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| Witztum cites other stanzas from the same poem which are somewhat reflective of Abel's passivity in verses 28-29 of the Quranic passage. He finds closer parallels on this point in the other Syriac sources mentioned above.<ref>Joseph Witztum, ''Syriac Millieu'' pp. 132-33</ref> Also very important is that there are various lexical correspondances between the Arabic and Syriac vocabulary used in the Quranic passage and its Syriac precursors.<ref>Joseph Witztum, ''Syriac Millieu'' pp. 143-44</ref> | | Witztum cites other stanzas from the same poem which are somewhat reflective of Abel's passivity in verses 28-29 of the Quranic passage. He finds closer parallels on this point in the other Syriac sources mentioned above.<ref>Joseph Witztum, ''Syriac Millieu'' pp. 132-33</ref> Also very important is that there are various lexical correspondances between the Arabic and Syriac vocabulary used in the Quranic passage and its Syriac precursors.<ref>Joseph Witztum, ''Syriac Millieu'' pp. 143-44</ref> |
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| ==Abraham Becomes a Monotheist==
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| === His conversion ===
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| The Quran tells a story in which Abraham converts to monotheism after pondering the heavenly bodies and realising that Allah has power over them all. This is in fact a development of a Judeo-Christian exegetical tradition inspired by a couple of Biblical verses.
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| {{Quote|{{Quran-range|6|74|83}}|And [mention, O Muhammad], when Abraham said to his father Azar, "Do you take idols as deities? Indeed, I see you and your people to be in manifest error." And thus did We show Abraham the realm of the heavens and the earth that he would be among the certain [in faith] So when the night covered him [with darkness], he saw a star. He said, "This is my lord." But when it set, he said, "I like not those that disappear." And when he saw the moon rising, he said, "This is my lord." But when it set, he said, "Unless my Lord guides me, I will surely be among the people gone astray." And when he saw the sun rising, he said, "This is my lord; this is greater." But when it set, he said, "O my people, indeed I am free from what you associate with Allah. Indeed, I have turned my face toward He who created the heavens and the earth, inclining toward truth, and I am not of those who associate others with Allah." And his people argued with him. He said, "Do you argue with me concerning Allah while He has guided me? And I fear not what you associate with Him [and will not be harmed] unless my Lord should will something. My Lord encompasses all things in knowledge; then will you not remember? And how should I fear what you associate while you do not fear that you have associated with Allah that for which He has not sent down to you any authority? So which of the two parties has more right to security, if you should know? They who believe and do not mix their belief with injustice - those will have security, and they are [rightly] guided. And that was Our [conclusive] argument which We gave Abraham against his people. We raise by degrees whom We will. Indeed, your Lord is Wise and Knowing.}}
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| Reynolds notes that this passage develops a Jewish and Christian exegetical tradition, in turn inspired by [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2015&version=NIV Genesis 15:4-5] where God tells Abraham that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars, and [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%204&version=NIV Deuteronomy 4:19] where the people of Israel are told not to worship the heavenly bodies.<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds, ''The Qurʾān and Bible'' pp. 231-2</ref> An early form of the story is found in the ''Book of Jubilees'' (generally dated not long before the Dead Sea Scrolls, c. 100 BCE, among which fragments of the book are found, and contains contemporary ex-eventu prophecies). Here, Abraham had turned to the stars, moon and sun, seeking in them signs of rainfall for the coming year:
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| {{Quote|[https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/jub/jub30.htm Jubilees 12:16-18]|16. And in the sixth week, in the fifth year thereof, Abram sat up throughout the night on the new moon of the seventh month to observe the stars from the evening to the morning, in order to see what would be the character of the year with regard to the rains, and he was alone as he sat and observed. 17. And a word came into his heart and he said: "All the signs of the stars, and the signs of the moon and of the sun are all in the hand of the Lord. Why do I search (them) out? 18. If He desireth, He causeth it to rain, morning and evening; And if He desireth, He withholdeth it, And all things are in His hand."}}
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| In the ''Apocalypse of Abraham'', which Reynolds describes as "a work of Jewish origin, generally dated to first or second century AD", Abraham narrates in his own voice that he thought these heavenly bodies were gods but changed his mind because they set at night or could be obscured by clouds. This is noticably closer to the Quranic version.
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| {{Quote|Apocalypse of Abraham 7:8-9<ref>"The Apocalypse of Abraham" translated by Alexander Kulik, 2005, https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/kuliktranslation.html ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220516014629/https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/kuliktranslation.html archive])</ref>|7:8 [So] I would call the sun nobler than the earth, since with its rays it illumines the inhabited world and the various airs. 7:9 But I would not make it into a god either, since its course is obscured [both] at night [and] by the clouds. 7:10 Nor, again, would I call the moon and the stars gods, since they too in their times at night can darken their light.}}
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| Reynolds also cites the ''Apocalypse of Abraham'' 4:3-6 in relation to {{Quran-range|26|69|93}}, a passage where Abraham tries to convince his father to forsake idols.
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| {{Quote|Apocalypse of Abraham 4:3-6<ref>"The Apocalypse of Abraham" translated by Alexander Kulik, 2005, https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/kuliktranslation.html ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220516014629/https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/kuliktranslation.html archive])</ref>|4:3 And I declared and said to him, “Hear, Terah, [my] father! It is the gods who are blessed by you, since you are a god to them, since you have made them; since their blessing is perdition, and their power is vain. 4:4 They could not help themselves, how [then] will they help you or bless me? 4:5 [In fact] I was for you a kind god of this gain, since it was through my cleverness that I brought you the money for the smashed [gods].” 4:6 And when he heard my word, his anger was kindled against me, since I had spoken harsh words against his gods.}}
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| === His virtue as a monothiest ===
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| Abraham's rejection of idol worship and virtue of devoted monotheism is seen in many apocryphal works<ref>Neuwirth, Angelika. ''The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 2.1: Early Middle Meccan Suras: The New Elect (pp. 103-104).'' Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. </ref> and also a key feature of his personality and story in the Qur'an,<ref>Neuwirth, Angelika. ''The Qur'an and Late Antiquity: A Shared Heritage (Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity) (p. 391-394). Abraham - his Qur'anic Developement: 11.3.1 Genealogical Paternity versus Transcendent Bond O''xford University Press. Kindle Edition. </ref> related to the repeated description of him as a ḥanīf.<ref>''ḥanīf (li-) | fervently devoted (to God or to worshipping God)''
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| Sinai, Nicolai. ''Key Terms of the Qur'an: A Critical Dictionary (p. 236-244).'' Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition. </ref>
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| {{Quote|{{Quran|4|125}}|Who has a better religion than him who submits his will to Allah, being virtuous, and follows the creed of Abraham, a Hanif? And Allah took Abraham for a dedicated friend.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|3|67}}|Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian. Rather, he was a Hanif, a Muslim, and he was not one of the polytheists.}}
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| Kugel (1997) notes that Abraham's great virtue explicitly being the rejection of idolatry and monotheism is found many extra-biblical expansions in late antique literature rather than in the bible itself.
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| {{Quote|Kugel, James L. <i>The Bible As It Was. Chapter 7: Abraham Journeys from Chaldea (GENESIS 12): Abraham the Monotheist (Kindle Edition. pp. 206-207).</i> Harvard University Press.|He— and not his father, Terah, or his brother, Nahor— was summoned personally to God’s service.. ..Out of this basic insight— arrived at by reading the beginning of chapter 12 of Genesis in the light of Josh. 24: 2– 3— arose an interpretive tradition that held Abraham’s great virtue (never mentioned in Genesis itself, nor even stated explicitly in the Joshua passage) to have been his refusal to worship other gods. They served other gods, but not Abraham. And so Abraham came to be thought of in more general terms as the great opponent of polytheism (the belief in the existence of many gods), in fact, as the person who, in the midst of a nation that worshipped many gods, had become convinced that in truth there is only one God.
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| How far back this line of thinking goes we do not know, but it is certainly present very early. For example, it is found in a part of the book of Judith that some scholars date to the second century B.C.E. (if not earlier).}}
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| ==Abraham and the Idols== | | ==Abraham and the Idols== |