The Qur'an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations Into the Genesis of a Religion

395 Pages·2018·5.09 MB·English

by  Mark Durie

The Qur’an and Its
Biblical Reflexes

The Qur’an and Its
Biblical Reflexes
Investigations into the
Genesis of a Religion
Mark Durie
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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LCCN 2018946880 | ISBN 9781498569453 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781498569460 (electronic)
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Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Notes on Transcription, Qurʾanic Citations, Terms, and Names xv
List of Qurʾanic Proper Names xvii
Introduction: A Fundamental Question xxi
1 Preliminaries to a Qurʾanic Theology 1
2 The Eschatological Crisis 47
3 A Nonbiographical Qurʾanic Chronology 75
4 Monotheism 105
5 Rasulology and Prophetology 123
6 Lexical and Narrative Studies 155
Conclusion: The Genesis of a New Religion? 251
Bibliography 265
General Index 289
Index of Bible Passages 307
Qurʾan Index 315
About the Author 337
v

Figures
Figure 0.1 Relexification of linguistic signs xliv
Figure 1.1 Carbon dating of early Qurʾanic manuscripts 19
Figure 1.2 Topics in Qur’anic Theology 40
Figure 3.1 Average Lexical Distance trend, sūrahs, part 1 79
Figure 3.2 Average Lexical Distance trend, sūrahs, part 2 79
Figure 3.3 Distribution of sūrahs by Average Lexical Distance 80
Figure 3.4 Ranking of sūrahs by AFD vs. ALD: pre-transitional,
post-transitional, and mixed 84
Figure 3.5 Formulaic Distance of formulae in Q73 86
Figure 3.6 Formulaic Distance of formulae in Q22 89
Figure 3.7 Formulaic Distance of formulae in Q29 90
Figure 3.8 Formulaic Distance of formulae in Q8 90
Figure 3.9 Ranking of sūrahs by AFD vs. ALD, separating
mixed sūrahs 92
Figure 3.10 Pre-transitional sūrahs 93
Figure 3.11 Post-transitional sūrahs 93
Figure 3.12 Nöldeke’s classification of sūrahs, by AFD vs. ALD 95
Figure 3.13 Sūrahs which say the Messenger or messengers are
“only a warner” 96
Figure 3.14 Sūrahs which refer to requests to “hurry” or “bring on
the punishment” 96
Figure 3.15 Sūrahs with atha¯ qa “cause to taste” 97
Figure 3.16 Sūrahs with ṣabara “be patient” 97
Figure 3.17 Sūrahs with at least one of the two features of the
Eschatological Crisis (cf. Table 3.2) 98
Figure 3.18 Sūrahs with ja¯ hada, jiha¯ d, or muja¯ hid “struggling
with others” 98
vii
viii Figures
Figure 3.19 Sūrahs with references to migration 99
Figure 3.20 Sūrahs with “obey Alla¯ h and the Messenger” 99
Figure 3.21 Sūrahs with references to hypocrites and hypocrisy 100
Figure 3.22 Sūrahs with references to “those in whose hearts is a
disease” 100
Figure 5.1 Sūrahs with references to nabī “prophet” 133
Figure 6.1 Phono-semantic matching 188
Figure 6.2 Sūrahs with references to shaya¯ ṭīn (indef.) 192
Figure 6.3 Sūrahs with references to al-Shayṭa¯ n (def.) 193
Figure 6.4 Sūrahs with references to jinn 193
Figure 6.5 Sūrahs rejecting that Alla¯ h has offspring or rejecting
that ʿIsa¯ is Alla¯ h or the son of Alla¯ h 194
Figure 6.6 Sūrahs with references to al-Maṣīh 194
Figure 6.7 Stories of the Fall 217
Figure 6.8 References to “fighting” (Form III derivatives of q-t-l) 230
Figure 7.1 The historical relationship of Judaism and Christianity 252
Tables
Table 2.1 Classification of sūrahs by theological characteristics 53
Table 2.2 Pre-transitional sūrahs by Eschatological Crisis features 54
Table 3.1 Average Formulaic and Lexical Distance of sūrahs 81
Table 3.2 Verse length, AFD, and ALF of passages in Q85 87
Table 3.3 Formulaic and Lexical Distance of passages in Q74 88
Table 3.4 Exclusion from the “Sacred Mosque” 94
Table 4.1 Two dimensions of disbelief 114
Table 5.1 The named messengers of the Qurʾan 128
Table 6.1 Stories of the Fall of Iblīs 216
Table 6.2 Stories of the Fall of Ādam 217
Table 6.3 Summary of forms discussed in chapter 6 241
ix