Julien Decharneux, “The Cosmological Sign Passages in the Seven Long Ones: An Unpopular Genre?” скачать в хорошем качестве

Julien Decharneux, “The Cosmological Sign Passages in the Seven Long Ones: An Unpopular Genre?”

This paper was presented at the conference 'The “Seven Long Ones” (al-Sabʿ al-Ṭiwāl): Approaches to Surahs 2–7 and 9', held at Pembroke College, Oxford (24-25 March 2025). The event was organized as part of the project 'Qur’anic Commentary: An Integrative Paradigm', which is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 771047). Numerous studies have highlighted the Qur’an’s emphasis on natural theology, particularly through its exhortations to contemplate cosmic phenomena. This contemplative approach is most explicitly articulated in the so-called “sign passages”, which enumerate cosmological elements as “signs” meant to be recognised as divine by those with a faithful heart. While the Qur’an contains several dozen such passages, it is striking that this distinctive genre is comparatively scarce in the “seven long ones” at the beginning of the corpus, where only a handful of examples appear. This paper will analyse Q 2:164, 3:189–191, 6:96–99, 7:54–58, and 7:185, and compare them with other instances of sign passages across the Qur’an. Additionally, it will explore the apparent underrepresentation of this genre in the longer surahs, considering possible theological and socio-historical implications for this pattern.