Female Divinity in the Quran

This is the first book to examine how pre-Islamic/Late Antique goddesses shaped the Quran, including its basic theology and cosmology. Exploring the traces found in the text of cultic veneration to goddesses of Arabia and the Ancient Near East, this book analyses what these traces tell us about female power in late antique Arabia, and how this power changed on the advent of Islam. While recent studies on the Quranic God have typically considered the question of divinity separately from gender, this book bridges the gap between these two questions, and is therefore an essential constructive mission. This mission adduces literary and documentary evidenceincluding recent scholarly revolutions in Syriac literature and Arabian epigraphyand builds upon the critical insights of preceding studies in conversation with post-biblical and Near Eastern traditions.