A Case Study on Identifying the Characteristics of the Meccan and Medinan Surahs in Twentieth-Century French Academic Circles: Blachère’s Work Le Coran

Blachère’in Le Coran Eseri

Abstract

This study examines Le Coran by Régis Blachère, an important example of Qurʾanic studies in twentieth-century French academia, with particular reference to his writings on the characteristics of Meccan and Medinan suras. In the West, orientalist scholarship has produced a comprehensive body of literature on the Qurʾanic text and its history. In the French context in particular, early and sustained relations with the Muslim world created a fertile ground for both polemical debates and academic production centered on the Qurʾan. The main focus of the article is the question of the arrangement of the Qurʾan and attempts to read it according to the order of revelation. Within this context, Régis Blachère is addressed as a prominent figure in the French orientalist tradition whose work continues to exert influence today. The aim of the study is to introduce Blachère’s academic profile and his principal works on the Qurʾan, to examine the factors that shaped his chronological approach, to summarize his views on Meccan and Medinan suras, and to assess in general terms the impact of his work on subsequent scholarship. At the center of his Qurʾanic studies stands his French translation of the Qurʾan arranged according to the order of revelation, Le Coran. The article emphasizes that Blachère’s evaluations of Meccan and Medinan suras are closely connected to his understanding of Qurʾanic history and his approach to transmitted reports