examines the Qur'an's majorrecurrent themes - life and eternity, marriage and divorce, peace and war, waterand nourishment - and for the first time considers these elements in thecontext of Qur'anic linguistic style. With a fresh insight into the background ofthe Qur'an, Professor Haleem examines the context and circumstances leadingto the development of the suras (chapters) and the ayahs (verses) and theconstruction of the Qur'an itself. He shows that popular conceptions of Islamicattitudes to women, marriage and divorce, conflict and society, all differ radicallyfrom the true teachings of the Qur'an. Understanding the Qur'angoes on toexplore the ways in which the Judaic and Christian traditions, as reflected in theBible, may be compared to Qur'anic approaches to similar themes.