Wikipedia's first sentence called it “scholarly work with essays on the most important themes and subjects”. Today it says “encyclopedia in the field of quranic studies”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Reference work on Quranic studies”. It now reads “Reference work on the Quran”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
Reference work on Quranic studies This article is about a reference work on Quranic studies.1 The Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān (abbreviated EQ ) is an encyclopedia dedicated to Quranic Studies edited by Islamic scholar Jane Dammen McAuliffe , and published by Brill Publishers . It was published in five volumes during 2001-2006: Vol. (2006) Promotion text by Brill: "Drawing upon a rich scholarly heritage, Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Qur'ān ( EQ ) combines alphabetically arranged articles about the contents of the Qur'ān. It is an encyclopaedic dictionary of qur'ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur'ānic studies." Encyclopaedia of the Qur'ān at Brill publishers
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1162628016.
The opening as it stood in 2010
The Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an ( EQ ) is a scholarly work with essays on the most important themes and subjects, and an encyclopaedic dictionary of Qur'an terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis . It's the first comprehensive work of its kind in a western language. Brill describes the encyclopedia as follows: Drawing upon a rich scholarly heritage, and with nearly 1000 entries in 5 volumes, Brill’s EQ it is an encyclopaedic dictionary of qur'ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis, extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qurʾānic studies.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 347504715.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān ( EQ ) is an academic encyclopedia with articles on the most important themes and subjects of the Qur'an .The publisher, Brill , describes the encyclopedia as follows: Drawing upon a rich scholarly heritage, Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Qur'ān (EQ) combines alphabetically arranged articles about the contents of the Qur'ān. It is an encyclopaedic dictionary of qur'ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur'ānic studies. Publisher site: Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an at Brill publishers
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 616621813.
The opening as it stood in 2020
The Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān (abbreviated EQ ) is an encyclopedia dedicated to Qur'anic Studies edited by Islamic scholar Jane Dammen McAuliffe , and published by Brill Publishers .It was published in five volumes during 2001-2006: Vol. (2006) Promotion text by Brill: "Drawing upon a rich scholarly heritage, Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Qur'ān (EQ) combines alphabetically arranged articles about the contents of the Qur'ān. It is an encyclopaedic dictionary of qur'ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur'ānic studies." Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an at Brill publishers
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 953991210.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Reference work on the Quran This article is about a reference work on Quranic studies. The Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān (abbreviated EQ ) is an encyclopedia dedicated to Quranic Studies edited by Islamic scholar Jane Dammen McAuliffe , and published by Brill Publishers . It was published in five volumes during 2001-2006: Vol. (2006) Promotion text by Brill: "Drawing upon a rich scholarly heritage, Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Qur'ān ( EQ ) combines alphabetically arranged articles about the contents of the Qur'ān. It is an encyclopaedic dictionary of qur'ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur'ānic studies." Encyclopaedia of the Qur'ān at Brill publishers
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1282693751. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “scholarly work with essays on the most important themes and subjects”. Today it says “encyclopedia in the field of quranic studies”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Reference work on Quranic studies”. It now reads “Reference work on the Quran”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
scholarly work with essays on the most important themes and subjects
Now
encyclopedia in the field of quranic studies
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
