This was the sequel to the workshop Fragmentation and Compilation: The Making of Religious Texts in Islam: A Comparison with Ancient Mesopotamia, Judaism and Christianity in 2012. Both workshops were convened by Dr Asma Hilali聽Research Associate at the Institute. Building on the first workshop, the second part had two main points of focus: (1) the examination of the state of the field of 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic studies; and (2) the contribution of the fragmentation/ compilation approach to 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic studies.
The workshop explored the concept of 鈥楩ragmentation,鈥 in the study of a sample of religious texts from Islam and other traditions. More than a textual phenomenon, the Fragmentation/Compilation approach refers to a methodology that considers the various forms of a text and more specifically its 鈥榝ragmented,鈥 form, as part of the history of its transmission. This approach implies a critical attitude towards the prevalent method in textual studies, which considers the history of a text only in its book form.
The example of the Quran here is instructive, since the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic text was transmitted in fragmented form both before and after its final collection and assembly into one book 鈥渂etween two covers鈥. The fragmentary nature of the text reflects the history of its transmission and has to be taken into account in the study of 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic manuscripts, 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic inscriptions and the reception history of the聽蚕耻谤鈥檃苍Muslims believe that the Holy 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 contains divine revelations to the Prophet Muhammed received in Mecca and Medina over a period of 23 years in the early 7th century CE. More, as well as in the study of Jewish-Christian narratives and their relation to the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic text.
The workshop offered many inter-disciplinary tools for the analysis of texts and served to supplement, or even override, two conceptions in 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic studies 鈥 the assumption that there must have been an 鈥榦riginal book鈥, an assumption that may be unhelpful if taken as a dogmatic axiom that does not require any scholarly substantiation, and inversely, the equally dogmatic assertion that the idea of 鈥榦riginal book鈥 is but a pure myth and thus must not be subjected to any kind of scholarly analysis and substantiation.
In the introduction to the workshop, Dr Hilali addressed a set of conceptual and methodological questions surrounding the topic of Fragmentation and Compilation: What is meant by Fragmentation/Compilation? Why focus on these particular notions? What could the Fragmentation/Compilation approach introduce to the field of 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic studies with its various problematics of chronology, textual composition and intertextuality? Following the Latin etymology of the word fragmentum, the fragment is defined as 鈥榓 part broken off or otherwise detached from a whole鈥. The fragment presents itself as a closed unit detached from its totality and thus refers to an intriguing absence: the absence of the whole. This definition shows that the fragment implies a missing totality and represents a complex aspectof non-accomplishment and non-achievement while at the same time possessing an aspect of closure and termination.
After the introductory remarks, the first session of the workshop looked at the state of the field of 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic studies. To this end, an overview of three current international projects on the聽蚕耻谤鈥檃苍聽were presented : (1) The 鈥槻铣馨檃苍 Seminar鈥 project of the University of Notre Dame was presented by Dr Mehdi Azaiez (Laboratoire d鈥檈xcellence 鈥楻eligions et Soci茅t茅s dans le Monde M茅diterran茅en鈥); (2) the 鈥楯ewish-Christianity and Islam鈥 project of the University of Nottingham was presented by Dr Holger Zellentin (University of Nottingham); and (3) the 鈥楥orpus Coranicum鈥 project of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities was discussed by Dr Stephen Burge , Research Associate in the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic Studies Unit at the 午夜剧场. This was followed by Dr Hilali鈥檚 overview of the current studies on聽蚕耻谤鈥檃苍聽manuscripts. An open discussion, ably conducted by Prof. Aziz al-Azmeh, followed these presentations.
In the second session, five papers were presented, each dedicated to the phenomenon of Fragmentation/Compilation in specific religious textual traditions. Dr Hilali presented a paper entitled 鈥楻epetition and Variation and the Problem of 鈥湶铣馨檃苍ic Variants鈥濃; Prof. Fr茅d茅ric Imbert spoke on the topic of 鈥楩ragmentation and Variation in the First Islamic Graffiti (1st鈥2nd Century AH)鈥; Dr Burge spoke on 鈥楩ragmentation, Compilation and Discourse: A Comparison of Three Arba鈥榰n Collections on聽Jihad聽and Martyrdom Compiled in the Late Mamluk Period鈥; Dr Zellentindelivered a paper on 鈥楾he 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍鈥檚 Fragmentation and Realignment of Gospel and Talmud鈥; and Dr Azaiez gave a talk on 鈥楿nity and Fragmentation in the Standard Text of the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍: The Prophet as First Addressee and the Dialogic Argumentation鈥.
Parts I and II of the workshop will give rise to two published volumes, the first one on Contemporary Studies on the聽蚕耻谤鈥檃苍, the second one on Fragmentation and Compilation: The Making of Religious Texts in Islam.
A review of the workshop by Holger Zellentin can be found on the website of the International 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic Studies Association (IQSA).
