Sura Structures and Chronology

Abstract

This chapter lays out the criteria for the chronological arrangement of the suras that will be followed in the rest of the book. It argues critically for upholding the basic chronology first set out by Nöldeke at the end of the nineteenth century, providing detail on the textual and rhetorical qualities used to define the chronological development of the text. It also provides an overview of the structural qualities of the sura as a genre, and of the verbal features characteristics of the successive stages of the text’s development.