THE QURAN ORIENTALISM AND THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE QURAN

The Qur’in, Orientalism, and the Encyclopaedia of the Quﬁin brings into sharp relief established attitudes of Western academia toward the Qur’an, especially as evidenced in the only extant multi-volume reference work on the Qur’an in English——Bri1l’s Encyclojmedia of the Qufdn. The author exposes layers of centuries-old polemical literature against the Qur’an entrenched in putatively “rigorous and academic scholarship”, and” underscores the need for Muslims to produce an alternate reference Work on the Qur’an.

AUTHOR: MOZZAFAR IQBAL

THE AUTHOR Muzaffar Iqbal is President ofithe Center for Islam and Science (Canada), editor of a semi-annual journal, Islam Q’? Science, and author of several books dealing with various dimensions of Islam, Islamic civilization, and the historical and contemporary encounters between Islam, Muslims and the West. Trained as a scientist, he left the practice of science in 1986 after a brief research career (at University of Saskatchewan and Mc_Gil_l University) to fully devote himself to the study and exploration of vardiousiaspects of Islam and the contemporary Muslim world. His iprievious-if publications include Islam and Science (Ashgate, 2002), God, Life Co.sm0.s.’ Christia’n and Islamic Perspectives (co-ed., Ashgate, 2002), “Science and Islam (Greenwood Press, 20()7), Islam, Science, Muslims, and Technology: Seyyerl Hossein Nasr in (jrnzversalizni with Muzaffar Iqbal (IBT, 2007), Dawn in Mallinalz: A Pilgrimk P(1.’.'(1ge (IBT, 2007), Dew on Sunburn! Roses an/1 ollzer Quantum N:/[ex (Dost Publications, 2007), Definitive I§’r1c0u~nter.s: Is/am, Muslims, uml {he l~l”‘2».l (IBT, 2008), and The Making oflslamic Science (IBT, 2009). Iqbal is the founder and (lhief Editor of an international project to produce the first-ever reference work on the Qufan in English from an Islamic perspective: The Integrated E7’I(‘_1(‘l()/)€(lI(1 of [he Q/Ir’/in (IEQ). More details on this projected seven-volume seminal work on the Qill*’Z111 um be found at the project website: wwwiequran.com.