Nicolai Sinai holds a PhD from the Free University Berlin (2007) and is a Fellow of the British Academy. Since 2011 he has been teaching at the University of Oxford, where he is now a professor of Islamic Studies. His most recent book is Key Terms of the Qur’an: A Critical Dictionary (2023).

This talk will present ongoing work on a historical and literary commentary on Surahs 1-3, undertaken in the framework of the ERC-funded project Qur’anic Commentary: An Integrative Paradigm. Topics addressed will include the commentary’s basic hermeneutical commitments, its methodological toolkit, and its envisaged structure and layout.