# How should the stories in the Quran be read?

*The guest's research: jihad in the Quran and Khalafallah's narrative art of the Quran*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zasz48lx_wi/s/15/
- Date: 2020-12-11 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Dr Javad T. Hashmi | Axis of Morality & Archetypal Myths in the Quran | MindTrap 46 |Mufti Abu Layth (58:24–1:02:23)
- Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAsz48lX_WI&t=3504s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zasz48lx_wi/

**Topics:** How to read the Quran; Guest conversations

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The guest describes his dissertation on jihad in the Quran and his project translating Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah's suppressed study of the Quran's narrative art, which he says is right.

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth turns to the stories of the Quran and the Israelites' entry into the holy land, which touches on jihad, and asks the guest for his take. The guest says his dissertation is on jihad in the Quran in the formative period, but that his side project, with a fellow Harvard PhD candidate, is a translation and close reading of the book by Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah, an Egyptian Islamic modernist, on the narrative art of the Quran, which was blocked as a dissertation in Egypt as too controversial. He describes his interest as Islamic academic theology, applying the critical insights of the Western academy to Islamic theology, and says he thinks the author has hit the nail on the head.

## Sources and names cited

- Dr Javad T. Hashmi (guest)
- Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah
- al-Fann al-Qasasi fi al-Quran al-Karim [?] (Khalafallah)
- jihad
- Harvard University

## Transcript (machine tier, 58:24–1:02:23)

[58:14] Now of course you can read between the lines and you can tell where I lean. And this is like behind the scenes where I'm actually giving you my views. But in my in my class, I didn't, you know, I took a step back. Sure. But what I what I think a lot of students realized was, hey, I kind of agree with the Muzzlies. Their views are not that crazy on these issues. It just makes common sense. Um, so I I think that's why we need to go back. I think I want to move away from Sure. Sure. Sure. I mean, it's okay.

[58:40] You know, this thing on uh stories uh because you mentioned the whole the Bunnel they were, you know, trapped in the uh or sorry, they weren't they were whether they were enslaved or not, but they were being kind of tortured socially u within Egypt. They escape, they go to the Middle. This whole thing, the narratives within the Quran. Now you have an interesting uh perspective and research on this and it ties into two things which I wanted to kind of discuss and we can come to the other point uh because with ban is the story of them going there and then waging a holy war

[59:19] and you know regaining this land this uh of Canaan this whole ardul madasa this sacred territory it ties it taps into the topic of jihad and that's also an area that you uh have an incredible uh wealth of knowledge in so these two things I mean first of all the stories in the Quran um tell us about that doc what's your take on it so those are two uh topics I'd love to speak on thank you for that so because my dissertation topic is actually on jihad in the Quran and the formative period but actually the side project

[59:57] that I'm working on right now uh I'm working on that with another fellow PhD candidates at Harvard Azie Gundus um was an amazing guy and I'm really grateful to work with him. But uh we're actually going through Muhammad Khalafah's Khalafah's book. Um he was a uh Egyptian Islamic modernist who wrote his dissertation called the literary art in the Quran of the Quran.

[1:00:23] uh and he tried to uh submit this as his dissertation uh and he was blocked from doing so and his dissertation he was not allowed to publish it like that or or submit it. What what was the reason he was not allowed? It's just too controversial or too too controversial. So actually what uh me and him have been doing is we've been going through the entire text. We're almost done with it. We've been translating it and uh we're going to do a close reading of it.

[1:00:48] We're not going to do a word for word translation of all of it. It's it's a very big book. Here I have it right here. So it's an Arabic book. Um and uh it's quite a wonderful what's what's it called in Arabic? Uh it's Alan Alasi uh hold on let's see the exact let me the Arabic titles are very fancy. So uh Phil Quran. So, I think it might have even been a longer title, but um I mean, so yeah, and I'm surprised that that anything is prohibited in academia to kind of like you said is this is the Islamic world.

[1:01:21] I mean, come on. Uh you can you get persecuted all the time. So, this had this happened in Egypt. Oh, in Egypt. Sorry. Okay. Okay. Okay. I thought you meant the Western academic. No, no, no, no. [laughter] So, I was kind of shocked for a moment. I thought, whoa. Okay. So, so what I'm try, what I'm trying to do, so he is um Azie who is my colleague, he's uh more into Arab literature and so that's his interest in my interest.

[1:01:47] There we go. We're back. Uh my interest in the topic is from an Islamic academic theological perspective. So I Islamic academic which Islamic academic theology is the idea that we take the insights the critical scholarly insights of the western academy and we apply those to our theology our Islamic religion and c does it change our views at all so what I'm trying to do is uh anyways that's something else but uh we're through this book and what this author is arguing I think he has hit the nail on its head Okay.

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment ZAsz48lX_WI/s/15. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zasz48lx_wi/s/15/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.