The Qur'an and the Aesthetics of Premodern Arabic Prose by Sarah R. bin Tyeer
Foreword by Angelika Neuwirth, Professor of Quranic studies, Freie University, Berlin, Germany.
In this complex book the author adopts a bold approach, shows a willingness to take some risks, and undertakes a lively engagement with the material ... . The Qur'an and the Aesthetics of Premodern Arabic Prose remains a highly original work that creatively combines attention to key qur'anic concepts with the interpretation of Arabic literary texts. (Devin J. Stewart, Review of Qur'anic Research, Vol. 7 (7), 2021)
The Qur'an and the Aesthetics of Premodern Arabic Prose is a brilliant book. It enriches the field at the theoretical level and proposes original, well-informed, and highly plausible readings of premodern Arabic prose. It also illustrates the problems and dangers of decontextualized, anachronistic, and atomistic readings and offers efficient remedies to them. In so doing, the book joins other efforts to herald a new era in Arabic literary criticism which promises deeper appreciation of the tradition's intellectual legacy. (Sarra Tlili, Journal of Arabic Literature, Vol. 50, 2019)
Bin Tyeer shows persuasively that 'Islam' has often been reduced to a caricature of puritanism, and that such a view has prevented people from considering the cultural bounty of the Middle East as owing to Islam, not being in spite of it. ... Islam, contrary to its stereotyped depictions in mainstream Western media, does have a rich tradition of creativity, humor, and complicatedness. Recognizing this reality should, says Bin Tyeer, be the starting point for a more generous view of the Islamic cultural tradition. (Kevin Blankinship, Marginalia Review of Books, July, 2018)Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
INTRODUCTION
Part I The Hermeneutics of the Qur'an for the Arts: Key Terms
Chapter 1 Husn: The Route to a Conceptual Query
Chapter 2 Qubh and the Way to Hell
Chapter 3 Hell and the Aesthetics of qubh
Chapter 4 Language: Beautiful Speech/Ugly Speech
Part II Popular Literature: Thousand and One Nights
Chapter 5 The Aesthetics of Reason
Chapter 6 Of Misplacement of Things, People and Decorum
Chapter 7 The Transgression of ReasonPart III Canonical Literature
Chapter 8 Beautifying the Ugly and Uglifying the Beautiful
Chapter 9 The Litterateurs of Hell and Heaven
Coda: The Interpretation and Misinterpretation of adab in Modern Scholarship