Editing Theodor Nöldeke (section)

=== ''Geschichte des Qorâns'' ===
Noldeke's ''[[Geschichte des Qorāns|Geschichte]]'' emerged out of the dissertation that he had begun writing during his university studies, which was completed in 1856 and titled ''De origine et compositione surarum qoranicarum ipsiusque Qorani''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nöldeke |first=Theodor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZ8pAAAAYAAJ |title=De origine et compositione surarum Qoranicarum ipsiusque Qorani |date=1856 |publisher=Officina academica Dieterichiana |language=la}}</ref> Compared to earlier works studying the [[Quran]] by Western writers, Nöldeke uncoupled the study of the text from inquiries into the life of [[Muhammad]] and, unlike predecessors of his such as [[William Muir]], did not have a missionary zeal. Instead, Nöldeke studied the Quran for its own sake. One of the most important aspects of Nöldeke's argument was his periodisation of the Quranic surahs into a tripartite Meccan phase followed by a Medinan phase (an idea already conceived by his predecessor, [[Gustav Weil]]). In this, Nöldeke, though he did not follow the traditional chronological division of surahs exactly, did follow it in some detail. At the same time, Nöldeke also considered his division to be malleable and tentative to a degree as opposed to absolute and deciding.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stefanidis |first=Emmanuelle |date=2008 |title=The Qur'an Made Linear: A Study of the Geschichte des Qorâns' Chronological Reordering |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25728286 |journal=Journal of Qur'anic Studies |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=1–22 |issn=1465-3591}}</ref>

Although Nöldeke's work has been followed closely by some and rejected by others,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shoemaker |first=Stephen |title=Early Islam: the sectarian milieu of late antiquity? |date=2022 |publisher=Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles |isbn=978-2-8004-1815-5 |editor-last=Dye |editor-first=Guillaume |series=Problèmes d'histoire des religions |location=Brussels |chapter=Method and Theory in the Study of Early Islam}}</ref> it has been so influential that at least one scholar has referred to his work as "the rock of our church".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Higgins |first=Andrew |title=The Lost Archive |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120008793352784631 |access-date=2024-03-21 |work=Wall Street Journal |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2013, a complete translation of the volume into English was published.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nöldeke |first1=Theodor |title=The history of the Qur'an |last2=Schwally |first2=Friedrich |last3=Bergsträsser |first3=Gotthelf |last4=Pretzl |first4=O. |last5=Behn |first5=Wolfgang |date=2013 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-21234-3 |series=Texts and studies on the Qur'an |location=Leiden; Boston}}</ref>