bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Scots Law of Breach of Contract: A Mixed System in Operation
Authors: McBryde William W
Published: August 2010

This is a revised version of a paper delivered in the University of Poitiers on 29 April 2000 at a European Colloquium organised by the Academy of European Law. It examines the history of the Scots law of breach of contract and, in particular, the influence of English law.
Accession of Movables to Land: I
Authors: Vliet L P W van
Published: August 2010

The rules governing accession of movables to land are based on the dual principles of preservation of value and protection of third parties. Thus extinction of title prevents the attachment from being undone; and appearance determines legal effect. Neither principle has room for subjective intention or any other criterion unknown to outsiders. The rules of accession, therefore, should be based on objective criteria. A retention of title clause, for example, should not be allowed to postpone accession. None the less in the legal systems described below there is considerable variation both in the rules of accession and in the right of severance (ius tollendi). This suggests that any attempt at harmonising security rights in European private law is likely to fail unless there is also harmonisation of the rules of accession and the right of severance. This article will be published in two parts. The second part will appear in the next issue.
A Comparative Overview of the Fair Wear and Tear Exception: the Duty of Holders of Temporary Interests to Preserve Property
Authors: Caterina Raffaele
Published: August 2010

“A system of private ownership must provide for something more sophisticated than absolute ownership of the property by one person. A property owner needs to be able to do more than own it during his lifetime and pass it on to someone else on his death.”1

Those who own things with a long life quite naturally feel the urge to deal in segments of time. Most of the owner's ambitions in respect of time can be met by the law of contract. But contract does not offer a complete solution, since contracts create only personal rights. Certain of the owner's legitimate wishes can be achieved only if the law allows them to be given effect in rem—that is, as proprietary rights. Legal systems have responded differently to the need for proprietary rights limited in time. Roman law created usufruct and other iura in re aliena; English law created different legal estates. Every system has faced similar problems. One issue has been the extent to which the holder of a limited interest should be restricted in his or her use and enjoyment in order to protect the holders of other interests in the same thing. A common core of principles regulates the relationship between those who hold temporary interests and the reversioners. For instance, every system forbids holder of the possessory interest to damage the thing arbitrarily. But other rules are more controversial. This study focuses upon the rules which do not forbid, but compel, certain courses of action.
Registration of Company Charges
Authors: Gretton G L
Published: August 2010

Part XII of the Companies Act 1985 requires “charges” granted by companies (and also limited liability partnerships) to be registered. This requirement is additional to the requirements of general law about the creation of security rights. For example, if a company grants a security over land, the security must be registered twice, once (under general law) in the Land Register, and a second time as a “company charge”. Part XII contains two sets of rules, one for England and Wales, and one for Scotland, the latter being largely a copy of the former. The Scottish provisions have hitherto never been closely analysed. The present article attempts to do so. The conclusion of the analysis is that the provisions are irrational.
Capacity to Create a Trust: The Onshore Problem, and the Offshore Solutions
Authors: Matthews Paul
Published: August 2010

The Common Law rules of private international law on the capacity of a person to create a trust are peculiarly difficult to ascertain. It is submitted that, despite the claims of other candidates (such as the proper law of the trust, the law of the situs of the trust assets, and even the settlor's nationality), the law of the settlor's domicile should govern capacity of the settlor (i) to make a contract to create a trust, (ii) to transfer ownership of moveable property to the trustee, and (in) to impose the trust obligation on the trustee. Capacity of the settlor to transfer immovables to the trustee is, however, governed by the lex situs.

Some offshore trust jurisdictions have enacted special rules relating to capacity to create a trust. Two main models may be distinguished, that of Jersey and that of the Cayman Islands. These rules were mainly designed to deal with a quite different problem, namely that of the settlor whose personal law includes rules on the protection of family wealth, such as so-called “forced heirship”". Whether the offshore rules actually succeed in avoiding the problem is, however, open to doubt in some cases.
The Interface Between Competition Law and Private Law: Article 81, Illegality and Unjustified Enrichment
Authors: Rodger Barry J
Published: August 2010

Private enforcement through private party litigation is to play a central role in the enforcement of the European Community competition rules. However, there has so far been little case-law in the national courts to explore in detail the range of issues concerning the award of remedies for breach of the competition rules, principally arts 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty. This article considers the particular position of a cocontractor seeking to claim damages in unjustified enrichment in respect of a contract which is prohibited by art 81 and illegal. The Scots law position on the general question of recovery of damages with regard to an illegal contract is discussed, together with some recent English cases involving a breach of art 81. The article looks at the development of Community jurisprudence laying down the requirement for national courts to provide legal redress and to ensure the effectiveness of Community law. Finally, it considers the recent ruling by the European Court of Justice in Courage v Crehan on a reference from the Court of Appeal.
Disgorgement of Profits for Breach of Contract: A Comparative Analysis
Authors: Siems Mathias
Published: August 2010

This article considers whether a contract-breaker is obliged not only to pay compensatory damages but also to disgorge to the innocent party the profits obtained from breach of contract. After an introduction to the topic, the approach of the courts in Common Law jurisdictions will be outlined. The main focus will be on English Law and the decision of the House of Lords in Attorney General v Blake, althoughjudgmentsfrom other countries will also be mentioned. Thereafter thefocus will be upon Germany as an example ofa Civil Lawjurisdiction. The German law of contract, negotiorum gestio and unjustified enrichment will be examined as to their ability to award disgorgement. The mixed legal systems of Israel, Louisiana and Scotland will also be studied. The similarities and differences between the different legal systems will then be compared and interpreted. In particular, the article will consider common starting points, exceptions and new legal concepts, as well as differences injudicial decision-making and in thefreedom to draft contractual terms. Finally, it will be contended that disgorgement ofthe benefits resultingfrom a breach ofcontract should in principle be awarded. Moreover, this should not be restricted to certain cases. It is necessary only that the gains should be attributable to breach of contract.
The Structure of Defences in Scots Criminal Law
Authors: Tadros Victor
Published: August 2010

One central pillar of scholarship about criminal defences concerns their structure. Three categories of defence are commonly recognised in the academic literature, and to a degree by the courts: capacity defences, justifications, and excuses. This article considers how defences should be structured and the impact that such a structure has on the content of legally recognised defences such as diminished responsibility, necessity, coercion, and provocation.
The Evidential Use of “Similar Facts” in Scots Criminal Law
Authors: Raitt Fiona E
Published: August 2010

This article traces the development of the similar fact rule in Scots law and explores its relative underdevelopment compared to English law and the law of other Commonwealth jurisdictions. Drawing on the recent House of Lords decision in R v Z1 the article suggests that the operation of a similar fact rule is considerably more limited in Scotland than elsewhere. The article acknowledges that the existence of the rule of mutual corroboration arising from the Moorov doctrine partly explains and compensates for this lack of a fully developed similar fact rule in Scots law. However, the article argues that the restricted opportunities for prosecution based on previous misconduct evidence are disadvantageous to Scots law.
Specific Performance: A Comparative Analysis (2)
Authors: Herman Shael
Published: August 2010

The first part of this article appeared in the first issue of this volume of the Edinburgh Law Review. The article explores the regulation of specific performance of sales by reference to Spain and the USA and speculates on the interaction of these municipal laws with the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The first part compared Spanish and United States approaches to specific performance. In this second part the CISG's approach to specific performance is examined with the goal of inquiring, on one hand, whether the drafters have successfully accounted for both Anglo-American and Romano-Germanic preferences, or, on the other hand, whether the CISG's synthesis of the preferences is faulty and manifests incompatible goals that may be difficult to harmonise. Recent US decisions on specific performance under the CISG are discussed as well as some of the assumptions underlying the reasoning processes of US courts in commercial cases. The final section speculates on reasons for the intensity of the rivalry between proponents of specific performance as a primary remedy and those favouring damages as a primary remedy.
Did Stair Know Pufendorf?
Authors: Richter Thomas
Published: August 2010

While the influence of Grotius upon the writings of Stair has already been identified, it has never been conclusively established whether Stair knew the works of Pufendorf. This article attempts to find an answer by comparing the use of particular Greek words in Stair's and Pufendorf's writings. The starting point, however, is an analysis of Stair's knowledge of classical Greek.
PATRICK MACGILL AND THE MAKING OF A HISTORICAL SOURCE: WITH A HANDLIST OF HIS WORKS.
Authors: Edwards Owen Dudley
Published: August 2010

Patrick MacGill was born at Glenties, a little village in one of the wildest districts of Donegal on the north coast of Ireland, twenty-one years ago. The eldest of a family of ten, he had to go out into the world at a very early age and begin his fight in the great battle of life. When twelve years old he was engaged as a farm hand in the Irish Midlands, where his day's work began at five o'clock in the morning and went on till eleven at night through summer and winter. It was a man's work with a boy's pay. At fourteen, seeking newer fields, he crossed from 'Derry to Scotland; and there for seven years was either a farm hand, drainer, tramp, hammer-man, navvy, plate-layer or wrestler. During all these years he devoted part of his spare time to reading, and found relief from the drag of the twelve-hour shift in the companionship of books. At nineteen he published 'Gleanings from a Navvy's Scrapbook', and in September, 1911, left the service of the Caledonian Railway Company at Greenock and came to London. In the following year he relinquished his post with the newspaper, and published 'Songs of a Navvy'. This, as well as the former, being now out of print, he has put together some of the pieces out of either, re-written others, and added fresh ones to the same in the present 'Songs of the Dead End'. Windsor, July, 1912. J.N.D.
Narrative, Intertext and Allusion in the Qur'anic Presentation of Job
Authors: Johns A. H.
Published: August 2010

Job (Ayyūb) is a byword for patience in the Islamic tradition, notwithstanding only six Qur'anic verses are devoted to him, four in Ṣād (vv.41-4), and two in al-Anbiyā' (vv.83-4), and he is mentioned on only two other occasions, in al-Ancām (v.84) and al-Nisā' (v.163). In relation to the space devoted to him, he could be accounted a ‘lesser’ prophet, nevertheless his significance in the Qur'an is unambiguous. The impact he makes is achieved in a number of ways. One is through the elaborate intertext transmitted from the Companions and Followers, and recorded in the exegetic tradition. Another is the way in which his role and charisma are highlighted by the prophets in whose company he is presented, and the shifting emphases of each of the sūras in which he appears. Yet another is the wider context created by these sūras in which key words and phrases actualize a complex network of echoes and resonances that elicit internal and transsūra associations focusing attention on him from various perspectives. The effectiveness of this presentation of him derives from the linguistic genius of the Qur'an which by this means triggers a vivid encounter with aspects of the rhythm of divine revelation no less direct than that of visual iconography in the Western Tradition.
fa-qad ṣaghat qulūbukumā: The Interpretation of Qur'an 66:4 by Farāhī and Iṣlāḥī
Authors: Mir Mustansir
Published: August 2010

The interpretation of Qur'an 66:4 relates to our understanding of events in the Prophet's household in the early Medinan period. Traditionally, exegetes have tended to interpret this verse as a reprimand to the wives of the Prophet, their interpretation resting on their understanding of the meaning of ṣaghw. Two South Asian scholars of this century, cAbd al-Hamīd al-Farāhī and Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāhī, have questioned this traditional interpretation. In their interpretation, they accord primacy to the Qur'anic text, reading this in the light of classical Arabic usage and attestations form jāhilī poetry. Their method of tafsīr demonstrates both a concern for rigorous and philologically sound scholarship and an engagement with the emotional and psychological dimensions of this verse of the Qur'an.
Ikhbāt in the Qur'an: A Semantic Study
Authors: Safiyyeh Jasir Abu
Published: August 2010

This article aims to explore the meaning and Qur'anic usage of the term ikhbāt and its cognates. Lexicographers have examined this word in some detail, and have arrived at definitions which we shall look at in the context of the Qur'an. Its status as technical term in the lexicon of Sufi practice is also taken into consideration. To arrive at a contextually appropriate definition of the word ikhbāt, we need to appreciate how it is used in the Qur'an in conjunction with a number of other terms. These terms display varying degrees of synonymy to ikhbāt, and this is brought out by the definitions traditionally given by Arabic philologists, which we suggest are rendered in English as follows; taqwā: Piety / Godliness wajal: Awe / a perceived fear of God khawf: Fear rajā': Hope combined with a sense of anxiety and fear ishfāq: Solicitude / apprehension Accordingly, the mukhbitūn are those who are humble before God; whose hearts are filled with awe when His name is mentioned, those who endure patiently and whose behaviour evinces taqwā.
Vision and Ascension: Sūr at al-Najm and its Relationship with Muḥammad's mi[unk]rāj 1
Authors: Ess Josef van
Published: August 2010

In modern Muslim exegesis the two visions mentioned in the beginning of sūrat al-Najm are normally interpreted as events where the Prophet saw an angel, i.e., Gabriel who brought him his first message. However, the micraj stories which are found in ḥadīth tend to incorporate them into their own context; here the visions are taken to allude to an audience the Prophet had with God after he had traversed the seven spheres where he met with his predecessors. Early commentators such as Ibn cAbbās assumed that Muḥammad had seen God on this occasion. This, however, caused problems with regard to the tashbīh (anthropomorphism) involved. The discussion seems to have started already in the generation of the ṣaḥāba. The anti-tashbīh faction got strong support from the Muctazilites, but also from Jahmites, Khārijites etc. In spite of this, the concept of micrāj survived, although with some attenuation and in art rather than in theology proper.
Rethinking ‘Revelation’ as a Precondition for Reinterpreting the Qur'an: A Qur'anic Perspective
Authors: Saeed Abdullah
Published: August 2010

The majority of Muslims have held to the dictation theory of Revelation since the Qur'an was revealed fourteen hundred years ago. This article highlights a key aspect of current Qur'anic studies; that is, the rethinking of the genesis of Revelation, advocated by scholars like Kenneth Cragg, apparently as a prerequisite for reinterpretation of the text in the modern period. This article argues that such a rethinking of Revelation is not necessary, and that the avocation of the so-called ‘human element’ in the Qur'an is unwarranted. The argument is based on a literal reading of the Qur'anic text, on what it claims for itself, on key terms used in the Qur'an to describe itself, and on the understanding of the issue by Muslims from the earliest period to the present. In order to demonstrate this point, the article explores the pre-Islamic understanding of revelation, the relationship of revelation to language, and the Qur'anic texts dealing with the questions of ‘authorship’ of the Qur'an and of the Prophet's role therein. It argues that the reinterpretation of the Qur'an and the genesis and authorship of the text are two separate issues; and that reinterpretation does not depend on the identity of the Qur'an's author. The analysis indicates that the authorship of the Qur'an should be strictly assigned to Allah, and concludes that the arguments developed in favour of revision are not sustainable, at least from a Qur'anic perspective.
The Philological Endeavours of the Early Arabic Linguists: Theological Implications of the tawqīf-iṡṫilāh Antithesis and the majāz Controversy (Part II)
Authors: Shah Mustafa
Published: August 2010

The concluding part of the article pursues the theoretical arguments which relate to the tawqīf-işṭilāḥ debate on the origin of language and the intricate link with the concept of majāz. The article attempts to show how the question of the origin of language was imported into the controversy relating to the resort to metaphor and figurative language in the exegesis of the Qur'an and Prophetic dicta. Moreover, there was concern in some quarters that religious doctrines were being articulated through a veneer of metaphorical language. Some theologians had, in presenting a hypothesis for the existence of tropical expressions in the idiom of Arabic, referred to the concept of işṭilāḥ to justify their arguments, whilst tawqīf al-lugha was adduced to counter such reasoning. The religious significance of the issue is highlighted by Ibn Taymiyya who advances the thesis that the evolved concept of majāz was expressly formulated at a posterior juncture in the development of the Islamic tradition. He vociferously argues that a developed concept of majāz was insidiously exploited by those with preconceived theological motives. The article shows why Ibn Taymiyya had to discard the perceived sacrosanct doctrine of tawqīfal-lugha in order to refute theoretically the concept of majāz. This also meant that for scholars of the same view as Ibn Taymiyya, the aesthetic features associated with the device of majāz were summarily disregarded. Nevertheless, a concept of majāz was explicitly endorsed as an indisputable feature of the Arabic language by a majority of scholars.
Negotiating Justice: A Pre–Canonical Reading of the Qur'anic Creation Accounts1 (Part II)
Authors: Neuwirth Angelika
Published: August 2010

With the evaluation of the polythematic sūra, i.e. with the transition of the Qur'an from an oral to a written and thus Scripture-orientated text, a complex structure for the primordial drama emerges. The divine election of man as God's closest creature and the forecast of an elected community is framed in the story of a bargain contracted between God and Iblīs in pre-existence which entails for Iblīs the freedom to test man – with the exception of God's elect. This story is retold with ever-changing focus in six sūras; only the later ones are complemented by the account of the transgression itself, i.e. the first enactment of the test staged by Satan and involving the first couple, Adam and his companion. The paper will show how, in the wake of the abolition of the old mythical structures, gradually new – Islamic – images laden with symbolic meanings emerge, leading finally to the concept of a divine agency on earth, the khilāfa.
The Methodology of Religious Studies in Islamic Thought
Authors: al-Sharqawi Muhammad Abdallah
Published: August 2010

The reader of the Qur'an is aware of many Qur'anic forms of inter-religious comparison. One of these is reflected in the context of the controversy of the unbelievers, or the deniers of Islamic doctrine, and one in a descriptive historical context. The Qur'an initiated the comparison of religions and revelations, and Islamic culture witnessed broad-scope activity in comparative religious studies. Islamic thought was opened up to the world's religions and made them an established subject of study and research. The intellectuals of Islam introduced numerous scientific methods which were relevant and pertinent to the nature of this subject (religions), deriving their material concerning every religion from reliable original sources. Religious Studies as a discipline has taken religions collectively to be the subject of scientific study through objective methods, having principles, characteristics and rules to which members of this academic community have aspired, and in this, Islamic thought has taken a share both early and distinctive. This article will argue that critical studies of religious texts by Jewish and Christian scholars in the West have reached the same conclusions previously reached by Muslim scholars.
The Possibility of Multiple Meaning in Qur'anic Texts
Authors: Abdussalam Ahmad Shehu
Published: August 2010

The possibility of multiple meaning in the Qur'an is referred to often in works of tafsīr, jurisprudence and culūrn al-Qur'ān. Scholars rely on the textual features of the Qur'an to support this possibility and they draw attention to how we might benefit from it in terms of a wide understanding and flexible practice. This article considers that the possibility of multiple meaning in Qur'anic text is a hypothesis whose premises need to be reviewed in light of their consequences for the understanding of the text and the application of their contents as per the basic tenets of Islam. In this article we look at the evidence for justification of the possibility of multiple meaning and we discuss the need to determine this meaning, or to abandon the possibility. We also consider its sources and places where it is found and its effects on understanding and application. Furthermore, we take the view that the multiplicity of meaning in linguistic texts, including the Qur'an, is only one stage until the cues from the text assist us in determining the intended meaning of the originator of the text. The Qur'anic text has sufficient indications which help in determining the intended divine meaning. These include the explanation provided in the ḥadīth, the first ways of putting the text into practice, and the efforts exerted over fourteen centuries of Qur'anic study. We conclude by pointing out the importance of distinguishing the intended meaning of the text from its application and subsequent concepts. We also show the danger of relying on textual features in adhering to the hypothesis of the possibility of multiple meaning in the Qur'an and of the reliance on individual or subsequent concepts which give the text a multiplicity of possible meanings.
The Qur'an and Science: The Debate on the Validity of Scientific Interpretations
Authors: Khir Bustami Mohamed
Published: August 2010

The relationship between the Qur'an and science has generated ongoing debate. Muslims encountered traditional science more than a century ago and responded to it positively. Though a majority of them attempted to include it in Qur'anic exegeses, a few were not in favour of such an approach. Science in its present sense is applied exclusively to its modern Western model, which is historically more or less anti-religious. Modern Muslims, on the contrary, used science to support the validity and miraculous nature of the Qur'an. A rapidly developing field of enquiry called ‘scientific interpretation’ is on the rise. It is possible to identify four approaches in this trend: the modernists, advocates, rejectionists and moderates. Whatever views one takes on the relationship between the Qur'an and science, the related contemporary debate is unlikely to settle or change its course in the near future. This paper attempts to give a brief and critical account of the debate in its traditional and modern forms. It begins with a few remarks on the nature of both the Qur'an and science, and concludes with an overall evaluation.
Qur'an Translation and the Challenges of Communication: Towards a ‘Literal’ Study-Version of the Qur'an
Authors: Morris James W.
Published: August 2010

The concerns and observations outlined in this paper are largely the result of teaching and otherwise attempting to communicate the Qur'an and its meaning to English-speaking undergraduates and others with no first-hand knowledge of the Arabic Qur'an. Among the many possible aims of Qur'an translations (e.g. conveying the music or poetic impact of the Arabic recitation, providing a captivating and pleasing text for ritual purposes [cf. The King James Bible], preserving the jafrī/mathematical dimensions of the Arabic calligraphy, etc.) one important need – especially in contexts relating to Islamic Studies – is to provide a more ‘literal’ version of the Qur'an that would help the non-Arabist reader to grasp the inner connections between the Qur'anic text itself and the multiple dimensions of its inspiration and impact in all the relevant areas of the Islamic humanities; not only in subsequent literary interpretations and elaborations (the Arabic religious and legal sciences, philosophy, cosmology, spirituality, ‘sectarian’ readings), but also in other aesthetic domains (poetry, music, architecture, visual arts). Such a version clearly does not yet exist (in any major European language, to the best of my knowledge). This paper reviews a number of fundamental considerations which should be kept in mind in the process of creating a serious student's English version of the Qur'an, more accurately conveying the actual meanings and structures of the original Arabic.
Prophethood and the World in Qur'anic Discourse
Authors: Ennaifer Ahmeida
Published: August 2010

This article discusses the concept of universality, characteristic of the Islamic message and its relation to the meanings of certain key terms in the Qur'an. It considers in particular the four Qur'anic terms: al-nās, al-calamīn, al-umma and al-qariya, in order to investigate the relationship between them and their connection with the linquistic historical and prophetic contexts. The study then examines three important prophets, namely, Abraham, Noah and Adam and their connection with the question of universality. The Qur'anic concept of universality is seen as strongly associated with Arab peculiarities and is reshaped through revelation to enable it to join the monotheistic messages in general, so that it goes beyond the concepts of tribal and/or blood relations to the wider notions of humanity and the march of history.

The article concludes by suggesting that this new way of looking at the concept of universality is paramount if one is to gain a fuller understanding of contemporary intellectual and cultural decline.
An Early Muṣḥaf According to the Reading of Ibn cĀmir
Authors: Dutton Yasin
Published: August 2010

The recent publication of the facsimile edition of MS Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Arabe 328a has allowed general access to what is probably one of the oldest, and most important, Qur'an fragments in Europe. The text is unvocalised, but the large number of folios (fifty-six) means that there are enough consonantal variants present to enable a positive identification of the reading represented, which turns out to be that of the Syrian Ibn cĀmir (d. 118/736). This, in combination with the early “Ḥijāzī” script, suggests (a) that this muṣḥaf was copied in Syria, and (b) that this was done some time during the first or early second century AH. In other words, what we have here is almost definitely a muṣḥaf according to the Syrian reading, copied in Syria, at the time when the caliphate had its seat in Syria, i.e. during the Umayyad period. Thus the identification of this particular reading helps in ascertaining the date and provenance of this particular manuscript, as it also fleshes out with documentary evidence the information given in the qirāↄāt literature about this reading.
Multiple Broken Plurals of a Singular Noun in the Holy Qur'an
Authors: Omar Ahmad Mokhtar
Published: August 2010

Multiplicity of broken plurals of a singular noun is a noteworthy case both in the Arabic language in general and the Qur'anic text in particular. It is sensible to attribute such a phenomenon in the Arabic language to dialectical variation, but the case should not be the same with such a homogeneous and eloquent text as the Qur' an.

After extracting all examples of this kind used in the Qur'an and thinking deeply about them, I have come to the conclusion that the following reasons may be the most important ones:

First: Expressing the meaning of fewness in opposition to abundance. The Qur'an in this connection follows four ways: a) Using a plural of fewness in opposition to a plural of abundance, such as (ancum) and (nicam). b) Using a rare-pattern plural in opposition to a widespread one, such as (dhukrān) and (dhukūr), regardless of the plural form meaning. c) Using a plural in opposition to a plural of the plural, such as (aswira) and (asāwir). d) Using a sound plural in opposition to a broken plural, such as (sunbulāt) and (sanābil).

Second: Changing the pattern of the plural to specify the intended meaning of the singular, wherever it has two different meanings. In this connection I may refer to the two plurals of the singular (cyn) which are (acyun) and (cuyūn). The Qur'an confined the first to the meaning of an eye and the second to the meaning of a spring.

Third: Changing the pattern of the plural to denote totality in opposition to specialness. In this connection I may refer to the two plurals (hamīr) and (humur) where the first one refers to a domestic donkey and the second to a wild one.

Fourth: Changing the kind of plural to be either a broken plural or a sound plural where the first refers to nominality such as (rawāsī), whereas the second refers to descriptiveness such as (rāsiyāt).

Fifth: Changing the pattern of the plural to specify either femininity or masculinity. The first is a plural such as (qawācid) and the second is such as (qucud) and (qācidūn).
Muḥammad, the Illiterate Prophet: An Islamic Creed in the Qur'an and Qur'anic Exegesis*
Authors: Günther Sebastian
Published: August 2010

The Qur'an identifies the Prophet Muḥammad as al-nabī al-ummī (Q.7:157–158). Muslim consensus has come to perceive this epithet for the Prophet of Islam as indicating conclusively that he was Muḥammad, ‘the illiterate prophet.’ Medieval and modern scholars, however, have drawn attention to further possible meanings of the Qur'anic term ummī.

Based on an inquiry into the concepts of literacy and illiteracy in the Qur'an, this study hopes to provide some new insights into a complex issue that is of great significance for Muslims and for the study of Islam. Our findings suggest that a more comprehensive appreciation of the Qur'anic term al-nabī al-ummī can contribute essentially to the understanding of Muḥammad's prophethood and the history of Islam.
Intentions and their Effects on the Legality of Dispositions and Contracts
Authors: al-Shami Abdullah Muhammad
Published: August 2010

In Islamic law judgements on any human action are usually evaluated in terms of the intention involved. Accordingly, the rules of substantive issues have to be accommodated under the basic principles of Islamic jurisprudence. The understanding of these principles by the juristic scholar is highly rewarding because it will lead the muftī to the right path in deriving legal opinions from the original sources. The basic principle of Islamic jurisprudence, which stipulates that ‘all actions depend on intentions,’ has played an important role in the construction of Islamic jurisprudence. Moreover, this rule has a special place in the theory of Islamic legal contract. So what is the effect of intention in the validity of human actions and legal contracts? It is known that pure intention has significant effects on spiritual worship and legal contracts of transaction. It also gives guidance for earning rewards from Almighty Allah.

This article concentrates on the effect of intention in perpetual worship, the concept of action and intention in Islamic legal works, the kind of contract with all its components, and the jurists' views on the effects of intention in human action and legal contract along with their discussion and counter-arguments.
Three Stories of a Prophet: Al-Tabarī's Treatment of Job in Sūrat al-Anbiyā ' 83–4 (Part II)
Authors: Johns A.H.
Published: August 2010

Only two surahs of the Qur'an provide narrative details of the Prophet Ayyub (Job): Al-Anbiya' (21):83–4 and Ṣād (37):41–4. That in Ṣād is probably earlier in order of revelation, and includes more information, but essentially they complement each other. This information, while given in language of great intensity and beauty, is brief and allusive in its presentation. Job has, nevertheless, an important place in the Qur'anic panorama of the prophets, and a distinctive role in the spiritual life and religious imagination of Muslims. There is a rich ‘hinterland’ to be discovered in these verses. Al-Ṭabarī (d.923 H) offers a classical account of this ‘hinterland’ in his commentary on the relevant āyāt of Sūrat al-Anbiyā' in his Jāmic al-Bayān. He includes in it three narratives of how Job was put to the test. The first and longest is attributed to Wahb ibn Munabbih (d.728 H), and has been discussed in detail in Part I of this article. It has a binary structure and of the three narrations it has the most shared elements with the Biblical Book of Job. It is nonetheless thoroughly Islamic and redolent with echoes of Qur'anic phrasing. The second is also attributed to Wahb ibn Munabbih, but through a different line of transmission. It is unitary in structure, and though shorter, has undergone a measure of episodic development which in part features the role of Job's wife. The third is attributed to al-Ḥasan al-Baṣri (d.728 H). It too has a unitary structure, and though briefer than the second, develops further the role of Job's wife, and her devotion to him. Together these narratives enable a full understanding of the āyāt in both surahs. Further, they offer a range of perspectives and emphases in the accounts they give of the ways in which Job was put to the test and how his patience never wavered, telling how, when at length he cried out in pain, God relieved his suffering and rewarded him. Part II of this article suggests interpretations of the structure of the narratives, the literary art with which they are related and the spiritual values implicit within them. Al-Ṭabarī's presentation of them shows him an outstanding scholar and theologian, a great writer and a marvellous exponent of the humanistic tradition in Islam.
Towards an African Qur'anic Hermeneutics
Authors: Mumisa Michael
Published: August 2010

The 20th century has been witness to great developments in theology, philosophy of language and the social sciences. Postmodernism has emerged as an influential philosophical thought. All of these 20th century phenomena have influenced how people approach sacred texts and how they comprehend and interpret them. Muslims have not been immune to these developments, and accordingly there has been a realisation among Muslim theorists that the existing interpretations of the Qur'an and Sunnah (imitado Muhammadi) may be limited and not able to suffice the needs of a changing world. The Islamic world has also been rapidly expanding to incorporate races, cultures and environments of various kinds. Consequently, racial and cultural problems have emerged causing a great need among progressive Muslims, particularly the youth, women, people of colour, and other concerned Muslims for a re-reading of the sacred texts so that they become existentially meaningful in the here and now. Such a reading will have to take into consideration differences of perspective and social location. Although this article proposes an African Qur'anic hermeneutics within the liberative discourse, it is not necessarily proposing an African Muslim perspective of liberation since there can be no such a thing as an ‘African perspective’, ‘feminist perspective’ or even ‘Christian perspective’ of liberation. By confirming the ‘us’ versus ‘them’, or dominant versus ‘other’ in the liberation process, it serves to confirm the status quo which we seek to change.
Q. 21:78–9: A Qur'anic Basis for Ijtihād?
Authors: Algar Hamid
Published: August 2010

Verse 78 of Sürat al-Anbiyāↄ relates a deliverance of judgement by Dāↄüd and Sulaymūn concerning the matter of a field into which sheep belonging to persons unnamed had strayed at night, causing damage to the crop. As is almost always the case with Qur'anic narratives concerning the prophets, the mufassirūn and still more the authors of books belonging to the genre of qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāↄ offer a rich variety of partially conflicting detail concerning the matter and the way in which it was resolved. Of greater exegetical interest, however, is a conclusion apparently to be drawn from the stories concerning verse 78 once they are combined with the opening words of the succeeding verse (‘and We inspired in Sulaymän understanding of the matter’): that Dāↄūd and Sulaymān offered differing judgements and that it was the judgement of the latter that proved correct, despite his tender years. This has drawn many mufassirūn to suggest that the two prophets in question were engaged in ijtihād, the result of the father's ijtihād being erroneous and that of his son's correct. Insofar as ijtihād can yield only ẓann, a supposition of correctness, its attribution to prophets is, however, viewed by other exegetes as problematical.
The Miraculous Eloquence of the Qur'an: General Trajectories and Individual Approaches
Authors: Vasalou Sophia
Published: August 2010

This paper aims at presenting a brief survey of the background of the doctrine of the inimitability of the Qur'an (icjāz) and the various lines along which the thesis was argued, as well as examining in greater detail the ideas of certain leading voices in the field. At the core of the doctrine are the verses of the Qur'an which issue a challenge (taḥaddī) to unbelievers to attempt to bring forth its like; their failure to do so must surely attest to the divine origin of the text and authenticate Muhammad's prophetic mission. The theories that sought to interpret this failure can be broadly divided into those which located the miracle in God's rendering men incapable of such imitation, and those which argued instead that the miracle consisted in the stylistic features of the text and its extraordinary eloquence. The two writers on the topic we will focus on in more detail, Jurjānī and Bāqillānī, both espouse the latter approach, but enunciate it in different ways and with different results. The paper concludes with a note on some theological ramifications of this doctrine.
Seeking Refuge from Evil: The Power and Portent of the Closing Chapters of the Qur'an
Authors: Toorawa Shawkat M.
Published: August 2010

Chapters 113 and 114 of the Qur'an, al-mucawwidhatān ‘the two suras of taking refuge from evil’, are said to have been revealed to the Prophet Muḥammad in order to counteract a spell laid on him. These consecutive suras are consequently recited in order to dispel any and all forms of evil. In spite of the fact that they are paired in revelation, paired together at the end of the Qur'anic text, paired in ritual recitation, paired in invocation and appear to be similarly structured, in this short article I argue that the Mucawwidhatān are in actuality very different. They clearly can and do function as a pair, but the linguistic and stylistic differences between them are as striking as the similarities. In Sura 113, for instance, rhyming prose (sajc) is used; in Sura 114, on the other hand, it is not a question of end-rhyme, but of the use of the very same rhyme word five out of six times, or rather – since the one exception incorporates that rhyme word – the use of the same rhyme throughout. As for the thematic, I propose the following heuristic characterisation of the dimensions of evil in Sura 113: Natural Evil, Unnatural Evil, Supernatural Evil and Mortal Evil.
Qur'an and History – a Disputed Relationship. Some Reflections on Qur'anic History and History in the Qur'an
Authors: Neuwirth Angelika
Published: August 2010

The relationship between Qur'an and history is disputed in more than one respect. The Qur'an as a canonical scripture locates itself beyond history. In most current critical scholarship the pre-canonical Qur'an – regarded as no longer reconstructable – is equally discarded. There have been some attempts, however, to restore to the Qur'an a textual history. 28 years after Günter Lüling, Cristoph Luxenberg has renewed the hypothesis of a linguistically and spiritually Syriac–Christian imprinted pre-canonical text. Luxenberg's reading with its far-reaching conclusions has – though in itself little convincing since largely relying on circular argument – revived the debate about the role of Syriac, as the most vigorous linguistic medium in the transmission of knowledge in Near Eastern late Antiquity, in the emergence of the Qur'an. The present paper advocates a search for historical evidence in the text itself trying to show that the complex relationship between Qur'an and history cannot be tackled appropriately without a micro-structural reading of the Qur'an itself. The history of the Qur'an does not start with canonisation but is inherent in the text itself, where not only contents but also form and structure can be read as traces of a historical process.
Belief in Qadr in the Qur' an
Authors: Madkour Abd al-Hamid
Published: August 2010

The issue of qadr could be described as the sixth principle of Islam and one which impinges greatly both on the individual and on society as a whole, with corresponding legal, ethical and psychological consequences; and yet scholarly opinion diverges widely as to its significance and meaning. One of the reasons for this divergence may be a tendency in past scholarship to take only some of the sources into consideration. In this paper, therefore, we attempt a harmonisation and prioritisation of all the available texts, observing the following ground rules: (1) all divine attributes should consistently be taken into account; (2) reference should be made both to texts that would appear to establish jabr (compulsion) and to those that manifestly support a belief in free will and choice; (3) the general context is of the greatest significance when examining Qur'anic texts; (4) it is important to establish the asbāb al-nuzül, the wurüd al-ḥadīth and the circumstances behind any other religious texts under consideration. It is to be hoped that such an approach will make it evident to the reader that the consensus of Islamic texts do not support jabr. This does not, however, signify that man enjoys an absolute, unrestricted will; rather he/she occupies a middle position between these two extremes.
The Translations of the Qur'an: A Comparative Approach Based on a Computer-Aided Analysis (Case Study: Italian Translations)
Authors: Branca Paolo
Published: August 2010

Recourse to the computer, like all other advanced forms of technology, inevitably brings with it the danger of being taken over by the instrument. On the other hand, however, the advantages offered by progress cannot be foregone. In the field of the study of translations, the most fertile approach would seem to be the comparative one as it is easier to evaluate the method followed by a given translator by comparing it with the choices made in the same cases by others. In addition, within one version it will always be through the comparison of various passages that the systematic method and coherence, if nothing else, of the work under examination can be appreciated. I became aware of and experienced this phenomenon when examining a number of translations of the Qur'an of which I had electronic versions. The aim of this paper is, therefore, both to briefly relate the results of this research, and also to discuss more general considerations relative to the translations of the Qur'an (especially into Italian).
Exploring the Genesis of Early Arabic Linguistic Thought: Qur'anic Readers and Grammarians of the Kūfan Tradition (Part I)
Authors: Shah Mustafa
Published: August 2010

The Qur'anic reading tradition's approach to Arabic linguistic thought was largely prefigured by the desire to preserve physically the oral language of scripture, ensuring its textual integrity was never compromised. Qur'anic readers evolved rudimentary models of linguistic thought which were purposefully anchored to the service of scripture. These readers devised improvements in orthography; they devoted treatises to the articulation of scripture, defining the conventions therein; and they collated with precision the stock of readings enshrined within the Qur'anic canon. These functional linguistic procedures were designed to project meticulously the liturgical and spiritual value of scripture; moreover, they were governed by the pre-eminent ascendancy of precedents. This linguistic activity served as a catalyst for Arabic linguistic thought. Emerging from the ranks of these readers are figures who sought to relate the linguistic phenomena inherent in the corpus of Qur'anic readings to a theory of language; paradoxically, the very models of grammar and philology which were discerningly formulated for the service of scripture become the standard by which the linguistic configurations of the Qur'anic diction are appraised and justified. The strictures of authentication adhered to by readers predicated an implicit rejection of the abstract inquisitiveness practised by these linguists. And therein lies the history of the genesis of Arabic linguistic thought which this article will attempt to expound upon.