The Qur'an

Massimo Campanini’s introduction to the Qur’an was originally published in Italian as Il Corano e la sua interpretazione in 2004, and it aims to offer a concise but comprehensive overview of the Qur’an and its study and interpretation in past and present. Oliver Leaman translated it into English as The Qur’an: The Basics in 2007, and the book has been on the market for more than a decade now. This review concerns the second edition, published in 2016.

The work under review is a good basic introduction to the Qur’an. The merit of Campanini’s introduction to the Qur’an is that within only 134 pages he manages to introduce Islam as a religion, orthopraxy, and the Qur’an (1–12); the structure and composition of the Qur’an, including examples in translation and simplified transliteration (13–34); the Qur’anic conception of God and prophecy (35–66); Qur’anic exegesis and the various traditional fields of study pertaining to it (67–99); and modern approaches to the Qur’an (100–135). In the new edition the last section is fittingly updated and the discussion of the contemporary work of Farid Esack and Amina Wadud is taking place under a new header “Hermeneutics for Liberation.”

Nonetheless, the brevity of the book does have its drawbacks as it may necessitate omissions. For instance, when introducing the “five legislators of humanity, five people who have brought a Book containing the revelations and commandments of God” (7), only the Books of Moses and Jesus are named and elaborated on, which leaves the reader in the dark about the Books of Adam, Noah, and Abraham, who are only mentioned by their own names. Overall, the author has managed to maintain a very good balance in the amount of detail provided in spite of the challenging breadth of the material covered and the wealth of information presented.

Promoted as “an essential updated reference guide,” the work’s second edition unfortunately disappoints partly in this very claim. For example, in the appendix on “Websites on the Qurʾan” (144), one only finds the links to the same three websites as in 2007, while there have been comprehensive bibliographies of websites on the Qur’an for decades—for instance, Rüdiger Lohlker’s commented bibliography “Der Koran im Internet” (2001), which Andrew Rippin referred to in his chapter on “The Qur’an on the Internet: Implications and Future Possibilities” (2013). Therefore, almost a decade after the first edition, Campanini’s list of websites should have included more items, similar to the revision of the appendix “Glossary of Essential Terms,” which in the new edition adds fitna, hadd, ridda, taqdir, taqwa, walaʾ, and zina.

The same is true for the hard copy references in the appendix on “Works Cited and Bibliography.” The updated bibliography now includes two French translations in addition to two Italian ones (instead of the five in the first edition) among the non-English translations listed, and a few more recent works and corrections (e.g., the reference to Sayyid Qutb’s translation was inaccurate and misplaced in the first edition). However, there is such a huge body of literature in the field of Qur’anic studies that one could wish for a more thorough update of the lists provided, although the book as such is well grounded in contemporary scholarship (e.g., Raymond Farrin, Structure and Qur’anic Interpretation [White Cloud Press, 2014]) and is meant to be an introduction. The reader benefits from the summaries in bullet points following each chapter to consolidate and reflect on their reading. Readers could benefit from the bibliography even more if it included the titles listed in the “references/readings” at the end of every chapter and arranged by theme in order to guide the reader to useful literature by topic rather than listing references alphabetically only.

It is, however, very impressive that in his discussion Campanini includes direct quotes from Muslim sources (translated into English where required), classical and modern, for example al-Ghazali (1058–1111) and Mahmoud Mohammed Taha (1909–1985), and he also introduces the reader to female and feminist scholars (ʿAʾisha ʿAbd al-Rahman bint al-Shatiʾ (1913–1998), and Amina Wadud (b. 1952). Conversely, the many references to fundamentalist sources, Salafis (101–107) and radicals (114-119), and the fifty-odd references to Sayyid Qutb (whom the author claims “reveals a dramatic tone and a decidedly extremist conception,” 115) almost cast a dark shade over modern and contemporary, literary and alternative approaches to the Qur’an. They actually reflect Campanini’s own interest and expertise in political Islam and radicalism (49–55). The volume thus over represents modern-day, radical approaches. Otherwise, it is most suitable for introductory courses on Islam or the Qur’an and will also interest the general reader.

Orhan Elmaz is assistant professor in Arabic at the University of St Andrews

Orhan Elmaz

Date Of Review:

March 16, 2021