David Vishanoff, translator. “Suyūṭī on the Occasions of Revelation.” In Islamic Theological Themes: A Primary Source Reader, ed. John Renard, 51–58. Oakland: University of California Press, 2014.
This published translation is an excerpt from al-Suyuti’s famous book on the Qur’anic Sciences, al-Itqan fi `ulum al-Qur’an. It assesses how knowing the “occasions of revelation” (asbab al-nuzul) affects the interpretation of Qur’anic verses.
In June 2014 I had the pleasure and privilege of participating in a Summer Institute for Scholars on “Sharia and Ethics” at the International Institute for Islamic Thought in Herndon, Virginia. The lively intellectual exchange was outdone only by the warmth and hospitality of the staff and participants, including Samy Ayoub and Ermin Sinanović, picture with me here at the closing picnic at the home of Yaqub Mirza. (Thanks to Sarra Tlili for the picture!)
My presentation, “The Ethical Structure of Imām al-Ḥaramayn al-Juwaynī’s uṣūl al-fiqh,” attempted to tease out some of the assumptions about the nature of ethics that are implicit in one short classical legal theory text, Kitāb al-Waraqāt fī uṣūl al-fiqh. It was subsequently published in an Open Access volume on Islamic Law and Ethics. It reframes and expands upon some ideas from my Critical Introduction to Islamic Legal Theory.
This event was a rare opportunity for me to participate not only in historical study of Islamic thought but also, as an outsider, in constructive Muslim discourse about the present and future of Islamic law and ethics. Being included in this conversation was a privilege, and perhaps also an indication that my historical studies have achieved some degree of sacrificial listening.
In 2011 the Comparative Studies in Religion section of the American Academy of Religion hosted a memorable panel on “Other Peoples’ Scriptures: The Use of Sacred Texts across Religious Boundaries,” to which I offered a response. Two of those papers, by Ryan Szpiech and Nate Hofer, along with a contribution from Gary Sparks, were then published in Numen 61.4 (2014) as a special issue on the theme of using scriptures across religious lines. I served as guest editor for that issue, and wrote the introduction, which reflects on how religious people reimagine religious others and their sacred texts when they read scriptures across religious lines:
“Other Peoples’ Scriptures: Mythical Texts of Imagined Communities.” Numen: International Review for the History of Religions 61.4 (2014): 329–333.
Here is a pdf of the article text as accepted by Numen, but without the publisher’s formatting. It is posted here for personal use, following the publisher’s two-year embargo period. The published Version of Record of this article may be obtained at the journal’s web site.
This encyclopedia entry surveys classical Islamic legal hermeneutics, specifically the aspects of legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) that deal with the analysis of language. It is useful as a very brief introduction to the topics and historical development discussed in The Formation of Islamic Hermeneutics.
“Hermeneutics.” In Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Law, [ed. Jonathan AC Brown], on Oxford Islamic Studies Online (www.oxfordislamicstudies.com), [Oxford]: Oxford University Press, [2014] (discontinued 2022); republished 2022 in Oxford Encyclopedias of the Islamic World: Digital Collection, ed. John L. Esposito, on Oxford Reference (www.oxfordreference.com), https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780197669419.001.0001/acref-9780197669419-e-162.
The article was supposed to be published in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Law, edited by Jonathan AC Brown, but Oxford University Press apparently decided not to publish that encyclopedia, and instead incorporated it into OUP’s online reference libraries. From 2014 until 2022 it was available in Oxford Islamic Studies Online, which was discontinued; the article was then moved to Oxford Reference, where it is available here.
This encyclopedia entry surveys the beliefs of Muslims, presenting them not as a set of agreed-upon doctrines but as an ongoing argument over seven main topics: God, creation, humanity, prophethood, ethics, salvation, and the Muslim community.
David R. Vishanoff. “Religious Beliefs.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics, ed. Emad El‑Din Shahin, vol. 2, 321–337. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
I find it useful as an introductory reading for my class on Islamic Theology. Unfortunately, it was written “for hire” for OUP, and cannot be made available here. It is accessible in the printed encyclopedia, and until June 2022 it was available online through Oxford Islamic Studies Online; it has now been moved to Oxford Reference.
