Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-182) and index.
"Providing an analysis of the complete story of Mary in its liturgical, narrative and rhetorical contexts, this literary reading is a prerequisite to any textual reading of the Qurʼan whether juristic, theological, or otherwise. The application of modern literary theories is essential to have full comprehension of the history of the development of literary forms such as poetry, storytelling and speech-giving from the pre-Islamic period to the present. Moreover, Mary in the Qurʼan argues there is a need, from a feminist perspective, to understand in depth why a Christian mother figure such as Mary was important in early Islam and in the different stages of the development of the Qurʼan as a communication process between Muhammad and the early Muslim community. Introducing modern literary theories, gender perspective and feminist criticism into Qurʼanic scholarship for the first time, this book will be an invaluable resource for scholars and researchers of Islamic Studies, Qurʼanic and New Testament Studies, Comparative Literature and Feminist Theology."--Preliminary page.