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== A barrier between two seas and the cosmic oceans ==
== The Historical Jesus ==
'''Main page image to upload (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tSZVB0TTdpOtG0Y5sUbrCrsBiiHFZ-Io/view?usp=sharing). Rights brought from iStock to use on website.https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/estuary-difference-between-fresh-water-and-sea-water-from-above-gm1462114312-495765419?phrase=estuary+freshwater+saltwater&searchscope=image%2Cfilm'''


=== Introduction ===
=== Other Traditions ===
The Quran refers to two different bodies of water, emphasising there is one sweet and one fresh, and that they meet but there is a barrier between them. Both early and medieval Muslims, and modern Academic scholarship, have identified this with an ancient belief of there being a cosmic ocean of water surrounding the world.<ref>Tesei, Tommaso. Some Cosmological Notions from Late Antiquity in Q 18:60–65: The Quran in Light of Its Cultural Context. Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 135, no. 1, American Oriental Society, 2015, pp. 19–32, [https://lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/jaos/article/view/1669 https://doi.org/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.1.19.] https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.1.19</ref> Other classical scholars have attributed it to the way fresh water bodies of water are separate to the salty seas and oceans in general, rather than two specific bodies of water, not taking the verse literally.<ref>Tasfir Ibn Kathir on [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/25.51 verses 25:51-54]</ref><ref>Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Jalal/25.53 verse 25:53]</ref>


Some modern Muslims have tried to reconcile the relevant verses with natural phenomena, including estuaries meeting the sea, and different seas having different salt levels. However critics do not believe the verses accurately describe this, and actually conflicts with the description as will be stated in the article. When a fresh water river flows into the sea or ocean, there is a transition region in between. This transition region is called an estuary where the fresh water remains temporarily separated from the salt water. However, this separation is not absolute, is not permanent, and the different salinity levels between the two bodies of water eventually homogenize. The Qur'an, by contrast, suggests that there is a separation between two seas, one salty and one fresh water, maintained by some sort of divine barrier placed between them.
==== Intro ====
=== The Qur'an ===
There is a consistent theme of 'the two seas' ("al-baḥrayni, ٱلْبَحْرَيْنِ"), with the exact term being used 5 times in the Quran.
Alongside the main consensus from Biblical Scholars/Historians that Jesus was an eschatological preacher in the early first century AD who believed the Earth would end during his time (and therefore couldn't be the Muslim Jesus), there are many other of the most considered authentic teachings of Jesus that clash with Islam considering the message of Messenger Uniformitarianism (cite Durie - reuse 51 citation),<ref>Durie, Mark. ''The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. 135-142)  (pp. 281-294 Kindle Edition)''. 5.3 Messenger Uniformitarianism. Lexington Books. 2018.</ref> where all messengers from God/Allah are outside of minor variations said to essentially preach the same thing.  


We are told that there are two seas ("al-baḥrayni, ٱلْبَحْرَيْنِ"), one freshwater (palatable and sweet), and one seawater (salt and bitter), and that there is a barrier that it is forbidden to be pass, implying that they will ''never'' be passed.
{{Quote|{{Quran|2|285}}|The Apostle and the faithful have faith in what has been sent down to him from his Lord. Each [of them] has faith in Allah, His angels, His scriptures and His apostles. [They declare,] ‘We make no distinction between any of His apostles.’ And they say, ‘We hear and obey. Our Lord, forgive us, and toward You is the return.’}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|25|53}}|It is He Who has let free the two bodies of flowing water: One palatable and sweet, and the other salt and bitter; yet has He made a barrier between them, a partition that is forbidden to be passed.}}Q55:22 quoted below states that coral emerge from both seas. However, coral are found only in salt water oceans, and exposure to freshwater leads to coral bleaching.<ref>[https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/corals-and-coral-reefs ''Corals and Coral Reefs''] - Smithsonian Institution website</ref>{{Quote|{{Quran|55|19-22}}|He released the two seas, meeting [side by side]; Between them is a barrier [so] neither of them transgresses. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? From both of them emerge pearl and coral.}}And again in Q35:12 we are told the two seas with one being freshwater (palatable and sweet), and one seawater (salt and bitter). But from both come fresh meat (presumably fish) and ornaments to wear come from both (presumably coral and pearl as mentioned above in verse Q 55:22).


{{Quote|{{Quran|35|12}}|And the two seas are not alike: this, fresh, sweet, good to drink, this (other) bitter, salt. And from them both ye eat fresh meat and derive the ornament that ye wear. And thou seest the ship cleaving them with its prow that ye may seek of His bounty, and that haply ye may give thanks.}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|17|77}}|“This was the sunnah [customary way] of Our messengers whom We sent before you, and you will find no change in Our sunnah”}}cf: cf.  {{Quran|6|112}}, {{Quran|35|43}}, {{Quran|22|78}}. We are explicitly told that messengers bring the same message from Allah: “Nothing is said to you but what has already been said to


Again, there is a barrier between the two seas. {{Quote|{{Quran|27|61}}|Is He [not best] who made the earth a stable ground and placed within it rivers and made for it firmly set mountains and placed between the two seas a barrier? Is there a deity with Allah? [No], but most of them do not know.}}
messengers before you” {{Quran|41|43}}. Durie (2018) notes ''The idea of the “same message” is further reinforced when the Qurʾan repeatedly states that the Messenger was only sent to confirm what was sent down by previous messengers (Q2:91, 97; Q3:3, 50; Q5:48; Q12:111; Q16:43–44; Q35:31), just as previous messengers had done for messengers that preceded them, for example, ʿĪsa¯ “confirmed” the Tawra¯ h of Mūsa¯(Q5:46), and the Qurʾan confirms the book(s) sent by previous prophets (Q4:47), just as the Messenger has been doing in his turn.''<ref>Durie, Mark. The Qur'an and it's Biblical Reflexes. pp.140</ref>{{Quote|Durie, Mark. The Qur'an and it's Biblical Reflexes. pp.140|• It is also explicitly asserted that messengers bring the same message
from Alla¯h: “Nothing is said to you but what has already been said to
messengers before you” (Q41:43; Q22:78) and “we make no distinction
between any of them” (Q2:136). They also preached the same dīn “commandment” or “religion” (Q42:13; cf. Q3:84; Q4:150), which is referred
to as the “religion of Ibra¯hīm” (Q2:130; Q4:125; Q16:121–23). The
validating function of this idea becomes clear when it is applied against
a group of Jews who reject the concept of the “same message” because
it would mean validating the Messenger. These Jews hold to their own
faith, saying “we believe in what has been sent down on us,” but they
reject the Messenger, or “anything after that” (Q2:91). The ruling against
these Jews is that because they reject the Messenger, they are disbelievers,
rejecting “what All a¯ h has sent down” (Q2:91).<sup>31</sup> The idea of the “same message” is further reinforced when the Qurʾan repeatedly states that the Messenger was only sent to confirm what was sent down by previous
messengers (Q2:91, 97; Q3:3, 50; Q5:48; Q12:111; Q16:43–44; Q35:31),
just as previous messengers had done for messengers that preceded them,
for example, ʿĪsa¯ “confirmed” the Tawra¯ h of Mūsa¯(Q5:46), and the Qurʾan
confirms the book(s) sent by previous prophets (Q4:47), just as the Messenger has been doing in his turn.}}
While the large differences between the New Testament / Gospels / Christian Jesus and the [[Isa al-Masih (Jesus Christ)|Muslim Jesus]] are clear to anyone who has read both the Qur'an and NT, (which takes from apocrypha considered inauthentic by NT scholars,<ref>Sanders, E.. ''The Historical Figure of Jesus (pp. 78-79)''. Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.


Another reference to "the two seas" is found in the story of Moses and his servant, where he meets a man (Al-Khidr) who has special knowledge of events that have not yet happened from god, and tests Moses to carry out seemingly immoral tasks without asking him why:  
..(Gnosticism was a world view that held everything material to be evil; the god who created the world was a bad god, and the creation was wicked. Gnostics who were also Christians held that the good God had sent Jesus to redeem people’s souls, not their bodies, and that Jesus was not a real human being. The Christians who objected to these views finally declared them heretical.) ''I share the general scholarly view that very, very little in the apocryphal gospels could conceivably go back to the time of Jesus. They are legendary and mythological. Of all the apocryphal material, only some of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas are worth consideration.'' This does not mean that we can make a clean division: the historical four gospels versus the legendary apocryphal gospels. There are legendary traits in the four gospels in the New Testament, and there is also a certain amount of newly created material (as we saw just above)..</ref> and [[Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature|later Christian thought/writings]] ) are too large to list here, and have lead to many Muslims arguing for biblical corruption based on theological grounds [textual grounds too - though don't affect authentic traditions] in general, a disputed idea (cite - Reynolds article. See also: [[Corruption of Previous Scriptures]] & [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Corruption of Previous Scriptures]]) a summary of some of the most likely authentic traditions from Biblical historians (using historical-critical methods not Christian or Muslim theologians - more likely to be true and not taken from bias or proving or disproving Islam but historical context, widespread across sources, early - cite Allison explanation - Why - different to time and context, unlikely to be fabricated later by Christians, across all early sources etc.) are shown here as an example of the clashes. [Point: not arguing against Christian Jesus - but secular historians one]


{{Quote|{{Quran|18|60-61}}|And [mention] when Moses said to his servant, "I will not cease [traveling] until I reach the junction of the two seas or continue for a long period." But when they reached the junction between them, they forgot their fish, and it took its course into the sea, slipping away.}}
==== Examples ====
{{Quote|Dale C. Allison Jr.. <i>The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Kindle Locations 822-836).</i> Kindle Edition.|2=Given that we typically remember the outlines of an event or the general purport of a conversation rather than the particulars and that we extract patterns and meaning from our memories, it makes little sense to open the quest for Jesus by evaluating individual items with our criteria, in the hope that some bits preserve pristine memory. We should rather be looking for repeating patterns and contemplating the big picture. true. We should trust first, if we are to trust at all, what is most likely to be trustworthy. Although we may, after reading Thucydides, be confident that there was a Peloponnesian War, we may well wonder about many of the details of his account.


The full story of Moses ad Al-Khidr can be found lower in the page for context.
The larger the generalization and the more data upon which it is based, the greater our confidence; the more specific the detail and the fewer the data supporting it, the more room we have for doubt. With regard to the sources for Jesus, the traditional criteria of authenticity privilege the parts over the whole. It seems more prudent to privilege generalizations drawn from the whole than to concentrate upon one individual item after another. As a demonstration of how this works in practice, consider the following traditions:


=== '''Apologists claims''' ===
• Jesus prohibited divorce: 1 Cor. 7:10; Mark 10:2-9; Luke 16:18.<b> [Qur'an divorce rules - https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Khula] </b>


==== '''Estuaries and salt water''' ====
• Jesus sent forth missionaries without staff, food, or money: Matt. 10:9-10; Mark 6:8-9; Luke 10:4.
Apologists claim that the Quran is referring to different bodies of water have different densities which causes them not to mix, creating a barrier between them, and even that the descriptions show advanced knowledge of science that could not have been known to a person from the 7th century. You can see the images referenced in this [https://www.islam-guide.com/ch1-1-e.htm link] which are repeated on many Islamic websites.


The first claim is around fresh water from rivers meeting seas/oceans of salt water, with the transition stage known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary estuaries]:  
• Jesus instructed missionaries to get their living by the gospel: 1 Cor. 9:14; Matt. 10:10; Luke 10:7.
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.islam-guide.com/ch1-1-e.htm | title=From A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam. E) The Quran on Seas and Rivers. islam-guide.com.}}|Modern science has discovered that in estuaries, where fresh (sweet) and salt water meet, the situation is somewhat different from what is found in places where two seas meet. It has been discovered that what distinguishes fresh water from salt water in estuaries is a pycnocline zone with a marked density discontinuity separating the two layers. This partition (zone of separation) has a different salinity from the fresh water and from the salt water.<b> (see Figure 4)


Figure 4: Longitudinal section showing salinity (parts per thousand ‰) in an estuary. We can see here the partition
• Jesus commanded loving and doing good to enemies: Matt. 5:38-48; Luke 6:27-36. <b>[Qur'an do not be merciful to unbelievers https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur%27an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Non-Muslims & https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Kafir_(Infidel)#Guidelines_on_how_to_deal_with_disbelievers Quran 48:29 ]</b>
(zone of separation) between the fresh and the salt water. (Introductory Oceanography, Thurman, p. 301, with a slight enhancement.)</b>


This information has been discovered only recently, using advanced equipment to measure temperature, salinity, density, oxygen dissolubility, etc. The human eye cannot see the difference between the two seas that meet, rather the two seas appear to us as one homogeneous sea. Likewise, the human eye cannot see the division of water in estuaries into the three kinds: fresh water, salt water, and the partition (zone of separation).}}
• Jesus forbade judging others: Matt. 7:1-2; Luke 6:37-38.
''Note that in the above referenced claim in the book (Introductory Oceanography, Thurman), they have added the words “Zone of Separation” and “The partition" onto Figure 4 (saying “with slight enhancement”), which the book itself does not have - clearly to link the word 'partition' (as translated into English by several official translators of the Quran) with the scientific book.''
==== Issues with this interpretation ====


===== Problems with miracle claim =====
• Jesus asked a prospective follower not to bury his father: Matt. 8:21-22; 22; Luke 959-60.
Critics point to issue's with inserting this is a scientific miracle (and even scientifically accurate):
# Firstly as with all claims of scientific miracles in ancient scripture, nothing scientifically new was known/discovered from this verse as one would expect if it clear<nowiki/>ly described a new scientific fact - the method of 'discovering' falls into several typical categories used for these claims such as selective literalism, de-historicization and pseudo-corelation (''see [[Scientific Miracles in the Quran]]''), taking advantage of ambiguity in language to fit a modern reading..
# The idea of the density of salt water being more than freshwater, separating the two was already known at least by the time of Aristotle ''(382 BC to 322 BC)''; ''“The drink''<nowiki/>''able, sweet water,'' ''l of it drawn up: the salt water is heavy and remains behind.”'''''<ref>[https://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/meteorology.2.ii.html Meteorology.] Aristotle. ~350BC</ref> '''
# This description is so basic and lacking any actual science (i.e. God creates a barrier between two seas which stops them merging), it could easily apply to someone sa<nowiki/>iling nearby or over one of these and passing on the descriptions as humans have sailed since ancient times,<ref>''[https://www.bu.edu/archaeology/files/2016/05/Ancient-mariners-may-have-set-sail-130000-years-ago-_-Register-_-The-Times-The-Sunday-Times.pdf Ancient mariners may have set sail 130,000 years ago].'' ARCHAEOLOGY. The Times. Norman Hammond. 2016. Boston University Archive</ref> and the colours are often different (as seen in the image on this page), leading people to assume there was an actual barrier placed by God between the two waters.
# This description also seems to imply there is no mixing between them at all, and could just as easily be written by someone believing that someone incorrectly believin<nowiki/>g this.
A deeper analysis can be found on the now defunct and archived former (''more polemical'') Wikiislam website' page on scientific miracles ''[https://archive.wikiislam.net/wiki/Meeting_of_Fresh_and_Salt_Water_in_the_Quran Meeting of Fresh and Salt Water in the Quran].''


===== Problems with general accuracy =====
• Jesus spoke of hating one's father and mother: Matt. 10:37; Luke 14:26; Gospel of Thomas 55, 101. [<b>respect parents - too tenuous</b>]
We are told that there are specifically '''the''' '''two seas (al-baḥrayni).'''


* This uses the definite particle ''''al'''<nowiki/>' for 'the' for a specific two seas, not general.
• Jesus enjoined disciples to take up a cross: Matt. 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27.
* '''<nowiki/>'baḥr'''' for large body of water/sea.
* the dual s'''<nowiki/>'''uffi<nowiki/>x/ending in '''<nowiki/>'ayni'''' means there are two of them, as apposed to singular or plural (3 or more in Arabic).


# Yet this happens in many places (there are over 1,200 documented estuaries,<ref>''[https://www.seaaroundus.org/about-estuaries-database/#:~:text=Specifically%2C%20this%20database%2C%20the%20first,and%20territories%20(Alder%202003). About Estuary Database].'' Sea Around Us. Jacqueline Alder. Citing: ''Alder J (2003) Putting the Coast in the Sea Around Us Project. The Sea Around Us Newsletter No. 15:1-2.''
• Jesus enjoined unlimited forgiveness: Matt. 18:21-22; Luke 17:3-4. <b>[forgiveness against shirk - Qur'an says no Q4:48 and 4:116. ]</b>


</ref> i.e. more than two) across the world - nowhere does the language suggest this is the case, as to match this Qur'an verse it must be referring to a single specific but unnamed estuary. There are many far better ways to phrase this if it meant this natural and general phenomena.
• Jesus exhorted hearers to lose their lives in order to save them: Matt. 10:39; Mark 8:35; Luke 17:33.
# There are many different types of estuaries (e.g. Salt wedge, Fjord-type, Slightly Stratified - you can read about them [https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_estuaries/est05_circulation.html here] and on [https://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/Salt_wedge_estuaries CostalWiki] for accessible science f<nowiki/>or the general reader), however despite what it may look like on the surface ''they all mix to varying degrees'' - which is not a logic inference of having a barrier between them that they are forbidden to pass.
# It does not use the word specifically for river (نھر "Nahar" - a word also used elsewhere in the Qur'an to describe a river) and sea, which would have been an accurate<nowiki/> way to describe it.
# If the mixing zones isn't part of either 'sea' being mentioned but a 'barrier', then there are arguably<nowiki/> 3 bodies of water in this, and the language could reflect the m<nowiki/>ixing zone by stating that one of them is made of both sweet and salty water (brackish water<ref>[https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_estuaries/est01_whatis.html#:~:text=The%20mixture%20of%20seawater%20and,%2C%20weather%2C%20or%20other%20factors. ''What is an Estuary?''] National Ocean Service. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</ref>). This also would separate it from th<nowiki/>e other specific seas being referred to as we will discuss in the next section.


==== '''Two actual seas''' ====
• Jesus called people away from their livelihoods: Mark 1:16-20; 2:14. <b>[?]</b>
Secondly, it states the verses not specifically mentioning sweet and salty waters are referring to different seas with different kinds of waters (again click the link to see the images):
 
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.islam-guide.com/ch1-1-e.htm | title=From A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam. E) The Quran on Seas and Rivers. islam-guide.com.}}|Modern Science has discovered that in the places where two different seas meet, there is a barrier between them. This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity, and density. For example, Mediterranean sea water is warm, saline, and less dense, compared to Atlantic ocean water. When Mediterranean sea water enters the Atlantic over the Gibraltar sill, it moves several hundred kilometres into the Atlantic at a depth of about 1000 meters with its own warm, saline, and less dense characteristics. The Mediterranean water stabilizes at this depth <b>(see figure 13).
• Jesus figuratively demanded violent removal of hand, foot, and eye: Mark 9:42-48.
 
• Jesus asked a wealthy man to relinquish his money: Mark 10:17-27. <b>[bring in wealth inequality section of Islam darajat - here]</b>
 
• Jesus forbade taking oaths: Matt. 5:33-37. <b>[https://www.iium.edu.my/deed/lawbase/risalah_maliki/book31.html#:~:text=Anyone%20who%20swears%20an%20oath,Oneness%2C%20timelessness%20and%20existence.%5D]</b>
 
• Jesus commanded money to be lent without interest: Matt. 5:42; Gospel of Thomas 95.
 
• Jesus called some to a life without marriage: Matt. 19:11-12.<b> [Qur'an criticism of monasticism]</b>
 
• Jesus asked a prospective follower not to say farewell to his parents: Luke 9:61-62. <b>[respect parents?]</b>
 
• Jesus asked his disciples to renounce all of their possessions: Luke 14:33"}}
<nowiki>--------------------------------------------------</nowiki>
 
[ highlight those being spoken about in italics or bold]
 
Dale/Allison (2009) notes that Jesus' banning divorce was an important teaching that <s>stood out</s> to early Christians, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2016%3A18&version=NIV Luke 16:18], [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%207%3A10-16&version=NIV 1 Corinthians 7:10-16], [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2010%3A2-9&version=NIV Mark 10:2-9],  in contrast to Judaism ([https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2024%3A1-4&version=NIV Deuteronomy 24:1-4]) and Islam e.g. Quran 2:228-232, Q65:1-7, (Q4:19 https://quranx.com/hadiths/4.19 & Q4:35), Q33:49 )
 
He notes that Jesus commanded loving and doing good to enemies in [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205%3A38-48&version=NIV Matt. 5:38-48]; [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%206%3A27-36&version=NIV Luke 6:27-36], while the Qur'an generally advises treating other Muslims well, it specifically states not to be merciful to unbelievers Q48:29.  [ For more examples of not being merciful to unbelievers, let alone 'enemies' see:  '''[[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Non-Muslims|https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur%27an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Non-Muslims]] & [[Kafir (Infidel)#Guidelines%20on%20how%20to%20deal%20with%20disbelievers|https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Kafir_(Infidel)#Guidelines_on_how_to_deal_with_disbelievers]] Quran 48:29 ]'''
 
• Jesus enjoined unlimited forgiveness: [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2018%3A21-22&version=NIV Matt. 18:21-22]; [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2017%3A3-4&version=NIV Luke 17:3-4]. [forgiveness against shirk - Qur'an says no Q4:48 and 4:116. - anyone who believed in him would/could be saved ]
 
He notes Jesus called some to a life without marriage: [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019%3A11-12&version=NIV Matt. 19:11-12], while the Qur'an promotes it as a virtue encouraging those to do so.
 
Marriage is a virtue https://www.getquranic.com/marriage-in-islam-8-quranic-verses-about-marriage/
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|24|32}}|Marry off those who are single among you, and the upright among your male and female slaves. If they are poor, Allah will enrich them out of His grace, and Allah is all-bounteous, all-knowing.}}
 
And criticizes monasticism/monks, with celibacy and no marriage being a key aspect<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/monasticism Monasticism] | religion | Britannica Entry</ref> in general 
 
{{Quote|Reynolds, Gabriel Said. <i>Christianity and the Qur'an: The Rise of Islam in Christian Arabia (pp. 131-132).</i> Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.|These verses critical of monks are often read together with Q 57:27, which, while praising certain positive qualities of Christians, also seems to accuse Christians of “innovating” monasticism: Then We sent, following in their footsteps, Our Messengers; and We sent, following, Jesus son of Mary, and gave unto him the Gospel. And We set in the hearts of those who followed him tenderness and mercy. And monasticism they invented—We did not prescribe it for them—only seeking the good pleasure of God; but they observed it not as it should be observed. So We gave those of them who believed their wage; and many of them are ungodly.}}
 
 
Criticism of monasticism (https://www.britannica.com/topic/monasticism) - lack of marriage for monks (though admittedly also praises monks in general elsewhere pp130-132)<ref>Reynolds, Gabriel Said. ''Christianity and the Qur'an: The Rise of Islam in Christian Arabia (pp. 130-132).'' Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.</ref>
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|57|27}}|Then We sent on their footsteps Our Messengers and We followed with Isa, son (of) Maryam, and We gave him the Injeel. And We placed in (the) hearts (of) those who followed him compassion and mercy. But monasticism they innovated - not We prescribed it for them - only seeking (the) pleasure (of) Allah, but not they observed it (with) right observance. So We gave those who believed among them their reward, but most of them (are) defiantly disobediently.}}
 
 
 
<nowiki>-----------------------------------------------------------------</nowiki>
 
==== Father-son relationship ====
{{Quote|Dale C. Allison Jr.. <i>The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Kindle Location 841-848).</i> Kindle Edition.|2=Working through the tradition in the way I suggest leads to a large number of conclusions. Jesus must have been an exorcist who interpreted his ministry in terms of Satan's downfall. He must have thought highly of John the Baptist. He must have repeatedly spoken of God as Father. <b>[Durie differences in metaphor and understanding of relationship from Hebrew to Arab society = markedly different]</b> He must have composed parables. He must have come into conflict with religious authorities. All of this may seem obvious, but the procedure is not trite, for it also issues in some controversial verdicts. As I have argued elsewhere, for example, ample, the quantity of conventional eschatological material in our primary sources almost necessitates that Jesus was an eschatological prophet.' The reconstruction of Robert Funk and the Jesus Seminar is for this reason alone problematic. Even more controversial is what my approach leads me to infer about Jesus' self-conception. Consider these Synoptic materials:
 
• Jesus said that the Son of man will return on the clouds of heaven and send angels to gather the elect from throughout the world: Mark 13:26-27; cf. 14:62; Matt. 10:23 (allusions to Daniel 7's depiction of the last judgment are clear). <b>[the son of man plays no part in Islam]</b>}}
 
===== Slave-master relationship =====
Father son Hebrew relationship Jesus used distinctly abandoned, instead using other things (other metaphors) in Arab society to describe the relationship between humans and God, such as a slave-master relationship,<ref>Durie, Mark. ''The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. XX-XX)  (pp. 107-110 Kindle Edition)''. 4.1.1. Shirk - Proprietary Partnership. Lexington Books. 2018.</ref> a Patron - Protege (needs explanation of what this is) <ref>Durie, Mark. ''The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. XX-XX)  (pp. 110-111 Kindle Edition)''. 4.1.2. Shirk - Patron - Protege Relationships. Lexington Books. 2018.</ref>. having strongly condemned the idea that God could have offspring against the unscripted pagans (mushrikun) taking angels as daughters of god, then against God having a son<ref>Durie, Mark. ''The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. XX-XX)  (pp. 112-113 Kindle Edition)''. 4.1.5 A Polemical Doctrine. Lexington Books. 2018.</ref>
 
Slave analogy Dure Print edition pp108 - 110 summary:<ref name=":1">Durie, Mark. ''The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. 108-110)  (pp. XX-XX Kindle Edition)''. 4.1.5 A Polemical Doctrine. Lexington Books. 2018.</ref> Before its theological use, the Arabic root ''sh-r-k'' referred to ordinary '''partnership or shared ownership'''. The Qurʾan draws on this everyday meaning to illustrate why associating partners with God is impossible. Using the metaphor of '''a master and a slave''', the Qurʾan argues that just as a slave with multiple masters suffers confusion and conflict, attributing partners to God creates an impossible and chaotic situation. This logic appears in verses such as Q39:29 and others that argue multiple gods would lead to conflict and the ruin of creation (Q23:91; Q21:22).<ref name=":1" />
{{Quote|{{Quran|39|29}}|Allah presents a parable, “a man was owned by several quarreling partners
(shurakaʾ), and a man was the slave of (just) one man. Are the two equal?”}}
 
The Qurʾan’s use of the slave-master metaphor differs from Jesus’ teaching in the New Testament. Whereas Jesus uses it to highlight divided human devotion, the Qurʾan uses it to assert the logical impossibility of multiple divine authorities.<ref name=":1" />
 
{{Quote|Luke 16:13; cf. Matthew. 6:24|No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the
other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.}}
 
Shirk encompasses various forms of error: attributing partners or helpers to God, believing He needs allies, or seeking aid from others besides Him. The Qurʾan also explores God’s unity through three social analogies relevant to Arabian society: '''patron–protégé relationships''', '''alliances of mutual help''', and '''relationships of equal or unequal status'''.<ref name=":1" />
 
===== '''Patron–protégé relationships''' =====
The Qur'an distinctly ignores the father-son relationship (and theology) metaphor by using another term that is harder to translate
 
Explanation of what this is Durie pp.110-111:<ref name=":3">Durie, Mark. ''The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. 110-111)  (pp. XX-XX Kindle Edition)''. 4.1.5 A Polemical Doctrine. Lexington Books. 2018.</ref> The Qurʾan uses terms from the root '''w-l-y''' to describe '''patron–protégé relationships''', alliances, and guardianship. The key term '''walī''' can mean ally, protector, guardian, or patron, and may indicate either symmetrical alliances or asymmetrical power relationships.<ref name=":3" /><ref>[https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/27_w/219_wle.html Root: ''wāw lām yā'' (و ل ي)] - Lane's Lexicon Qur'anic Research
 
See Lane's Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/pdf/Page_3060.pdf pp.3060] & [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/pdf/Page_3061.pdf pp.3061] </ref>
 
In pre-Islamic Arab society, such patronage was essential for protection, as shown by the example of Muḥammad being safeguarded by his uncle Abū Ṭālib. Without a patron, a person was vulnerable.<ref name=":3" /> [in the sirah of Ibn Ishaq]
 
The Qurʾan emphasizes that '''God has no need of any patron''' and that '''humans should recognize God alone as their walī'''. Seeking any protector besides God is considered '''shirk'''. Believers may take other believers and the Prophet as allies (''awliyāʾ'') alongside God, but not in place of Him.<ref name=":3" />
 
As the Muslim community developed, especially after what the passage calls the ''Eschatological Transition''—the Qurʾan increasingly stressed exclusive allegiance to God. This served to detach believers from prior tribal or familial loyalties that could compromise their commitment to the faith community.<ref name=":3" />
 
- and calls for help-
 
===== Unequal status vs Jesus' views on Wealth =====
Sinai - darajah passage
 
And inequality in general - inc. the afterlife
 
=== Punishment narratives ===
 
==== Punishment BEFORE the day of judgement ====
We are told the sole exception in history was the unnamed town<ref>Unnamed in the Qur'an, though identified as Nineveh (in modern day Iraq) as in the Biblical "Book of Jonah" by Islamic exegetes; e.g. see [https://quranx.com/tafsirs/37.147 tafsirs on Q37:147]</ref> of more than 100,000 people that the messenger Yūnus (Jonah) when the warning was heeded in full by the entire people, and therefore punishment averted ({{Quran|10|98}}, {{Quran|37|147-148}}) “no town believed . . . except the people of Yūnus”<ref>Durie, Mark. 2018. ''The Qur'an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations Into the Genesis of a Religion. pp 49. Kindle Edition pp 151.''</ref>
 
 
How many a town defied the command of its Lord and His apostles, then We called it to a severe account and punished it with a dire punishment.  Q65:8
 
So it tasted the evil consequences of its conduct, and the outcome of its conduct was ruin. Q65:9
 
How many generations that had far more wealth and ostentation have We laid low before them! <<nowiki>https://quranx.com/19.74</nowiki>>
 
Say, ‘Whoever abides in error, the All-beneficent shall prolong his respite until they sight what they have been promised: either punishment, or the Hour.’ Then they will know whose position is worse, and whose host is weaker <<nowiki>https://quranx.com/19.75</nowiki>>
 
------
 
Q34:16 - flood of the damn of Yemen / Saba', the people of Sheba E.g. <ref>See tafsirs on [https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/34.14 Q34:14], [https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/34.15 Q34:15] & [https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/34.16 Q34:16]</ref> {{Quran|34|14-16}}
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|34|14-16}}|And when We decreed for Solomon death, nothing indicated to the jinn his death except a creature of the earth eating his staff. But when he fell, it became clear to the jinn that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in humiliating punishment.
Certainly, (there) was for Saba in their dwelling place a sign: Two gardens on (the) right and (on the) left. "Eat from (the) provision (of) your Lord and be grateful to Him. A land good and a Lord Oft-Forgiving."
But they turned away, so We sent upon them (the) flood (of) the dam, and We changed for them their two gardens (with) two gardens producing fruit bitter, and tamarisks and (some)thing of lote trees few.}}
, {{Quran|65|8-9}}, {{Quran|19|74-75}}
 
Add: 34:15–21: The punishment of the people of Sheba, without explicit reference to a messenger. Sheba reference <ref>Marshall, David. ''God, Muhammad and the Unbelievers (p. 73).'' Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.</ref>
 
=== Surah 36 ===
Similarly an unnamed town is sent three messengers in {{Quran|36|13-32}}, who's identities have differed in traditional Islamic scholarship,<ref>E.g. see commentaries on [https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/36.13 Q36:13] & [https://quranx.com/tafsirs/36.14 Q36:14], and the later verses in the story, cited as a parable ''(mathal).''</ref> are rejected and so are killed with a cry/shout (''ṣayḥatan)'' ({{Quran|36|29}}). <ref>Marshall, David. ''God, Muhammad and the Unbelievers (p. 63 & 72).'' Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.</ref>
{{Quote|Marshall, David. God, Muhammad and the Unbelievers (p. 72). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.|36:13–32: Described as a parable (mathal, v.13), but in outline very similar to the punishment-narratives. The messengers (two of them, reinforced with a third) and the town in which they preach are anonymous. ‘A man from the furthest part of the city’ (v.20) exhorts his people to follow the messengers.}}
 
== The Lote Tree of the utmost Boundary (Sid'rati al-Muntahā) ==
Lote tree's are a real type of tree (Ziziphus spina-christi) native to Arabia and the Middle East.<ref>[https://www.suewickison.com/products/lote-tree?srsltid=AfmBOorj_RU2x1OPxgfRe689M2TWw1g4uZTQLkpSolPGYnIatiIe7h6K Lote Tree | Sidr | Ziziphus spina-christi |] Plants of the Qur'an | Sue Wickison </ref> Different to the tree of eternity/immortality ''(shajarati ul-khul'di)'' in paradise ''jannah,'' the Qur'an mentions The Lote Tree (sidr) of ''the utmost boundary (al-muntahā)''<ref>مُنْتَهَىٰ - [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/pdf/Page_3029.pdf Lane's Lexicon pp.3029]
 
</ref> near (but notably not in) the 'garden of abode', said to be 'covered' yaghshā by something unspecified in Q53:16, typically taken by exegetes to mean by angels, light and/or golden animals.<ref>E.g. see [https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/53.16 Tafsirs on Q53:16]</ref>
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|53|13-17}}|And certainly he saw him (in) descent another,
Near (the) Lote Tree (of) the utmost boundary,
Near it (is the) Garden (of) Abode.
when there covered the Lote Tree what covered it.
Not swerved the sight and not it transgressed.}}
 
This furthest boundary/limit is said in the hadith, to place the cosmic tree in the sixth heaven, where even celestial creatures cannot go beyond as the limit of creation; said to be seen by Muhammad in his Night Journey (mi’rāj) on the [[:en:Buraq|Buraq]] (E.g. {{Muslim|1|329}}, {{Al Tirmidhi|2=5|3=44|4=3276}}, {{Bukhari|5|58|227}} & {{Al Nasai|2=1|3=5|4=452}}), and by many Islamic exegetes.<ref>See [https://quranx.com/tafsirs/53.14 tafsirs on Q53:14]</ref>
 
This would align the cosmology of Islamic traditions supporting the idea that paradise (and therefore the garden of the abode) is in the seventh heaven,<ref>[https://islamqa.info/en/answers/215011/where-are-paradise-and-hell#Where_is_Paradise Where is Paradise] | [https://islamqa.info/en/answers/215011/where-are-paradise-and-hell Where Are Paradise and Hell?] | 07/January/2015 islamqa</ref> while some traditions support the idea that paradise is above the seventh heaven,<ref>[https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/107126/the-location-of-paradise-now#:~:text=Paradise%20that%20Allaah%20promised%20for,are%20many%20texts%20proving%20this. The location of Paradise now] | Paradise and Hell | Belief in the Hereafter | Islamic Creed | Fatwa | islamweb.net </ref> both placing the tree relatively close to jannah. However others suggest that this specific ''garden of the abode (jannatu l-mawā)'' is a separate garden/paradise to the eternal one all righteous Muslims will eventually enter, being instead one where martyrs (those killed in war or for their religion) go before judgement day.<ref>E.g. see [https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/53.15 tafsirs on Q53:15]</ref>
 
Either way there is no evidence of a celestial tree, which must be magic to survive outside of an Earthly plant ecosystem, but is rather an example of tree mythology.
----
---- 
 
 
 
(See also: <nowiki>https://sunnah.com/mishkat:5865</nowiki> & https://sunnah.com/mishkat:5640,  ) read; https://quranx.com/tafsirs/53.14 - exegetes also confirm this is where boundary is the boundary of the skies/heavens where things other than God cannot pass (at least until judgement day where paradise and hell can be entered).
 
AND Similarly seen next to the 4 main Near-East rivers (Nile, Euphratesm Tigres,) <nowiki>https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5610</nowiki>, which area said to flow from paradise: <nowiki>https://quranx.com/Hadith/Bukhari/USC-MSA/Volume-5/Book-58/Hadith-227/</nowiki> )
 
cite: [https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/107126/the-location-of-paradise-now#:~:text=Paradise%20that%20Allaah%20promised%20for,are%20many%20texts%20proving%20this. https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/107126/the-location-of-paradise-now#:~:text=Paradise%20that%20Allaah%20promised%20for,are%20many%20texts%20proving%20this.]


Figure 13 (Click here to enlarge)
The utmost boundary at the end of t heavens confirmed by exegetes in https://quranx.com/tafsirs/53.14


Figure 13: The Mediterranean sea water as it enters the Atlantic over the Gibraltar sill with its own warm, saline, and less dense characteristics, because of the barrier that distinguishes between them.  Temperatures are in degrees Celsius (C°). (Marine Geology, Kuenen, p. 43, with a slight enhancement.)</b>  (Click on the image to enlarge it.)}}


===== Problems with miracle claim and general science =====
" Jannat al-ma'va' literally means "the Jannat (Garden) that is to be an abode. " Hadrat Hasan Basri says that this is the same Jannat which the believers and righteous will be given in the Hereafter, and from this same verse he has argued that that Jannat is in the heavens. Qatadah says that this is the Jannat in which the souls of the martyrs are kept; it does not imply the Jannat that is to be given in the Hereafter. Ibn 'Abbas also says the same but adds that the Jannat to be granted to the believers in the Hereafter is not in the heavens but here on the earth.
* Firstly, it is a leap of faith to separate the sweet and salty seas from the other two 'seas' mentioned in Quran 55:19-20 from the others, as they all use the same phrase to refer to a specific two seas it is implied the audience is already familiar with.
* Quran 35:12 states ornaments for us to wear are from both seas, salty and sweet linking the coral and pearl this to the sweet and salty seas as repeated in verse 55:22.
* Again, using the definite particle 'al' and barrier between them implies this is for two specific seas, while this phenomena occurs in many places, even the North Atlantic, South Atlantic the Pacific Oceans have different salt levels.<ref>Joseph L. Reid, [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0146631361900442 On the temperature, salinity, and density differences between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the upper kilometre,] Deep Sea Research (1953), Volume 7, Issue 4, 1961, Pages 265-275, ISSN 0146-6313, <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1016/0146-6313(61)90044-2</nowiki></ref> And there are more examples of aquatic sills<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/science/sill Sill.] Geology. Science & Tech. Britannica Entry.</ref>, with some notable examples given [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_sill here] - which does not match a single specific case as the definite article used in the Quran suggests. For vertically mixed zones where salinity changes rapidly, a pycnocline zone, and more specifically, a halocline zone<ref>''[https://www.britannica.com/science/halocline Halocline.]'' Oceanography. Science & Tech. Britannia Entry.</ref>, is always a mixture of fresh water and salt water - in fact it is a product of their mixing.
* For the second point about the difference between the Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans not mixing, this is not true, as Piers Chapman of Texas A&M University writes on Waterencyclopedia<ref>[http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Mi-Oc/Ocean-Mixing.html ''Ocean Mixing.''] Water Encyclopaedia. ''Piers Chapman.'' </ref>: ''<nowiki/>'Mixing in the ocean occurs on several scales.. The best-known example of this process, known as salt fingering, occurs where very salty water from the Mediterranean outflow mixes into the North Atlantic... Most mixing, however, takes place on larger scales in response to forcing by the wind'.''


== Historical context ==
== Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature - Part 2 ==
Following on from [[Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature|Part 1]], this is Part 2 of Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature found in the Qur'an. This material, drawing heavily on rabbinical commentaries on the bible, and late Syriac Christian thought found in homilies, was created far later than the biblical cannon; no-where near the time of the events that occurred. This suggests the stories were transmitted in an oral millennia along with local Arabian traditions<ref>Bannister, Andrew G.. ''An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur'an (Kindle Location 249-259 in Chapter 1.2 The Biblicist Roots of the Iblis and Adam Story).'' Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.


=== Antiquity interpretation ===
..When the Qur’an emerged in the seventh-century, it did so in an oral culture in which Biblicist traditions were freely circulating and thus there existed a large pool of commonly known stories and traditions to fish from; a pool in which stories could cross-fertilize and influence one another. <sup>23</sup> It is this, more than direct borrowing that perhaps best explains stories like Iblis and Adam as well as other qur’anic tellings of older tales, such as the Seven Sleepers (Q. 18: 9– 25) <sup>24</sup> and the Legend of Alexander (Dhu al-Qarnayn, Q. 18: 83– 101). <sup>25</sup> The Qur’an originates from a milieu in which Biblicist material was well-known to the first audience of the Qur’an; even a simple allusion to a story was often enough to trigger a connection for the hearer. <sup>26</sup> That Biblicist material has been filtered through storytelling rather than simply copied from a written text is further suggested by what the Qur’an leaves out; no minor prophets are referenced, probably because almost no Old Testament narratives feature them nor did the rabbinic literature weave lengthy tales about them. <sup>27</sup> The exception which proves the rule is Jonah (Q. 21: 87– 88; 37: 139– 148; 68: 48– 50), whose short but dramatic story was extremely popular in both Jewish and Christian contexts.<sup>28</sup>..
There is another interpretation for this verse which critics argue is the only one to accurately fit this verse on a literal reading, which is discussed below. This fits a prevalent antiquity (and pre-antiquity) view that was present across the region, and also held in biblical cosmology and later Christian/Jewish exegesis at the time of Mohammad, that this refers to a somewhat magical cosmic ocean surrounding the Earth.


This likely originates from ancient Mesopotamian myths, such as the ancient Akkadian myth of the Abzu, the name for a fresh water underground sea that was given a religious quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Lakes, springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water were thought to draw their water from the Abzu underground sea, while the Ocean that surrounded the world was a saltwater sea. This underground sea is called Tehom in the Hebrew Bible. For example, Genesis 49:25 says, "blessings of the heavens above, and Tehom lying beneath".<ref>Wensinck, Arent Jan (1918). "The Ocean in the Literature of the Western Semites". Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam. Afdeeling Letterkunde. Nieuwe reeks. dl. 19. no. 2. page 14</ref> Wensinck explains,<ref>Wensinck, Arent Jan (1918). "The Ocean in the Literature of the Western Semites". Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam. Afdeeling Letterkunde. Nieuwe reeks. dl. 19. no. 2. page 17</ref> "Thus it appears that the idea of there being a sea of sweet water under our earth, the ancient Tehom, which is the source of springs and rivers, is common to the Western Semites".
And: Bannister, Andrew G.. ''An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur'an (Kindle Locations 1391-1392. Chapter 2.3 The Islamic Tradition and Orality).'' Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.</ref> where biblical and much later Jewish and Christian stories could be commonly mixed without the new community realizing.
== The story of Noah ==
The prophet Noah is portrayed extremely differently to the one in Genesis,<ref>Segovia, Carlos A.. ''[https://almuslih.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Segovia-C-The-Quranic-Noah-and-the-Making-of-the-Islamic-Prophet.pdf The Quranic Noah and the Making of the Islamic Prophet: A Study of Intertextuality and Religious Identity Formation in Late Antiquity]'', Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110405897</nowiki></ref> taking on Jewish and Christian traditions, characteristics, as well as terms from late antique Judeo-Christian writings,<ref>The Qur'anic Noah. pp.21-21</ref> molded to suit Muhammad's situation in line with other messengers in the Qur'an.<ref>''The Qurʾan and its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion. Chapter 5.3 Messenger Uniformatism. pp.135-143'' By Mark Durie. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018. </ref>


Similarly in Greek mythology, the world was surrounded by Oceanus, the world-ocean of classical antiquity. Oceanus was personified as the god Titan, whose consort was the aquatic sea goddess Tethys. It was also thought that rainfall was due a third ocean above the "Firmament of the Sky" (a vast reservoir above the firmament of the sky is also described in the Genesis creation narrative). Whether the two seas mentioned in the Qur'an referred to these mythological seas or a more general inviolable barrier between bodies of salt and fresh water, critics argue that the verse in question is scientifically wrong.
=== The preaching of Noah ===


The antiquity view is well summarised in Tommaso Tesei's 2015 article '''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.1.19 Some Cosmological Notions from Late Antiquity in Q 18:60–65: The Quran in Light of Its Cultural Context]''<nowiki/>', examining the Qur'ans verse on Moses meeting a servant at the meeting of the two seas, which he claims is influenced by a story of Alexander the Great (''see [[Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance]]''), which also features in this Surah. The main discussion is on verses:
Surah 71 consists entirely of the preaching of Noah and his supplications to Allah.{{Quote|{{Quran-range|71|1|28}}|Indeed, We sent Noah to his people, [saying], "Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment." He said, "O my people, indeed I am to you a clear warner, [Saying], 'Worship Allah, fear Him and obey me. Allah will forgive you of your sins and delay you for a specified term. Indeed, the time [set by] Allah, when it comes, will not be delayed, if you only knew.' "<BR />
[...]
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.<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds, ''The Qurʾān and Bible'' p. 858</ref>


{{Quote|{{Quran|18|60-65}}|18:60 (Consider) when Moses said to his young companion, "I shall continue travelling until I reach the junction of the two seas or have travelled for many ages". 18:61 But when they reached the Junction, they forgot (about) their Fish, which took its course through the sea (straight) as in a tunnel.
The 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)."<ref>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.</ref>
18:62 When they had passed on (some distance), Moses said to his attendant: "Bring us our early meal; truly we have suffered much fatigue at this (stage of) our journey." 18:63 He replied: "Sawest thou (what happened) when we betook ourselves to the rock? I did indeed forget (about) the Fish: none but Satan made me forget to tell (you) about it: it took its course through the sea in a marvellous way!" 18:64 Moses said: "That was what we were seeking after:" So they went back on their footsteps, following (the path they had come). 18:65 And they found a servant from among Our servants to whom we had given mercy from us and had taught him from Us a [certain] knowledge.}}


The full article from Tommaso, which is recommended to read to understand the context, can be read in the link on JSTOR for free by making an account, which provides a full overview.
=== Noah's disbelieving wife ===
{{Quote|{{Quran|66|10}}|Allah presents an example of those who disbelieved: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two of Our righteous servants but betrayed them, so those prophets did not avail them from Allah at all, and it was said, "Enter the Fire with those who enter."}}The Bible briefly mentions Noah's wife in one verse without further comment ([https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%207%3A7&version=NIV 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 ([https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%202&version=NIV 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.<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds, ''The Qurʾān and Bible'' p. 841</ref>


The Quran states that Moses is able to reach “the junction of the two seas” (majmaʿ al-baḥrayni), where he meets a Servant of God. It states that he is able to reach it after hearing from his young attendant about the fish that they were carrying with them (for food) escaping. This is twice referred to, in Q18:61 and v63. In both cases the dynamic is described by exactly the same phrase, with v63 ending in ʿajaban, which is commonly translated as “wondrously” or “in a marvellous way,” and 'saraban', which has caused problems and disagreements among Muslim commentators: 
=== 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).


{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.1.19 | title=Some Cosmological Notions from Late Antiquity in Q 18:60–65: The Quran in Light of Its Cultural Context. Tommaso Tesei. American Oriental Society. Vol. 135, No. 1 (January-March 2015), pp. 19-32}}|...the root s-r-b is found in three other Quranic passages—sarāb (“mirage”) in 24:39 and 78:20, and sārib (“to go forth or away”) in 13:10—sarab is a Quranic hapax legomenon, that is, it appears only once. One way to understand saraban is to read it as the accusative of sarab, which means “tunnel” or “subterranean excavation.” Then the phrase in v. 61 can be translated as either “and it took its way in the sea by way of a subterranean excavation” or “and it took its way: a subterranean excavation in the sea,” depending on whether saraban is considered an accusative of circumstance (ḥāl) or a second direct object (the irst being sabīlahu) of the verb ittakhadha.}}
Note that in his translation, Yusuf Ali mistranslates the Aramaic loan word for the oven (alttannooru ٱلتَّنُّورُ)<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000355.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 318 تَّنُّورُ]</ref> as "fountains". The Arabic verb translated "gushed forth" (fara فَارَ) means overflowed or boiled in the context of water in a cooking pot<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000241.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 2457 فور]</ref>, as well as in the other verse where it is used, {{Quran|67|7}}. Here is Pickthall's more accurate translation:{{Quote|{{Quran|11|40}}|
(Thus it was) till, when Our commandment came to pass '''and the oven gushed forth water''', We said: Load therein two of every kind, a pair (the male and female), and thy household, save him against whom the word hath gone forth already, and those who believe. And but a few were they who believed with him.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|23|27}}|
Then We inspired in him, saying: Make the ship under Our eyes and Our inspiration. Then, when Our command cometh '''and the oven gusheth water''', introduce therein of every (kind) two spouses, and thy household save him thereof against whom the Word hath already gone forth. And plead not with Me on behalf of those who have done wrong. Lo! they will be drowned.}}At one time academic scholars thought this verse alluded to a Midrashic exegesis in which the flood waters were boiling hot (b. Sanhedrin 108b, [https://www.sefaria.org/Rosh_Hashanah.12a.4?lang=bi|Tracate Rosh Hashanah 12a:4]). More recent scholarship, particularly by Olivier Mongellaz in 2024,<ref name="Mongellaz2024">Olivier Mongellaz (2024) [https://brill.com/view/journals/arab/71/4-5/article-p513_4.xml Le four de Noé : un cas d’intertextualité coranique], Arabica 71(4-5), 513-637. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-20246900</ref> 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".


The puzzled commentators have given rise to a number of conflicting interpretations by later Muslims<ref>''[https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/18.60 Tafsir ibn Kathir Verse 18:60-65].'' Ibn Kathir <abbr>c.</abbr> 1300 – 1373.</ref> starting from the mid-8th century exegesis, who often came up with miraculous/magical stories to link the dead fish escaping with a tunnel (a summary is provided in the article). Tommaso states that such attempts to relate the path the fish takes in the sea to passage on land are direct consequences of the apparent discordance between the meaning of the word sarab, “subterranean passage,” and the place where it is said to be found: the sea. It seems the later commentators did not have the full story it arose from. With the story matching a common motif of the water of life surrounding the Earth that could give life to the dead:{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.1.19 | title=Some Cosmological Notions from Late Antiquity in Q 18:60–65: The Quran in Light of Its Cultural Context. Tommaso Tesei. American Oriental Society. Vol. 135, No. 1 (January-March 2015), pp. 19-32}}|..starting with the word saraban which has puzzled commentators + fish regaining life: All we know is that the fish breaks loose near a rock at the junction of the two seas and that this event indicates to Moses that he has reached the goal of his journey. When examined in light of a legend concerning Alexander’s journey to the Land of the Blessed, during which he fails to bathe in the water of life, the episode acquires more sense, however. Specifically, the fish’s escape represents an allusion to the resurrection of a salt fish after Alexander’s cook washes it in the water of life. Muslim exegetes introduced some elements of this legend in their explanation of the narrative told in the Quran. In fact, the fish’s escape episode is usually related to the motif of the water of life. Western scholars, too, almost unanimously consider this story of Alexander to be behind the Quranic account. The motif of the source of life reported in the legend concerning Alexander should certainly be understood in relation to the life-giving characteristics that Near Easterners attributed to the sweet waters of the rivers...}}Islamic scholar Gabriel Said Reynolds also notes this 'junction between two seas' (and other verses mentioning the two seas) as likely meaning the waters of the heaven. He also provides a translation of the relevant sections from the Alexander Song in his 2018 book ''"The Quran and Bible: Text and Commentary",''<ref>[https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300181326/the-quran-and-the-bible/ T''he Quran and Bible:Text and Commentary''], New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018. Gabriel Said Reynolds.</ref> which seems to have influenced the story (''again see [[Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance]]''):
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.{{Quote|Pseudo. Hippolytus of Rome (translated to English from Mongellaz's French translation)<ref name="Mongellaz2024" />|Meanwhile, Ham's wife stood up to take out the bread that remained in the oven and immediately water sprang out of the oven [fāḍa l-māʾmin al-tannūr] and immediately water came out of the oven, as the Lord had said: "The fountains of the great deeps were opened." Ham's wife called to Noah, saying, "My lord, the word of God has come true (Syr. what God promised has come true!)" - for it had come true just as the Lord had promised her. When Noah heard Ham's wife's words, he said to her, "Oh, the flood has come."}}
{{Quote|Gabriel Said Reynolds, "The Quran and Bible:Text and Commentary", New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018 pp. 464-465|The Macedonian king, the son of Philip spoke: / “I have determined to follow a great quest to reach the lands, / even the furthest lands, / to reach the seas, and the coasts, and the borders as they are; / Above all to enter and to see the land of darkness / if it is truly as I heard it is.”
(Song of Alexander, recension 1, p. 26, ll. 33–38)


Then [Alexander’s cook] came to the spring, which contained the lifegiving water / he came close to it, in order to wash the fish in water, but it came alive and escaped; The poor man was afraid that the king would blame him / that he give back the [value of the] fish, which had come to life and which he did not stop. So he got down into the water, in order to catch it, but was unable / then he climbed out from there in order to tell the king that he had found [the spring] He called, but no one heard him, and so he went to a mountain from where they heard him / the king was glad when he heard about the spring. The king turned around in order to bathe [in the spring] as he had sought to do / and they went from the mountain in the middle of darkness, but they could not reach it.
=== Noah's ark left behind as a sign ===
(Song of Alexander, recension 1, pp. 48–50, ll. 182–92)}}
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|54|13|15}}|And We carried him on a [construction of] planks and nails, Sailing under Our observation as reward for he who had been denied. And We left it as a sign, so is there any who will remember?}}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).<ref name=":0">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.</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" />
This also explains why the fish (which was their food, i.e. dead) then comes back to life and takes to the sea in a 'marvellous' way ''(it is worth pointing out the obvious that there is no sea on Earth that can revive dead animals)'':
==Moses and Pharaoh==
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.1.19 | title=Some Cosmological Notions from Late Antiquity in Q 18:60–65: The Quran in Light of Its Cultural Context. Tommaso Tesei. American Oriental Society. Vol. 135, No. 1 (January-March 2015), pp. 19-32}}|When at v. 63 the Quran states that the fish “took its way in the sea in a marvellous way,” it evidently refers to its wondrously being revived upon contact with the miraculous water. In fact, the enigmatic episode acquires sense only if read in light of the dynamic described in the legend of the water of life, and the extreme vagueness with which the Quran describes the episode suggests that its audience was expected to be acquainted with the Alexander tale...}}
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)<ref>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, ''[https://urirubin.com/assets/docs/Tuwan.86132451.pdf Moses and the Holy Valley Ṭuwan. On the Biblical and Midrashic Background of a Qurʾanic Scene],'' Journal of Near Eastern Studies 73, 73–81.</ref> does not have a parallel in the bible,<ref>''[https://urirubin.com/assets/docs/Tuwan.86132451.pdf Moses and the Holy Valley Ṭuwan: On the biblical and midrashic background of a qurʾānic scene.]'' Rubin 2014. Ibid. pp. 75.</ref> but does in other Judeo-Christian (later) works.<ref>Ibid. pp. 76-78</ref> 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.<ref>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.</ref> Key details in the stories include:
Similar to other religious near-East sources:
===The prophecy of baby Moses===
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.1.19 | title=Some Cosmological Notions from Late Antiquity in Q 18:60–65: The Quran in Light of Its Cultural Context. Tommaso Tesei. American Oriental Society. Vol. 135, No. 1 (January-March 2015), pp. 19-32}}|..This version of the story of Alexander reflects a simple idea that follows the literal understanding of Gen 2:10–14, namely, that the earthly paradise could be reached by following the course of one of the four rivers. In fact, sources confirm that during late antiquity it was widely held that paradise was a physical place situated on the other side of the ocean encircling the earth. In accordance with this concept, it was generally assumed that the rivers lowing from paradise passed under this ocean to reach the inhabited part of the world. ..
Alongside the scene of [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%201%3A8-2%3A10&version=NIV 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.''<ref>''The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect'' Ibid. pp. 201.</ref>{{Quote|{{Quran-range|20|37|39}}|We have bestowed Our favour on you before this, When We told your mother what We relate: 'Put him in a wooden box and cast it in the river. The river will cast it on the bank. An enemy of Ours, and his, will retrieve it.' We bestowed Our love on you that you may be reared under Our eyes.}}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.<ref>Ibid. pp. 201-202.</ref> Moses's salvation from persecution after manslaughter is commemorated with similar consideration of Moses’s mental condition.<ref>Ibid. pp. 202.</ref>{{Quote|{{Quran|20|40}}|When your sister walked up [to Pharaoh’s palace] saying, “Shall I show you someone who will take care of him?” Then We restored you to your mother, that she might not grieve and be comforted. Then you slew a soul, whereupon We delivered you from anguish, and We tried you with various ordeals. Then you stayed for several years among the people of Midian. Then you turned up as ordained, O Moses!}}
===Moses not suckled by Egyptians===
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|28|12|13}}|And We had prevented from him [all] wet nurses before, so she said, "Shall I direct you to a household that will be responsible for him for you while they are to him [for his upbringing] sincere?" So We restored him to his mother that she might be content and not grieve and that she would know that the promise of Allah is true. But most of the people do not know.}}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)"<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds, ''The Qurʾān and Bible'' p. 598</ref>
===Moses's speech impediment===
Moses has some kind of speech impediment when going to speak to Pharaoh in the Qurʾān.{{Quote|{{Quran-range|20|24|28}}|"Go to Pharaoh. Indeed, he has transgressed."( Moses) said: "O, my Lord! Expand me my breast,” ease my task for me, <b>And untie the knot from my tongue,</b> so they may understand what I say.”}}Biblical Scholar James Kugel (1997)<ref>Kugel, James L.. The Bible As It Was (Kindle Edition. pp. 432-433). Harvard University Press.</ref> 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''” ([https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%204%3A10&version=NIV 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.


..identification of the water of life with the rivers of paradise, as confirmed by Philostorgius and, more significantly, in the Talmudic version of the Alexander legend, and, on the other hand, the idea that these rivers lowed underground beneath the sea from paradise to the inhabited earth, as several authors report—it seems very likely that saraban in Q 18:63 is meant to describe the subterranean passage under the sea that the fish takes once resurrected by the miraculous water of the paradisiacal rivers...
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:<ref>Ibid. pp. 432 - 433 (Kindle Edition)</ref>


In Quranic cosmology, this expression is possibly intended to designate a place that has a specific role in the passage of the heavenly waters to earth. In light of the above, one can imagine majmaʿ al-baḥrayn as the place where the heavenly and terrestrial oceans meet, and from where the sweet waters reach the earth, by way of an underground course alluded to by the expression saraban..}}
"''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)
=== The Biblical and Judeo-Christian background literature ===
The story of Moses and his servant is one of four stories in Surah al-Kahf. Modern academic scholarship has identified antecedents of each story in the lore of late antiquity. This particular story is almost unanimously considered to derive from a legend about Alexander the Great and his search for the water of life. For details see the section on the four stories in Surah al-Kahf in the article [[Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature]]. The bible itself also contains a sea above the Earth:


{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://biblia.com/books/kjv1900/Ge1.6 | title=Genesis 1:10}}|(Genesis 1:6-10)  6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
''He [Moses] pleased his parents by his beauty, but grieved them by his speech impediment. —''Ephraem, Commentary on Exodus 2: 4 (d. 373 AD)


9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. }}
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.<ref>Ibid. pp. 433 - 434 (Kindle Edition)</ref>
===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-range|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.<ref>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.</ref>
===The Drowning of Pharaoh===
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|10|90|92}}|And We took the Children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his soldiers pursued them in tyranny and enmity until, when drowning overtook him, he said, "I believe that there is no deity except that in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the Muslims." Now? And you had disobeyed [Him] before and were of the corrupters? So today We will save you in body that you may be to those who succeed you a sign. And indeed, many among the people, of Our signs, are heedless}}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)"<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds, ''The Qurʾān and Bible'' p. 339</ref>
==Arguments for resurrection==
Reynolds (2020) notes the repeated argument that God can resurrect the dead using the analogy that he can bring life back to barren (or dead) land may be connected to  a Jewish tradition that God will resurrect the dead with dew, for example, in b. Shabbat 88b.<ref name=":2" />
{{Quote|{{Quran|30|19}}|He 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].}}


==== '''Pre-Islamic poetry''' ====
Cf: {{Quran|16|65}}, {{Quran|43|11}}, {{Quran|50|6-11}}, {{Quran|57|17}}
The fact that the Qur'an addresses it's audience with the claim of the two (specific not general) seas, without giving more explanation or context about what they are or where, also suggests the initial audience were acquainted with it's meaning. We can see these views were also prevalent in Arabia at the time of Mohammad's preaching as this poem from a contemporary of Muhammad mentions the Earth being settled on the waters:
==Late antique Christian Martyrdom==
{{Main|Shaheed (Martyr)}}
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.<ref>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</ref>


{{Quote|Poem attributed to Zayd b. 'Amr, as found for example in Ibn Al Jawzi's Al Muntazam,<ref name="IbnalJawzi">https://shamela.ws/book/12406/736</ref> and Ibn Ishaq's biography of Muhammad (as translated from Ibn Ishaq by Guillaume<ref name="Guillaume">https://www.justislam.co.uk/images/Ibn%20Ishaq%20-%20Sirat%20Rasul%20Allah.pdf</ref> and transliterated by Bravmann<ref name="Bravmann">Bravmann, M. M. (1977) Studies in Semitic Philology, Leiden: Brill p.439</ref>)|daḥāhā falammā raʾādā istawat ʿalā l-māʾi arsā ʿalayhā l-jibālā /
=== Textual overlap ===


He spread it out and when He saw that it was settled upon the waters, He fixed the mountains upon it}}
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'', however Sinai (2017) notes alongside similar ideas and theology, there are some direct textual references.{{Quote|Sinai, Nicolai. Qur'an: A Historical-Critical Introduction (The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys) (pp. 301-302). Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.|That the Qur’anic community’s access to Biblical notions of militancy was mediated by late antique Christian discourse is indicated by an intriguing intertextual overlap. According to Q 3: 169–170, those who have been ‘killed in the path of God’ are not dead but ‘alive with their Lord’, rather than having to spend the remaining time until the Resurrection in a state of slumber (similarly Q 2: 154).<sup>39</sup><b> Tor Andrae has pointed out that the phrase ‘alive with their Lord’ (ayāun inda rabbihim) corresponds exactly to the Syriac phrase h. ayyē lwāth alāhā, which a sixth-century Syriac Christian writer (Mar Ishay) applies to the martyrs.</b><sup>40</sup> Furthermore, Mar Ishay contrasts the true fate of the martyrs with unfounded prior opinion: ‘they are believed to be already dead’.<sup>41</sup> The same contrast is found in the two Qur’anic passages just cited.<sup>42</sup> It could be objected that the parallel demonstrates merely that the Qur’an is familiar with the widespread Christian idea that martyrs are granted prompt access to paradise but that this does not establish a Christian precedent for the Qur’anic application of this idea specifically to those who actively enact – rather than just suffer – violence. However, as Sizgorich reminds us, a Christian martyr was by no means seen merely as a passive victim of persecution but rather as someone who actively ‘defeats the power of the Roman state’.<sup>43</sup>}}{{Quote|{{Quran|3|169}}|And never think of those who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision}}{{Quote|{{Quran|2|154}}|Do not say that those who are killed in the way of God, are dead, for indeed they are alive, even though you are not aware.}}


This view has more evidence from Islamic sources.
=== Martyrs sidestep judgement day ===
After death, humans are typically said to spend their time in an intermediate state known to traditional Islamic scholars as the ''barzakh'' while they wait.<ref>Reynolds, Gabriel Said. 2020. ''Allah:'' ''God in the Qur'an (p. 71-72).'' Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.


=== Islamic Literature - The two seas in the story Moses and Al-Khidr ===
It is also the same term used for the barrier between the living and the dead (whilst awaiting judgement day) in the Qur'an, e.g. {{Quran|23|99-100}}</ref> However, as in the above verses, one exception to this rule is Martyrs being with God straight away rather than being judged at judgment day, a non-biblical idea having parallels with late antique Christian thought.
{{Quran|18|60}} states he won't give up until he reaches the two seas, or has progressed for many 'ages', with the word implying this junction is extremely far from land (many translators such as Yusuf Khan, Shakir and Muhsin Khan translate it as 'years'), taking longer than any journey on our actual oceans would take. For example Christopher Columbus's journeys to America in the 1,400's took around 4 weeks to 6 months depending on the wind and weather.<ref>[https://www.royalcaribbean.com/guides/transatlantic-history-crossing-cruise#:~:text=Back%20in%20Columbus'%20day%2C%20sailing,was%20largely%20based%20on%20luck. ''How transatlantic history shaped the world as we know it.''] Royalcaribbean.com. Uploaded by Chantae Reden. 2022. Written by Claire Heginbotham.</ref> This suggests the author thought it was very far away from the middle-east where Moses is said to have preached.  


This story continues where Moses goes with a 'servant of God' at the junction of the two seas, who is unnamed in the Qur'an but called 'Al-Khidr' in the Hadith. This man has extremely accurate foreknowledge of both future events and human nature ([[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Predestination|predestination]]), so he carries out seemingly strange immoral tasks and tells Moses to be patient and not ask him about them; these are making a hole in a boat to sink it, killing a young child, and fixing a wall for free for a town that refused them hospitality.  
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.. <ref>Ibid. (Kindle Edition. pp. 299).</ref>  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…''"<ref>Ibid. (Kindle Edition. pp. 301).</ref> He notes these similarities are likely caused by being on the fringes of the Roman empire.<ref>Ibid. (Kindle Edition. pp. 301).</ref>


However Moses cannot help but ask why they are doing them, so after three events Al-Khidr parts ways with him and tells him why he committed the acts; he made a hole in the boat as it was about to be stolen by a king if they departed at that moment, the child was killed as he would become a disbeliever, hurting his devout parents - so God will replace him with a 'purer' one, and the as for fixing the wall, he built it because it is covering a hidden treasure and two orphan boys will find this later.
==== Martyrdom wipes away other sins and is privileged above other acts from believers ====
{{Quote|Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Christianity and the Qur'an: The Rise of Islam in Christian Arabia (pp. 178-179). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.|The teaching on the glory earned by martyrs is widespread in the early church. It is nevertheless telling to find the way it is emphasized in the third-century Christian text the aforementioned Didascalia Apostolorum, originally written in Greek but preserved in Syriac.<sup>87</sup> The Didascalia clearly teaches that the martyrs will have a privilege above other faithful believers: If then He raises up all men,—as He said by Isaiah: All flesh shall see the salvation of God [Isa 40.5; 52.10],—much more will He quicken and raise up the faithful; and (yet more) again will He quicken and raise up the faithful of the faithful, who are the martyrs, and establish them in great glory and make them His counsellors. For to mere disciples, those who believe in Him, He has promised a glory as of the stars [Dan 12.3]; but to the martyrs He has promised to give an everlasting glory, as of the luminaries which fail not, with more abundant light, that they may be shining for all time.<sup>88</sup>


{{Quote|{{Quran|18|66-82}}|18:66 Moses said to him, “May I follow you on [the condition] that you teach me from what you have been taught of sound judgement?”
The Didascalia is also clear, as is the Qur’an, that martyrs enjoy a special grace through the forgiveness of sins that their deaths have earned for them: But again, sins are forgiven by baptism also to those who from the Gentiles draw near and enter the holy Church of God. Let us inquire also, to whom sins are not imputed. To such as Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs, as also to the martyrs. Let us hear then, brethren, for the Scripture saith: Who shall boast himself and say: I am clear of sins? Or who shall be confident and say: I am innocent? [Prov 20.9].  
18:67 He said, “Indeed, with me you will never be able to have patience.
18:68 And how can you have patience for what you do not encompass in knowledge?”
18:69 [Moses] said, “You will find me, if Allah wills, patient, and I will not disobey you in [any] order.”
18:70 He said, “Then if you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I make to you about it mention.”
18:71 So they set out, until when they had embarked on the ship, al-Khidr tore it open. [Moses] said, “Have you torn it open to drown its people? You have certainly done a grave thing.”
18:72 [Al-Khidr] said, “Did I not say that with me you would never be able to have patience?”
18:73 [Moses] said, “Do not blame me for what I forgot and do not cover me in my matter with difficulty.”
18:74 So they set out, until when they met a boy, al-Khidr killed him. [Moses] said, “Have you killed a pure soul for other than [having killed] a soul? You have certainly done a deplorable thing.”
18:75 [Al-Khidr] said, “Did I not tell you that with me you would never be able to have patience?”
18:76 [Moses] said, “If I should ask you about anything after this, then do not keep me as a companion. You have obtained from me an excuse.”
18:77 So they set out, until when they came to the people of a town, they asked its people for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. And they found therein a wall about to collapse, so al-Khidr restored it. [Moses] said, “If you wished, you could have taken for it a payment.”
18:78 [Al-Khidr] said, “This is parting between me and you. I will inform you of the interpretation of that about which you could not have patience.  
18:79 As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea. So I intended to cause defect in it as there was after them a king who seized every [good] ship by force.  
18:80 And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would overburden them by transgression and disbelief.
18:81 So we intended that their Lord should substitute for them one better than him in purity and nearer to mercy.
18:82 And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and there was beneath it a treasure for them, and their father had been righteous. So your Lord intended that they reach maturity and extract their treasure, as a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of that about which you could not have patience."}}
This verse is expanded upon in a sahih/authentic hadith: {{Bukhari|4|55|613}}


We can see that the servants knowledge of events to come is so great he is able to teach a prophet as important as Moses, and even become annoyed with him and leave him for questioning him. This kind of knowledge is usually only reserved for God, which although not a direct piece of evidence, fits someone coming from a special sea in the sense they are so supernatural and unlike any other character in the Quran. The verses talking about the two seas also usually appear after important creation events: {{Quran|55|22}} is mentioned just after creating humans and jinn, {{Quran|35|12}} following creation of humans from clay, and {{Quran|27|61}} - a verse before mentions creating the heavens and the Earth; suggesting this is an important part of creation, which two specific but essentially random (as are never identified) seas are not as fitting.
And again: There is no man pure of defilement: not though his life be but one day [Job 14.4–5 LXX]. To everyone therefore who believes and is baptized his … former sins have been forgiven; but after baptism also, provided that he has not sinned a deadly sin nor been an accomplice (thereto), but has heard only, or seen, or spoken, and is thus guilty of sin. But if a man go forth from the world by martyrdom for the name of the Lord, blessed is he; <i>for brethren who by martyrdom have gone forth from this world, of these the sins are covered.</i><sup>89</sup>


=== Islamic Views - Hadith and Qur'an ===
We might compare Q 3:195: “ ‘And those who emigrated, and were expelled from their habitations, those who suffered hurt in My way, and fought, and were slain—<i>them I shall surely acquit of their evil deeds,</i> and I shall admit them to gardens underneath which rivers flow.’ A reward from God! And God with Him is the fairest reward” (italics added). In other words, the Qur’an seems to be well aware of Christian devotion to the martyrs.}}
In the two most authoritative hadith collections, we see in Sahih Bukhari that Muhammad is recorded as saying that when going into the seven heavens on a night journey (see [[Buraq]]), the rivers in paradise came to Earth via the Nile and Euphrates. This clearly backs up the idea identified by Tommaso that fresh water comes into Earth via a freshwater cosmic ocean:
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|4|54|429}}|...Then I was shown Sidrat-ul-Muntaha (i.e. a tree in the seventh heaven) and I saw its Nabk fruits which resembled the clay jugs of Hajr (i.e. a town in Arabia), and its leaves were like the ears of elephants, and four rivers originated at its root, two of them were apparent and two were hidden. I asked Gabriel about those rivers and he said, 'The two hidden rivers are in Paradise, and the apparent ones are the Nile and the Euphrates.'...}}
And this idea is backed up in Sahih Muslim:
{{Quote|{{Muslim|40|6807}}|Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: Saihan, Jaihan, Euphrates and Nile are all among the rivers of Paradise.}}


From this Quran verse we see the God's throne was on 'the waters' during creation:
=== Martyrdom in the Torah and Gospels ===
Muslims who fight are promised paradise, which the Qur'an claims is also a promise in the Torah and Gospel.{{Quote|{{Quran|9|111}}|Indeed Allah has bought from the faithful their souls and their possessions for paradise to be theirs: they fight in the way of Allah, kill, and are killed. A promise binding upon Him in the Torah and the Evangel and the Quran. And who is truer to his promise than Allah? So rejoice in the bargain you have made with Him, and that is the great success.}}Nickel (2020)<ref>Nickel, Gordon D. ''The Quran with Christian Commentary: A Guide to Understanding the Scripture of Islam (p. 222).'' Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition. 9.111 – They fight in the way of God, and they kill and are killed When the Quran describes believers as fighting “in the way of Allah,” it makes a theological claim by associating Allah with human fighting. See the analysis of these expressions at 73.20 (p. 597). 9.111 – a promise binding on Him in the Torah, and the Gospel, and the Qur’ān This is the only verse in the Quran that brings the Torah (tawrāt), Gospel (injīl), and qur’ān (lit. “recitation”) together. The Quran claims here that the particular point on which the Torah and Gospel agree with the Muslim recitation is that believers “fight in the way of Allah, and they kill and are killed.” This verse makes the reader question whether the Quran has a clear idea of the contents of the Torah and Gospel. A similar question is raised by 61.14, which appears to say that ‘Īsā and his disciples fought against their enemies (cf. 3.52). Along with these misunderstandings, the Quran gives no information about the peaceable teaching and example of Jesus in the Gospel accounts. See the analysis of the Quran’s verses on the “Gospel” at 57.27 (p. 549). Do the Torah and Gospel in fact contain such a promise? See the comment on this characterization of the Bible at 61.14 (p. 566).</ref> and Reynolds (2018) however notes that this is not found there:{{Quote|1=Reynolds, G. S. (2018). <i>The Qur'an and the Bible: Text and Commentary. Commentary on 9:111 (pp. 322)</i> United Kingdom: Yale University Press.|2="9:111 The point of this verse is that those who are prepared to give their lives to God in the holy war are promised paradise as a payment for their services (cf. 2:245; 4:74; 61:10–12). The idea that the martyrs have a special assurance of paradise follows from the Qurʾān’s teaching elsewhere that the act of martyrdom involves forgiveness of sin. <b>This teaching is close to that of the Syriac fathers (see commentary on 2:154, with further references). It is curious that the Qurʾān insists that the promise of heaven for holy warriors is found in the Torah and the Gospel (or “Evangel”); heaven is not found in the Torah and holy war is not found in the Gospels...</b>}}While his commentary on 2:154 (pp. 76) once again highlights the Syriac parallel:{{Quote|2="As Tor Andrae has shown (Les origines de l’islam et le christianisme, 161ff.), the idea that martyrdom involves the absolution of sins is prominent in Syriac Christian texts such as the third-century Didascalia (chap. 20) and the Treaty on the Martyrs of Mar Isaï (d. late sixth cen.); the latter text also insists—much like the Qurʾān—that the martyrs are “living”:


{{Quote|{{Quran|11|7}}|It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days—and His Throne was [then] upon the waters—that He may test you [to see] which of you is best in conduct. Yet if you say, ‘You will indeed be raised up after death,’ the faithless will surely say, ‘This is nothing but plain magic.’}}Which were there before the universe was created (this hadith is rated Hasan/Good by Darussalam):
The true martyrs who, by way of a death that covers their sins, demonstrate even more the beauty of their deeds and receive this glorious inheritance by virtue of their blood. By leaving this life they have prepared for their souls an honorable abode in paradise. It was thought that they are already dead, but by their death they have killed their sin, and they are alive with God. (Mar Isaï, Treaty on the Martyrs, 32)}}
{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||5|44|3109}}|Narrated Waki' bin Hudus: from his uncle Abu Razin who said: "I said: 'O Messenger of Allah! Where was our Lord before He created His creation?' He said: 'He was (above) the clouds - no air was under him, no air was above him, and He created His Throne upon the water.'"}}
=== Further Martyrdom Influence ===
As well as a hadith in Sunan Ibn Majah's collection, which although is rated 'Da'if/weak' (so unlikely to have come directly from Muhammad), show's early Muslim understanding of the verses as a cosmic sea in the sky, above the seventh heaven:{{Quote|{{Ibn Majah||1|1|193}}|"I was in Batha with a group of people, among them whom was the Messenger of Allah. A cloud passed over him, and he looked at it and said: 'What do you call this?' They said: 'Sahab (a cloud).' He said: 'And Muzn (rain cloud).' They said: 'And Muzn.' He said: 'And 'Anan (clouds).' Abu Bakr said: "They said: 'And 'Anan.'" He said: 'How much (distance) do you think there is between you and the heavens?' They said: 'We do not know.' He said: 'Between you and it is seventy-one, or seventy-two, or seventy-three years, and there is a similar distance between it and the heaven above it (and so on)' until he counted seven heavens. <b>'Then above the seventh heaven there is a sea, between whose top and bottom is a distance like that between one heaven and another.</b> Then above that there are eight (angels in the form of) mountain goats..."}}
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-range|26|50|51}} and {{Quran-range|20|71|73}}).<ref>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.</ref> 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.<ref>Ibid. pp. 251-252</ref>{{Quote|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.|V. 72–73 qālū lan nuʾthiraka ʿalā mā jāʾanā mina l-bayyināti wa-lladhī faṭaranā fa-qḍi mā anta qāḍin innamā taqḍī hādhihi l-ḥayāta l-dunyā / innā āmannā birabbinā li-yaghfira lanā khaṭāyānā wa-mā akrahtanā ʿalayhi mina l-siḥri wallāhu khayrun wa-abqā] Conversion scene as later in Q 26:50–51. The sorcerers renounce their allegiance to Pharaoh on the basis of the obvious evidence (bayyināt) and give preference to the Creator God, they submit to their worldly fate and hope for the forgiveness of their sins and what they have been forced to do by the ruler—they are a role model for the community, which is also subject to pressure from outside. The request for forgiveness of sins before a violent death is a topos of Christian martyr stories. The entire scene, leaving the context of ‘ancient’ Egypt, reflects the notion of Christian martyrdom stories. Khaṭāyā (singular khaṭīʾa) also lets a Syriac terminus technicus ring through, but the word can be derived from the Arabic root KhṬʿ (“to miss a goal”) (see FVQ, 123ff.). The idea of the forgiveness of sins is prominent in the Christian liturgy—not only through the Lord’s Prayer. In addition to khaṭīʾa, there is the genuine Arabic dhanb, dhunūb.}}


=== '''Islamic Commentaries''' ===
== Expansions on the afterlife ==
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Tabari Al-Tabari] also provided an interpretation on this meaning of this verse to mean a 'sea in the sky and earth that meet every year' (with other views in his tafsir on verse:)
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=1&tSoraNo=55&tAyahNo=19&tDisplay=yes&Page=2&Size=1&LanguageId=1 | title=Al-Ṭabarī Tafsir verse 55:19}}|...On the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, in his saying: {The two seas meet.} He said: <b>A sea in the sky and earth that meet every year.</b> Others said: He meant the Persian Sea and the Roman Sea...}}
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qurtubi Al-Qurtubi], another prominent Sunni Scholar also provides this view:{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=1&tTafsirNo=5&tSoraNo=25&tAyahNo=53&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1 | title=Tafsir al-Qurtabi 25:53}}|Ibn Abbas and Ibn Jubayr said: It refers to the ocean of the sky and the ocean of the earth. Ibn Abbas further explained: They meet each other every year, and between them is a barrier decreed by Allah. "And a barrier between them is forbidden to be crossed." It is forbidden for the salty water to mix with the sweet water or for the sweet water to become salty.}}


[https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Abbas/18.60 Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs] and [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/18.60 Tafsir Ibn Al Kathir] commentary on verse 18:60, while not stating this comes from a cosmic ocean (but rather a nearby spring), also relate this story to a rock which contains the fountain of life reviving a dead fish, which pulls motifs from the near-East view of a magical cosmic waters with life giving qualities. ''(Once again it is worth pointing out the obvious that there is no magic fountain on Earth that can revive dead animals).''
Reynolds (2020) notes the Qur’ans provides vivid depictions of hell are highly unlike the New Testament, where Jesus refers to afterlife punishment mostly allusively. The closest the Gospels describe hell is through the few images of “fire,” “wailing,” and “gnashing of teeth.”, for example in Matthew’s Parable of the Weeds, Jesus explains that at the end of the age, the Son of Man will send his angels that will cast evildoers into a fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:40–42).<ref>Reynolds, Gabriel Said. ''Allah: God in the Qur'an (pp. 81-82).'' Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.</ref> He notes the much more constant an vivid Qur'anic descriptions far better match later Christian works that expanded the descriptions to be more gruesome, in order to scare the reader/audience.<ref>Ibid. pp. 88.


It is also very difficult to imagine how one would know they had reached a junction of two seas, if this was referring to man-made sea boundaries as (such as the Persian and Roman seas) which many later commentaries guess at. However they would be more likely to know by reaching a magical barrier between the Earthly sea and cosmic ocean.
''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.''
</ref>{{Quote|Reynolds, Gabriel Said. <i>Allah: God in the Qur'an (pp. 82-83).</i> 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>}}Sinai (2017) in his paper titled "''The Eschatological Kerygma of the Early Qur’an''" notes many overlap with Syriac Homilies on the afterlife as well as other apocalyptic ideas and terminology.<ref>“[https://almuslih.org/wp-content/uploads/Library/Sinai,%20N%20-%20The%20Eschatological%20Kerygma.pdf The Eschatological Kerygma of the Early Qur’an]”, Nicolai Sinai, in ''Apocalypticism and Eschatology in Late Antiquity: Encounters in the Abrahamic Religions, 6th–8th Centuries'', edited by Hagit Amirav, Emmanouela Grypeou, and Guy Stroumsa, Leuven: Peeters, 2017, 219–266.


This idea of a cosmic ocean also has strong connections to the myth of the Islamic whale (''see [[The Islamic Whale]]'') swimming in the ocean with Earth on it's back, a view held by most major traditional Islamic scholars on their Qur'an commentaries such as Al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, Al-Razi, Al Qurtubi etc.
These are discussed throughout the whole paper, and a summary can be found in pp.50-57. On heaven and hell specifically, the summary is on pp.55-57.</ref>


Separately, in the story of Gog and Magog, also linked to [[Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance|Dhul-Qarnayn/Alexander the Great]] and this tale, some Shi'i traditions locate the barrier (of Gog and Magog) either behind the Mediterranean, between the two mountains found there, whose rear part is the encircling sea/ocean of the world (Bahr al-muhit).<ref>van Donzel, Emeri; Schmidt, Andrea. ''Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam's Quest for Alexander's Wall.'' Leiden: Brill. pp. 81. <nowiki>ISBN 9789004174160</nowiki>, 2010. The full book can be read on the ''Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/gogandmagoginearlyeasternchristianandislamicsources/page/n98/mode/1up linked here].''</ref>
== Souls are taken away at night ==


As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, there are many classical scholars who have attributed the 'two seas' verses other than Moses reaching them (in Q18:60-65) as non-literal, in the sense that it is referring to the way that fresh water bodies of water are separate to the salty seas and oceans in general,<ref>Tafsir Ibn Kathir on [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/25.51 Verse 25:51.] </ref>usually by land.<ref>Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on verse [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Jalal/25.53 25:53]</ref> However once again it should be noted that it is not supported by the actual language of the Quran which designates the verse to be talking about two specific large bodies of water, rather than the many, many separate but unconnected bodies of fresh water across Earth. This view for example by Ibn Kathir seems supported by the fact that no-where on Earth has a sea with fresh water rather than a linguistic analysis (let alone there is no-where on Earth a freshwater sea touches a saltwater sea without merging).
The Qur'an (and traditional Islamic exegetes)<ref>See classical commentaries on these verses such as Al-Jalalayn on [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Jalal/39.42 Q39:42], [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Jalal/6.60 Q6:60] and Ibn Kathir on [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/39.41 Q39:41-2] and [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/6.60 Q6:60]</ref> state that the soul is taken away by Allah during the night.{{Quote|{{Quran|39|42}}|<b>Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those who have not died, in their sleep.</b> Then He retains those for whom He has ordained death and releases the others until a specified time. There are indeed signs in that for a people who reflect.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|6|60}}|<b>It is He who takes your souls by night,</b> and He knows what you do by day, then He reanimates you therein so that a specified term may be completed. Then to Him will be your return, whereat He will inform you concerning what you used to do.}}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) mentions sleep resembles death, and other Christian writers (such as Babai) wrote about sleep metaphorically Jesus's death and waking up like the resurrection;<ref>Tesei, Tommaso. (2016). "[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344524709_2_The_barzakh_and_the_Intermediate_State_of_the_Dead_in_the_Quran 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. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004301368_003</nowiki> (Open access)


{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/25.51 | title=Tafsir Ibn Kathir on Verse 25:51}}|(And it is He Who has let free the two seas, this is palatable and sweet, and that is salty and bitter;) means, He has created the two kinds of water, sweet and salty. The sweet water is like that in rivers, springs and wells, which is fresh, sweet, palatable water. This was the view of Ibn Jurayj and of Ibn Jarir, and this is the meaning without a doubt, <b>for nowhere in creation is there a sea which is fresh and sweet.</b>}}
''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”. 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.'' </ref> with this idea taken literally by Muhammad.


==== Folklore and maps ====
== Arguments for resurrection ==
Karen C. Pinto, a scholar who wrote a book on medieval Islamic maps, focusing on a distinct tradition of maps known collectively as the Book of Roads and Kingdoms (''Kitab al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik'', or KMMS)<ref>[https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo17703325.html ''Medieval Islamic Maps: An Exploration''.] Karen C. Pinto. Edition, illustrated. Publisher, University of Chicago Press, 2016. ISBN, 022612696X, 9780226126968</ref>, shows this view, known as the encircling ocean ([https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/al-bahr-al-muhit-SIM_1064 al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ]), was also part of Islamic folklore and art:
Reynolds (2020) notes the repeated argument that God can resurrect the dead using the analogy that he can bring life back to barren (or dead) land may be connected to  a Jewish tradition that God will resurrect the dead with dew, for example, in b. Shabbat 88b.<ref name=":2">See: Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: ''God in the Qur'an (pp. 76-77).'' Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.


{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1116&context=history_facpubs | title=In God's Eyes: The Sacrality of the Seas in the Islamic Cartographic Vision | author=Karen C.  Pinto | publisher=ESPACIO, TIEMPO Y FORMA Serie VII · historia del arte (n. época) | date=2017}}|...The crossing of this multivalent encircling sea is dangerous and forbidden to ordinary people because it separates the mundane earth from the heavenly cosmos. Only exceptional humans like Dhū ’l-Qarnayn (Alexander the Great), Khiḍr (the mythical green man), King Solomon and the perfect Sufi who has succeeded in extinguishing his individualistic identity can attempt such a crossing.
And Footnote 10: Reynolds, Gabriel Said. ''Allah: God in the Qur'an (p. 254).'' Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.</ref>
It is composed of a series of radical opposites best described as ‘conceptual
{{Quote|{{Quran|30|19}}|He 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].}}
malleability’. It is, on the one hand, the finite end of the world, and, on the other, infinite because no one can determine if or where it ends. The sense conveyed in geographical texts is either that it is infinite and connects with the cosmos as part of the seven encircling seas or that it skirts the mountains of Qāf that encircle and stabilize the earth. It is the quintessential transitional body between the mundane world of humans and the cosmos of the divine...}}


Images of this can be seen for free in her 2017 article [https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1116&context=history_facpubs ''In God's Eyes: The Sacrality of the Seas in the Islamic Cartographic Vision''] on P56 and P57.
Cf: {{Quran|16|65}}, {{Quran|43|11}}, {{Quran|50|6-11}}, {{Quran|57|17}}
== External links ==


* https://archive.wikiislam.net/wiki/Meeting_of_Fresh_and_Salt_Water_in_the_Quran - ''Previous archived Wikiislam page on the former site covering this 'miracle'''
==See Also==
* [https://atheism-vs-islam.com/index.php/scientific-mistakes-in-the-revelation/139-the-rain-model-in-muhammad-s-mind-covering-the-entire-islamic-cosmology,-including-the-flat-earth-concept The Rain Model in Muhammad's Mind] - ''an article on Islam Vs Atheism.com covering this topic and other water cycle related verses in the Quran and hadith''
*[[Pre-Islamic Arab Religion in Islam]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9Voh0xLLUw&t=105s Waters that Never mix] - ''YouTube video''


== References ==
* [[Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature|Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature - Part 1]]
* [[Historical Errors in the Quran]]
==References==
<references />

Latest revision as of 22:57, 1 December 2025

The Historical Jesus

Other Traditions

Intro

Alongside the main consensus from Biblical Scholars/Historians that Jesus was an eschatological preacher in the early first century AD who believed the Earth would end during his time (and therefore couldn't be the Muslim Jesus), there are many other of the most considered authentic teachings of Jesus that clash with Islam considering the message of Messenger Uniformitarianism (cite Durie - reuse 51 citation),[1] where all messengers from God/Allah are outside of minor variations said to essentially preach the same thing.

The Apostle and the faithful have faith in what has been sent down to him from his Lord. Each [of them] has faith in Allah, His angels, His scriptures and His apostles. [They declare,] ‘We make no distinction between any of His apostles.’ And they say, ‘We hear and obey. Our Lord, forgive us, and toward You is the return.’
Quran 2:285
“This was the sunnah [customary way] of Our messengers whom We sent before you, and you will find no change in Our sunnah”
Quran 17:77

cf: cf. Quran 6:112, Quran 35:43, Quran 22:78. We are explicitly told that messengers bring the same message from Allah: “Nothing is said to you but what has already been said to messengers before you” Quran 41:43. Durie (2018) notes The idea of the “same message” is further reinforced when the Qurʾan repeatedly states that the Messenger was only sent to confirm what was sent down by previous messengers (Q2:91, 97; Q3:3, 50; Q5:48; Q12:111; Q16:43–44; Q35:31), just as previous messengers had done for messengers that preceded them, for example, ʿĪsa¯ “confirmed” the Tawra¯ h of Mūsa¯(Q5:46), and the Qurʾan confirms the book(s) sent by previous prophets (Q4:47), just as the Messenger has been doing in his turn.[2]

• It is also explicitly asserted that messengers bring the same message

from Alla¯h: “Nothing is said to you but what has already been said to messengers before you” (Q41:43; Q22:78) and “we make no distinction between any of them” (Q2:136). They also preached the same dīn “commandment” or “religion” (Q42:13; cf. Q3:84; Q4:150), which is referred to as the “religion of Ibra¯hīm” (Q2:130; Q4:125; Q16:121–23). The validating function of this idea becomes clear when it is applied against a group of Jews who reject the concept of the “same message” because it would mean validating the Messenger. These Jews hold to their own faith, saying “we believe in what has been sent down on us,” but they reject the Messenger, or “anything after that” (Q2:91). The ruling against these Jews is that because they reject the Messenger, they are disbelievers, rejecting “what All a¯ h has sent down” (Q2:91).31 The idea of the “same message” is further reinforced when the Qurʾan repeatedly states that the Messenger was only sent to confirm what was sent down by previous messengers (Q2:91, 97; Q3:3, 50; Q5:48; Q12:111; Q16:43–44; Q35:31), just as previous messengers had done for messengers that preceded them, for example, ʿĪsa¯ “confirmed” the Tawra¯ h of Mūsa¯(Q5:46), and the Qurʾan

confirms the book(s) sent by previous prophets (Q4:47), just as the Messenger has been doing in his turn.
Durie, Mark. The Qur'an and it's Biblical Reflexes. pp.140

While the large differences between the New Testament / Gospels / Christian Jesus and the Muslim Jesus are clear to anyone who has read both the Qur'an and NT, (which takes from apocrypha considered inauthentic by NT scholars,[3] and later Christian thought/writings ) are too large to list here, and have lead to many Muslims arguing for biblical corruption based on theological grounds [textual grounds too - though don't affect authentic traditions] in general, a disputed idea (cite - Reynolds article. See also: Corruption of Previous Scriptures & Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Corruption of Previous Scriptures) a summary of some of the most likely authentic traditions from Biblical historians (using historical-critical methods not Christian or Muslim theologians - more likely to be true and not taken from bias or proving or disproving Islam but historical context, widespread across sources, early - cite Allison explanation - Why - different to time and context, unlikely to be fabricated later by Christians, across all early sources etc.) are shown here as an example of the clashes. [Point: not arguing against Christian Jesus - but secular historians one]

Examples

Given that we typically remember the outlines of an event or the general purport of a conversation rather than the particulars and that we extract patterns and meaning from our memories, it makes little sense to open the quest for Jesus by evaluating individual items with our criteria, in the hope that some bits preserve pristine memory. We should rather be looking for repeating patterns and contemplating the big picture. true. We should trust first, if we are to trust at all, what is most likely to be trustworthy. Although we may, after reading Thucydides, be confident that there was a Peloponnesian War, we may well wonder about many of the details of his account.

The larger the generalization and the more data upon which it is based, the greater our confidence; the more specific the detail and the fewer the data supporting it, the more room we have for doubt. With regard to the sources for Jesus, the traditional criteria of authenticity privilege the parts over the whole. It seems more prudent to privilege generalizations drawn from the whole than to concentrate upon one individual item after another. As a demonstration of how this works in practice, consider the following traditions:

• Jesus prohibited divorce: 1 Cor. 7:10; Mark 10:2-9; Luke 16:18. [Qur'an divorce rules - https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Khula]

• Jesus sent forth missionaries without staff, food, or money: Matt. 10:9-10; Mark 6:8-9; Luke 10:4.

• Jesus instructed missionaries to get their living by the gospel: 1 Cor. 9:14; Matt. 10:10; Luke 10:7.

• Jesus commanded loving and doing good to enemies: Matt. 5:38-48; Luke 6:27-36. [Qur'an do not be merciful to unbelievers https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur%27an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Non-Muslims & https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Kafir_(Infidel)#Guidelines_on_how_to_deal_with_disbelievers Quran 48:29 ]

• Jesus forbade judging others: Matt. 7:1-2; Luke 6:37-38.

• Jesus asked a prospective follower not to bury his father: Matt. 8:21-22; 22; Luke 959-60.

• Jesus spoke of hating one's father and mother: Matt. 10:37; Luke 14:26; Gospel of Thomas 55, 101. [respect parents - too tenuous]

• Jesus enjoined disciples to take up a cross: Matt. 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27.

• Jesus enjoined unlimited forgiveness: Matt. 18:21-22; Luke 17:3-4. [forgiveness against shirk - Qur'an says no Q4:48 and 4:116. ]

• Jesus exhorted hearers to lose their lives in order to save them: Matt. 10:39; Mark 8:35; Luke 17:33.

• Jesus called people away from their livelihoods: Mark 1:16-20; 2:14. [?]

• Jesus figuratively demanded violent removal of hand, foot, and eye: Mark 9:42-48.

• Jesus asked a wealthy man to relinquish his money: Mark 10:17-27. [bring in wealth inequality section of Islam darajat - here]

• Jesus forbade taking oaths: Matt. 5:33-37. [1]

• Jesus commanded money to be lent without interest: Matt. 5:42; Gospel of Thomas 95.

• Jesus called some to a life without marriage: Matt. 19:11-12. [Qur'an criticism of monasticism]

• Jesus asked a prospective follower not to say farewell to his parents: Luke 9:61-62. [respect parents?]

• Jesus asked his disciples to renounce all of their possessions: Luke 14:33"
Dale C. Allison Jr.. The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Kindle Locations 822-836). Kindle Edition.

--------------------------------------------------

[ highlight those being spoken about in italics or bold]

Dale/Allison (2009) notes that Jesus' banning divorce was an important teaching that stood out to early Christians, Luke 16:18, 1 Corinthians 7:10-16, Mark 10:2-9, in contrast to Judaism (Deuteronomy 24:1-4) and Islam e.g. Quran 2:228-232, Q65:1-7, (Q4:19 https://quranx.com/hadiths/4.19 & Q4:35), Q33:49 )

He notes that Jesus commanded loving and doing good to enemies in Matt. 5:38-48; Luke 6:27-36, while the Qur'an generally advises treating other Muslims well, it specifically states not to be merciful to unbelievers Q48:29. [ For more examples of not being merciful to unbelievers, let alone 'enemies' see: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur%27an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Non-Muslims & https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Kafir_(Infidel)#Guidelines_on_how_to_deal_with_disbelievers Quran 48:29 ]

• Jesus enjoined unlimited forgiveness: Matt. 18:21-22; Luke 17:3-4. [forgiveness against shirk - Qur'an says no Q4:48 and 4:116. - anyone who believed in him would/could be saved ]

He notes Jesus called some to a life without marriage: Matt. 19:11-12, while the Qur'an promotes it as a virtue encouraging those to do so.

Marriage is a virtue https://www.getquranic.com/marriage-in-islam-8-quranic-verses-about-marriage/

Marry off those who are single among you, and the upright among your male and female slaves. If they are poor, Allah will enrich them out of His grace, and Allah is all-bounteous, all-knowing.
Quran 24:32

And criticizes monasticism/monks, with celibacy and no marriage being a key aspect[4] in general

These verses critical of monks are often read together with Q 57:27, which, while praising certain positive qualities of Christians, also seems to accuse Christians of “innovating” monasticism: Then We sent, following in their footsteps, Our Messengers; and We sent, following, Jesus son of Mary, and gave unto him the Gospel. And We set in the hearts of those who followed him tenderness and mercy. And monasticism they invented—We did not prescribe it for them—only seeking the good pleasure of God; but they observed it not as it should be observed. So We gave those of them who believed their wage; and many of them are ungodly.
Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Christianity and the Qur'an: The Rise of Islam in Christian Arabia (pp. 131-132). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.


Criticism of monasticism (https://www.britannica.com/topic/monasticism) - lack of marriage for monks (though admittedly also praises monks in general elsewhere pp130-132)[5]

Then We sent on their footsteps Our Messengers and We followed with Isa, son (of) Maryam, and We gave him the Injeel. And We placed in (the) hearts (of) those who followed him compassion and mercy. But monasticism they innovated - not We prescribed it for them - only seeking (the) pleasure (of) Allah, but not they observed it (with) right observance. So We gave those who believed among them their reward, but most of them (are) defiantly disobediently.
Quran 57:27


-----------------------------------------------------------------

Father-son relationship

Working through the tradition in the way I suggest leads to a large number of conclusions. Jesus must have been an exorcist who interpreted his ministry in terms of Satan's downfall. He must have thought highly of John the Baptist. He must have repeatedly spoken of God as Father. [Durie differences in metaphor and understanding of relationship from Hebrew to Arab society = markedly different] He must have composed parables. He must have come into conflict with religious authorities. All of this may seem obvious, but the procedure is not trite, for it also issues in some controversial verdicts. As I have argued elsewhere, for example, ample, the quantity of conventional eschatological material in our primary sources almost necessitates that Jesus was an eschatological prophet.' The reconstruction of Robert Funk and the Jesus Seminar is for this reason alone problematic. Even more controversial is what my approach leads me to infer about Jesus' self-conception. Consider these Synoptic materials: • Jesus said that the Son of man will return on the clouds of heaven and send angels to gather the elect from throughout the world: Mark 13:26-27; cf. 14:62; Matt. 10:23 (allusions to Daniel 7's depiction of the last judgment are clear). [the son of man plays no part in Islam]
Dale C. Allison Jr.. The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Kindle Location 841-848). Kindle Edition.
Slave-master relationship

Father son Hebrew relationship Jesus used distinctly abandoned, instead using other things (other metaphors) in Arab society to describe the relationship between humans and God, such as a slave-master relationship,[6] a Patron - Protege (needs explanation of what this is) [7]. having strongly condemned the idea that God could have offspring against the unscripted pagans (mushrikun) taking angels as daughters of god, then against God having a son[8]

Slave analogy Dure Print edition pp108 - 110 summary:[9] Before its theological use, the Arabic root sh-r-k referred to ordinary partnership or shared ownership. The Qurʾan draws on this everyday meaning to illustrate why associating partners with God is impossible. Using the metaphor of a master and a slave, the Qurʾan argues that just as a slave with multiple masters suffers confusion and conflict, attributing partners to God creates an impossible and chaotic situation. This logic appears in verses such as Q39:29 and others that argue multiple gods would lead to conflict and the ruin of creation (Q23:91; Q21:22).[9]

Allah presents a parable, “a man was owned by several quarreling partners (shurakaʾ), and a man was the slave of (just) one man. Are the two equal?”
Quran 39:29

The Qurʾan’s use of the slave-master metaphor differs from Jesus’ teaching in the New Testament. Whereas Jesus uses it to highlight divided human devotion, the Qurʾan uses it to assert the logical impossibility of multiple divine authorities.[9]

No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Luke 16:13; cf. Matthew. 6:24

Shirk encompasses various forms of error: attributing partners or helpers to God, believing He needs allies, or seeking aid from others besides Him. The Qurʾan also explores God’s unity through three social analogies relevant to Arabian society: patron–protégé relationships, alliances of mutual help, and relationships of equal or unequal status.[9]

Patron–protégé relationships

The Qur'an distinctly ignores the father-son relationship (and theology) metaphor by using another term that is harder to translate

Explanation of what this is Durie pp.110-111:[10] The Qurʾan uses terms from the root w-l-y to describe patron–protégé relationships, alliances, and guardianship. The key term walī can mean ally, protector, guardian, or patron, and may indicate either symmetrical alliances or asymmetrical power relationships.[10][11]

In pre-Islamic Arab society, such patronage was essential for protection, as shown by the example of Muḥammad being safeguarded by his uncle Abū Ṭālib. Without a patron, a person was vulnerable.[10] [in the sirah of Ibn Ishaq]

The Qurʾan emphasizes that God has no need of any patron and that humans should recognize God alone as their walī. Seeking any protector besides God is considered shirk. Believers may take other believers and the Prophet as allies (awliyāʾ) alongside God, but not in place of Him.[10]

As the Muslim community developed, especially after what the passage calls the Eschatological Transition—the Qurʾan increasingly stressed exclusive allegiance to God. This served to detach believers from prior tribal or familial loyalties that could compromise their commitment to the faith community.[10]

- and calls for help-

Unequal status vs Jesus' views on Wealth

Sinai - darajah passage

And inequality in general - inc. the afterlife

Punishment narratives

Punishment BEFORE the day of judgement

We are told the sole exception in history was the unnamed town[12] of more than 100,000 people that the messenger Yūnus (Jonah) when the warning was heeded in full by the entire people, and therefore punishment averted (Quran 10:98, Quran 37:147-148) “no town believed . . . except the people of Yūnus”[13]


How many a town defied the command of its Lord and His apostles, then We called it to a severe account and punished it with a dire punishment.  Q65:8

So it tasted the evil consequences of its conduct, and the outcome of its conduct was ruin. Q65:9

How many generations that had far more wealth and ostentation have We laid low before them! <https://quranx.com/19.74>

Say, ‘Whoever abides in error, the All-beneficent shall prolong his respite until they sight what they have been promised: either punishment, or the Hour.’ Then they will know whose position is worse, and whose host is weaker <https://quranx.com/19.75> 

------

Q34:16 - flood of the damn of Yemen / Saba', the people of Sheba E.g. [14] Quran 34:14-16

And when We decreed for Solomon death, nothing indicated to the jinn his death except a creature of the earth eating his staff. But when he fell, it became clear to the jinn that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in humiliating punishment.

Certainly, (there) was for Saba in their dwelling place a sign: Two gardens on (the) right and (on the) left. "Eat from (the) provision (of) your Lord and be grateful to Him. A land good and a Lord Oft-Forgiving."

But they turned away, so We sent upon them (the) flood (of) the dam, and We changed for them their two gardens (with) two gardens producing fruit bitter, and tamarisks and (some)thing of lote trees few.
Quran 34:14-16

, Quran 65:8-9, Quran 19:74-75

Add: 34:15–21: The punishment of the people of Sheba, without explicit reference to a messenger. Sheba reference [15]

Surah 36

Similarly an unnamed town is sent three messengers in Quran 36:13-32, who's identities have differed in traditional Islamic scholarship,[16] are rejected and so are killed with a cry/shout (ṣayḥatan) (Quran 36:29). [17]

36:13–32: Described as a parable (mathal, v.13), but in outline very similar to the punishment-narratives. The messengers (two of them, reinforced with a third) and the town in which they preach are anonymous. ‘A man from the furthest part of the city’ (v.20) exhorts his people to follow the messengers.
Marshall, David. God, Muhammad and the Unbelievers (p. 72). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.

The Lote Tree of the utmost Boundary (Sid'rati al-Muntahā)

Lote tree's are a real type of tree (Ziziphus spina-christi) native to Arabia and the Middle East.[18] Different to the tree of eternity/immortality (shajarati ul-khul'di) in paradise jannah, the Qur'an mentions The Lote Tree (sidr) of the utmost boundary (al-muntahā)[19] near (but notably not in) the 'garden of abode', said to be 'covered' yaghshā by something unspecified in Q53:16, typically taken by exegetes to mean by angels, light and/or golden animals.[20]

And certainly he saw him (in) descent another,

Near (the) Lote Tree (of) the utmost boundary, Near it (is the) Garden (of) Abode. when there covered the Lote Tree what covered it.

Not swerved the sight and not it transgressed.
Quran 53:13-17

This furthest boundary/limit is said in the hadith, to place the cosmic tree in the sixth heaven, where even celestial creatures cannot go beyond as the limit of creation; said to be seen by Muhammad in his Night Journey (mi’rāj) on the Buraq (E.g. Sahih Muslim 1:329, Jami` at-Tirmidhi 5:44:3276, Sahih Bukhari 5:58:227 & Sunan an-Nasa'i 1:5:452), and by many Islamic exegetes.[21]

This would align the cosmology of Islamic traditions supporting the idea that paradise (and therefore the garden of the abode) is in the seventh heaven,[22] while some traditions support the idea that paradise is above the seventh heaven,[23] both placing the tree relatively close to jannah. However others suggest that this specific garden of the abode (jannatu l-mawā) is a separate garden/paradise to the eternal one all righteous Muslims will eventually enter, being instead one where martyrs (those killed in war or for their religion) go before judgement day.[24]

Either way there is no evidence of a celestial tree, which must be magic to survive outside of an Earthly plant ecosystem, but is rather an example of tree mythology.


(See also: https://sunnah.com/mishkat:5865 & https://sunnah.com/mishkat:5640, ) read; https://quranx.com/tafsirs/53.14 - exegetes also confirm this is where boundary is the boundary of the skies/heavens where things other than God cannot pass (at least until judgement day where paradise and hell can be entered).

AND Similarly seen next to the 4 main Near-East rivers (Nile, Euphratesm Tigres,) https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5610, which area said to flow from paradise: https://quranx.com/Hadith/Bukhari/USC-MSA/Volume-5/Book-58/Hadith-227/ )

cite: https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/107126/the-location-of-paradise-now#:~:text=Paradise%20that%20Allaah%20promised%20for,are%20many%20texts%20proving%20this.

The utmost boundary at the end of t heavens confirmed by exegetes in https://quranx.com/tafsirs/53.14


" Jannat al-ma'va' literally means "the Jannat (Garden) that is to be an abode. " Hadrat Hasan Basri says that this is the same Jannat which the believers and righteous will be given in the Hereafter, and from this same verse he has argued that that Jannat is in the heavens. Qatadah says that this is the Jannat in which the souls of the martyrs are kept; it does not imply the Jannat that is to be given in the Hereafter. Ibn 'Abbas also says the same but adds that the Jannat to be granted to the believers in the Hereafter is not in the heavens but here on the earth.

Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature - Part 2

Following on from Part 1, this is Part 2 of Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature found in the Qur'an. This material, drawing heavily on rabbinical commentaries on the bible, and late Syriac Christian thought found in homilies, was created far later than the biblical cannon; no-where near the time of the events that occurred. This suggests the stories were transmitted in an oral millennia along with local Arabian traditions[25] where biblical and much later Jewish and Christian stories could be commonly mixed without the new community realizing.

The story of Noah

The prophet Noah is portrayed extremely differently to the one in Genesis,[26] taking on Jewish and Christian traditions, characteristics, as well as terms from late antique Judeo-Christian writings,[27] molded to suit Muhammad's situation in line with other messengers in the Qur'an.[28]

The preaching of Noah

Surah 71 consists entirely of the preaching of Noah and his supplications to Allah.

Indeed, We sent Noah to his people, [saying], "Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment." He said, "O my people, indeed I am to you a clear warner, [Saying], 'Worship Allah, fear Him and obey me. Allah will forgive you of your sins and delay you for a specified term. Indeed, the time [set by] Allah, when it comes, will not be delayed, if you only knew.' "

[...]

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."
Quran 71:1-28

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.[29]

The 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)."[30]

Noah's disbelieving wife

Allah presents an example of those who disbelieved: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two of Our righteous servants but betrayed them, so those prophets did not avail them from Allah at all, and it was said, "Enter the Fire with those who enter."
Quran 66:10

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.[31]

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)[32] as "fountains". The Arabic verb translated "gushed forth" (fara فَارَ) means overflowed or boiled in the context of water in a cooking pot[33], as well as in the other verse where it is used, Quran 67:7. Here is Pickthall's more accurate translation:

(Thus it was) till, when Our commandment came to pass and the oven gushed forth water, We said: Load therein two of every kind, a pair (the male and female), and thy household, save him against whom the word hath gone forth already, and those who believe. And but a few were they who believed with him.
Quran 11:40
Then We inspired in him, saying: Make the ship under Our eyes and Our inspiration. Then, when Our command cometh and the oven gusheth water, introduce therein of every (kind) two spouses, and thy household save him thereof against whom the Word hath already gone forth. And plead not with Me on behalf of those who have done wrong. Lo! they will be drowned.
Quran 23:27

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,[34] 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.

Meanwhile, Ham's wife stood up to take out the bread that remained in the oven and immediately water sprang out of the oven [fāḍa l-māʾmin al-tannūr] and immediately water came out of the oven, as the Lord had said: "The fountains of the great deeps were opened." Ham's wife called to Noah, saying, "My lord, the word of God has come true (Syr. what God promised has come true!)" - for it had come true just as the Lord had promised her. When Noah heard Ham's wife's words, he said to her, "Oh, the flood has come."
Pseudo. Hippolytus of Rome (translated to English from Mongellaz's French translation)[34]

Noah's ark left behind as a sign

And We carried him on a [construction of] planks and nails, Sailing under Our observation as reward for he who had been denied. And We left it as a sign, so is there any who will remember?
Quran 54:13-15

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).[35] 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.[35]

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)[36] does not have a parallel in the bible,[37] but does in other Judeo-Christian (later) works.[38] 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.[39] 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.[40]

We have bestowed Our favour on you before this, When We told your mother what We relate: 'Put him in a wooden box and cast it in the river. The river will cast it on the bank. An enemy of Ours, and his, will retrieve it.' We bestowed Our love on you that you may be reared under Our eyes.
Quran 20:37-39

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.[41] Moses's salvation from persecution after manslaughter is commemorated with similar consideration of Moses’s mental condition.[42]

When your sister walked up [to Pharaoh’s palace] saying, “Shall I show you someone who will take care of him?” Then We restored you to your mother, that she might not grieve and be comforted. Then you slew a soul, whereupon We delivered you from anguish, and We tried you with various ordeals. Then you stayed for several years among the people of Midian. Then you turned up as ordained, O Moses!
Quran 20:40

Moses not suckled by Egyptians

And We had prevented from him [all] wet nurses before, so she said, "Shall I direct you to a household that will be responsible for him for you while they are to him [for his upbringing] sincere?" So We restored him to his mother that she might be content and not grieve and that she would know that the promise of Allah is true. But most of the people do not know.
Quran 28:12-13

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)"[43]

Moses's speech impediment

Moses has some kind of speech impediment when going to speak to Pharaoh in the Qurʾān.

"Go to Pharaoh. Indeed, he has transgressed."( Moses) said: "O, my Lord! Expand me my breast,” ease my task for me, And untie the knot from my tongue, so they may understand what I say.”
Quran 20:24-28

Biblical Scholar James Kugel (1997)[44] 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:[45]

"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.[46]

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.[47]

The Drowning of Pharaoh

And We took the Children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his soldiers pursued them in tyranny and enmity until, when drowning overtook him, he said, "I believe that there is no deity except that in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the Muslims." Now? And you had disobeyed [Him] before and were of the corrupters? So today We will save you in body that you may be to those who succeed you a sign. And indeed, many among the people, of Our signs, are heedless
Quran 10:90-92

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)"[48]

Arguments for resurrection

Reynolds (2020) notes the repeated argument that God can resurrect the dead using the analogy that he can bring life back to barren (or dead) land may be connected to a Jewish tradition that God will resurrect the dead with dew, for example, in b. Shabbat 88b.[49]

He 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].
Quran 30:19

Cf: Quran 16:65, Quran 43:11, Quran 50:6-11, Quran 57:17

Late antique Christian Martyrdom

Main Article: Shaheed (Martyr)

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.[50]

Textual overlap

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, however Sinai (2017) notes alongside similar ideas and theology, there are some direct textual references.

That the Qur’anic community’s access to Biblical notions of militancy was mediated by late antique Christian discourse is indicated by an intriguing intertextual overlap. According to Q 3: 169–170, those who have been ‘killed in the path of God’ are not dead but ‘alive with their Lord’, rather than having to spend the remaining time until the Resurrection in a state of slumber (similarly Q 2: 154).39 Tor Andrae has pointed out that the phrase ‘alive with their Lord’ (ayāun inda rabbihim) corresponds exactly to the Syriac phrase h. ayyē lwāth alāhā, which a sixth-century Syriac Christian writer (Mar Ishay) applies to the martyrs.40 Furthermore, Mar Ishay contrasts the true fate of the martyrs with unfounded prior opinion: ‘they are believed to be already dead’.41 The same contrast is found in the two Qur’anic passages just cited.42 It could be objected that the parallel demonstrates merely that the Qur’an is familiar with the widespread Christian idea that martyrs are granted prompt access to paradise but that this does not establish a Christian precedent for the Qur’anic application of this idea specifically to those who actively enact – rather than just suffer – violence. However, as Sizgorich reminds us, a Christian martyr was by no means seen merely as a passive victim of persecution but rather as someone who actively ‘defeats the power of the Roman state’.43
Sinai, Nicolai. Qur'an: A Historical-Critical Introduction (The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys) (pp. 301-302). Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.
And never think of those who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision
Quran 3:169
Do not say that those who are killed in the way of God, are dead, for indeed they are alive, even though you are not aware.
Quran 2:154

Martyrs sidestep judgement day

After death, humans are typically said to spend their time in an intermediate state known to traditional Islamic scholars as the barzakh while they wait.[51] However, as in the above verses, one exception to this rule is Martyrs being with God straight away rather than being judged at judgment day, a non-biblical idea having parallels with late antique Christian thought.

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.. [52] 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…"[53] He notes these similarities are likely caused by being on the fringes of the Roman empire.[54]

Martyrdom wipes away other sins and is privileged above other acts from believers

The teaching on the glory earned by martyrs is widespread in the early church. It is nevertheless telling to find the way it is emphasized in the third-century Christian text the aforementioned Didascalia Apostolorum, originally written in Greek but preserved in Syriac.87 The Didascalia clearly teaches that the martyrs will have a privilege above other faithful believers: If then He raises up all men,—as He said by Isaiah: All flesh shall see the salvation of God [Isa 40.5; 52.10],—much more will He quicken and raise up the faithful; and (yet more) again will He quicken and raise up the faithful of the faithful, who are the martyrs, and establish them in great glory and make them His counsellors. For to mere disciples, those who believe in Him, He has promised a glory as of the stars [Dan 12.3]; but to the martyrs He has promised to give an everlasting glory, as of the luminaries which fail not, with more abundant light, that they may be shining for all time.88

The Didascalia is also clear, as is the Qur’an, that martyrs enjoy a special grace through the forgiveness of sins that their deaths have earned for them: But again, sins are forgiven by baptism also to those who from the Gentiles draw near and enter the holy Church of God. Let us inquire also, to whom sins are not imputed. To such as Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs, as also to the martyrs. Let us hear then, brethren, for the Scripture saith: Who shall boast himself and say: I am clear of sins? Or who shall be confident and say: I am innocent? [Prov 20.9].

And again: There is no man pure of defilement: not though his life be but one day [Job 14.4–5 LXX]. To everyone therefore who believes and is baptized his … former sins have been forgiven; but after baptism also, provided that he has not sinned a deadly sin nor been an accomplice (thereto), but has heard only, or seen, or spoken, and is thus guilty of sin. But if a man go forth from the world by martyrdom for the name of the Lord, blessed is he; for brethren who by martyrdom have gone forth from this world, of these the sins are covered.89

We might compare Q 3:195: “ ‘And those who emigrated, and were expelled from their habitations, those who suffered hurt in My way, and fought, and were slain—them I shall surely acquit of their evil deeds, and I shall admit them to gardens underneath which rivers flow.’ A reward from God! And God with Him is the fairest reward” (italics added). In other words, the Qur’an seems to be well aware of Christian devotion to the martyrs.
Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Christianity and the Qur'an: The Rise of Islam in Christian Arabia (pp. 178-179). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.

Martyrdom in the Torah and Gospels

Muslims who fight are promised paradise, which the Qur'an claims is also a promise in the Torah and Gospel.

Indeed Allah has bought from the faithful their souls and their possessions for paradise to be theirs: they fight in the way of Allah, kill, and are killed. A promise binding upon Him in the Torah and the Evangel and the Quran. And who is truer to his promise than Allah? So rejoice in the bargain you have made with Him, and that is the great success.
Quran 9:111

Nickel (2020)[55] and Reynolds (2018) however notes that this is not found there:

"9:111 The point of this verse is that those who are prepared to give their lives to God in the holy war are promised paradise as a payment for their services (cf. 2:245; 4:74; 61:10–12). The idea that the martyrs have a special assurance of paradise follows from the Qurʾān’s teaching elsewhere that the act of martyrdom involves forgiveness of sin. This teaching is close to that of the Syriac fathers (see commentary on 2:154, with further references). It is curious that the Qurʾān insists that the promise of heaven for holy warriors is found in the Torah and the Gospel (or “Evangel”); heaven is not found in the Torah and holy war is not found in the Gospels...
Reynolds, G. S. (2018). The Qur'an and the Bible: Text and Commentary. Commentary on 9:111 (pp. 322) United Kingdom: Yale University Press.

While his commentary on 2:154 (pp. 76) once again highlights the Syriac parallel:

"As Tor Andrae has shown (Les origines de l’islam et le christianisme, 161ff.), the idea that martyrdom involves the absolution of sins is prominent in Syriac Christian texts such as the third-century Didascalia (chap. 20) and the Treaty on the Martyrs of Mar Isaï (d. late sixth cen.); the latter text also insists—much like the Qurʾān—that the martyrs are “living”: The true martyrs who, by way of a death that covers their sins, demonstrate even more the beauty of their deeds and receive this glorious inheritance by virtue of their blood. By leaving this life they have prepared for their souls an honorable abode in paradise. It was thought that they are already dead, but by their death they have killed their sin, and they are alive with God. (Mar Isaï, Treaty on the Martyrs, 32)

Further Martyrdom Influence

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).[56] 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.[57]

V. 72–73 qālū lan nuʾthiraka ʿalā mā jāʾanā mina l-bayyināti wa-lladhī faṭaranā fa-qḍi mā anta qāḍin innamā taqḍī hādhihi l-ḥayāta l-dunyā / innā āmannā birabbinā li-yaghfira lanā khaṭāyānā wa-mā akrahtanā ʿalayhi mina l-siḥri wallāhu khayrun wa-abqā] Conversion scene as later in Q 26:50–51. The sorcerers renounce their allegiance to Pharaoh on the basis of the obvious evidence (bayyināt) and give preference to the Creator God, they submit to their worldly fate and hope for the forgiveness of their sins and what they have been forced to do by the ruler—they are a role model for the community, which is also subject to pressure from outside. The request for forgiveness of sins before a violent death is a topos of Christian martyr stories. The entire scene, leaving the context of ‘ancient’ Egypt, reflects the notion of Christian martyrdom stories. Khaṭāyā (singular khaṭīʾa) also lets a Syriac terminus technicus ring through, but the word can be derived from the Arabic root KhṬʿ (“to miss a goal”) (see FVQ, 123ff.). The idea of the forgiveness of sins is prominent in the Christian liturgy—not only through the Lord’s Prayer. In addition to khaṭīʾa, there is the genuine Arabic dhanb, dhunūb.
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.

Expansions on the afterlife

Reynolds (2020) notes the Qur’ans provides vivid depictions of hell are highly unlike the New Testament, where Jesus refers to afterlife punishment mostly allusively. The closest the Gospels describe hell is through the few images of “fire,” “wailing,” and “gnashing of teeth.”, for example in Matthew’s Parable of the Weeds, Jesus explains that at the end of the age, the Son of Man will send his angels that will cast evildoers into a fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:40–42).[58] He notes the much more constant an vivid Qur'anic descriptions far better match later Christian works that expanded the descriptions to be more gruesome, in order to scare the reader/audience.[59]

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.15
Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (pp. 82-83). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.

Sinai (2017) in his paper titled "The Eschatological Kerygma of the Early Qur’an" notes many overlap with Syriac Homilies on the afterlife as well as other apocalyptic ideas and terminology.[60]

Souls are taken away at night

The Qur'an (and traditional Islamic exegetes)[61] state that the soul is taken away by Allah during the night.

Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those who have not died, in their sleep. Then He retains those for whom He has ordained death and releases the others until a specified time. There are indeed signs in that for a people who reflect.
Quran 39:42
It is He who takes your souls by night, and He knows what you do by day, then He reanimates you therein so that a specified term may be completed. Then to Him will be your return, whereat He will inform you concerning what you used to do.
Quran 6:60

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) mentions sleep resembles death, and other Christian writers (such as Babai) wrote about sleep metaphorically Jesus's death and waking up like the resurrection;[62] with this idea taken literally by Muhammad.

Arguments for resurrection

Reynolds (2020) notes the repeated argument that God can resurrect the dead using the analogy that he can bring life back to barren (or dead) land may be connected to a Jewish tradition that God will resurrect the dead with dew, for example, in b. Shabbat 88b.[49]

He 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].
Quran 30:19

Cf: Quran 16:65, Quran 43:11, Quran 50:6-11, Quran 57:17

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Durie, Mark. The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. 135-142)  (pp. 281-294 Kindle Edition). 5.3 Messenger Uniformitarianism. Lexington Books. 2018.
  2. ↑ Durie, Mark. The Qur'an and it's Biblical Reflexes. pp.140
  3. ↑ Sanders, E.. The Historical Figure of Jesus (pp. 78-79). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition. ..(Gnosticism was a world view that held everything material to be evil; the god who created the world was a bad god, and the creation was wicked. Gnostics who were also Christians held that the good God had sent Jesus to redeem people’s souls, not their bodies, and that Jesus was not a real human being. The Christians who objected to these views finally declared them heretical.) I share the general scholarly view that very, very little in the apocryphal gospels could conceivably go back to the time of Jesus. They are legendary and mythological. Of all the apocryphal material, only some of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas are worth consideration. This does not mean that we can make a clean division: the historical four gospels versus the legendary apocryphal gospels. There are legendary traits in the four gospels in the New Testament, and there is also a certain amount of newly created material (as we saw just above)..
  4. ↑ Monasticism | religion | Britannica Entry
  5. ↑ Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Christianity and the Qur'an: The Rise of Islam in Christian Arabia (pp. 130-132). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
  6. ↑ Durie, Mark. The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. XX-XX)  (pp. 107-110 Kindle Edition). 4.1.1. Shirk - Proprietary Partnership. Lexington Books. 2018.
  7. ↑ Durie, Mark. The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. XX-XX)  (pp. 110-111 Kindle Edition). 4.1.2. Shirk - Patron - Protege Relationships. Lexington Books. 2018.
  8. ↑ Durie, Mark. The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. XX-XX)  (pp. 112-113 Kindle Edition). 4.1.5 A Polemical Doctrine. Lexington Books. 2018.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Durie, Mark. The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. 108-110)  (pp. XX-XX Kindle Edition). 4.1.5 A Polemical Doctrine. Lexington Books. 2018.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Durie, Mark. The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. 110-111)  (pp. XX-XX Kindle Edition). 4.1.5 A Polemical Doctrine. Lexington Books. 2018.
  11. ↑ Root: wāw lām yā (و ل ي) - Lane's Lexicon Qur'anic Research See Lane's Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary pp.3060 & pp.3061
  12. ↑ Unnamed in the Qur'an, though identified as Nineveh (in modern day Iraq) as in the Biblical "Book of Jonah" by Islamic exegetes; e.g. see tafsirs on Q37:147
  13. ↑ Durie, Mark. 2018. The Qur'an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations Into the Genesis of a Religion. pp 49. Kindle Edition pp 151.
  14. ↑ See tafsirs on Q34:14, Q34:15 & Q34:16
  15. ↑ Marshall, David. God, Muhammad and the Unbelievers (p. 73). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.
  16. ↑ E.g. see commentaries on Q36:13 & Q36:14, and the later verses in the story, cited as a parable (mathal).
  17. ↑ Marshall, David. God, Muhammad and the Unbelievers (p. 63 & 72). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.
  18. ↑ Lote Tree | Sidr | Ziziphus spina-christi | Plants of the Qur'an | Sue Wickison
  19. ↑ مُنْتَهَىٰ - Lane's Lexicon pp.3029
  20. ↑ E.g. see Tafsirs on Q53:16
  21. ↑ See tafsirs on Q53:14
  22. ↑ Where is Paradise | Where Are Paradise and Hell? | 07/January/2015 islamqa
  23. ↑ The location of Paradise now | Paradise and Hell | Belief in the Hereafter | Islamic Creed | Fatwa | islamweb.net
  24. ↑ E.g. see tafsirs on Q53:15
  25. ↑ Bannister, Andrew G.. An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur'an (Kindle Location 249-259 in Chapter 1.2 The Biblicist Roots of the Iblis and Adam Story). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition. ..When the Qur’an emerged in the seventh-century, it did so in an oral culture in which Biblicist traditions were freely circulating and thus there existed a large pool of commonly known stories and traditions to fish from; a pool in which stories could cross-fertilize and influence one another. 23 It is this, more than direct borrowing that perhaps best explains stories like Iblis and Adam as well as other qur’anic tellings of older tales, such as the Seven Sleepers (Q. 18: 9– 25) 24 and the Legend of Alexander (Dhu al-Qarnayn, Q. 18: 83– 101). 25 The Qur’an originates from a milieu in which Biblicist material was well-known to the first audience of the Qur’an; even a simple allusion to a story was often enough to trigger a connection for the hearer. 26 That Biblicist material has been filtered through storytelling rather than simply copied from a written text is further suggested by what the Qur’an leaves out; no minor prophets are referenced, probably because almost no Old Testament narratives feature them nor did the rabbinic literature weave lengthy tales about them. 27 The exception which proves the rule is Jonah (Q. 21: 87– 88; 37: 139– 148; 68: 48– 50), whose short but dramatic story was extremely popular in both Jewish and Christian contexts.28.. And: Bannister, Andrew G.. An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur'an (Kindle Locations 1391-1392. Chapter 2.3 The Islamic Tradition and Orality). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
  26. ↑ Segovia, Carlos A.. The Quranic Noah and the Making of the Islamic Prophet: A Study of Intertextuality and Religious Identity Formation in Late Antiquity, Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110405897
  27. ↑ The Qur'anic Noah. pp.21-21
  28. ↑ The Qurʾan and its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion. Chapter 5.3 Messenger Uniformatism. pp.135-143 By Mark Durie. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018.
  29. ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible p. 858
  30. ↑ 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.
  31. ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible p. 841
  32. ↑ Lane's Lexicon p. 318 تَّنُّورُ
  33. ↑ Lane's Lexicon p. 2457 فور
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 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
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 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.
  36. ↑ 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.
  37. ↑ Moses and the Holy Valley Ṭuwan: On the biblical and midrashic background of a qurʾānic scene. Rubin 2014. Ibid. pp. 75.
  38. ↑ Ibid. pp. 76-78
  39. ↑ 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.
  40. ↑ The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect Ibid. pp. 201.
  41. ↑ Ibid. pp. 201-202.
  42. ↑ Ibid. pp. 202.
  43. ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible p. 598
  44. ↑ Kugel, James L.. The Bible As It Was (Kindle Edition. pp. 432-433). Harvard University Press.
  45. ↑ Ibid. pp. 432 - 433 (Kindle Edition)
  46. ↑ Ibid. pp. 433 - 434 (Kindle Edition)
  47. ↑ 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.
  48. ↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾān and Bible p. 339
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 See: Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (pp. 76-77). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. And Footnote 10: Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (p. 254). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
  50. ↑ 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
  51. ↑ Reynolds, Gabriel Said. 2020. Allah: God in the Qur'an (p. 71-72). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. It is also the same term used for the barrier between the living and the dead (whilst awaiting judgement day) in the Qur'an, e.g. Quran 23:99-100
  52. ↑ Ibid. (Kindle Edition. pp. 299).
  53. ↑ Ibid. (Kindle Edition. pp. 301).
  54. ↑ Ibid. (Kindle Edition. pp. 301).
  55. ↑ Nickel, Gordon D. The Quran with Christian Commentary: A Guide to Understanding the Scripture of Islam (p. 222). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition. 9.111 – They fight in the way of God, and they kill and are killed When the Quran describes believers as fighting “in the way of Allah,” it makes a theological claim by associating Allah with human fighting. See the analysis of these expressions at 73.20 (p. 597). 9.111 – a promise binding on Him in the Torah, and the Gospel, and the Qur’ān This is the only verse in the Quran that brings the Torah (tawrāt), Gospel (injīl), and qur’ān (lit. “recitation”) together. The Quran claims here that the particular point on which the Torah and Gospel agree with the Muslim recitation is that believers “fight in the way of Allah, and they kill and are killed.” This verse makes the reader question whether the Quran has a clear idea of the contents of the Torah and Gospel. A similar question is raised by 61.14, which appears to say that ‘Īsā and his disciples fought against their enemies (cf. 3.52). Along with these misunderstandings, the Quran gives no information about the peaceable teaching and example of Jesus in the Gospel accounts. See the analysis of the Quran’s verses on the “Gospel” at 57.27 (p. 549). Do the Torah and Gospel in fact contain such a promise? See the comment on this characterization of the Bible at 61.14 (p. 566).
  56. ↑ 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.
  57. ↑ Ibid. pp. 251-252
  58. ↑ Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (pp. 81-82). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
  59. ↑ Ibid. pp. 88. 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.
  60. ↑ “The Eschatological Kerygma of the Early Qur’an”, Nicolai Sinai, in Apocalypticism and Eschatology in Late Antiquity: Encounters in the Abrahamic Religions, 6th–8th Centuries, edited by Hagit Amirav, Emmanouela Grypeou, and Guy Stroumsa, Leuven: Peeters, 2017, 219–266. These are discussed throughout the whole paper, and a summary can be found in pp.50-57. On heaven and hell specifically, the summary is on pp.55-57.
  61. ↑ See classical commentaries on these verses such as Al-Jalalayn on Q39:42, Q6:60 and Ibn Kathir on Q39:41-2 and Q6:60
  62. ↑ 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) 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”. 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.
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