The
Qur'anThe
Qur'anIn this first week we will dip into the Qur'an, both to get a feel for this sacred text, and to establish some basic concepts that will be important for the rest of the course.
First read the brief notes I posted after our first class; then read through the background notes below, for a general introduction to the Qur'an.
Then study very carefully the Qur'an, chapter 20, verses 115-124 (which we will designate Q 20:115-124), as well as Q 2:29-39 and Q 7:11-27 (on the story of Adam). Answer the questions in D2L. (Login, click on this course from your course list, then click on "Quizzes." Be sure to Submit your quiz when done. Please note that these questions will only be available from class time on 1/15 until 8:00 a.m. on 1/17). The questions are:
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God.
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The Prophet Muhammad.
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The Muslim believers.
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The angels.
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Adam.
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Adam and his wife.
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Iblis (the Devil)
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God.
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Yes.
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No.
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The text doesn't say.
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Forgiveness
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Punishment
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Salvation
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Guidance
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Then read more quickly through the rest of chapter/sura 7, looking for other clues about the same questions.
Please bring your copy of the Qur'an to class! If you have not purchased a copy, it is available online at http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/htq; but you do need to always bring the assigned texts to class.
We refined out "path" metaphor a bit, noting that the Qur'an seems to envision a single right path, which the personal paths of individuals should conform to. At least some Muslims seem to regard this as a path of right behavior (e.g. a dress code, and directions for everything including how to pray and fast).
We also noted that although the Qur'an is regarded as God's speech, it changes voices frequently (God is sometimes I, sometimes We, and sometimes He), and part of its very definition is that it is to be used by humans in prayer to God. (So even the words of formal prayer are prescribed - part of a detailed "path.")
From the story of Adam, we gleaned some essential elements of a Qur'anic worldview:
[Let's watch for which of these models dominates our future readings - the moral model or the relational model.]
Read Q 37 (the entire chapter), and answer the questions about it in D2L. Those questions are:
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Then study Q 5:41-50, and answer the questions about it in D2L. Those questions are:
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Then read more quickly Q 4:153-176, and all of Q 5, looking for more clues about how Muhammad is compared to other prophets, and how Islam relates to other religions.
Remember to bring your copy of the Qur'an to class! [That's important. Many of you did not have a Qur'an or a copy of sura 7 with you last class, and that seemded to hinder discussion of the various passages in sura 7 that I pointed us to, so please always bring the assigned readings with you.]
We identified the basic pattern to which all prophets conform in Q 37:
In Q 37 this prophetic pattern sets up a certain expectation for what will happen with the Prophet Muhammad: he will be vindicated, and his Meccan opponents will be destroyed.
This prophetic pattern also shapes the way the story of Jesus is told in suras 4 and 5. Using our observations about the prophetic pattern and from our discussions of sura 1 and the story of Adam, we came up with an elaborate commentary explaining why the Qur'an's presentation of Jesus is so different from that of the Christian Gospels:
Sura 5 affirms the Torah and the Gospel, and thus appears to affirm Judaism and Christianity (but not other religions) as legitimate religions very similar to Islam; yet it urges Muslims to keep separate from Jews and Christians. How to explain this tension?
Remember that we will meet in my office next time (Dale Hall Tower 805).
Study Q 53:1-30 (on the Prophet Muhammad's revelations), and answer the questions about it in D2L. Those questions are:
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Then read Q 2. Sura 2 is quite long; as you go through it, jot down some problems that you think the Prophet might be facing, and that the Qur'an seems to be addressing. (Remember to bring the text!)
Various ideas about revelation that we picked up from prior texts helped us analyze sura 53:
Our discussion yielded several other insights to keep in mind:
The Qur'an refers frequently to a long line of ancient leaders who were known to Jews and Christians from the Bible and other sources. The Qur'an presents them as prophets, fitting a common prophetic pattern, and implies that Muhammad's career will follow a similar pattern. They include:
The Qur'an also mentions other prophets who are not known from the Bible or other sources. These include Hud and Salih, who were prophets in Arabia at some time before Muhammad.
In Muhammad's time, the population of Arabia included Jews, Christians, and polytheists. The polytheists worshipped gods whose images were handed down within each tribe. They believed that life is governed by Time (or Fate), and they denied any afterlife.
Society was organized into tribes and smaller family groups, with each clan providing security to its members. Some Arabs were nomads (the bedouin), but others were settled in merchant towns. Muhammad's home town, Mecca, was such a trading center, and its Ka`ba was a major pilgrimage site where people gathered to trade during specially designated times of truce between tribes.
During a time of meditation on Mount Hira outside Mecca, Muhammad began to receive revelations. Qur'an 96:1-5 is generally considered the first revelation, and 53:1-18 describes two of Muhammad's visions.
After a few years of sharing his revelations only with close associates, he began a public mission of preaching in Mecca. Those parts of the Qur'an that are attributed to this Meccan period typically focus on three main points:
Most of the Meccans strongly opposed this preaching, and eventually imposed a trade embargo on the small group of Muslims, so that some of them emigrated to Abyssinia (Ethiopia). The Qur'an deals with this opposition by presenting Muhammad as part of a long tradition of monotheistic prophets, who were all opposed by their people but vindicated in the end. Muhammad is regarded as restoring the pure religion of Abraham, which had become corrupted.
Muhammad eventually lost the protection of his clan, and was driven to find another home base. The city of Medina eventually agreed to be bound to him by oaths of mutual protection. He migrated there in 622, barely escaping from Mecca. In Medina the Muslims became an independent community, and Muhammad's life changed from that of an unpopular preacher to that of a chieftain, judge, and administrator.
Whereas toward the end of Muhammad's difficult time in Mecca, the Qur'an spoke of previous prophets as warners whom God delivered from their adversaries, now in Medina Muhammad is governing a community, and the Qur'an speaks of previous prophets as lawgivers. Sura 2 contains many legal provisions.
In Mecca Jewish and Christian presence would have been minimal, but in Medina Muhammad faced the problem of relating to these "people of the book." Sura 2 contains lengthy passages about Christians and especially Jews. Note that in Q 5:44-48, the Jewish and Christian revelations are accepted -- as legal systems.
The conflict with the Meccans continued after the move to Medina, and this too is reflected in Sura 2.
The content of the Qur'an was initially recited by Muhammad to his followers in small bits, over the course of his lifetime. These bits were memorized, and sometimes written down, during his life, but only after his death were they compiled in the form of a single text. Different followers recited slightly different versions of various revelations, but the Caliph `Uthman is traditionally credited with producing a definitive edition of the basic text (the consonants), though there continued to be variations in vowelling. This edition was organized in the sequence that is now standard, and is reflected in Pickthall's translation. This sequence does not follow the chronology of revelation. It is divided into 114 chapters (suras), many of which are composed of multiple revelations from different times in the Prophet's life.
The Qur'an is primarily speech to be recited, not a written document. Small parts of it are memorized by every Muslim, and recited in the ritual prayers. Some Muslims memorize the entire Qur'an, so that any part of it can be called to mind at any time, simply by the mention of the first few words of a verse. It is a "random access book," and perhaps this is why those who compiled it did not seem concerned to put it in strictly chronological or topical order.
The proper method of reciting the Qur'an developed into an art or science called tajwid.
The Qur'an was of course also written down, and this gave a special impetus to the development of the art of calligraphy. Early manuscripts use squarish "Kufic" scripts, whereas more rounded scripts later became standard. Qur'anic verses and phrases were also used on coins and on buildings such as the Dome of the Rock.
Within a few generations after the Prophet's death, many words and grammatical structures in the Qur'an seemed unfamiliar, and required explanation. This gave rise to a vast science of exegesis, or Qur'anic interpretation (tafsir).
Muslim scholars also developed theories about the nature of the Qur'an. They unanimously agreed that it is God's speech (not Muhammad's!), and that it is miraculously inimitable; but they disagreed over whether it is an eternal or created speech, what Muhammad's role was in formulating it verbally, and why human beings have not been able to imitate its beautiful language.
European scholars have typically approached the Qur'an without assuming, as do Muslims, that it was revealed by God. On the contrary, they have often assumed that it was composed by Muhammad. They have therefore questioned much of the traditional account of the origins of the Qur'an that was presented above. They have tried to explain its composition in human terms, identifying certain elements as drawn from pre-Islamic sources such as the Bible and extra-Biblical traditions, or explaining Muhammad's revelatory experiences as epileptic fits.
More recently some European scholars have argued that the Qur'an was not compiled as a single text before about 800 C. E., and that although it may contain some material spoken by Muhammad, much of it was probably modified or even composed after Muhammad's death. One scholar has quite recently proposed the very controversial theory that the Qur'an should not be interpreted as an Arabic document at all, but makes better sense if the basic shapes of its letters are reinterpreted as representing a mixture of Arabic and Syriac vocabulary.
Other European scholars have been trying to reconstruct variant early versions of the Qur'an from old manuscripts and other evidence, just as has been done for the Bible. So far no variants of any great interpretive significance have been proposed.