Biblical Prophets in the Qur'an and Muslim Literature

Biblical characters are widely quoted in the Qur'an and all genres of Muslim literature. The first aim of this book is to give readers a modern tool - scholarly but not confined to questions that would be of interest to Islamicists only - to know what the Muslim tradition has to say about Biblical figures. The first part deals with the Qur'anic treatment of the subject, giving a full analysis of the features and characteristics of the narrative parts of the text dealing with Biblical prophets, along with an analysis of the Qur'anic concept of prophetology. The work provides a comprehensive study of the Qur'anic data about each prophet, providing a full portrait of every figure based on Qur'anic data and dealing also with all the major scholarly literature on the subject. The second part of the book is dedicated to the general Muslim literature dealing with the prophets. It is different from the first part since it is a literary history touching on various genres of Muslim literature; it also gives many passages in translation, and provides a study of the motifs and contents of the traditions. The treatment of the subject is intended to describe the characteristics of the tradition as contained in the various genres of Muslim literature to Islamicists, but also to give non-Islamicists information about the spread of the stories and traditions about prophets as they are found in Muslim literature from its earliest beginnings up to the present day. Given the subject matter, the book will appeal to Islamictsts, students and scholars of religious studies, and general reades interested in religious subjects, inter-religious and inter-cultural relations. It is particularly relevant to those working in the filed of inter-religious dialogue, for the common elements which bring religions together, especially the Biblical ones, are often used as a basis for discussion.