Project Details
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From Ruin to Resurrection: the response of the Quran to ancient Arabic poetry

Subject Area Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
Term from 2014 to 2018
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 248678153
 
Final Report Year 2019

Final Report Abstract

The project ‚Ruin to Resurrection‘ successfully digitized and prepared for electronic publication the three most ancient collections of Arabic poetry, complete with vocalizations and translations for the Mufaḍḍaliyāt and Muʿallaqāt, according to the most reliable printed editions. It also researched specific elements in the poems pertaining to their history and geography (e.g. toponyms, anthroponyms). The project also researched the various affinities that some of these poems share with the Qurʾān and confirmed the starting hypothesis that the central axis of these affinities is the ubi sunt motif. The use of this motif is perhaps the central and common feature the two corpora and spills over into the existential and moral engagements of the pre-Islamic Arabs and informs the moral and religious commitments of the early Muslims’ beliefs about history and destiny. This affinity is a genuine and very important discovery of this project and unlocks the relationship that binds the Qurʾān to its poetic milieu. These elements were published in the monograph "The Meaning of the Word: al-āḫira" and informed Prof Neuwirth’s brilliant work the "Koran als Text der Spätantike".

Publications

 
 

Additional Information

Textvergrößerung und Kontrastanpassung