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The Qur'an has been an inexhaustible source of intellectual and spiritual reflection in Islamic history, giving rise to ever-proliferating commentaries and interpretations. Many of these have remained a realm for specialists due to their scholarly demands. Others, more widely read, remain untranslated from the primary language of their composition. This series aims to make some of these materials from a broad chronological range - the fomative centuries of Islam to the present day - available to a wider readership through translation and publication in English, accompanied where necessary by introductory or explanatory materials. The series will also include contextual-analytical and survey studies of these primary materials. Throughout this series and other like it
which may appear in the future, the aim is to allow the materials to speak for themselves. Not surprisinly, in the Muslim world, where its scriptural sources continue to command passionate interest and commitment, the Qur'an has been subject to contending, often antithetical ideas and interpretations. The series takes no sides in these debates. The aim rather is to place on record the rich diversity and plurality of approaches and opinions which have appealed to the Qur'an throughout history (and even more so today). The breadth of this range, however partisan or controversial individual presentations within it may be, in instructive in itself. While there is always room in such matters for personal preferences, commitment to particular traditions of belief, and scholarly evaluations, much
is to be gained by a simple appreciation, which is not evident today, of the enormous wealth of intellectual effor that has been devoted to the Qur'an from the earliest times. It is hoped that throught this objective, this series will prove of use to scholars and students in Qur'anic Studies as well as other allied and relevant fields.
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