Qoran.xyz: The Multilingual Historical Koran is a research project initiated by PHI in 2018. The project organises various approaches to the Koranic text as a historical document.

 

We are preparing a “multilingual edition” of the Koran, including the earliest known translations to Greek (870 AD), Persian (10th century), Turkic (11th century) and Latin (11th century) – as witnesses to the history of the text and its influence.

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Our aim is to study the text both as a historical document in its Late Antique Near Eastern context, and as a religious document in its subsequent history when it became a foundational text for the religion of Islam. There are three long-term aims of the project:

 

1. To present a complete multilingual historical edition of the Koranic text with the most ancient translations into Greek, Persian, Turkic and Latin, published at: www.qoran.xyz.

2. To investigate the nature of the Koranic religion in a Late Antique Near Eastern context. 

3. To gain new insights into the linguistic status of the Koranic language, the Arabiyya, and its position vis-à-vis other Semitic languages (like Hebrew, Aramaic, Ancient South Arabian and Ancient North Arabian) and other "Arabic languages" (or "Arabic dialects").