The Hinckelmann edition is an Arabic edition of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

produced by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and

Islamologist Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

Abraham Hinckelmann in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, 1694. This was the first time the Quran was printed in its entirety in Europe, and the original copy is still located in the

Württembergische Landesbibliothek The State Library of Württemberg ( or WLB) is a large library in Stuttgart, Germany, which traces its history back to the ducal public library of Württemberg founded in 1765. It holds about 4 million volumes and is the fourth-largest library ...

library in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, Germany. Hinckelmann was able to produce this edition due to his ownership of at least six Quran manuscripts, as well as a total of over two-hundred oriental books and manuscripts, including over seventy in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and over fifty in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. Hinckelmann's edition was originally released under the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

title ''Al-Coranus s. lex Islamitica Muhammedis, filii Abdallae pseudoprophetae''. Hinckelmann prefaced the Quranic text with a

polemical Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

critique of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, and the edition ends with an extensive

errata An erratum or corrigendum (: errata, corrigenda) (comes from ) is a correction of a published text. Generally, publishers issue an erratum for a production error (i.e., an error introduced during the publishing process) and a corrigendum for an a ...

list to help indicate that his edition was far from flawless. Aside from some printing errors, the verse numbering scheme of the Hinckelmann edition does not correspond to that of other Quran editions, and Hinckelmann did not follow a single variant reading. Hinckelmann made the decision to only print the

text without a translation into any

European language There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. The three largest ...

, for several reasons, including that he believed in the value of Arabic literature, he thought that Christians should be familiar with the Islamic scripture in its original language, he believed that much of the Quran could be understood simply, and that by contrast the production of a translation would involve a disproportionate philological effort to produce. However, another likely issue limiting Hinckelmann in producing a translation was that he owned a copy of just one

tafsir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...

, the

Tafsir al-Jalalayn ''Tafsīr al-Jalālayn'' () is a classical Sunni interpretation (tafsir) of the Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly ...

. Nevertheless, four years later, the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

priest

Ludovico Maracci Ludovico Marracci (6 October 1612 – 5 February 1700), also known by Luigi Marracci, was an Italian Oriental scholar and professor of Arabic in the College of Wisdom at Rome. He is chiefly known as the publisher and editor of Quran of Muhammad ...

would publish the

Marracci edition The Marracci edition is an Arabic edition and Latin translation of the Quran from 1698. It was published in two volumes under the title ''Alcorani Textus Universus Arabicè et Latinè'' in Padua, Italy by Ludovico Marracci, an Italian Oriental sc ...

of the Quran in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

in 1698, this time including a translation and a commentary. The production of these two editions inspired newfound European interest in the Quran and its history of translation. The Hinckelmann edition gave Western researchers access to a printed Quran text for the first time, and was used until it was superseded by the Flügel edition.

References

{{Quranic manuscripts 1694 non-fiction books 1694 in religion 1694 in the Holy Roman Empire 17th-century Islam Quranic manuscripts Textual scholarship History of Hamburg

See also

References