The Event of the Qur’an: Islam in Its Scripture

Kenneth Cragg describes his authoritative book The Event of the Qur’an as "an exercise in religious enquiry and in trans-religious openness of the heart… in the common context of our single humanity and our separate histories." The question "what happens in the Qur’an?" holds profound historical fascination as well as being a matter of great religious sensitivity to all readers, regardless of background. The separate events of Islamic scripture are not difficult to arrange and to chronicle, but what kind of event does the whole of the Qur’an represent? What is the inner story of the prophethood that Islam regards as God’s final revelation for humanity? How did geographical setting, culture and traditions enter into the Qur’an’s metaphors and shape its message? And how, finally, should it be related to our times, to current values and present preoccupations? These are the questions addressed by Kenneth Cragg in this fascinating study, and in his search for answers to them he presents readers with a uniquely comprehensive vision of the Qur’an, its context and its wider meanings. This scholarly yet inspiring work offers a valuable and lasting contributions to humanity’s urgent quest for interfaith understanding and true spirituality.