Thesis Chapters by Suleyman Dost
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Book Reviews by Suleyman Dost
Speculum, 2021
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Review of Qur'anic Research , 2019
Colleagues and fellow scholars of Islam, how many times have you been asked about the best Englis... more Colleagues and fellow scholars of Islam, how many times have you been asked about the best English translations of the Qurʾān and how many times have you mumbled in response something along the lines of "Arberry is good, there is Yusuf Ali, Abdel Haleem's is more recent I guess"? Abdur Raheem Kidwai's God's Word, Man's Interpretations is the book to read for a better, more learned answer concerning the English translations of the Qurʾān that have appeared since 2000. Kidwai's admirable effort in this book can truly spare the scholars of Islam the time of sifting through the ever-growing numbers of recent translations-that is, if one can look past his unflinching policing on behalf of the Sunni-Jamāʿī interpretations of the Qurʾān and his unapologetic disdain for every other approach to the Qurʾān including what he calls "the Orientalist enterprise" (142).
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Conference Posters by Suleyman Dost
The Catholic University of America is hosting a symposium on:
The Qurʾān and Ethiopia: Context ... more The Catholic University of America is hosting a symposium on:
The Qurʾān and Ethiopia: Context and Reception
April 8, 2019
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
May Gallery, Mullen Library
The Catholic University of America
Washington, DC
USA
Open to the public. RSVP to Aaron Butts (buttsa@cua.edu).
Sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences, Institute of Christian Oriental Research, Center for Medieval and Byzantine Studies, Center for the Study of Early Christianity, and Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures.
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Articles by Suleyman Dost
Journal of the International Qur'anic Studies Association, 2023
The word nabtahil, which appears only once in the Qur’an in Q 3:61, has become the basis of a fai... more The word nabtahil, which appears only once in the Qur’an in Q 3:61, has become the basis of a fairly well-known practice in pre-modern and modern Islam called mubāhala, “mutual cursing” due to the verse’s alleged connection to a cursing duel between Muhammad and Christians from Najran. Some exegetes, however, took it to mean “to pray humbly/sincerely”. This article argues that among the two explanations offered by Muslim scholars and exegetes for ibtahala, “to pray” and “to curse”, the latter is quite probably incorrect and arose from a misinterpretation of the word’s solitary usage in the qur’anic verse whereas the former explanation fares better in view of the comparative Semitic evidence. Having evaluated the attestations of the word in Muslim sources and in other languages, I offer a third explanation, namely that the word ibtahala means “to debate”, based on a Classical Ethiopic cognate.
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Scripts and Scripture: Writing and Religion in Arabia Circa 500-700 CE , 2022
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Asiatische Studien, 2022
In the Qur'ān, a son of Noah dies in the flood because, the Qur'ān states, he is not actually of ... more In the Qur'ān, a son of Noah dies in the flood because, the Qur'ān states, he is not actually of Noah's family. The passage in question (Q 11:46) was puzzling to classical Muslim exegetes and modern scholars alike, and the search for parallel narratives in previous biblical and parabiblical texts has been largely unsuccessful. Another Qur'ānic passage that portrays Noah's wife in negative terms (Q 66:10) led some early Muslim scholars to consider the possibility that she cheated on his husband but this interpretation was later dismissed on the principle of prophetic infallibility. In this paper, the story of Noah's perished son is examined in the light of Second Temple Jewish texts, in particular the First Book of Enoch and the Genesis Apocryphon, where the sexual corruption of the fallen angels leads to cases of doubtful paternity. In these sources Noah's own birth is recounted as a wondrous event that makes Noah's father Lamech suspect that his wife had the child from an angel. Lamech's grandfather Enoch eventually confirms Noah's righteous conception and birth but the narrative motifs around antediluvian sexual decadence, conjugal disloyalty and miraculous birth stories survive into other Second Temple Jewish and early Christian texts. I argue that the Qur'ān, too, was aware of these narrative motifs and the story of Noah's son constitutes a unique Qur'ānic spin on certain of these Enochic themes.
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Papers by Suleyman Dost
The Journal of Religion, 2018
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Thesis Chapters by Suleyman Dost
Book Reviews by Suleyman Dost
Conference Posters by Suleyman Dost
The Qurʾān and Ethiopia: Context and Reception
April 8, 2019
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
May Gallery, Mullen Library
The Catholic University of America
Washington, DC
USA
Open to the public. RSVP to Aaron Butts (buttsa@cua.edu).
Sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences, Institute of Christian Oriental Research, Center for Medieval and Byzantine Studies, Center for the Study of Early Christianity, and Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures.
Articles by Suleyman Dost
Papers by Suleyman Dost
The Qurʾān and Ethiopia: Context and Reception
April 8, 2019
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
May Gallery, Mullen Library
The Catholic University of America
Washington, DC
USA
Open to the public. RSVP to Aaron Butts (buttsa@cua.edu).
Sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences, Institute of Christian Oriental Research, Center for Medieval and Byzantine Studies, Center for the Study of Early Christianity, and Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures.