An International Workshop on Qur'an Interpretation

For Monday 16 November I was invited by Dr. Sahiron Syamsuddin to give two lectures at an 'international workshop' on Qur'an Interpretation. The schedule was only known to me on Saturday 14, so I was happy that I had brought me laptop with me and could prepare the two speeches.
The workshop was attended by some 50 people. Partly staff of the Department of Qur'an Studies at UIN Yogyakarta. Most of them were young graduates who worked in the region of Yogyakarta and who could gain credit (necessary for improvement of their academic status) by a certificate that was presented at the end of the day. The Workshop took place in the Puri Artha Hotel, near the UIN, to give it some more prestige.

I gave the first lecture on basis of my contribution for the Journal of Rotterdam Islamic and Social Sciences, vol 1/1, 2010:155-166, from John Wansbrough to Lüling, Ohlig, ending with Angelika Neuwirth and the Corpus Coranicum project. The second lecture was a detailed interpretation of the Mary-Jesus-section of Surat Maryam. I found it a good exercise for plans to do more work on the Jesus verses. (The Indonesian translation is ready, but Sahiron waits for last preface).

I found the atmosphere very open, critical, ready to start debates. It ended with the usual series of photographs and below I stand besides Sahiron Syamsuddin.