Nicolai Sinai

Nicolai Sinai (born 1976) is a German scholar of Qur'anic studies. He is a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford as well as a Fellow of Pembroke College[1] and the British Academy.[2]

Sinai's work explores the historical, literary, and exegetical dimensions of the Qur'an, including its engagement with Jewish and Christian traditions, as well as pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, and its Late Antique Arabian context.[3] He also studies Islamic exegesis (tafsīr) and scriptural hermeneutics, alongside the history of philosophical and theological thought in the Islamic world.[3]

Biography

Education

Sinai studied Arabic and philosophy at the University of Leipzig, the Free University of Berlin and the University of Cairo. He received his doctorate in Arabic studies from the Free University of Berlin in 2007.[1]

Career

Sinai worked as a researcher on the Corpus Coranicum project at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities from 2007 to 2010.[1] Since 2011, he has taught Islamic studies at the University of Oxford, successively as lecturer, associate professor and professor.[1] In 2023, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.[2]

Selected works

  • Der Koran. Eine Einführung [The Qur'an. An Introduction] (2017)[4]
  • The Qur'an. A Historical-Critical Introduction (2017)[5]
  • Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry (2019)[6]
  • Unlocking the Medinan Qur’an (ed.) (2022)[7]
  • Key Terms of the Qur'an. A Critical Dictionary(2023)[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Professor Nicolai Sinai". Pembroke college. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  2. ^ a b "Professor Nicolai Sinai Elected as Fellow of the British Academy". Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. 2023-07-31. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  3. ^ a b "Nicolai Sinai". Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  4. ^ Reviews of Der Koran. Eine Einführung:
    • Reinhard Schulze, Journal of Qur'anic Studies, Volume 21 Issue 1, Page 127-128
  5. ^ Reviews of The Qur'an. A Historical-Critical Introduction:
    • Durie, Mark.  Journal of the American Oriental Society; Ann Arbor Vol. 140, Iss. 2, (Apr-Jun 2020): 509-511
    • Loynes, Simon P. (2020). "Nicolai Sinai, The Quran: A Historical-Critical Introduction". Der Islam. 97 (1): 284–288. doi:10.1515/islam-2020-0021. ISSN 1613-0928.
    • Stephenson, Christopher (2021). "THE QUR'AN: A HISTORICAL-CRITICAL INTRODUCTION. By NicolaiSinai. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017. Pp. Ix + 140. Paper, $39.95". Religious Studies Review. 47 (4): 519. doi:10.1111/rsr.15519. ISSN 0319-485X.
  6. ^ Reviews of Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry:
    • Lindstedt, Ilkka (2020-11-30). "Review of Nicolai SINAI, Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry". Journal of the International Qur'anic Studies Association. 5 (s1): 58–73. doi:10.1515/jiqsa-2020-06s106. ISSN 2474-8420.
  7. ^ Reviews of Unlocking the Medinan Qur’an :
  8. ^ "Key Terms of the Qur'an: A Critical Dictionary". Princeton University Press. Retrieved 15 October 2024.