Text Ticker: Who Wrote the Koran?
In recent decades there has been a growing movement to apply historical-critical methods to the Qur'an, following the pattern of 19th century German Higher Criticism of the Bible. Despite the oft-repeated injunction of Muhammad's Hadith to "seek knowledge even if it is in China," Muslims have understandably resisted efforts to explore the historical human sources that might have contributed to the Qur'an, which itself explicitly claims to be divinely-revealed.
This article from the New York Times looks at Abdulkarim Soroush, an Iranian intellectual and Islamic scholar who has suggested that the Qur'an may have emerged wholly from Muhammad, even if divinely-inspired. Not surprisingly, saying this has gotten Soroush in a lot of trouble. But if he does end up making his message heard, the way may be cleared for a fuller study of Islam's human origins, while not necessarily ruling out divine ones. [go!]
