David in the Muslim Tradition: The Bathsheba Affair

239 Pages·2014·1.27 MB·English

by  Khaleel Mohammed

1
David in the Muslim
Tradition

David in the Muslim
Tradition
The Bathsheba Affair
Khaleel Mohammed
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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Copyright © 2015 by Lexington Books
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without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mohammed, Khaleel.
David in the Muslim tradition : the Bathsheba affair / Khaleel Mohammed.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7391-9715-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-9716-5 (electronic)
1. David, King of Israel—In the Qur’an 2. Qur’an—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—
History. I. Title.
BP133.7.D38M64 2015
297.2¢46—dc23 2014039688
∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations ix
1 Introduction 1
2 The Formative Period 31
3 The Golden Age of Classical Tafsīr: al-‛Aṣr al-Dhahabī 55
4 The Era of the Qur’ānic Supercommentaries 111
5 From Modernity to Late Modernity 153
6 From Flawed to Flawless: The Evolving David of Judaism
and Christianity 177
7 Conclusion 187
Bibliography 205
Index 221
About the Author 227
v

Acknowledgments
The study of shared narratives between the Qur’ān and the antecedent Abra-
hamic scriptures has long interested me. I would not have considered myself
capable of this undertaking without the training and assistance that I have
received from many. I will only mention a few of them here. Professors Ira
Robinson, Jack Lightstone, Norma Joseph and Sheila McDonough, all of
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, were my first instructors in meth-
odology, whetting my appetite for the study of shared traditions.
In the course of researching the material for this book, I relied upon several
for their valuable assistance and keen insight. My research assistant, Hashaw
Elkins, co-presented a paper on the subject with me at the Western Jewish
Studies Association conference in San Diego in April 2011, allowing me to
know from the audience reaction that this was a subject I had to pursue. My
dear friend Rabbi Paul Silton, in this day of electronic communication, took
time off from his busy schedule to handwrite about six pages of detailed
answers in respect to my request for Talmudic material on David. Noam Zion
of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem directed me to many sources of
biblical interpretation that are not accessible to the Western-based researcher.
Jyoti Seecharan reread my first chapter several times in what I hope was a
successful attempt to rid it of its stultifying pedantry. The library staff at San
Diego State University, where I teach, have been most helpful in my seem-
ingly never-ending requests for interlibrary loans.
My family is an extremely close-knit one, and without them I would never
have been able to undertake this task. My brothers and sisters brought me
back from the dead, and for that I can never thank them enough. The ladies
of my household have contributed in their own way by tolerating an often
irascible, demanding, and absent-minded professor to make their lives dif-
ficult. I thank them for their patience, knowing that they will allow me to be
who I am.
vii
viii Acknowledgments
I leave the last mention for two people who brought me into this world.
My mother gifted me with her determination and attention to detail. My father
lived but sixty-seven short years upon this earth: seventeen of those he spent
in patiently mentoring a wayward child. My greatest joy comes from hear-
ing the people of my native Guyana say, “This book on David is written by
Yusuf’s son.” I dedicate this book to both my parents, of blessed memory.
Abbreviations
AJISS American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences
AJS Association for Jewish Studies
BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
CBQ The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
EI2 The Encyclopedia of Islam, new edition
ER2 Encyclopedia of Religion, second edition
EQ Encyclopedia of the Qu’ran
IJMES International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
IOS Israel Oriental Studies
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JSAI Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam
JSS Journal of Semitic Studies
MW The Muslim World
NEOT Neotestamentica
OCB The Oxford Companion to the Bible
OEMIW The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World
SI Studia Islamica
ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft
ix