Before the Qur’an

Suleyman Dost is Assistant Professor of Late Antiquity and Early Islam at the University of Toronto. He works primarily on inscriptions and other documentary sources from late antique Arabia and Ethiopia. His research also covers the historical context in which the Qur’an emerged as well as the history of its textual transmission. Before joining the University of Toronto, Dr. Dost was an Assistant Professor at Brandeis University. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago.

• List of Figures Note on Transliterations Sigla of Inscriptions AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Whence the Qur'an?Urbanism and Literacy in Pre-Islamic ArabiaIdols of Arabia in Epigraphy and the Qur’anFrom Rabb to Allāh: Names of God in the Qur’anVestiges of Pagan Arabia in the Qur’anReligious Vocabulary of the Qur’anChristian Terms in the Qur’anHistory and Historical Geography in the Qur’anConclusion: What the Stones can (and cannot) TellBibliography

The author, a bright new star in the firmament of Qur’an scholarship, slices through the bramble of false assumptions and ungrounded speculation that have plagued the field. With careful historical reasoning, he establishes the cultural and geographical context for the emergence of Islam, deploying recent epigraphic and archeological findings.