The Qur'ān. Great Code of Humanity

The study day “Il Corano tra testi e contesti. Nuovi strumenti e nuove interpretazioni” (Brescia, 20 October 2023) explored the historical and contemporary reception of the Qur’ān in the West. It retraced the evolution from early polemical approaches to the rigorous 17th-century translation by Ludovico Marracci and subsequent Orientalist scholarship, which combined philological precision with ideological biases. The discussion highlighted both the merits and limits of Orientalism, acknowledging its scientific contributions while addressing its cultural and political implications. The conference stressed the ongoing dialogue between Western and Islamic scholarship, the persistence of misunderstandings, and the need for critical collaboration. Recent discoveries, such as the Qur’ānic fragments of Ṣanʿāʾ, and the works of modern scholars have deepened textual studies but confirmed that the Qur’ān’s complexity resists definitive interpretation, calling for continuous and open inquiry.