James A. Bellamy

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

James A. Bellamy (1925 – July 21, 2015) was an American professor and scholar of Quranic studies. He served as Professor Emeritus of Arabic Literature at the University of Michigan.

Research and influence
- Bellamy was an important figure in the textual criticism of the Quran, often described as the leading emender of the text.
- He continued the tradition of textual emendation since earlier scholars like Ignác Goldziher and Theodor Nöldeke.
- He described his work as “the correction of errors in texts,” and he even called textual criticism an addictive pursuit.
- Bellamy is associated with the Revisionist School of Islamic Studies.

Selected publications
- 1973: The Mysterious Letters of the Koran: Old Abbreviations of the Basmalah. Journal of the American Oriental Society.
- 1993: Some Proposed Emendations to the Text of the Koran. Journal of the American Oriental Society.
- 1996: More Proposed Emendations to the Text of the Koran. Journal of the American Oriental Society.
- 2001: Textual Criticism of the Koran. Journal of the American Oriental Society.
- 2002: A Further Note on ʿĪsā. Journal of the American Oriental Society.
- 2006: Textual Criticism of the Qurʼān. In Encyclopedia of the Qurʼān (edited by Jane Dammen McAuliffe), Brill.