A Study of the Most Important Foundations of Qur'anic Research Orientalists (with Emphasis on American Qur'anic Scholars)

Explaining and analyzing the foundations and presuppositions of the non-Muslim Qur'anic researchers, especially the American Qur’anic researchers, is one of the most important and necessary topics in the field of Qur'anic studies. Exploring the main and unspoken foundations of these Orientalists beyond their views on the Qur'an, as well as analyzing those foundations, albeit briefly, is the subject of the present study, which, of course, focuses on the Orientalists of the United States. This research examines the main and hidden principles behind the minds of Orientalists, by passing themes such as the quotation [iqtibas] of the Qur'an from other religions and cultures, or the influence of the culture of that era, as well as those that have been promoted mainly as alternative sources by Orientalists. In fact, the most important and fundamental principles of Orientalists in Islamic studies in general and Qur'anic studies in particular are the following: non-revelation of the Qur'an or its being humanity, lack of prophethood and mission of the Holy Prophet (P), Islam as a particular ethnic religion, invalidity of Islamic tradition about the history of Islam and the Qur’an.