Reconstruction of Myth and Myth-Breaking in Quranic Studies by Orientalists with an Emphasis on the Views of Anne Marie Schimmel and Angelika Neuwirth

Alizadeh Mousavi, Seyyed Hamed

doi:10.22034/iso.2024.724693

Reconstruction of Myth and Myth-Breaking in Quranic Studies by Orientalists with an Emphasis on the Views of Anne Marie Schimmel and Angelika Neuwirth

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Seyyed Hamed Alizadeh Mousavi

Faculty member of Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy

10.22034/iso.2024.724693

Abstract

The reconstruction of myths in the Quran and the de-mythologization of the Quran are among the topics appearing in Orientalist Quranic studies with various approaches. Some Orientalists, using a contextualist approach, aim to recover Quranic concepts within the knowledge and archetypes present in the context of the revelation period, and have pointed to the role of the Quran as a myth-buster or myth-creator in this process. Others, employing a phenomenological approach and emphasizing its methodological principles—based on the comparison and alignment of phenomena in history—have studied the Quran and offered a mythic interpretation of it. Anne Marie Schimmel and Angelika Neuwirth can be regarded as representatives of these two schools and approaches in Orientalist Quranic studies. This paper, with an emphasis on the views of these two scholars, not only explains their perspectives on myth but also critically examines their methodological and substantive viewpoints. Additionally, it discusses the types of myth present in the Quran and its surrounding sources, and, through case studies of the Night Journey (Isra) and the Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha), examines myth reconstruction and myth-breaking in the Quran from the perspective of these scholars.

Keywords

Quran

Myth

Demythologizing

Schimmel

Neuwirth

Phenomenology

Contextualism