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The First Western Encounter with the Qur’an: The Cluny Translation Project and Its Dual Legacy
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Elaheh Hadian Rasnani   |
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Abstract: (3 Views) |
| This article examines the first conscious and organized encounter of the Western Christian world with the Qur’an in the twelfth century and analyzes the translation project initiated by Peter the Venerable, the abbot of the Abbey of Cluny. Within the context of the Crusades and the growing concerns of the Latin Church over the expansion of Islamic influence, this project sought to transfer the confrontation with Islam from the battlefield to the realm of texts, argumentation, and theological polemics. The study shows that the Latin translation of the Qur’an produced by Robert of Ketton and the compilation known as the Corpus Cluniacense were not neutral efforts aimed at understanding Islam. Rather, they constituted a deliberate missionary program designed to equip Christian theology for polemical engagement with the “Islamic other.” By analyzing the motivations behind the project, the composition of its translators, the structure of the selected texts, and the translation methods employed, the article demonstrates that the translation of the Qur’an in this project served a polemical function and was used as raw material for composing the earliest systematic anti‑Islamic refutations in the Latin West. At the same time, the article highlights the dual legacy of the Cluny project: on the one hand, the production of a biased and distorted body of knowledge about the Qur’an, and on the other hand, the unintended establishment of linguistic and textual foundations that later facilitated the emergence of Qur’anic studies and Western scholarship on Islam in subsequent centuries. |
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| Keywords: Latin Translation of the Qur’an, Cluny Project, Peter the Venerable, Robert of Ketton, Western encounter with Islam. |
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Full-Text [PDF 444 kb]
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2026/07/1 | Accepted: 2026/07/1 | Published: 2026/07/1
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