Ingrid Mattson - How the Qur’an Shapes the Sunni Community

Ingrid MattsonJanuary 17, 20190 comments

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Sunnah Ijma Islamic Law Islamic Community Quran Scholarly Authority Tajweed Sunni Islam

About this lecture

In this lecture, Professor Ingrid Mattson explores the unique and multifaceted relationship between the Qur'an and the Sunni Muslim community — from how the Qur'an shapes everyday speech, naming practices, and communal identity, to deeper questions about interpretive authority, the tension between *ijma'* (scholarly consensus) and *jama'a* (community-based understanding), and the risk of both elevating and cheapening the Qur'an through its use. Drawing on personal anecdotes, classical scholarship, and contemporary pastoral concerns, Mattson argues that Sunnism is shifting toward a more decentralized, community-grounded engagement with the Qur'an — and that this shift, though challenging, may better reflect the Qur'an's own values.

Dr. Ingrid Mattson is a Canadian convert to Islam, scholar, and one of the most respected Muslim academic leaders in North America. She earned her PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago and became the first woman and first convert elected president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), serving from 2006 to 2010. She held the chair in Islamic Studies at Hartford Seminary, where she developed the first accredited Muslim chaplaincy program in the US, and later the London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College in Canada. She writes and lectures on the Qur'an, Islamic ethics, and interfaith relations.

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