Quranic studies is the academic application of a diverse set of disciplines to study the Quran (including its exegesis and historical reception), drawing on methods including but not limited to ancient history, philology, textual criticism, lexicography, codicology, literary criticism, comparative religion, and historical criticism (the historical-critical method).[1][2][3][4]
Quranic studies can be divided into three primary domains. The first seeks to understanding its original meaning, sources, history of revelation, and the history of its recording and transmission. The second seeks to clarify the reception of the Quran in other texts and through centuries of exegesis. The third involves the study and appreciation of the Quran as literature independently of the other two domains. Until the twentieth century, the second and third domains were largely ignored by researchers.[5]