1. MedievWorld1_fm_4pp.qxd

Quraysh 611

or codices. Eventually a version of these readings was
accepted throughout the Muslim world. For Muslims the
Quran was more than an equivalent to the sacred Scrip-
tures of other religious communities.

RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE

The Quran was explicitly and preeminently the word of
God. A vast majority of Muslims experienced the Quran
only in an oral form. After memorizing and reciting it,
they then often encountered its words in a visual form
written in Arabic calligraphy, which was a major decora-
tive and didactic motif in Islamic architecture and art.
The words must be approached within the context of a
ritual piety, since they were divine signs and proofs of
God. It should only be read and understood in the Arabic
language, whatever the language of a believer. It was a
guide for everything in life.
During the formative years of Islam, the Quran was
the primary source of Islamic theology and law, the
Sharia. The belief that the Quran was the eternal speech
of God was one of the most important cornerstones of
Islam. This produced a belief that it was the highest form
of Arabic expression; its language came to influence and
dominate standard Arabic grammar and lexicography.
Christian reactions to the Quran were critical and tried to
show that its message was at best derivative. However,
Christian commentators did show a clear awareness of its
importance for Islam.

See also ART AND ARCHITECTURE, ISLAMIC; LAST

JUDGMENT.

Further reading:The Koran, trans. N. J. Dawood

(1959; reprint, New York: Penguin, 1999); Muhammad

Abu-Hamdiyyah, The Qur’an: An Introduction(New York:

Routledge, 2000); M. A. Cook, The Koran: A Very Short

Introduction(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).

Quraysh The Quraysh were the dominant tribe in

MECCAin the time of MUHAMMAD, who was a member of

the Hashemite clan within it. The Quraysh seemed to

have been named after an aquatic mammal, perhaps a

shark or a dugong, of the Red Sea. This etymology sug-

gested a trading group based on the sea. Later members

of this tribe were eligible to serve in the office of CALIPH

according to SUNNIISLAM.

Further reading:Patricia Crone, Meccan Trade and

the Rise of Islam(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University

Press, 1987); Wilfred Madelung, The Succession to

Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate(Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1997); Róbert Simon, Mec-

can Trade and Islam: Problems of Origin and Structure,

trans. Feodora Sós (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1989);

W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Mecca (1953;

reprint, New York: Oxford University Press; 1979); W.

Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Medina (Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1956).