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Late antiquity

Historical frame for late ancient transformations; boundaries vary by region and subject.

Modern distinction between the dates of witnesses surrounding this study, not fixed boundaries for late antiquity or a borrowing chain
Modern distinction between the dates of witnesses surrounding this study, not fixed boundaries for late antiquity or a borrowing chainIL Archive · original diagram · CC BYImage source

Text

Quranic settings are studied with Arabian, Jewish, Christian and surrounding textual/linguistic communities rather than in a cultural vacuum. Grasso’s review surveys these fields. [1]

General contact does not establish each verse’s or title’s transmission route. Research specifies time, setting, intermediary and alternatives, rather than using the period label as a ready explanation. The diagram compares southern witnesses and a later QuranQuranCentral text of Islam, used here as evidence of its religious discourse.Glossary · Click to read the explanation folio by date, not as a borrowing chain. [2][3]

References and notes

  1. Valentina A. Grasso, “The Qu’rān through the Lens of Late Antiquity, Late Antiquity through the Lens of the Qu’rān”, Harvard Theological Review 115.3 (2022), 466–476. DOI 10.1017/S001781602200027X. Selected review passages on Arabia, Jewish/Christian and Syriac contexts and texts. Historiographical review, not an independent reading of every discussed chapter. Return to the text ↑
  2. Sigrid K. Kjær, “‘Rahman’ before Muhammad: A pre-history of the First Peace (Sulh) in Islam”, Modern Asian Studies 56.3 (2022), 776–795. DOI 10.1017/S0026749X21000305. Abstract and selected late-Sabaic/Jewish examples: Raḥmānān in differing southern contexts. Author’s distinct-deity readings not generalized as facts; no physical inscription examination. Return to the text ↑
  3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Folio from a Qur’an Manuscript, accession 1979.201, object 452935. Record/image: late eighth–early ninth century, Central Islamic Lands, ink, colours and gold on parchment; public domain. Not a seventh-century copy or image of the verses cited here. Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 2 · 11 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

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Cite this record

IL Archive, «Late antiquity», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/periods/late-antiquity