Qur'an Unit

The Qur'an Unit welcomes papers on all aspects of the Qur'an, its role in the lives of Muslims, its tradition of commentary, liturgical use, aesthetics and material forms, and its influence in the world generally. We welcome proposals that represent the full range of how the Qur'an can be approached in terms of academic methods, as well as the full range of ways in which the Qur'an is interpreted and interacted with in Islamic tradition.

For the 2021 annual meeting, we are especially interested in proposals highlighting new or developing areas of research in relation to the Qur'an, and/including the following topics:

The Qur’an in Africa
The Qur’an in North America
The Qur'an in African American Communities
Ethics and the Qur'an
Shi`ite interpretation
The Qur'an and the environment and/or animals

On preparation and evaluation of proposals:
Evaluation of proposals to the Qur'an Unit are done by the Steering Committee through anonymous evaluation based on the quality and clarity of the proposal without regard to issues of the presenter's age, status in the profession, gender, religious or ideological affiliation or other factors beyond the quality of the proposal. Regardless of topic, each proposal should reflect an interaction with past and current scholarship and should advance the academic knowledge of aspects of the Qur’an. Also, proposals should describe presentations that reasonably can be made with the time limits imposed by the session lengths given us by the AAR. This means that a paper should be limited to fifteen minutes to allow the maximum number of participants and time for questions and discussion. When considering a proposal, please pay attention to the presentation format so that the presentation will be accessible to individuals with visual and/or auditory impairments. It is the aim of the Qur'an Group to make our presentations accessible and available to the greatest possible number of members of the American Academy of Religion.