Quran Ulum ka Irtiqa’ Ahd-i Islami ke Hindustan Mein (Urdu)

QUR’AN [ULUM KA IRTIQA’ AHD-I ISLAMI KE HINDUSTAN MEIN (Urdu), by Zafarul Islam Islahi. Aligarh: K. A. Nizami Centre for Quranic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University/Brown Books, 2022, 232pp. ISBN: 978939160034.

MASHAHIR-I AHL-I SUNNAT KAY QUR’ANI KHIDMAT (Urdu), by by Muhammad Hanif Barelvi. Aligarh: K. A. Nizami Centre for Quranic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, 2022, 504pp. ISBN: 9789391601454.

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The two volumes under review are the latest in the series on the survey of the contributions of various schools of Qur’anic studies in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. Earlier volumes deal with the accomplishments of Dar al-Ulum, Deoband, Dar al-Ulum, Nadwat al-[Ulama’, Lucknow, Madrasah Islahi, Azamgarh, the Shi[ah, Jama[at-i Islami and Ahl al-Hadith scholars in the domain of Qur’anic scholarship. These books have been authored by the representatives of these schools and, hence, they are both authentic and comprehensive. As part of the editorial guidance, their other notable feature is that they are free from any polemical or sectarian note by way of casting aspersions on other schools/scholars.

Zafarul Islam Islahi is a trained historian, with specialization in Medieval Indian history, particularly the Sultanate period. This work of his provides a brief yet inspiring overview of the status of Qur’anic studies in the Ghaznawi, Khilji, Tughlaq and Mughal periods. The author is so well versed in his subject that apart from spelling out the main contours of the Qur’anic scholarship of the period under study, he has described at length some of the Qur’an copyists, Qur’an memorizes, the Qurra’ (the practioners of the art of Qira’ah and Tajwid or Qur’an recitation) and Qur’anic calligraphy of the day.