M A S Abdel Haleem
Biographic Data
| ID | 5012246 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M A S Abdel Haleem |
| GIVEN NAMES | M A S Abdel |
| FAMILY NAME | Haleem |
| SIGNATURE | HALEEM M A S A |
| AFFILIATIONS | SOAS University of London |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 24 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1990 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Enabling Obedience
Sūrat al-Nūr (Q. 24), ‘Light upon Light’
The Translational Challenges Presented by Qur’anic Oaths
A Perennial Challenge to Belief in Resurrection
Understanding the Qur'an Through Sura Structure
Respecting People with Disabilities
Reading Q. 4
Sūrat Maryam (Q. 19)
Mary is a very important figure in the Qur'an, in which she is mentioned by name 34 times. In addition to passing references, such as in Q. 23:50 and Q. 66:12, two important Qur'anic pericopes are devoted to her: Q. 3:33–50 and Q. 19:16–36. Over and above this, Sura 19 is named after her. Much has been written about this sura, with recent scholarship giving particular attention to its structure. Identifying the structure within the sura is of cou…
The Role of Rhetoric ( balāgha ) in Teaching Arabic in Western Universities
Balāgha is an important part of the curriculum of schools and universities in the Arab world because of its vital importance to appreciation of Arabic literature and the Qur'an. This is not the case in the BA Arabic curricula in British universities, where students have only three or four years to not only learn Arabic but also cover areas such as Islam and Arabo-Islamic literature and history. Western scholars have also historically neglected to…
The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies
Including contributions from over fifty leading experts, The Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies presents an authoritative collection of studies which guide the reader through the core subjects, themes, and debates dominating the academic engagement with the text of the Qur’an. With the aim of serving as an indispensable reference resource, the Handbook considers not only discussions shaping the study of the text today, but also their implication…
The Role of Context in Interpreting and Translating the Qur'an
Quoting out of context can become especially serious when dealing with religious texts. As will be demonstrated in this article, attention to context (siyāq) is essential to proper understanding and translation of the Qur'an. However, in much tafsīr writing, and in most of the translations of the Qur'an into English, as well as more general discussion of the Qur'an, we come across examples where insufficient regard to the context seriously mars u…
Threefold Debt Security in the Qur'an
Sūrat al-Fajr (Q. 89)
In his one-paragraph introduction to his translation of this early Meccan sura (30 short verses), Richard Bell describes it as follows: 'The introductory oath is not very intelligible or well arranged and does not lead up to any important statement.The rest of the sura is confused in rhyme and the sense is also uneven ... A number of verses were introduced into the sura at a later date which cannot be determined' and continues, 'How the various p…
The Qur'an in the Novels of Naguib Mahfouz (in Arabic)
With a rich, productive career spanning over 60 years, culminating in the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, Naguib Mahfouz's literary works have naturally attracted numerous studies and critiques. These studies have covered a great many aspects of Mahfouz's creative writing, but, perhaps because of the secular, modern education Mahfouz received (both at school and in the Department of Philosophy in Cairo University), and his person…
The Expeditions
One of the earliest surviving biographies of Prophet Muḥammad, translated into readable, modern English for the first time The Expeditions is one of the oldest biographies of the Prophet Muḥammad to survive into the modern era. Its primary author, Maʿmar ibn Rāshid (96-153/714-770), was a prominent scholar from Basra in southern Iraq who was revered for his learning in prophetic traditions, Islamic law, and the interpretation of the Qurʾan. This …
The Core of the Qur'an
The Prophet dubbed Sūrat Yā Sīn the ‘core of the Qur'an’. This article attempts to explain the reasons for this. It highlights the central theme of the sura, the resurrection of the dead: Yā Sīn provides the longest presentation of this subject in one single sura, dealing with all the arguments the disbelievers bring up against it. Contrary to the opinions of some scholars, the structure of this sura, seen in the succession of its well-connected …
The jizya Verse (Q. 9
The jizya verse has been the basis of a huge amount of writing by Muslims in Islamic law and Qur'anic exegesis, and by non-Muslim scholars writing about Islam. It continues to be used by some academics, the media and anti-Islamic propagandists to denigrate Islam and its treatment of non-Muslims, especially the ‘People of the Book’. This article aims to examine the verse afresh, using close linguistic analysis and paying due regard to the linguist…
Euphemism in the Qur'an
First Page
Qur'anic ‘jihād’
The word jihād is one that has been much discussed. It is often interpreted with some degree of sensationalised polemic and has become, to some extent, divorced from its significance as a Qur'anic term. Our approach in this study is therefore to deal with the subject on the basis of the Qur'an alone, as a term which forms an important theme in the Qur'an, on the basis of close linguistic analysis of the text itself. In particular, our analysis wi…
Qur'anic ‘ jihād ’
The word jihād is one that has been much discussed. It is often interpreted with some degree of sensationalised polemic and has become, to some extent, divorced from its significance as a Qur'anic term. Our approach in this study is therefore to deal with the subject on the basis of the Qur'an alone, as a term which forms an important theme in the Qur'an, on the basis of close linguistic analysis of the text itself. In particular, our analysis wi…
How to Read the Qur'an
The Qur'anic Employment of the Story of Noah
The view of Noah as being ‘the first prophet of punishment’ is stated categorically in both editions of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, and Bell includes the Noah story under the heading ‘Stories of Punishment’ in his Introduction to the Qur'an. More recently, David Marshall, in describing the punishment story in his article on the subject in the recently published Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, remarks that ‘It is to be noted that these stories depict…
Grammatical Shift for Rhetorical Purposes
In a study which has been described as pioneering, Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft , Theodor Nöldeke ‘discussed in detail the “Stylistische und syntaktische Eigentümlichkeiten der Sprache des Korans” (pp. 5–23) thereby collecting together everything that had occurred to him in this respect during his protracted and intensive study of the Holy Book of the Muslims.’ Among the examples Nöldeke discusses (pp. 13–14) are Q. 7 (not 77 …
The story of Joseph in the Qur'an and the old testament
The story of Joseph in the Qur'an has been approached by many non‐Muslim writers1 who were content to list which details of the biblical story have been missed out from the biblical story and which points have been added, maintaining that these had their origins in biblical or other Jewish sources. Our treatment here concentrates on the texts of the story in the Qur'an and the Old Testament, attempting to identify the differing functions and preo…
The Expeditions
One of the earliest surviving biographies of Prophet Muḥammad, translated into readable, modern English for the first time The Expeditions is one of the oldest biographies of the Prophet Muḥammad to survive into the modern era. Its primary author, Maʿmar ibn Rāshid (96-153/714-770), was a prominent scholar from Basra in southern Iraq who was revered for his learning in prophetic traditions, Islamic law, and the interpretation of the Qurʾan. This …
The story of Joseph in the Qur'an and the old testament
The story of Joseph in the Qur'an has been approached by many non‐Muslim writers1 who were content to list which details of the biblical story have been missed out from the biblical story and which points have been added, maintaining that these had their origins in biblical or other Jewish sources. Our treatment here concentrates on the texts of the story in the Qur'an and the Old Testament, attempting to identify the differing functions and preo…
Grammatical Shift for Rhetorical Purposes
In a study which has been described as pioneering, Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft , Theodor Nöldeke ‘discussed in detail the “Stylistische und syntaktische Eigentümlichkeiten der Sprache des Korans” (pp. 5–23) thereby collecting together everything that had occurred to him in this respect during his protracted and intensive study of the Holy Book of the Muslims.’ Among the examples Nöldeke discusses (pp. 13–14) are Q. 7 (not 77 …
The story of Joseph in the Qur'an and the old testament
The story of Joseph in the Qur'an has been approached by many non‐Muslim writers1 who were content to list which details of the biblical story have been missed out from the biblical story and which points have been added, maintaining that these had their origins in biblical or other Jewish sources. Our treatment here concentrates on the texts of the story in the Qur'an and the Old Testament, attempting to identify the differing functions and preo…
Grammatical Shift for Rhetorical Purposes
In a study which has been described as pioneering, Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft , Theodor Nöldeke ‘discussed in detail the “Stylistische und syntaktische Eigentümlichkeiten der Sprache des Korans” (pp. 5–23) thereby collecting together everything that had occurred to him in this respect during his protracted and intensive study of the Holy Book of the Muslims.’ Among the examples Nöldeke discusses (pp. 13–14) are Q. 7 (not 77 …
The Qur'anic Employment of the Story of Noah
The view of Noah as being ‘the first prophet of punishment’ is stated categorically in both editions of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, and Bell includes the Noah story under the heading ‘Stories of Punishment’ in his Introduction to the Qur'an. More recently, David Marshall, in describing the punishment story in his article on the subject in the recently published Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, remarks that ‘It is to be noted that these stories depict…
How to Read the Qur'an
Qur'anic ‘jihād’
The word jihād is one that has been much discussed. It is often interpreted with some degree of sensationalised polemic and has become, to some extent, divorced from its significance as a Qur'anic term. Our approach in this study is therefore to deal with the subject on the basis of the Qur'an alone, as a term which forms an important theme in the Qur'an, on the basis of close linguistic analysis of the text itself. In particular, our analysis wi…
Qur'anic ‘ jihād ’
The word jihād is one that has been much discussed. It is often interpreted with some degree of sensationalised polemic and has become, to some extent, divorced from its significance as a Qur'anic term. Our approach in this study is therefore to deal with the subject on the basis of the Qur'an alone, as a term which forms an important theme in the Qur'an, on the basis of close linguistic analysis of the text itself. In particular, our analysis wi…
Euphemism in the Qur'an
First Page
The jizya Verse (Q. 9
The jizya verse has been the basis of a huge amount of writing by Muslims in Islamic law and Qur'anic exegesis, and by non-Muslim scholars writing about Islam. It continues to be used by some academics, the media and anti-Islamic propagandists to denigrate Islam and its treatment of non-Muslims, especially the ‘People of the Book’. This article aims to examine the verse afresh, using close linguistic analysis and paying due regard to the linguist…
The Core of the Qur'an
The Prophet dubbed Sūrat Yā Sīn the ‘core of the Qur'an’. This article attempts to explain the reasons for this. It highlights the central theme of the sura, the resurrection of the dead: Yā Sīn provides the longest presentation of this subject in one single sura, dealing with all the arguments the disbelievers bring up against it. Contrary to the opinions of some scholars, the structure of this sura, seen in the succession of its well-connected …
The Qur'an in the Novels of Naguib Mahfouz (in Arabic)
With a rich, productive career spanning over 60 years, culminating in the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, Naguib Mahfouz's literary works have naturally attracted numerous studies and critiques. These studies have covered a great many aspects of Mahfouz's creative writing, but, perhaps because of the secular, modern education Mahfouz received (both at school and in the Department of Philosophy in Cairo University), and his person…
The Expeditions
One of the earliest surviving biographies of Prophet Muḥammad, translated into readable, modern English for the first time The Expeditions is one of the oldest biographies of the Prophet Muḥammad to survive into the modern era. Its primary author, Maʿmar ibn Rāshid (96-153/714-770), was a prominent scholar from Basra in southern Iraq who was revered for his learning in prophetic traditions, Islamic law, and the interpretation of the Qurʾan. This …
Threefold Debt Security in the Qur'an
Sūrat al-Fajr (Q. 89)
In his one-paragraph introduction to his translation of this early Meccan sura (30 short verses), Richard Bell describes it as follows: 'The introductory oath is not very intelligible or well arranged and does not lead up to any important statement.The rest of the sura is confused in rhyme and the sense is also uneven ... A number of verses were introduced into the sura at a later date which cannot be determined' and continues, 'How the various p…
The Role of Context in Interpreting and Translating the Qur'an
Quoting out of context can become especially serious when dealing with religious texts. As will be demonstrated in this article, attention to context (siyāq) is essential to proper understanding and translation of the Qur'an. However, in much tafsīr writing, and in most of the translations of the Qur'an into English, as well as more general discussion of the Qur'an, we come across examples where insufficient regard to the context seriously mars u…
Sūrat Maryam (Q. 19)
Mary is a very important figure in the Qur'an, in which she is mentioned by name 34 times. In addition to passing references, such as in Q. 23:50 and Q. 66:12, two important Qur'anic pericopes are devoted to her: Q. 3:33–50 and Q. 19:16–36. Over and above this, Sura 19 is named after her. Much has been written about this sura, with recent scholarship giving particular attention to its structure. Identifying the structure within the sura is of cou…
The Role of Rhetoric ( balāgha ) in Teaching Arabic in Western Universities
Balāgha is an important part of the curriculum of schools and universities in the Arab world because of its vital importance to appreciation of Arabic literature and the Qur'an. This is not the case in the BA Arabic curricula in British universities, where students have only three or four years to not only learn Arabic but also cover areas such as Islam and Arabo-Islamic literature and history. Western scholars have also historically neglected to…
The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies
Including contributions from over fifty leading experts, The Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies presents an authoritative collection of studies which guide the reader through the core subjects, themes, and debates dominating the academic engagement with the text of the Qur’an. With the aim of serving as an indispensable reference resource, the Handbook considers not only discussions shaping the study of the text today, but also their implication…
Understanding the Qur'an Through Sura Structure
Respecting People with Disabilities
Reading Q. 4
A Perennial Challenge to Belief in Resurrection
The Translational Challenges Presented by Qur’anic Oaths
Sūrat al-Nūr (Q. 24), ‘Light upon Light’
Enabling Obedience
Philosophy (18 works) · Families in Therapy and Culture (14 works) · History (11 works) · Linguistics (11 works) · Historical and Linguistic Studies (10 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Art (8 works) · Education and Islamic Studies (8 works) · Islamic Studies and History (8 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (7 works)