Qurʾānic Hermeneutics by Non-Muslims

The Qurʾān has long attracted the attention of non-Muslims, and it continues to do so for a variety of reasons. These reasons will be explored in the chapters of this volume of the Handbook of Qurʾānic Hermeneutics. This book offers a diverse panorama of hermeneutical approaches adopted by non-Muslim scholars, including modern studies of the Qurʾān’s language, structure, historical context, and translations. While the contributions gathered here are limited, they represent a broad cross-section of the vast body of non-Muslim engagement with the Islamic scripture.The Qurʾān invites interpretation from both its Muslim readership and non-Muslim audiences—a characteristic rooted in its nature as a discursive work that reflects and reframes biblical traditions of Judaism and Christianity in late antiquity. Historically, Jewish and Christian engagement with the Qurʾān was predominantly polemical or apologetic. However, many contemporary scholars have moved beyond these confines, adopting more nuanced and constructive hermeneutical perspectives.