Introduction to the Qur'an

Rating:
Summary: Excellent scholarly work on the Qur'an
Review: An excellent introduction to western scholarship on the subject. It's useful to read this together with Fazlur Rahman's "Major Themes in the Qur'an", which is in many respects a Muslim response to Watt and Bell.

Interestingly, the excellent work that Bell and Watt do in locating the Qur'an within the context of Muhammad's life actually tends to refute the work of more radical scholars such as John Wansbrough and Patricia Crone, who claim that the Qur'an was produced in the second or third century of Islam.

Rating:
Summary: Best Scholarly Intro to the Qur'an
Review: Very good intro text to the Qur'an. Watt does an excellent job of revising and updatings Bell's original book. Watt unearths the jewels from Bell's writings and makes them acceptable to the more inclusinary scholarship in vogue today. The book becomes readable to Muslims. Takes a well rounded critical view of Muslim sources but does not reject them completely. Highly recommended.