Research
This page outlines the core research areas in which my work is situated.
The focus lies on Qur’anic studies and Islamic textual scholarship, with
a comparative horizon that includes Late Antique contexts and Syriac Christian traditions.
Q
Qur’an Research, Qur’anic Sciences, Qur’anic Exegesis
Work in this field connects the internal structure of the Qur’anic text with the history of interpretation.
The aim is not only to describe exegetical positions, but to reconstruct how interpretive methods,
assumptions, and theological interests shape the reading of the text across periods.
Key questions
- Which hermeneutical moves generate “meaning” in tafsīr?
- How do exegetes handle ambiguity, narrative gaps, and tension?
- What changes when interpretation is framed as theology vs. philology?
Approaches
- close reading & rhetorical analysis
- history of interpretation (tafsīr traditions)
- comparative hermeneutics (method-oriented)
tafsīr
ʿulūm al-qurʾān
hermeneutics
methodology
T
Islamic Textual Sciences (Qur’an and Hadith)
Islamic textual sciences provide the toolbox for working with primary sources: transmission,
compilation, canonization, and the scholarly infrastructures that stabilized “text” as an authority.
The interest here is systematic: how disciplines define evidence, reliability, and interpretive legitimacy.
Key questions
- How is textual authority produced and maintained?
- Which criteria govern authenticity and interpretive control?
- How do Qur’an and Hadith interact as epistemic systems?
Approaches
- philology & textual criticism (where applicable)
- history of disciplines (uṣūl, rijāl, isnād cultures)
- source-criticism & manuscript awareness
philology
isnād
uṣūl
text authority
I
Isrāʾīliyyāt Research, Environment and Intertexts of the Qur’an
Isrāʾīliyyāt traditions open a decisive window into interreligious knowledge circulation.
The guiding interest is methodological: how “borrowed” narratives function inside Islamic scholarship—
as exegetical resource, polemical device, or as a trace of shared Late Antique discourse.
Key questions
- When do intertexts clarify—and when do they distort—meaning?
- How do exegetes justify the use or rejection of Isrāʾīliyyāt?
- Which discourse spaces become visible through these materials?
Approaches
- intertextual analysis & comparative narrative study
- reception history (Jewish/Christian → Islamic)
- hermeneutics of “the other” within tafsīr
Isrāʾīliyyāt
intertextuality
Late Antiquity
comparative exegesis
H
Islamic History and the Beginnings of Islam
Research on the beginnings of Islam requires a sober, source-aware approach:
not a single “origin story”, but layered traditions, competing memories, and a complex cultural landscape.
The Arabian Peninsula is treated as a historically thick space—religiously diverse and connected to wider worlds.
Key questions
- Which sources claim authority—and for whom?
- How do we read early narratives without flattening them?
- What does the Late Antique context explain—and what not?
Approaches
- source criticism & historiography
- cultural history of Arabia (religions, practices, networks)
- contextual reading across Late Antiquity
sources
Arabian Peninsula
Late Antiquity
historiography
M
History and Development of Islamic Mysticism
Islamic mysticism is approached as a tradition of ethical formation, spiritual practice, and interpretive creativity.
The focus lies on how mystical readings interact with Qur’anic language, how authority is transmitted,
and how ascetic and devotional cultures shaped Islamic intellectual history.
Key questions
- How do mystical exegetical strategies reshape Qur’anic concepts?
- Which practices form “subjectivity” (selfhood) in Sufi traditions?
- How do institutions (ṭarīqa networks) affect knowledge and authority?
Approaches
- text study of Sufi commentaries & manuals
- history of practices (ritual, discipleship, ethics)
- comparative perspective on ascetic cultures
taṣawwuf
Sufi exegesis
ethics
practice
S
Early Christianity and the Churches of the East (Syriac Christianity)
Syriac Christianity is not treated as a marginal appendix, but as a key Late Antique discourse partner.
Its theological vocabulary, liturgical cultures, and narrative worlds offer crucial context for
interreligious interdependence—especially in the study of shared motifs, translations, and intellectual exchange.
Key questions
- Which Syriac traditions matter for understanding Qur’anic intertexts?
- How do liturgy and theology shape narrative repertoires?
- What changes when “context” is read as a living tradition?
Approaches
- Late Antique comparative theology
- textual networks (translation & reception)
- interreligious history of ideas
Syriac
Churches of the East
Late Antiquity
interreligious exchange
