“Over the past several decades, the emergence of the classical Arabic language, the extent of literacy among the earliest Muslims, and the formation of the Qur’anic text have been central questions in the dynamic field of early Islamic history. Touati’s fascinating and theoretically informed book moves beyond the framework of Islamic origins to consider those questions within a rich historical narrative. Drawing on a detailed investigation of the Arabic sources, and against the background of Greco-Roman, Hebrew, and Syriac literature, he tells the story of the emergence of a sophisticated Arabic literary culture as the product of scriptural formation, practical pedagogy, the administrative needs of an increasingly ambitious state, and, finally, the crystallization of a cosmopolitan Muslim civilization.”

Jonathan Berkey, Davidson College

“Rather than a story of militant conquest and uncompromising zeal, Islam’s success and current unease is deeply involved in its use of language, both sacred and mundane, to capture a vision of the real. In this original and heartfelt study, Touati not only demonstrates how a great religion may be founded on its control of the terms of discussion but also how it may renew itself through that selfsame emphasis.”

Lawrence Rosen, Princeton University