The premiere of the book “The Qur’an about Religion” of Dr. Ivan Dyulgerov took place in Sofia

On October 11 this year in Hall 1 of the Rectorate of the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” took place the official presentation of the book of Dr. Ivan Dyulgerov “The Qur’an about Religion”. The book is published by the East-West” Indological Foundation and is the sixth consecutive edition of the series of books on the Hindu culture.

The premiere was held with a discussion in which along with the author speakers were also Prof. Dr. Habil. Pavel Pavlovich – Head of the Department of Arabic and Semitic Studies at the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology of the SU “St. Kliment Ohridski”, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetoslav Ribolov from the Department of Historical and Systematical Theology of the Faculty of Theology at the SU “St. Kliment Ohridski”. Among the official guests of the presentation of the book was also the Deputy Grand Mufti of the Muslims in the Republic of Bulgaria Birali Myumyun.

In the framework of the premiere of his book “The Qur’an about Religion” the author Dr. Ivan Dyulgerov focused on several key moments: how to read the Qur’an; why exactly “The Qur’an about Religion” and what is religion according to the Qur’an. “I do believe that the Qur’an has to be read in connection with the Islamic tradition and in terms of its content” – Dr. Dyulgerov said.

The book “The Qur’an about Religion”is a kind of a study where the author focuses his attention on a part of the content of the Qur’an. There is an analysis of the semantic organization of the Qur’anic text in it and Dr. Dyulgerov also examines the morphological structure of the words and their lexical relations and dependences, appearing both in a very Qur’anic and sometimes in a broader context of the monotheistic textuality.

What the author of the book aims is to bring out the Qur’anic interpretation about religion – the interpretation which derives from the way in which the Qur’an conceptualise the matter. Dr. Dyulgerov has chosen the word “deen” as a subject of his study and starting from this conceptual core, he deploys a broad picture of the Islamic perception of religion and the related with it deeds in their relationto Allah and His commandments which are laid down in the texts of the Holy Qur’an.

“According to me the work of Dr. Dyulgerov is an extremely useful methodological experiment which allows the author to explain the meaning of the term “deen” in its Qur’anic integrity. “This is a study at European level, which impresses not only with its depth, but with its innovative conclusions. The book has a contribution to the understanding of the Arab-Muslim culture and for the dissemination of the knowledge about it in our society which needs such literacy and is a way to avoid hatred and aggression which often are incited with regard to Islam and its representatives” – Prof. Dr. Habil. Pavel Pavlovich said during the premiere.

Dr. Ivan Dyulgerov

Dr. Ivan Dyulgerov graduated “Arabic Studies” at the SU “St. Kliment Ohridski” in 1994. A year later he began teaching. Since 1995 to nowadays he has been teaching Arabic Phonetics and Lexicology as well as practical grammar at the SU “St. Kliment Ohridski”. Dr. Ivan Dyulgerov specialized in Tunisia (2002) and in Egypt (2006-2007), he is a translator from and into Arabic language for many years.

He was working as a translator and researcher in most of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Since 2009 he has been actively involved in exploring the original Arabic text of the Qur’an. His doctorate thesis on “Intratextual Semasiology of the Term “Deen” in the Qur’an” he defended in 2016. Today Dr. Ivan Dyulgerov is a Chief Assistant at the Department of Arabic and Semitic Studies at the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology of the SU “St. Kliment Ohridski”.