News in Depth: The lost archive; Missing for years, cache of photos spurs research on Islam's hallowed text

The Quran is viewed by most Muslims as the unchanging word of God as transmitted to the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century. The text, they believe, didn't evolve or get edited. The Quran says it is "flawless" and fixed by an "imperishable tablet" in heaven. It starts wi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inWall Street journal. Europe
Main Author Andrew Higgins in Munic
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Brussels Dow Jones & Company Inc 17.01.2008
EditionEurope
Subjects
19th century
Archives & records
Bible
Christianity
History
Islam
Motion picture directors & producers
Muslims
Quran
Text analysis
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The Quran is viewed by most Muslims as the unchanging word of God as transmitted to the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century. The text, they believe, didn't evolve or get edited. The Quran says it is "flawless" and fixed by an "imperishable tablet" in heaven. It starts with a warning: "This book is not to be doubted." "The whole period after 1945 was poisoned by the Nazis," says Gunter Luling, a scholar who was drummed out of his university in the 1970s after he put forward heterodox theories about the Quran's origins. His doctoral thesis argued that the Quran was lifted in part from Christian hymns. Blackballed by Mr. [Anton Spitaler], Mr. Luling lost his teaching job and launched a fruitless six-year court battle to be reinstated. Feuding over the Quran, he says, "ruined my life." Mr. [Gerd-Rudiger Puin] says the manuscripts suggested to him that the Quran "didn't just fall from heaven" but "has a history." When he said so publicly a decade ago, it stirred rage. "Please ensure that these scholars are not given further access to the documents," read one letter to the Yemen Times. "Allah, help us against our enemies."
ISSN:0921-9986