This presentation will critically examine the approaches of early Arabic grammarians to the Qur'ān in relation to the language of pre-Islamic poetry and the dialect of the Quraysh. Thence the presentation will move on to a discussion of a range of topics including 'registers', pausal forms, and patterns of assonance to shed new light on the language of the Qur'ān.

Professor Alan Jones is a specialist in pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arabic and in Quranic Studies. He taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at Oxford since 1957, and was a fellow of Pembroke College. He is at present writing a book on the pre-Islamic background of the Qur'an.

(Seminars start at 5.00 p.m.)