2004 Presidential Address |
Reading the Qur’
n with Fidelity and Freedom
Dean of Arts and Science and professor in the Departments of Arabic and of History at Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057
Within our lifetimes the population of North America has become much more demographically and religiously diverse. We now live on a continent that has recently rediscovered the public face of religion and often fears it, whose prevailing mindset has moved from "secularization" to "clash-of-civilizations" in the blink of an eye. Islam sits at the center of this change, and Muslims in North America, and elsewhere, have been subject to increased scrutiny and suspicion. So, too, has Islam’s sacred text, the Qur’
n. Frequently misunderstood and misrepresented, the Qur’n deserves to be read on its own terms rather than filtered through the genre categories and reception history of another scriptural tradition. It also warrants attention to its exegetical tradition and to the capacity demonstrated by that tradition to generate new insights and understandings. In both North America and Europe emerging exegetical voices are engaging contemporary social, political, and cultural issues. Just like those of previous generations, these new commentators seek to balance the dual demands of exegetical fidelity and creatively responsive freedom.