Encountering the Quran: A Guide to the Inner Meaning of the Sacred Book of Islam

Although the work is short, it deals in depth and in a very valuable manner with some of the most salient features of Islam’s sacred scripture. Brief in length, the book is, nonetheless, certainly a major contribution to Quranic studies in a European language. – Seyyed Hossein Nasr

What gives Islam its particular vitality in a secular world where religion is on the decline? What sacred message does the Quran have for Modern man, irrespective of religious affiliation? What made Western Christianity particularly susceptible to Modernism? How does the Quranic exposition of Biblical stories provide an extra element of meaning and interpretation? What can practitioners of other religions learn from the Quran in order to re-vitalise their own traditions? These are some of the questions that Tage Lindbom poses, and also answers, in Encountering the Quran.

One of the leading theoreticians of the Swedish Welfare State, Tage Lindbom (1909-2001) was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party and the Head of the archives and libraries of the Swedish Labour movement. Converting to Islam in 1962, he received the name of Zayd Abd ar-Rahim and became a member of the Shadhiliyyah Sufi order. A prolific writer, Lindbom wrote over thirty books on religion and political philosophy, with Encountering the Quran being one of his last works. Although the book conveys the inner meaning of the Quran, Lindbom goes beyond merely defining Islam as a theological concept, but also as a remainder of the Cosmic order that once existed in all traditional societies.

Featuring a foreword by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Encountering the Quran also includes three complementary appendices from Lindbom’s other books and lectures.