Isra Yazicioglu, “Understanding Qur’anic Miracle Stories in the Modern Age” (Penn State UP, 2013)

In Understanding Qur’anic Miracle Stories in the Modern Age (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013), Isra Yazicioglu draws connections between an array of scholars, from different time periods and cultures, in order to make sense of miracles and miracle stories in the Qur’an. What are miracles? Why do they occur in stories? And how does the Qur’an define this complicated concept in particular ways? To address these questions and others Professor Yazicioglu gives particular attention to Ghazali (d. 1111), Ibn Rushd (d. 1198), David Hume (d. 1776), Charles Peirce (d. 1914), and Said Nursi (d. 1960), which makes for a rich and multilayered investigation into the limits and possibilities of science, epistemology, and scriptural hermeneutics. In our interview we also discuss Professor Yazicioglu’s intellectual background as a biologist in secular Turkey, turned scholar of religion and how her own social context has influenced and challenged her scholarly pursuits. Yazicioglu’s compelling and well-researched monograph will likely interest not only scholars of Islam and the Qur’an, but also philosophers as well as natural scientists.

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