Lecture: Understanding the Quran in the Context of the Near Eastern Milieu of Late Antiquity

Understanding the Quran in the Context of the Near Eastern Milieu of Late Antiquity: The Case of Dhu l-Qarnayn The Quranic account of Dhu l-Qarnayn has led to many speculations and debates in the tafsīr tradition and in Western academia. This lecture examines the way these debates arise, and the principles the Quran provides for addressing them. Some have proposed that focus upon the intellectual milieu of Late Antiquity provides keys for understanding the “origins” of this narrative. This focus upon “origins” too often leads to speculation and a dry positivist historicism that reduces the Quranic text to an ambiguous historical milieu. Here we examine how the hermeneutical principles of the tafsīr tradition provide a means of incorporating historical observations that open new vistas of understanding.