The Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an By Andrew Rippin, ed. Malden, (Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 576 pages.)

Abstract

With The Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an,Andrew Rippin, an illustrious
scholar in the field of Qur’anic studies, presents yet another impressive
contribution to previous collections of articles on the Qur’an that he has
edited: Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur’an (Oxford
University Press: 1988); The Qur’an: Formative Interpretations (Variorum: 1999); and, with Khaleel Mohammed, Coming to Terms with the Qur’an: A
Volume in Honor of Issa Boullata (Islamic Publications International: 2008),
just to name a few. Gathering the works of scholars from leading universities
throughout the world, Rippin has constructed a volume that is designed
not only for the general reader “who may have little exposure to the Qur’an
beyond a curiosity evoked by the popular media” (p. x), but also to scholars
specializing in the Qur’an. The overall aim of this large volume, which comprises
thirty-two articles, is to guide the reader to “a well-advanced state of
understanding the complexities of the text and its associated traditions”
(ibid) ...