The holy word of the Islam religion may have come directly from the mouth of God, or it may have been delivered from a messenger to Muhammad when the Quran was first written centuries ago, a candidate for professorship at the University said in a presentation Friday.
The speech was part of the Department of Religious Studies’ search for a replacement for Timothy Gianotti. It was the second of three presentations by three candidates hoping to assume his former position, professor in the field of Islam at the University.
Gianotti, who left the University at the end of last school year for a position at the University of Virginia, contributed nine courses and several other multi-year Islam programs to the department.
Tariq Jaffer was the second candidate to present and be evaluated by the department. He gave his lecture in the EMU’s Walnut Room.
His presentation, “Who Spoke the Qur’an?” discussed the largely unknown origin of the Quran. The Quran is the holy word of the Islam religion, essentially the Islamic equivalent to the Bible in Christianity.
Jaffer expressed his excitement about the chance to hold such a prominent position within the Department of Religious Studies.
“This is a great opportunity to build an Islamic studies program that would parallel the Judaic studies program,” he said.
There are currently far fewer courses offered in Islamic than Judaic studies.
Jaffer is an assistant professor at Boston University. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto and has a doctorate from Yale University.
His lecture aimed to clarify the way the text of the Quran was formed in ancient Islamic history. He evaluated two arguments: dictational revelation, which states that God verbally communicated the word of the Quran directly to Muhammad before it was passed on to the rest of his followers, and verbal inspiration, under which the angel Gabriel was sent to Muhammad as a messenger from God.
Jaffer pointed out that the former suggests scriptural infallibility in the Quran, as there is no obstacle between God and Muhammad.
His word is spoken unaltered.
Under verbal inspiration, by contrast, God’s word could have been altered by the messenger before it was delivered.
Following his lecture, Jaffer fielded questions from the audience and members of the Department of Religious Studies before a reception allowed those present to meet him.
Elizabeth Duell, a University student and an active member of the Religious Studies Group on campus, was impressed by Jaffer’s composure during the presentation.
“I liked the clarity of his lecture. I like the fact that even though he was in a stressful situation, he was very calm and prepared,” she said.
Duell also expressed displeasure with the way Muslims are perceived in today’s American culture.
“It feels at times that we’re still in the Medieval stupidity of ‘they’re bad and we’re good,’” she said. “Even students just don’t understand.”
Jaffer said he agreed with this assessment of the image of Muslims today, and he said that his main goal as a professor here would be to expand the program to include more core courses in Islam and ones that include the Arabic language as part of the curriculum. He also wishes to see a larger faculty than just one professor in Islam, he said, to provide a more diverse and well-rounded scope on the subject.
The final candidate for the position, Erik Ohlander, will give his lecture this Friday at 3 p.m. in the Gerlinger Lounge.