Shia Scholars and the History of the Quran in the View of Orientalists

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Abstract

The history of the Qurʾān and subjects related to it are considered some of the important issues in the field of Islamic studies that have always been the a point of focus for Muslim and non-Muslim scholars. It is evident that the extensive studies of Orientalists, who relied on their peculiar preconceptions, sought to ignore the Shīʿa works on this important subject. Aside from Christian and Jewish sources, Orientalists have always referred to Sunnī sources that have, due to preexisting assumptions biases, led to erroneous conclusions in issues pertaining to the history of the Qurʾān. Most Orientalists base their studies on the history of the Qurʾān on Nöldeke’s work on the history of the Qurʾān. In this article, we tried to study the views of Orientalists on the role of the Shīʿa in the history of the Qurʾān using a descriptive-analytical method.

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