The Arabs and Their Qur'an

What did it mean to be a Believer? What was the Qur'an, and what did it intend by "in the tongue of the Arabs"? In the first century of the Mhaggr y , these "emigrants" into the Near East debated the very meaning of their faith. The essays in this book describe the world of the Arabs and their Qur'an. This was a different world than the world which the S ra describes. In this world, Medina was one of several centers in Arabian culture, and Mecca was known only to traders in leather. The "Arab" was a Bedouin poet, and his "Qur'an" was a verse recital - not always religious in origin. The Marw nid amirs chose from all the qur'ans and from them built a written collection: "the Furq n". Even after that, the Arab poets continued to compose verse Qur'ans, sometimes in reaction to the Furq n.