God in the Qur’an is a book I wrote only after repeatedly telling inquiring readers, colleagues, and sundry friends and associates that, no, I would not, could not, dare an assignment for which I was so poorly prepared. Meanwhile, however, for professional, political, and personal reasons, I was reading about Islam and its scripture more all the time. Finally, I began to think that, after all, I might follow the example of C. S. Lewis who once said that he wrote only books that he wanted to read and that no one had yet written for him.
I was still hesitant, however, about whether my voice would be welcome on this subject—particularly, of course, among Muslims—and so I asked around. I am grateful now in retrospect to several people who provided the credible early encouragement that made the difference. Among these are the late Maher Hathout, founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Los Angeles, and his successor at the head of MPAC, Salam al-Marayati; Reza Aslan, from the moment our friendship began with the publication of his breakthrough book No god but God; Amir Hussain, professor of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University, who recognizes as too few do the pivotal importance of the Muslim community of North America and who models its future in his own work; Reuven Firestone, professor of Medieval Jewish and Islamic Studies at Hebrew Union College, whose penetrating and courageous little book Who Are the Real Chosen People? The Meaning of Chosenness in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam taught me that the best path forward in interfaith relations leads through rather than around the toughest questions and whose conversations have taught me much more; Fr. Patrick J. Ryan, S. J., who as my fellow Harvard graduate student induced me to read the Qur’an for the first time; and finally Jane Dammen McAuliffe, editor of the five-volume Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an and associate editor for Islam in The Norton Anthology of World Religions: I knew that if there was no point in even starting, Jane could be counted on to say so, but she said start, and so start I did.
I started, yes, but thanks to many interruptions, it has taken me years to finish, and I am grateful to Jonathan Segal, my good friend and loyal editor at Alfred A. Knopf, who could have given up several times along the way but did not, and to Georges Borchardt, my agent (with Anne and Valerie Borchardt), friends and counselors for a generation, for sticking with me. I am grateful to my colleagues at the University of California, Irvine, and to UCI’s devoted and competent staff, especially in Langson Library and in Computer Services. I am grateful to Sam Aber, for astute assistance with permissions, and to Helen Maggie Carr and Victoria Pearson for able assistance in preparing the manuscript for publication. Last of all and most of all, I am grateful to my wife, Catherine Miles, to whom this book is dedicated, for making this last stage in my life the happiest of all.