Leyla Ozgur Alhassen is Visiting Scholar in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2011, focusing on Arabic literature. Dr Ozgur Alhassen has published articles in journals such as Religion and Literature, Religion and the Arts, Comparative Islamic Studies, The Muslim World and Journal of Qur'anic Studies.

This monograph is an impressive addition to the growing number of studies on the Qur’an as a literary text. [...] For all readers of this extraordinary performative text, whatever their background, motive, or outlook, the stories come alive with a fresh, invigorating and engaging analysis, at once exploratory and comprehensive.

• 1. Introduction: A Narratological, Rhetorical Approach to Qur’anic Stories; 2. Knowledge, Control and Consonance in Surat Āl ‘Imrān 3:33-62; 3. God, Families and Secrets in the Story of Surat Maryam 19:1-58 ; 4. Evidence, Judgment and Remorse in Surat Yūsuf; 5. Merging Words and Making Connections in Surat Ṭaha; 6. Surat al-Qaṣaṣ and Its Audience; 7. Conclusions: Reading the Qur’an as God’s Narrative.