PiQ · Poverty in the Qur’ān: Medieval Islamic Interpretations and Uses
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-03-01 → 2023-02-28
- EU contribution
- €212,934
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Poverty in the Qur’ān: Medieval Islamic Interpretations and Uses
This project explores the interpretations and uses of the Qur’ān in poverty-related discourses in medieval Muslim societies, covering the period from the 8th to the 13th centuries CE. Poverty in the medieval Islamic world, both as a socio-economic phenomenon and a complex set of ideas, remains an understudied subject. While historical study of the conditions and experiences of the poor is hindered by the paucity of sources from which one can retrieve the voices of the poor, Islamic religious literature offers a rich source for examining medieval Islamic perceptions of poverty. However, only a small part of this copious literature has been studied. This empirically oriented project furthers scholarship in this direction by examining the uses of the Qur’ānic text in poverty-related discourses in a corpus of medieval Arabo-Islamic religious sources. The project particularly focuses on the ‘poverty versus wealth’ debates, traced in the literary sources since the late 8th – early 9th centuries, and the uses of the Qur’ān therein. The debates display a spectrum of views on the relationship between poverty, wealth, and religious merit, ranging from exalting poverty and highlighting the vanity of all worldly possessions to endorsement of material riches, considered as a reward or a gift from God. Significantly, they range across the boundaries of various Islamic intellectual traditions and literary genres. In the course of these debates, the proponents of the opposing views employed proofs (ḥujaj) from the Qur’ān. Their appropriation, adaptation, and interpretation of the text in line with their respective positions, highlights a dynamic and context-dependant process of the reception of the Qur’ān in Muslim societies.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
What does the Qur’ān say about poverty? Is poverty caused by divine will and thus inevitable? Is it a punishment, a trial, or a sign of divine favour? Who are the poor, what is their position in the society, and how should they be treated? What is the relation between poverty and moral virtue? These questions occupied medieval Muslim thinkers and re-emerged in contemporary discussions among scholars, Muslim intellectuals, and the wider public on Islamic economic ethics, poverty alleviation, social justice, and development in Muslim societies. Yet, historical research on poverty in the Qur’ān is scarce. This project approaches the question of poverty in the Qur’ān from the reception history perspective. In contrast to previous research which focused on the Qur’ānic ‘view’ on poverty, it explores the dynamic tradition of reading poverty in the Qur’ān in medieval Muslim societies, covering the period from the 8th to the 13th centuries CE. Based on a large corpus of medieval Arabo-Islamic sources, both editions and manuscripts, it aims to reconstruct the history of interpretation of Qur’ānic verses on poverty and to examine their use in poverty-related discourses (e.g. theological, ethical, juridical) and practices (e.g. rituals of protection from poverty, disputations). Offering the first systematic study on this subject, the project will make a contribution to the study of medieval Islamic ideas and attitudes to poverty and poverty-related practices, and shed light on the role of the Qur’ān in shaping them. The project will result in the publication of two articles in peer-reviewed journals, an initial draft of a monograph on poverty and the Qur’ān, and a catalogue of the Qur’ānic verses used in poverty-related contexts which will be made fully accessible to specialist and non-specialist audiences through open access digital resources.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · OxfordCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/895313
- https://www.ames.ox.ac.uk/poverty-in-the-quran-medieval-islamic-interpretations-and-uses
Data: CORDIS, © European Union