Editor of Quran translation to speak
Team worked to make holy book more accessible
Maria M. Dakake is chair and associate professor of religious studies at George Mason University.
Photo: George Mason University(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – April 4, 2016) An editor of a new English translation of the Quran designed to make the Muslim holy book more accessible to non-Arabic speakers will give a presentation at California Lutheran University on Thursday, April 21.
Maria M. Dakake, chair and associate professor of religious studies at George Mason University, will present “The Quran: Reading the Signs” at 6:30 p.m. in Lundring Events Center on the Thousand Oaks campus. The event will be streamed live and available for later viewing at CalLutheran.edu/live.
Dakake is one of four editors of “The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary,” which was released in November. The book provides verse-by-verse commentary making the diversity of classical and modern Muslim Quranic interpretations written almost exclusively in Arabic and Persian accessible to readers of English for the first time in such a comprehensive manner.
In addition to reflecting upon her experience engaging the Quran in a contemporary context through this project, Dakake will discuss the idea of “signs” in the holy book. The Quran uses the term “signs” (ayat) to refer not only to its own verses, but also to both natural and supernatural phenomena that serve as indicators of God’s presence and guidance. This Quranic usage of the term “signs” provides a profound key to its interpretation, Dakake argues, indicating that its meaning is discerned by readers who are attentive not only to scripture but to the world around them and within them. Such an approach suggests that the Quran reveals itself in multiple ways through its varied readers.
Dakake researches and publishes on Islamic intellectual history, Quranic studies, Shiite and Sufi traditions, and women's spirituality and religious experience. She is co-editing “The Routledge Companion to the Quran” and working on another publication about the concept of religion as a universal phenomenon in the Quran and Islamic intellectual tradition.
Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is on the north side of Olsen Road between Campus Drive and Mountclef Boulevard.
Cal Lutheran’s Segerhammar Center for Faith and Culture, Office of Multicultural Programs, Center for Equality and Justice, Congregational Relations, and Humanities Division of the College of Arts and Sciences are sponsoring the free event. For more information, contact Sam Thomas at sthomas@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3693.