Dictionary of the Koran, Edited by Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

Islam is, with Christianity and Judaism, one of the three branches of monotheism from the religion of Abraham. Its spiritual universe gave birth to a culture and a civilization of which the Koran is the major source of inspiration and transcendence. While relations between Islam and the West are one of the challenges of our future, we felt it necessary to finally have access to a serene and rigorous knowledge of the Koran, the holy book of Muslims, essential for understanding their faith, their thought, their mentality, but also their history or their morals.

This Dictionary of the Koran brings together and presents the essentials of what you need to know about Muslim spirituality and philosophy. More than 500 entries, hundreds of bibliographical references, an index, maps, a comparative chronology between East and West make this book an essential study tool in which all the major Koranic themes are examined (Celestial Ascension, Sharia, Pilgrimage...), the geography of the holy places of Islam (Jerusalem, Mecca...) and its traditional sciences (Exegesis, Theology, Mysticism, Law...), finally all the characters of the sacred book and his history.

Original extension of the Jewish and Christian Holy Scriptures and fundamental text of a religion which was a chain of transmission between East and West, the Koran is part of the universal spiritual heritage. With the sometimes dramatic return of Islam to the scene of contemporary history, the Muslim religion has given rise to a number of doubts or unanswered questions. This is why this Dictionary of the Koran, at the same time scholarly, precise and accessible, never boring, responds to an intellectual requirement of our time.

Daniel Rondeau