Rezvan E. The Qur’ān and Its World: VI. Emergence of the Canon: the Struggle for Uniformity // Manuscripta Orientalia. Vol. 4. No. 2. June 1998. P. 13—54.
In previous papers in this series we have attempted to
show that the Qur’ān, born in inner Arabia, was not only
the natural result of the religious and social development
of Arabian society, but also reflected the deep-laid links
which tied the culture and religious and social ideas of the
Arabians to the culture and historical experience of the
peoples of Anterior Asia.
It was, after all, only superficially that Arabia was part
of the “barbaric periphery” of the civilized world. Over a
period of centuries, it was not only surrounded by highly
developed states, but formed a part of them to a certain
degree...