When the Staff Turns into a Serpent

“Isra Yazicioglu's When The Staff Turns Into A Serpent is an intriguing study not only of the Qur'an but also of the reception history of the sacred text in light of the challenge of rationalism. Meandering from the Qur'an itself to Ghazali and Ibn Rushd as well as Peirce and Hume and Nursi, Yazicioglu's work serves as a useful reminder of how intellectual trends in each era have shaped our interaction with divine revelation in a way that is timeless—and also timely.” —Omid Safi, University of North Carolina

“This is an important book that brings miracle stories from Islam into conversation with philosophy. Isra Yazicioglu takes us on a journey through al-Ghazali’s defense of miracle stories—and she reframes those stories in terms of modern philosophy, beginning with Hume, developing with Peirce (who reminds us that natural laws are not absolute but who nevertheless recognizes regularities in nature), and ending with Nursi (for whom miracles invite us to rethink our assumptions about natural causation). Yazicioglu's pragmatic hermeneutics raises highly relevant philosophical questions and makes us rethink our assumptions about Qu’ranic miracle stories, showing how we must read them as relevant scriptural texts that question our assumptions about the world. This is a well-written and engaging book on an important topic. It deserves to be widely read and discussed.” —Gavin Flood, University of Oxford