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{{Quote|Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (p. 254). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.|10. This argument in the Qurʾan, that the resurrection of the dead is like the effect of rain on dry earth, might be related to a Jewish tradition that God will resurrect the dead with dew. For example, see b. Shabbat 88b.}} | {{Quote|Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (p. 254). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.|10. This argument in the Qurʾan, that the resurrection of the dead is like the effect of rain on dry earth, might be related to a Jewish tradition that God will resurrect the dead with dew. For example, see b. Shabbat 88b.}} | ||
== Expansions on the afterlife == | |||
The vividness of the qur’anic hell is not shared with the New Testament, in which Jesus refers only in allusive ways to the punishment of the afterlife. The closest the Gospels get to descriptions of the punishment of hell are those passages that speak of “fire,” “wailing,” and “gnashing” of teeth. In the explanation of the Parable of the Weeds (or “Tares”) told in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus explains the following: 40Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. 41The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. (Matt 13:40–42) | |||
Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (pp. 81-82). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. | |||
{{Quote|Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (pp. 82-83). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.|The way that the Qur’an describes hell in particularly vivid, gruesome terms brings us back to something we mentioned in Chapter 1, namely, that the Qur’an in many ways is a “homiletic” work, a work written like a homily or sermon. The Qur’an’s intention is not simply to declare that those who disobey God will be punished, but to describe that punishment in a way which brings the awfulness of hell to life. Similarly, homilists in the early centuries of Christianity expanded dramatically on the New Testament allusions to hell. In a sermon attributed to John Chrysostom (d. 407) we read a description of hell with the sort of detail that we find in the Qur’an: It is a sea of fire—not a sea of the kind or dimensions we know here, but much larger and fiercer, with waves made of fire, fire of a strange and fearsome kind. There is a great abyss there, in fact, of terrible flames, and one can see fire rushing about on all sides like some wild animal…. There will be no one who can resist, no one who can escape: Christ’s gentle, peaceful face will be nowhere to be seen.<sup>15</sup>}} | |||
We might note how all of these traditions are meant to make humans yearn for paradise and fear hell. The Qur’an, from this regard, is a profoundly psychological work. Like a Christian preacher, like John Chrysostom or Saint Ephrem, the author of the Qur’an speaks of heaven and hell to persuade his audience to repent and believe. He does so in a way, however, that is distinct—emphasizing physical pain and physical pleasure in order, apparently, to make a greater impression on his audience. He puts a terrible tree into hell and young women in paradise. | |||
Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (p. 88). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. | |||
==Parallels in the hadith== | ==Parallels in the hadith== | ||
Revision as of 21:06, 5 September 2025
Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature - Part 2
The Story of Noahs floodThe opponents reject Noah's preaching despite him doing so 'day and night' (Quran 71:5-6) in which they respond by putting their fingers in their ears Quran 71:7, on which Neuwirth (2024) notes that "the means of plugging one’s ears in order to shut oneself off from unpleasant news is also encountered in the Talmud (bKetubbot 5a)."[1]
Different Ranks of Believers in Paradise
See, how We have exalted some above others in this world, and in the Life to Come they will have higher ranks and greater degrees of excellence over others.
Quran 17:21
It is they who are truly the faithful. They shall have ranks near their Lord, forgiveness and a noble provision.
Quran 8:4
Of these all have ranks according to their deeds so that Allah may fully recompense them for their deeds. They shall not be wronged.
Quran 46:19
Just like people on earth are not equal, with many having different ranks 'darajāt' (e.g. men are a rank above women Quran 2:228, some messengers are ranked higher than others Quran 2:253, and people generally Quran 6:165), those in the afterlife among the believers similarly have different ranks/degrees. Sinai (2023) notes verses such as Quran 8:2-4, Quran 20:75, Quran 4:95–96, Quran 9:20 and Quran 58:11 suggest that degrees of belief, action, and knowledge appear lead to these differences in eschatological rewards. This idea is further confirmed in hadith, such as Sahih Bukhari 9:93:519 and Qur'anic commentaries.
He notes a parallel that paradise comprises different ranks/orders is found in Ephrem's Hymns of Paradise (e.g. 2:10-13), and the vocabulary he employs in this context includes the Syriac word dargā, a cognate of the Arabic darajah used in the Qur'an. And that both the present world and the hereafter are portrayed as hierarchical, with earthly dualities (e.g., day/night, male/female) foreshadowing ultimate salvation or damnation - and that this way of thinking (worldly structures anticipate the stratified reality of the afterlife) parallels other traditions, such as Ephrem’s view of paradise as prefigured in sacred history (e.g., on Noah’s ark).
Different Ranks of Believers in Paradise
Just like people on earth are not equal, with many having different ranks 'darajāt'[2] (e.g. men are a rank above women Quran 2:228, some messengers are ranked higher than others Quran 2:253, and people generally Quran 6:165),[3] those in the afterlife among the believers similarly have different ranks/degrees.[4] Sinai (2023) notes verses such as Quran 8:2-4, Quran 20:75, Quran 4:95–96, Quran 9:20 and Quran 58:11 suggest that degrees of belief, action, and knowledge appear lead to these differences in eschatological rewards.[5] This idea is further confirmed in hadith, such as Sahih Bukhari 9:93:519 and Qur'anic commentaries.[6]
He notes a parallel that paradise comprises different ranks/orders is found in Ephrem's Hymns of Paradise (e.g. 2:10-13), and the vocabulary he employs in this context includes the Syriac word dargā, a cognate of the Arabic darajah used in the Qur'an.[7] And that both the present world and the hereafter are portrayed as hierarchical, with earthly dualities (e.g., day/night, male/female) foreshadowing ultimate salvation or damnation - and that this way of thinking (worldly structures anticipate the stratified reality of the afterlife) parallels other traditions, such as Ephrem’s view of paradise as prefigured in sacred history (e.g., on Noah’s ark).[7]
Jinn help Solomon build temples
Reynolds notes that behind these verses is a legend found in the Talmud (Babylonian Talmud Gittin 68a-b) about demons who help Solomon build the Jerusalem temple (the Arabic word for elevated chamber in v. 13 is the same as is used for the Jerusalem temple sanctury in Quran 3:37-39). [8] It appears to stem from an idosyncratic exegesis on Solomon's words in Ecclesiastes 2:8.
The Master said: Here they translate 'male and female demons'. For what did Solomon want them? — As indicated in the verse, And the house when it was in building was made of stone made ready at the quarry, [there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building]; He said to the Rabbis, How shall I manage [without iron tools]? — They replied, There is the shamir which Moses brought for the stones of the ephod.
[...]
What I want is to build the Temple and I require the shamir.
[...]
The Queen of Sheba
Qur'anic Account
The story of the Queen of Sheba is an ancient one, dating back to the Old Testament (1 Kgs. 10:1-10 and 2 Chr. 9:1-12). Josephus also makes mention of the Queen of Sheba, as does the Qur'an, which interestingly embellishes the Old Testament account with the episodes of the hoopoe and the Queen of Sheba exposing her legs.
Below is the Quranic account of the story:
Targum Sheni
Regarding the above passage, Reynolds cites the Targum Sheni 1:1-3 (also known as The Second Targum of Esther).[9] The Targums were translations (in this case, Aramaic) of the Hebrew scriptures, often with significant exegesis, paraphrase, or additional tales interwoven with the text.
A few verses earlier, Quran 27:16-17 also has a parallel at the start of the same Targum Sheni passage. Reynolds remarks that "The Qurʾān's declaration that Solomon was taught the 'speech of the birds' (v. 16) and that his army included 'jinn, humans and birds' (v. 17) reflects the Second Targum of Esther (the date of which is disputed, but may date originally from the fourth century AD; On its relationship with the Qurʾān see BEQ, 390-91; 393-98)."[10] However, it must be cautioned that the date of the Targum Sheni (Second Targum of Esther) is extremely uncertain. It has received various datings from the 4th to 11th centuries AD (as Reynolds also mentions), though certainly in its final redaction includes material which post-dates the lower end of that range.[11]
Dozens of details correspond between this passage and the Quranic verses when they are compared:
One cannot be too dogmatic about this parallelism, as the dating of Targum Sheni is not beyond doubt. Nevertheless, it is likely that the story of the Queen of Sheba pre-dates the Qur'an as the Targum is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud. It is also clear that the post-Quranic dates often ascribed to Targum Sheni are that of the final redaction and not necessarily that of the Queen of Sheba myths.
Jacob tells his sons to not enter through one gate
According to Reynolds, Jacob's instruction to his sons to enter through different gates rather than one is a Midrashic tale found in Genesis Rabbah 91:6 "Do not enter through one gate."[13]
Every living thing from water
In two verses the Quran states that Allah created every living thing from water:
It is significant that the first of the two verses, 21:30, is explicitly about the creation of the world. Reynolds notes an earlier parallel taught by the Syriac church father Ephrem (d. 373 CE). He writes, "[...] Ephrem, who explains that God created everything through water: 'Thus, through light and water the earth brought forth everything.' Ephrem, Commentary on Genesis, 1:1-10)."[14] Ephrem's comment is in the context of the Genesis creation story, much like the first Quranic verse, 21:30. Ephrem says that when heaven and earth were created there were no trees or vegetation as it had not yet rained, so a fountain irrigated the earth. Tafsirs say that when the heaven and earth were separated rain fell so that plants could grow. There is also a similarity with Ephrem in the other verse (24:45), which mentions creatures that move on two, four or no legs. Ephrem explains that as well as the "trees, vegetation and plants", the "Scripture wishes to indicate that all animals, reptiles, cattle and birds came into being as a result of the combining of earth and water".[15]
The preaching of Noah
Surah 71 consists entirely of the preaching of Noah and his supplications to Allah.
[...]
And Noah said, "My Lord, do not leave upon the earth from among the disbelievers an inhabitant. Indeed, if You leave them, they will mislead Your servants and not beget except [every] wicked one and [confirmed] disbeliever. My Lord, forgive me and my parents and whoever enters my house a believer and the believing men and believing women. And do not increase the wrongdoers except in destruction."Reynolds remarks that "The Qur'ānic character of Noah is quite unlike that of the Noah in Genesis, who does not speak a word until after the flood." Citing the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a, he observes that "[his preaching] is also suggested by a passage in the Talmud:
- "The righteous Noah rebuked them, urging, 'Repent; for if not, the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring a deluge upon you and cause your bodies to float upon the water like gourds, as it is written, He is light [i.e., floats] upon the waters. Moreover, ye shall be taken as a curse for all future generations.' (b. Sanhedrin 108a)"
Reynolds further notes, "It is also prominent in the Syriac fathers, several of whom report that Noah preached to his people for a hundred years before God finally sent the flood." citing for example the Syriac authors Narsai, "On the Flood", 33, II. 227-30 and Jacob of Serugh, Homilies contre les juifs, 70, homily 2, II. 37-40.[16]
Noah's disbelieving wife
The Bible briefly mentions Noah's wife in one verse without further comment (Genesis 7:7), "And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood." Regarding the Quranic verse which speaks of her negatively, Reynolds briefly considers the possibility that the Quran has extended to their wives the parallelism between Noah (though not his wife) and Lot found in the New Testament (2 Peter 2), but then comments, "However, it is important to note that already in the pre-Islamic period certain groups had developed hostile legends about Noah's wife." He cites Epiphanius (d. 403 CE), Panarion 2:26, which relates the Gnostic belief that she was not allowed onto the ark, having burned it down three times before the flood.[17]
Noah's flood waters overflowed from an oven
The Qur'anic version of the Noah's flood story describes the flood waters as overflowing from an oven. This element is not found even in more ancient versions of the story (Epic of Gilgamesh, Atra hasis, and Ziusudra).
Note that in his translation, Yusuf Ali mistranslates the Aramaic loan word for the oven (alttannooru ٱلتَّنُّورُ)[18] as "fountains". The Arabic verb translated "gushed forth" (fara فَارَ) means overflowed or boiled in the context of water in a cooking pot[19], as well as in the other verse where it is used, Quran 67:7. Here is Pickthall's more accurate translation:
At one time academic scholars thought this verse alluded to a Midrashic exegesis in which the flood waters were boiling hot (b. Sanhedrin 108b, Rosh Hashanah 12a:4). More recent scholarship, particularly by Olivier Mongellaz in 2024,[20] has identified that these verses most likely reflect a late antique legend in which water gushing up through a bread oven (a large hole dug into the ground) was a sign warning Noah's family of the imminent flood. The interpretation as Noah's own oven is attributed to a number of early commentators (such as Ibn Abbas, Mujahid), while others understood it to be the area of land where the flood waters first rose. Qurtubi said: "The sayings of commentators appear to be different as to the meaning of tannur, but this, in reality, is not a difference. When water began to bulge out, it overflowed from the bread baking oven, and from out of the surface of the land". Significantly, Mongellaz has argued on literary grounds that a fragmentary Arabic text falsely attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, and which mentions the overflowing bread oven story, is independent of the Islamic tradition and was originally written in a very specific environment which has parallels with the context in which certain parts of the Quran were written.
Noah's ark left behind as a sign
Unlike the bible, which does not mention the ark as a sign for future generations, Neuwirth (2024) notes the salvation of Noah is made physically plausible to the listeners through the reference to the material verifiability of the ark, which could be taken from various late antique traditions, for example Flavius Josephus (b. 37AD) reports in the Jewish Antiquities (I 3.5 § 92) of the existence of the remains of Noah’s ark in Armenia (Clementz 1959: 22).[21] She also notes that the appeal to the willingness of the listeners to be admonished by the sign (āya) of Noah’s ark is also reminiscent of the Talmudic story (bSanhedrin 96a) of the death of Sennacherib, who was led to a fateful decision by seeing the remains of Noah’s ark.[21]
Moses and Pharaoh
Alongside the biblical account of Moses and the Pharoah, there are some key aspects that match Jewish Rabbinic and Christian non-biblical traditions. Even the place where Moses communicates with God in the story of the burning bush, the word used ṭuwan in e.g. Quran 20:12 (for the folded land, implying double the holiness)[22] does not have a parallel in the bible,[23] but does in other Judeo-Christian (later) works.[24] And the idea of eschatology in Moses's story such as Quran 20:15, with reward in the afterlife being mentioned, is not contained in the biblical story of Moses, Neuwirth (2024) notes moves the story into a late antiquity interpretation.[25] Key details in the stories include:
The prophecy of baby Moses
Alongside the scene of Exodus 1:8-2:10 where the Hebrews in Egyptian bondage are told to kill all male babies to control the growing Israelite population, where Moses's mother places his basket in the Nile to escape; Neuwirth (2024) citing Speyer, notes that the prophecy to Moses’s mother that an enemy—of Moses as well as of God himself—would take him in reflects a Midrashic interpretation of Exodus Rabba (1:31: “So the daughter of Pharaoh raised the daughter, who was once to take revenge on her father”). The event is explicitly based on a divine intention, namely, to make Moses his chosen one.[26]
And similarly the next verse unlike the bible focuses on the emotional impact of the event on Moses’s mother, Neuwirth notes is comparable to Midrash Exodus Rabba 1:25.[27] Moses's salvation from persecution after manslaughter is commemorated with similar consideration of Moses’s mental condition.[28]
Moses not suckled by Egyptians
Reynolds comments, "On this passage cf. Exodus 2:7-9. The Qurʾān's declaration (v. 12) 'We had forbidden him to be suckled by any nurse' (v. 12) reflects a tradition in the Babylonian Talmud that Moses (from whose mouth would come forth the word of God) refused the impure breasts of the Egyptian women:
- Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women? Why just 'of the Hebrew women'? - It teaches that they handed about to all the Egyptian women but he would not suck. He said: Shall a mouth which will speak with [God] suck what is unclean! (b. Sotah 12b)"[29]
Moses's speech impediment
Moses has some kind of speech impediment when going to speak to Pharaoh in the Qurʾān.
Biblical Scholar James Kugel (1997)[30] notes that later Jewish and Christian commentators found it necessary to explain Moses's statement in the Old Testament “Oh my Lord, I am not a man of words … but I am heavy of speech and heavy of tongue” (Exodus 4:10), as he was believed to be a highly educated man who had been supposedly been schooled in every branch of wisdom, including eloquence.
He notes "it occurred to interpreters that Moses might have been referring here not to any lacuna in his education, but to an actual speech defect, some physical deformity of his mouth or tongue that prevented him from speaking in the usual fashion." We see this in:[31]
"I am not by nature eloquent; my tongue with difficulty speaks, I stammer, so that I cannot speak before the king." —Ezekiel the Tragedian, Exaggē 113– 115 (3rd-2nd century BCE)
He [Moses] pleased his parents by his beauty, but grieved them by his speech impediment. —Ephraem, Commentary on Exodus 2: 4 (d. 373 AD)
Others even added stories on how he might have acquired that deformity, such as Josephus in Jewish Antiquities 2: 232– 236 (published ~93/94 AD), connecting their explanation of Moses’ speech problems to the tradition of Pharaoh’s wise men and their warnings about a boy that might grow up and save Israel.[32]
Pharaohs questions
Neuwirth (2024) comments that the list of further detailed questions to Moses in Surah 26 'The Poets' / al-shuʿarāʾ (i.e. in Quran 26:22-29), citing Speyer, reflect a more detailed episode from Midrash Exodus Rabba 5:18, which also starts from Pharaoh’s self-praise as God.[33]
The Drowning of Pharaoh
Reynolds comments, "The question of Pharaoh's survival appears in an opinion found in the (late fourth century AD) Mekilta de-Rabbi Ishmael (cr. Gavin McDowell):
- "And the waters returned and covered the chariot etc. [Exo 14:27]. Even Pharaoh, according to the words of R. Judah, as it is said, 'The chariots of Pharaoh and his force, etc.' [Exo 15:4]. R. Nehimiah says: Except for Pharaoh. About him it says, 'However, for this purpose I have let you live' [Exo 9:16]. Others say that in the end Pharaoh went down and drowned, as it is said, 'Then went the horse of Pharaoh, etc.' [Exo 15:19]. (Beshallah 7)"[34]
Allah keeps the heavens and the birds from falling
The same verb for holding (amsaka) appears in Quran 22:65 and Quran 35:41 with regard to Allah holding the sky from falling to earth.
In his 2023 academic book on Quranic cosmology, Julien Decharneux observes that the 6th century CE Syriac Christian writer Jacob of Serugh repeatedly used birdflight as an illustration of the concept of remzā ("[The remzā] is, both in Narsai and Jacob, the medium through which God’s power operates."[35]) A very close similarity with Q. 16:79 can be seen in this homily:
A more elaborat passage makes the parallel with the Quranic concept clearer:
Just as the Quran uses the same verb to say that Allah holds up the birds and the heavens (as noted above), Jacob uses the concept of remzā (God's action in the world) also for the firmament.
The seven skies/heavens
The idea of multiple layered heavens above each other, including seven among other numbers, dates back to at least ancient Mesopotamian times.[39] The seven skies/heavens however, are not mentioned in the bible, though a 'third' heaven is specifically mentioned in the new Testament with Corinthians 12:2. Reynolds (2018) notes that the cosmology of seven heavens specifically however is found in both Jewish Talmudic and apocrypha texts (e.g., BT, Ḥagīgā, 12b) and Christian traditions (e.g. church fathers, Irenaeus (Proof of the Apostolic Preaching 9); in the Ascension of Isaiah, a composite text extant in Ethiopic with Jewish origins but redacted by Christians, Isaiah travels to the seventh heaven.[40] Other non-biblical Judeo-Christian works range in the number of heavens, including three (family α of Testament of Levi), five (3 Baruch), and seven (long and shorter recensions of 2 Enoch).[41]
Late antique Christian Martyrdom
Durie (2018) notes the violence of the Qur'an shares more commonality with contemporary late antique religious (primarily Christian) violence and warfare rather than being directly biblically based.[42]
Covering the continuity and similarities between late antique religious violence & warfare and the Qur'an (and other Islamic traditions) is too big a topic to cover here; perhaps the most in-depth academic work looking at the continuity between this and Islam is Thomas Sizgorich's Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity: Militant Devotion in Christianity and Islam,[43] however Sinai (2017) notes alongside similar ideas and theology, there are some direct textual references.
Sinai (2017) similarly notes strong ideological parallels a 6th century hagiographical text (the Panegyric on Macarius, Bishop of Tkow by Pseudo-Dioscorus of Alexandria) of a 5th-century martyr, Egyptian Bishop Macarius of Tkow who was martyred for opposing the council of Chalcedon. Citing Michael Gaddis's summary of the document, ‘He was both willing to die for his faith, and willing to kill for it.’ he notes the same idea in Quran 9:111 … they fight in the way of Allah, kill, and are killed.. [44] As well as citing English historian of the Byzantine Empire James Howard-Johnston "..James Howard-Johnston draws attention to a passage in the Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor (d. 818), which reports that at about the same time when the Qur’an promised those ‘killed in the path of God’ immediate entry to paradise, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius similarly announced that those fighting the Sasanians would be recompensed with eternal life. In Heraclius’s address as reported by Theophanes Confessor, we find some of the same general ingredients that are noticeable in Qur’anic calls to militancy…"[45] He notes these similarities are likely caused by being on the fringes of the Roman empire.[46]
Neuwirth (2024) also notes the influence of Christian martyrdom stories on the sudden conversion and prayers/asking for forgiveness to God of Pharaoh's magician's, who are originally opponents of Moses until he shows them proof of his prophecy via a miracle in the face of a sudden and violent death as threatened by the arrogant ruler (e.g. in Quran 26:50-51 and Quran 20:71-73).[47] Both Jewish and Christian traditions present individual “anti-Moses” sorcerers named Jannes and Jambres, who continue to appear in later interpretations; citing Nora Schmid, she notes that, although there is no explicit textual reference and the magicians are typically depicted in a negative light, they came to be associated with penance and martyrdom in Christian tradition - in the Qurʾan, this idea is developed further: the forgiveness that Jannes and Jambres either did not receive or only partially received in earlier sources is ultimately granted.[48]
Martyrs sidestep judgement day
The barzakh as the usual place after death
Similarities - but not exact parralels
Souls fall 'asleep' at death
Or him who came upon a township as it lay fallen on its trellises. He said, “How will God revive this after its death?!” So God made him die for a hundred years, then He resurrected him. He said, “How long did you remain?” Said he, “I have remained a day or part of a day.” He said, “No, you have remained a hundred years. Now look at your food and drink which have not rotted! Then look at your donkey! [This was done] that We may make you a sign for mankind. And now look at the bones, how We raise them up and then clothe them with flesh!” When it became evident to him, he said, “I know that God has power over all things.” (Q 2:259)
The man in this story (which is connected to a Jewish tale about Jerusalem)6 has no sense that a hundred years has passed: he feels as though it has been only “a day or part of a day” since he died, or “fell asleep,” so he is surprised to learn that he has slept for one hundred years. According to the Qur’an this is what the experience of death will be like: we will fall “asleep” and will be “woken up” on the Day of Judgment. Yet even if a hundred (or a million) years have passed, we will experience this time as though it were “a day or part of a day.”footnote 6 from above:
Souls are taken away at night
Tesei (2016) notes this idea may mimic a late antique Syriac Christian parallel in the poetical language used by Ephrem, who in the Nisibene hymns (7:15).[1][49]
He mentions sleep resembles death, and Xtain writers wrote about sleep metaphorically Jesus's death and waking up like the resurrection; this taken literally by Muhammad, could well have been done by Arabic people pre-Islam.
Arguments for resurrection
17So glorify God when you enter evening and when you rise at dawn. 18To Him belongs all praise in the heavens and the earth, at nightfall and when you enter noontime. 19He brings forth the living from the dead and brings forth the dead from the living, and revives the earth after its death. Likewise you [too] shall be raised [from the dead]. (Q 30:17–19; cf. Q 16:65, 43:11, 50:6–11, 57:17)
One can imagine that this argument would be meaningful in the arid climate of the Middle East. In many places, when autumn rains come after a long dry summer, one can see a barren landscape turn dramatically green.10Footnote 10 above :
Expansions on the afterlife
The vividness of the qur’anic hell is not shared with the New Testament, in which Jesus refers only in allusive ways to the punishment of the afterlife. The closest the Gospels get to descriptions of the punishment of hell are those passages that speak of “fire,” “wailing,” and “gnashing” of teeth. In the explanation of the Parable of the Weeds (or “Tares”) told in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus explains the following: 40Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. 41The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. (Matt 13:40–42)
Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (pp. 81-82). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
We might note how all of these traditions are meant to make humans yearn for paradise and fear hell. The Qur’an, from this regard, is a profoundly psychological work. Like a Christian preacher, like John Chrysostom or Saint Ephrem, the author of the Qur’an speaks of heaven and hell to persuade his audience to repent and believe. He does so in a way, however, that is distinct—emphasizing physical pain and physical pleasure in order, apparently, to make a greater impression on his audience. He puts a terrible tree into hell and young women in paradise.
Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (p. 88). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
Parallels in the hadith
The /r/AcademicQuran SubReddit are also compiling a list of Talmudic Parallels with the hadith listed here talmudparallels, and also linked Levi Jacober's 1935, Ph.D. dissertation 'The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels', which collects the numerous traditions of al-Bukhari which bear a striking similarity to the aggadic (non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism) traditions to be found chiefly in the Talmud and the Midrashim for those interested in this topic further.
See Also
References
- ↑ Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect (p. 280). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
- ↑ darajah - Lanes Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary p.869 Lane's Lexicon Quranic Research - root درج
- ↑ See uses of the word for ranks/degrees applied to people in the Qur'an on the noun section of Qur'an Corpus root dāl rā jīm (د ر ج) page
- ↑ darajah | rank Sinai, Nicolai. Key Terms of the Qur'an: A Critical Dictionary (p.283-289). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
- ↑ Ibid pp. 288. As one would expect, those who believe and do righteous deeds will have “the highest ranks” (Q 20:75: fa-ulāʾika lahumu l-darajātu l-ʿulā). But there also seem to be differences of rank among the believers themselves. For instance, God “favours in rank” (faḍḍala … darajatan) those who “contend (→ jāhada) by means of their possessions and their lives” over those who remain sitting at home (Q 4:95–96; cf. also 9:20), and according to Q 57:10, those who have “spent and contended before the decisive success (al-fatḥ)”—meaning probably before the conquest of Mecca10—are “greater in rank” than those who only did so afterwards. It follows that disparities of merit among believers must correspond to different levels of eschatological reward.
- ↑ E.g. commentaries on Q46:19, Q8:4, Q17:21 or any other verse listed in this section.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 darajah | rank Sinai, Nicolai. Key Terms of the Qur'an: A Critical Dictionary (pp. 289). Kindle Edition. These hymns can be read: SAINT EPHREM HYMNS ON PARADISE Introduction and translation by Sebastian Brock. St Vladmimir's Seminary Press, Crestwoof, New York, 1990. E.g. Hymn 2 on pp. 84-89 (p.82-87/239 of the PDF)
- ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds (2018) The Qurʾān and Bible: Text and Commentary p. 654
- ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible pp. 585-6
- ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible p. 524 The BEQ reference in the quote is to H. Speyer Die biblischen Erzahtungen im Qoran 1931, reprint 1961
- ↑ Targum Sheni - Encyclopedia.com (originally from the Encyclopaedia Judaica)
- ↑ William St. Clair Tisdall, The Sources of Islam translated and abridged by William Muir, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1901, pp. 26-27
- ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible p. 377
- ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, "The Quran and Bible:Text and Commentary", New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018 p. 553. This is regarding Quran 24:45, though on p. 508 Reynolds cross references the same parallel regarding the other verse, Quran 21:30, which is more clearly a statement in the context of the Genesis creation story, like Ephrem's comment.
- ↑ Ephrem's commentary on Genesis - Faber Institute.com
- ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible p. 858
- ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible p. 841
- ↑ Lane's Lexicon p. 318 تَّنُّورُ
- ↑ Lane's Lexicon p. 2457 فور
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Olivier Mongellaz (2024) Le four de Noé : un cas d’intertextualité coranique, Arabica 71(4-5), 513-637. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-20246900
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect (p. 62). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
- ↑ See; Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect (p. 199). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. Ṭuwā stands for the holy Mount Sinai or Horeb (cf. KU, 124ff.; FVQ, 206ff.; BEQ, 255ff.). The word was long thought to be a rhyming transformation of Aramaic ṭūrā (“the mountain”), but now, based on rabbinic tradition and in agreement with traditional exegetes, Uri Rubin has convincingly interpreted bi-l-wādī l-muqaddasi Ṭuwā to mean “in the doubly hallowed valley” (see Rubin 2014). (The Sinai is in a sense the “folded Holy Land” [ṬWY = “to fold”].) Citing: Rubin, Uri, 2014, Moses and the Holy Valley Ṭuwan. On the Biblical and Midrashic Background of a Qurʾanic Scene, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 73, 73–81.
- ↑ Moses and the Holy Valley Ṭuwan: On the biblical and midrashic background of a qurʾānic scene. Rubin 2014. Ibid. pp. 75.
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 76-78
- ↑ Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect (p. 199). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
- ↑ The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect Ibid. pp. 201.
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 201-202.
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 202.
- ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible p. 598
- ↑ Kugel, James L.. The Bible As It Was (Kindle Edition. pp. 432-433). Harvard University Press.
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 432 - 433 (Kindle Edition)
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 433 - 434 (Kindle Edition)
- ↑ Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect (p. 250). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
- ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible p. 339
- ↑ Julien Decharneux (2023), Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur’ān and Its Late Antique Background, Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 149
- ↑ Ibid. p. 160
- ↑ Ibid. p. 160
- ↑ Ibd. p. 146
- ↑ Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography. Wayne Horowitz. Eisenbrauns. 1998. ISBN 9780931464997. Chapter "Seven Heavens and Seven Earths". pp. 208-222. Read PDF online for free on internetarchive.org: horowitzmesopotamian cosmic geography mesopotamian civilizations -.pdf
- ↑ Reynolds, Gabriel Said. The Qur'an and the Bible: Text and Commentary. pp. 843. Yale University Press, 2018.
- ↑ Stephen Wunrow. 2022. Biblical Research. Paul among the Travelers into Heaven: 2 Corinthians 12:1–4 and Other Early Jewish and Christian Ascent Texts. pp.39-41.
- ↑ Durie, Mark. The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion. Lexington Books. 2018. Pp. 229 -237. (Kindle Edition: pp. 423-439). 6.9 Stories of Fighting Prophets
- ↑ Thomas Sizgorich. Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity: Militant Devotion in Christianity and Islam (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion). 2008. University of Pennsylvania Press.
- ↑ Ibid. (Kindle Edition. pp. 299).
- ↑ Ibid. (Kindle Edition. pp. 301).
- ↑ Ibid. (Kindle Edition. pp. 301).
- ↑ Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect (p. 204). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 251-252
- ↑ At the same time, the Quran also compares death to the “common sleep” that people experience on a daily basis. This seems to be the case in the cryptic statement found in Q 39:42 (cf. Q 6:60), “God takes the souls at the time of their death (ḥīna mawtihā), and [He takes] that which has not died, in its sleep ( fī manāmihā); He withholds that against which He has decreed death, but sets loose the other until a stated term”. This obscure passage appears to indicate that sleep is a death-like state; sleepers resemble the dead since their souls enter into a state similar to that which they will experience at the moment of death. However, unlike the souls of the dead, which will be raised only on the Day of Resurrection, the ordinary sleeper’s soul is sent back when he awakens―that is, of course, until the time of his death. This parallel between death and “common sleep” finds a fairly close correspondence in the poetical language used by Ephrem, who in the Nisibene hymns (7:15) affirms that: “The one who lies down to sleep resembles the departed and death resembles a dream, and the resurrection the morning”. <pp40-41> In these passages the Quran’s eschatological discourse is particularly close to that formulated by Babai, in whose ideas the belief in the soul’s sleep is intimately connected to the strong affirmation of the physical resurrection of the body on the Day of Judgment. <pp42> Tesei, Tommaso. (2016). 2 The barzakh and the Intermediate State of the Dead in the Quran. 10.1163/9789004301368_003. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344524709_2_The_barzakh_and_the_Intermediate_State_of_the_Dead_in_the_Quran Tesei, Tommaso. (2016). "2 The barzakh and the Intermediate State of the Dead in the Quran". pp. 40-42 In Locating Hell in Islamic Traditions. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004301368_003 (Open access)
Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and Arabian inscription parallels.
Strong similarities with immediate environment than special eternal non-influenced by culture god.
Poetry Parallels
Articles
- Bauer, T. (2009). "The Relevance Of Early Arabic Poetry For Qur’Anic Studies Including Observations On Kull And On Q 22:27, 26:225, And 52:31". In The Qurʾan in Context. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004176881.i-864.185 (see in: https://ia800306.us.archive.org/1/items/TheQuranInContext/The%20Quran%20in%20Context.pdf)
- Dmitriev , K 2009 , An Early Christian Arabic Account of the Creation of the World . in A Neuwirth , N Sinai & M Marx (eds) , The Qurʾān in Context : Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qurʾānic Milieu . Texts and Studies on the Qurʾān , vol. 6 , Brill , pp. 349-387 . https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004176881.i-864.81
Link:https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/4426
- https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-new-history-of-arabia-written-in-stone?utm_source=chatgpt.com
- https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/projects/the-quran-and-pre-islamic-poetry-worldviews-negotiated?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Morals
daf
Cosmology
Mountains
sds
Style
dsf
Words
Direct phrases
Ruins aṭlāl ( sing. ṭalal)
https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/ccs.2022.0454
https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20180820-the-6th-century-poems-making-a-comeback
Saj3
Negative textuality
Inscriptions
pp40 Ahmed
Other
Judgement day would be close to Muhammad's time
The idea of judgment day being imminent was a common belief in late antiquity, with many prominent Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian writings preaching the eschaton (the purposeful end of the world as part of Gods divine plan for judgement day) was about to happen, which continued in early Islam.[1] Muhammad preached this belief in the Qur'an.[2]
(See also e.g. Quran 40:18 and Quran 53:57 where it's imminence/closeness is implied in the words azifati / āzifat[3]) Some take Quran 54:1 as a future prediction of a sign of judgment day, however Neuwirth (2024) notes the issue with interpreting this as a future event is not based on the Qur'an words but later traditions.[4] Alongside the moon splitting in this verse, which given the dubious scientific issues and lack of sighting's from anywhere else in the world, modern academics have noted was most likely referring to a celestial phenomenon like a lunar eclipse,[5] given as a sign of the hour close to happening, which the Meccans rejected due to it seemingly being unrelated to Muhammad.[6] The hours non-arrival seemed to be a repeated source of contention with his audience, with opponents regularly questioning when it would arrive, and questioning why the punishment that was promised to them has not yet come.[7] Though one might point out there may appear to be tension with the creation of a law-giving prophet and community building in the Medinan Qur'an, Shoemaker and Cook point out those preaching the end of the world often also preached living righteously until the hour arrived.[8] Alongside the plain meaning of the text, there is ample evidence this belief was held by many early Muslims too, including very early canonical and sahih rated hadith (see: failed eschatological predictions in the hadith) with more cited by Shoemaker.[9] There are also many other non-canonical but early (within the first century of Islam) traditions stating the end of the eschaton would occur within Muhammad's lifetime or shortly after,[10] in other sources such biographical 'seerah' material[11] Later Islamic scholars like al-Tabari would often use metaphorical interpretations of these to reconcile the continued passage of time by pushing the predicted end date into the future.[12] Given we are still here more than a millennium after it was stated, we can say like other contemporary preachers who thought they were at the end of history, this prediction was not historically accurate.
External Links
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References
- ↑ For examples of sudden end times being promised due to political movements in Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrianism literature in the centuries preceding Islam, see Shoemaker, Stephen J. The Apocalypse of Empire: Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018. Chapters 1 - 4 And for early Islam, see chapters 5 and 6.
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 124-132
- ↑ Lane's Lexicon Quranic Research for root ازف Lane's Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary أَزِفَتِ / (ءَازِفَة Book 1. pp 53.
- ↑ Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect (pp. 57-58). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 56 - 57 (Citing Uri Rubin who suggests a partial lunar eclipse, who also notes Rudi Paret came to the same conclusion in “Muhammad’s message in Mecca: warnings, signs, and miracles" [The case of the splitting of the moon (Q 54:1-2)]. in Jonathan E. Brockopp, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad (Cambridge, 2010), 39-60. Uri Rubin. Rudi Paret's opinion is noted in footnote 9 pp. 44.
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 57
- ↑ Shoemaker, Stephen J.. The Death of a Prophet (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion) (p. 161-163). University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.. Kindle Edition. (For example Q79:42, and he is told to hasten it in Q29:53, cf: Q11:8, and questioned as why the punishment promised to them hasn't come in Q7:70, 77; Q10:48; Q13:6; Q21:38; Q22:47; Q46:22).
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 159
- ↑ Shoemaker, Stephen J. The Apocalypse of Empire: Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018. pp. 131-132 & pp. 142-144
- ↑ Shoemaker, Stephen J.. The Death of a Prophet (p. 174-178). Kindle Edition.
- ↑ Ibid. & Shoemaker, Stephen J. 2018. The Apocalypse of Empire: Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. pp. 142-144.
- ↑ Shoemaker, Stephen J. 2018. The Death of a Prophet (p. 173-174). Kindle Edition. [Note the following numerical symbolism interpretation of the eschatological hadith are also false predictions as this would move judgment day to no later than ~1,132AD (As 500 years after Muhammad's death being traditionally recorded in 632AD)] "Perhaps the most famous effort to reconcile the two fingers tradition with the Hour’s delay occurs at the beginning of al-Ṭabarī’s History, where he rather cleverly deploys this tradition in order to place his work within an extended version of Islam’s eschatological calendar.231 This he achieves by transforming these eschatological warnings of imminent doom into an orderly model of historical periodization that frames his historical narrative. Al-Ṭabarī here concludes that since the index finger is one-fourteenth shorter than the middle finger, and the total length of the world’s existence is known to be seven thousand years, Muhammad clearly meant to signal that the Hour would arrive five hundred years after him, thus leaving another two hundred years or so beyond al-Ṭabarī before the world would come to an end. In the same context, al-Ṭabarī also identifies a second eschatological tradition that he employs to similar effect. According to this report, Muhammad once addressed his followers at a time “when the sun had almost set and only a small sliver of it remained visible,” and he explained to them that “as compared to what remains of our world, that which has passed is like what remains of this day as compared to what has passed of it, and you will see only a little (more) of the sun.”232 The eschatological immediacy of this ḥadīth is rather clear, and once again it seems quite unlikely that such a prediction would have been ascribed to Muhammad very long after his death. Yet here al-Ṭabarī deploys a similar hermeneutic strategy that enables him again to push the Hour into the future. When Muhammad spoke these words, according to al-Ṭabarī, the day was half past, and since a day with God is as a thousand years, the Hour’s advent could be expected five hundred years after the time when Muhammad spoke. In this way, what was presumably a very early expression of Islamic belief in the Hour’s immediacy could be reconciled with the centuries that had elapsed between Muhammad’s warnings and al-Ṭabarī himself. By reinterpreting the tradition’s “small sliver” of the sun as somehow the equivalent of midday, al-Ṭabarī postpones the Hour into a distant future."