Page 228 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

208 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

which necessarily filters their view on all matters Islamic. It encourages
them to forcibly transmute Islamic Studies into a foreign mould by using
terminology that isprimarily employed for the Bible: Blachere for example
usesthe term 'vulgate' when referring to 'Uthman's Mushaf in his Introduction
au Coran, andJeffery describesthe Qur'an as a Masoretic text, a term generally
connected with the Hebrew OT. Stripping away all Qur'anic terminology,
Wansbrough speaks instead of Haggadic exege~ Halokhic exegesis, and Deutungs-
12
bediiiftigkeit. Everyone also refers to the canonisation of the Qur'an, and the
codices of Ibn Mas'ud, The vast majority of Muslims live in total ignorance
of this jargon. While the hypotheses ofJeffery, Goldziher and others have
been dealt with and dismissed,we have yet to fullygauge the motives behind
such efforts. A sketch of earlyJudeo-Christian history, coupled with the
histories of the Old and New Testaments, will hopefully facilitate a more
thorough comprehension of these scholars' mindset and lead to a detailed
consideration of Western objectives regarding the Qjir'an,

42 J.Wansbrough, OJiranic Studies: Sources andmethods qf scriptural interpretation, Oxford
Univ. Press, 1977, Table of Contents.