398
edits
Historical Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions
m
→The Battle of Badr: Expanded the Tom Holland quote to give more context to general historical issues of later traditions.
| [checked revision] | [checked revision] |
(→Every people had a Muslim warner/prophet: As discussed: added a reference for the interchangeability of the word 'people' with 'town/city/village' in the Quran in the context of warner's.) |
m (→The Battle of Badr: Expanded the Tom Holland quote to give more context to general historical issues of later traditions.) |
||
| (2 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
Historically, Judaism has been a strict form of monotheism. The Quran, by contrast, describes the Jews as practitioners of polytheism by stating that they hold ''Uzair'' (Ezra) to be the son of God. This is compared directly with the Christian doctrine which hold Jesus to be the son of God. This appears to be a confusion resulting from conflating the alternative senses in which Jewish and Christian theologians have employed and understood the word "son".{{Quote|{{Quran|9|30}}| | Historically, Judaism has been a strict form of monotheism. The Quran, by contrast, describes the Jews as practitioners of polytheism by stating that they hold ''Uzair'' (Ezra) to be the son of God. This is compared directly with the Christian doctrine which hold Jesus to be the son of God. This appears to be a confusion resulting from conflating the alternative senses in which Jewish and Christian theologians have employed and understood the word "son".{{Quote|{{Quran|9|30}}| | ||
The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! }} | The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! }} | ||
=== The afterlife in the Torah === | |||
The Quran states that the warnings of hell are in the most ancient of scriptures, listing Moses's (elsewhere listed as the Torah, e.g. {{Quran|5|44}}) and the prophet Abraham's. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|87|9-19}}|So remind, if the reminder is useful! He who fears God will take heed but the wretched one will turn away from it, the one who will roast in the great fire. There he will neither die nor live. Blessed be the one who purifies himself and recall the name of his Lord and prays. But you prefer the life of this world, while the world to come is better and more permanent. <b>This is in the most ancient scriptures, the scriptures of Abraham and Moses.</b>}} | |||
However, despite the 'warning' being essentially the most important point of the scriptures, alongside worship of one God, and is mentioned many times in the Quran - the Torah itself contains no references to hell (or heaven). Instead a highly ambiguous vision of the afterlife in 'Sheol' is provided that includes both Jews and non-Jews, that does not come close to matching any Islamic description.<ref>''[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/afterlife Afterlife in Judaism]'' (jewishvirtuallibrary.org) Sources used: ''Encyclopaedia Judaica''. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved; Joseph Telushkin. ''Jewish Literacy''. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1991. Reprinted by permission of the author. | |||
</ref> While apologists argue the Torah has been corrupted, this corruption would have been enormous, happening across many different people in the community and different time periods to change such a fundamental aspect of the religion, with no clear reason as to why. | |||
This apologetic view also goes against scholarly consensus that ideas of rewards for the good and punishment for the evil only developed during Second-Temple Judaism, found in scriptures written centuries post the torah; particularly due to its interactions with the Hellenistic Greeks, and the theological problems of it's righteous members (Jews) dying and facing oppression for their belief for no reward.<ref>''[https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/95914/1/BR2_Finney.pdf This is a repository copy of Afterlives of the Afterlife: The Development of Hell in its Jewish and Christian Contexts.]'' Finney, M.T. (2013) Afterlives of the Afterlife: The Development of Hell in its Jewish and Christian Contexts. In: Exum, J.C. and Clines, D.J.A., (eds.) Biblical Reception. Sheffield Phoenix Press , Sheffield . ISBN 978-1-907534-70-6 | |||
E.g. see the section: ''Second-Temple Judaism: Resurrection and the Myths of Israel''</ref> As Biblical scholar Bart Ehrman, who wrote a book on the subject ''Journeys to Heaven and Hell'',<ref>''[https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300265163/journeys-to-heaven-and-hell/ Journeys to Heaven and Hell Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition.]'' Bart D. Ehrman. Yale University Press. 2022.</ref> stated in an article for Time Magazine. | |||
{{Quote|[https://time.com/5822598/jesus-really-said-heaven-hell/ <i>What Jesus Really Said About Heaven and Hell.</i> Time. Bart D. Ehrman. 2020.]|And so, traditional Israelites did not believe in life after death, only death after death. That is what made death so mournful: nothing could make an afterlife existence sweet, since there was no life at all, and thus no family, friends, conversations, food, drink – no communion even with God. God would forget the person and the person could not even worship. The most one could hope for was a good and particularly long life here and now. | |||
But Jews began to change their view over time, although it too never involved imagining a heaven or hell. About two hundred years before Jesus, Jewish thinkers began to believe that there had to be something beyond death—a kind of justice to come.}} | |||
There is also no known scripture given to Abraham. | |||
== Regarding general history == | == Regarding general history == | ||
| Line 223: | Line 237: | ||
This also begs the question on how societies for most of human history are to be judged if the message seemingly got lost before anyone ever recorded it, if the sole purpose of man (and [[:en:Jinn|jinn]]) is to worship Allah specifically ({{Quran|51|56}}). | This also begs the question on how societies for most of human history are to be judged if the message seemingly got lost before anyone ever recorded it, if the sole purpose of man (and [[:en:Jinn|jinn]]) is to worship Allah specifically ({{Quran|51|56}}). | ||
Interestingly, all of the stories told in the Quran are of well-known Jewish-Christian prophets (''see: [[Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature]]'') and three local Arabian prophets Hud, Salih, and Shu'aib. There are none mentioned outside the Near-East of antiquity, and nothing about the entire hunter-gather section of humanity which lasted most of the 300,000 years humans have existed,<ref>''[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/ultrasocial/our-huntergatherer-heritage-and-the-evolution-of-human-nature/F0FAE24179317811BE1420E9BA5A290E Our Hunter-Gatherer Heritage and the Evolution of Human Nature.]'' Part I - The Evolution of Human Ultrasociality. John M. Gowdy. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 October 2021.</ref> with the stories taking place in towns that match contemporary one's to Muhammad's time. Critics argue this missed opportunity to explain the history of the world and what happened elsewhere with the prophets (i.e. the Quran only recalls local tales like a human with knowledge limited to the vicinity would), along with the lack of historical evidence of these other messengers where we would expect it, is damning. | Interestingly, all of the stories told in the Quran are of well-known Jewish-Christian prophets (''see: [[Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature]]'') and three local Arabian prophets Hud, Salih, and Shu'aib. There are none mentioned outside the Near-East and Arabia of antiquity, and nothing about the entire hunter-gather section of humanity which lasted most of the 300,000 years humans have existed,<ref>''[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/ultrasocial/our-huntergatherer-heritage-and-the-evolution-of-human-nature/F0FAE24179317811BE1420E9BA5A290E Our Hunter-Gatherer Heritage and the Evolution of Human Nature.]'' Part I - The Evolution of Human Ultrasociality. John M. Gowdy. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 October 2021.</ref> with the stories taking place in towns that match contemporary one's to Muhammad's time. | ||
Critics argue this missed opportunity to explain the history of the world and what happened elsewhere with the prophets (i.e. the Quran only recalls local tales like a human with knowledge limited to the vicinity would, where it would have looked to someone in living in Arabia at the time, that monotheism was all over the world as the surrounding Byzantine (Roman), Sasanian (Persian) Empires in the North and Himyarite Kingdom in the South were ''(See: [[Pre-Islamic Arab Religion in Islam#General Judeo-Christian Monotheism in Arabia]]'')), along with the lack of historical evidence of these other messengers where we would expect it, is damning. | |||
=== Suliman's missing kingdom === | === Suliman's missing kingdom === | ||
| Line 273: | Line 289: | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|46|27}}|Certainly We have destroyed the towns that were around you, and We have variously paraphrased the signs so that they may come back.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|46|27}}|Certainly We have destroyed the towns that were around you, and We have variously paraphrased the signs so that they may come back.}} | ||
And as Patricia Crone mentioned in her 2008 article [https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/mohammed_3866jsp/ ''What do we actually know about Mohammed?''] ''<nowiki/>'There were many such ruined sites in northwest Arabia.','' while they are not known to be around Mecca, though archaeological digs there are currently limited.<ref>Schick, Robert, “[https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-the-quran/archaeology-and-the-quran-EQSIM_00031?lang=fr ''Archaeology and the Qurʾān'']”, in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Johanna Pink, University of Freiburg. Consulted online on 09 March 2024 <<nowiki>http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQSIM_00031</nowiki>></ref> | And as Patricia Crone mentioned in her 2008 article [https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/mohammed_3866jsp/ ''What do we actually know about Mohammed?''] ''<nowiki/>'There were many such ruined sites in northwest Arabia.','' while they are not known to be around Mecca, though archaeological digs there are currently limited.<ref>Schick, Robert, “[https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-the-quran/archaeology-and-the-quran-EQSIM_00031?lang=fr ''Archaeology and the Qurʾān'']”, in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Johanna Pink, University of Freiburg. Consulted online on 09 March 2024 <<nowiki>http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQSIM_00031</nowiki>></ref> | ||
=== The Battle of Badr === | |||
Muslim tradition expands upon vague mentions in the Quran to create an extremely important and detailed historical memory of the 'Battle of Badr', with 'Badr' being mentioned [https://corpus.quran.com/search.jsp?q=badr once by name] in the Quran ({{Quran|3|123}}): | |||
{{Quote|[https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Badr Battle of Badr. Islamic History. Britannica Entry]|Nearly two years after the Hijrah, in the middle of the month of Ramadan, a major raid was organized against a particularly wealthy caravan escorted by Abū Sufyān, head of the Umayyad clan of the Quraysh. According to the traditional accounts, when word of the caravan reached Muhammad, he arranged a raiding party of about 300, consisting of both muhājirūn and anṣār (Muhammad’s Medinese supporters), to be led by Muhammad himself. By filling the wells on the caravan route near Medina with sand, Muhammad’s army lured Abū Sufyān’s army into battle at Badr, near Medina. There the two parties clashed in traditional fashion: three men from each side were chosen to fight an initial skirmish, and then the armies charged toward one another for full combat. As his army charged forward, Muhammad threw a handful of dust, which flew into the eyes and noses of many of the opposing Meccans. Despite the superior numbers of the Meccan forces (about 1,000 men), Muhammad’s army scored a complete victory, and many prominent Meccans were killed.}} | |||
Traditional exegetes commenting on this verse unanimously date the battle falling during Ramadan,<ref>''E.g. [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/3.123 Tafsir Ibn Kathir Verse 3:123]''. Ibn Kathir d. 1373.</ref> and link it to other verses such as {{Quran|8|41}} (which it is not mentioned by name in). However, as British historian Tom Holland notes (''citation 50: refencing Crone (1987a), pp. 226–30: The papyrus fragment is Text 71 in Grohmann),'' an earlier (than the Islamic historians/exegetes) manuscript mentions the Battle of Badr, but does not lists a date in Ramadan, which raises questions on the traditional interpretation of these verses. | |||
{{Quote|Holland, Tom. In The Shadow Of The Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World (pp. 39-40). Little, Brown Book Group.|Why, when the savage Northumbrians were capable of preserving the writings of a scholar such as Bede, do we have no Muslim records from the age of Muhammad? Why not a single Arab account of his life, nor of his followers’ conquests, nor of the progress of his religion, from the whole of the near two centuries that followed his death? Even the sole exception to the rule – a tiny shred of papyrus discovered in Palestine and dated to around AD 740 – serves only to compound the puzzle. Reading it is like overhearing a game of Chinese whispers. Over the course of only eight lines, it provides something truly startling: <b>a date for the Battle of Badr that is not in the holy month of Ramadan.</b> 50 Why should this come as a surprise? Because later Muslim scholars, writing their learned and definitive commentaries on the Qur’an, confidently identified Badr with an otherwise cryptic allusion to ‘the day the two armies clashed’ – a date that fell in Ramadan.51 Perhaps, then, on this one point, the scholars were wrong? Perhaps. But if so, then why should they have been right in anything else that they wrote? What if the entire account of the victory at Badr were nothing but a fiction, a dramatic just-so story, fashioned to explain allusions within the Qur’an that would otherwise have remained beyond explanation?}} | |||
Islamic Scholar Gerard Hawting also discusses these issues in his 2015 paper 'Qur’ān and sīra: the relationship between Sūrat al-Anfāl and muslim traditional accounts of the Battle of Badr'.<ref>Hawting, Gerald. “[https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvbtznq1.6 QUR’ĀN AND SĪRA: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SŪRAT AL-ANFĀL AND MUSLIM TRADITIONAL ACCOUNTS OF THE BATTLE OF BADR.]” In ''Les Origines Du Coran, Le Coran Des Origines'', edited by François Déroche, Christian Julien Robin, and Michel Zink, 75–92. Editions de Boccard, 2015. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvbtznq1.6</nowiki>.</ref> | |||
== External Links == | == External Links == | ||