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Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature: Difference between revisions
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Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature (view source)
Revision as of 12:46, 27 October 2024
, 27 October→The Rich Man and the Poor Man: Added intertextual parallels (and some ideological/theology one's) for Late antique Martyrdom with post biblical Christian writers by Nicolai Sinai.
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(→Possible Channels and Circulation of Stories: Added a final parallel, and linked the 'pre-Islamic Arab Religion in Islam' as a main article into a relevant section.) |
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{{Quote|Reyhan Durmaz. Stories between Christianity and Islam: Saints, Memory, and Cultural Exchange in Late Antiquity and Beyond. (pp. 78.) University of California Press (2022)|The eschatological reversal of fate was certainly a common theme in ancient | {{Quote|Reyhan Durmaz. Stories between Christianity and Islam: Saints, Memory, and Cultural Exchange in Late Antiquity and Beyond. (pp. 78.) University of California Press (2022)|The eschatological reversal of fate was certainly a common theme in ancient | ||
and late antique mythology,<sup>60</sup> including the Palestinian Talmud where we find a similar tale about a rich tax collector and a poor Torah scholar whose fates are reversed after their deaths.<sup>61</sup> As summarized above, the quranic version is relatively close to the Lucan story in its plot, for which we find a long and rich homiletic tradition. Basil of Caesarea (d. 379), Gregory of Nyssa (d. 394), Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 390), Jerome (d. 420), and Jacob of Sarug (d. 521), among others, have homilies on the Rich Man and Lazarus.<sup>62</sup> Moreover, the Quran displays considerable knowledge of the Lucan passage 16:19–31,63 as well as other parts of the Gospel of Luke.<sup>64</sup> It is likely that this knowledge was also reflected in Q18. It is worth noting that again in the Gospel of Luke there is one more story in which the fates of a rich man and a poor man are reversed (18:9–14), and just like the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, this passage was interpreted in the homiletic tradition.<sup>65</sup>}} | and late antique mythology,<sup>60</sup> including the Palestinian Talmud where we find a similar tale about a rich tax collector and a poor Torah scholar whose fates are reversed after their deaths.<sup>61</sup> As summarized above, the quranic version is relatively close to the Lucan story in its plot, for which we find a long and rich homiletic tradition. Basil of Caesarea (d. 379), Gregory of Nyssa (d. 394), Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 390), Jerome (d. 420), and Jacob of Sarug (d. 521), among others, have homilies on the Rich Man and Lazarus.<sup>62</sup> Moreover, the Quran displays considerable knowledge of the Lucan passage 16:19–31,63 as well as other parts of the Gospel of Luke.<sup>64</sup> It is likely that this knowledge was also reflected in Q18. It is worth noting that again in the Gospel of Luke there is one more story in which the fates of a rich man and a poor man are reversed (18:9–14), and just like the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, this passage was interpreted in the homiletic tradition.<sup>65</sup>}} | ||
== Late antique Christian Martyrdom == | |||
Durie (2018) notes the violence of the Qur'an shares more commonality with contemporary late antique religious (primarily Christian) violence and warfare rather than being directly biblically based.<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> | |||
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'',<ref>Thomas Sizgorich. ''Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity: Militant Devotion in Christianity and Islam (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion).'' 2008. University of Pennsylvania Press.</ref> 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.}} | |||
See also {{Quran|2|154}}. | |||
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> | |||
{{Quote|Sinai, Nicolai. Qur'an: A Historical-Critical Introduction (The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys) (p. 302). Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.|"..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.<sup>45</sup> 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…"}} | |||
He notes these similarities are likely caused by being on the fringes of the Roman empire.<ref>Ibid. (Kindle Edition. pp. 301).</ref> | |||
== Parallels in the hadith == | == Parallels in the hadith == | ||