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Organization of the Quran: Difference between revisions
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===Meccan Surahs=== | ===Meccan Surahs=== | ||
The traditional Islamic narrative postulates that the Meccan suras were revealed while the Ummah was in Mecca, before the Hijrah, when the [[Ummah]] was weak. | The traditional Islamic narrative postulates that the Meccan suras were revealed while the [[Ummah]] was in Mecca, before the Hijrah, when the [[Ummah]] was weak. The surahs classified by the traditional scholars as "Meccan" are generally pacifist and tolerant, though some threats against unbelievers of hell fire are still made. | ||
===Medinan Surahs=== | ===Medinan Surahs=== | ||
After the Hijrah, Muslim history puts the | After the Hijrah, Muslim history puts the Muslim community in Medina. The Medinan Muslims were strong and willing to use force against any opponents. The Medinan Surahs reflect this in the harshness of their tone, with repeated threats of and calls to physical violence against unbelievers in this world. | ||
==Secular Critical Scholarship== | |||
Recently, some critical scholars such as Christoph Luxenberg and Gabriel Said Reynolds have postulated that the original core material of the Quran was Christian, used by Aramaic-speaking Christian missionaries, priests and laity. Luxenberg, in particular, believes that many of these surahs were, in fact, originally written in a literay dialect of Aramaic known as Syriac, and that this Syriac material was later Arabacized. Other surahs show Syriac influence, having been apparently composes in an Aramaic-Arabic "Mischsprache" or mixed-language. The particulars of Luxenberg's thesis have been torn apart by scholars since he published it, but the general idea that a Syriac "Qeryana" or lectionary was the core of the Quran has gained more respect in the scholarly community since that time. | |||
{{Core Scripture}} | {{Core Scripture}} | ||