Publisher's Synopsis
"The major feature of the Quran is its holistic value as a revealed, recited and enacted text. The self-disclosure of the Quran underscores its eternity, unboundedness, and embodiment in the lives of Muslims. Particular phrases, verses, and suras also have acquired spiritual value in the everyday performance of most devout Muslims. Beyond understanding their commonality, one must also note the discrete distinctions made between these phrases, verses and chapters in a variety of contexts. Equally important, but usually overlooked, is the scholarly attention to the Quran as itself an act of devotion prompted by the sacred lure of the text. Whether through recitation or interpretation, in calligraphy or the act of translation, the Quran as a spiritual magnet, in Rumi's words "an amazingly jealous piece of magic" (Rumi1994), becomes evident from medieval to modern times, from Senegal to Sumatra, in the creative labor of artists as well as s
