Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature: Difference between revisions

Julien Decharneux, an academic scholar who specialises in Syriac traditions and the Quran, proposes that the Quranic author(s) came into contact with East Syriac Christian preachers or missionaries rather than direct accessing Christian texts. In his book ''Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur'ān and Its Late Antique Background'', Decharneux explains that the repetoire of texts that would have contributed to the thought of a "standard Christian preacher" at the turn of the 7th century would vary depending on church affiliation, "but it involves among other things the Bible, apocryphal texts, exegetical commentaries, and ascetic literature. These types of texts were not ''occasionally'' read. The sources attest that they were ''omnipresent'' in the Christian scholastic and monastic life from where a 'standard preacher' would have come". Indeed, he adds, "both Syriac ''and'' Greek exegetes were extremely popular".<ref>Julien Decharneux (2023) "Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur'ān and Its Late Antique Background", Berlin/Boston: DeGruyter, pp. 10-11</ref>