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</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>}} | </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>}} | ||
== The term sakīnah == | == The term sakīnah == | ||
The term sakīnah is a Rabbinic rather than a biblical one<ref>Bible Hub - [https://biblehub.com/topical/s/shekinah.htm Shekinah]</ref> describing the physical manifestation of God on Earth.<ref name=":12">Durie, Mark. ''The Qur'an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion. pp.177-178.'' Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018</ref> | The term sakīnah is a Rabbinic rather than a biblical one<ref>Bible Hub - [https://biblehub.com/topical/s/shekinah.htm Shekinah]</ref> describing the physical manifestation of God on Earth.<ref name=":12">Durie, Mark. ''The Qur'an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion. pp.177-178.'' Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018</ref> | ||
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Sinai (2023) sums up:{{Quote|<i>sakīnah {{!}} composure, tranquillity</i> Sinai, Nicolai. Key Terms of the Qur'an: A Critical Dictionary (pp. 391). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.|..Etymologically, the word is descended from rabbinic Hebrew shәkinah or its Aramaic equivalent (WMJA 53–55; NB 24–25; JPND 208–209; CQ 21; FVQ 174; Stewart 2021, 42–54), which in targumic and rabbinic texts designate God’s “dwelling” or “presence” in the world and can on occasion appear as a downright hypostasis of the deity (see DTTM 1573 and DJBA 1145 as well as the overview in Unterman et al. 2007). The Qur’anic use of sakīnah, a word that was presumably adopted from the language of the Medinan Jews, is an evident case in which the semantics of a loanword underwent far-reaching adjustment in accordance with the meaning of its Arabic root s-k-n, conveying rest and calmness. As a result, the Qur’anic sakīnah, though explicitly identified as being God’s, has a distinctly psychological slant and does not convey the presence of God at a particular place, as does the rabbinic concept (Durie 2018, 178–179). One may surmise that the Jews of Medina employed the word sakīnah to describe God’s presence in the ark of the covenant (Q 2:248). This would be in line with God’s statement in Exod 25:8 that he will “dwell” in the Israelites’ sanctuary, which the Targum Onqelos renders, “And I shall cause my presence (shkinti) to dwell among them.” The Qur’an, by contrast, integrates the term into the theme of God’s reassuring impact on the believers’ hearts, into which the sakīnah is sent down according to Q 48:4 (see AHW 67 and under → qalb). Thus, while the concept’s original doctrinal context was a theology of God’s presence at particular places and times (see Durie 2018, 179), in its Qur’anic reception it is absorbed into what one might call the Islamic scripture’s theology of divine fortification: the prime arena in which God can be experienced as present, above and beyond his universal role as the world’s creator and sustainer (→ khalaqa), is the human heart.}} | Sinai (2023) sums up:{{Quote|<i>sakīnah {{!}} composure, tranquillity</i> Sinai, Nicolai. Key Terms of the Qur'an: A Critical Dictionary (pp. 391). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.|..Etymologically, the word is descended from rabbinic Hebrew shәkinah or its Aramaic equivalent (WMJA 53–55; NB 24–25; JPND 208–209; CQ 21; FVQ 174; Stewart 2021, 42–54), which in targumic and rabbinic texts designate God’s “dwelling” or “presence” in the world and can on occasion appear as a downright hypostasis of the deity (see DTTM 1573 and DJBA 1145 as well as the overview in Unterman et al. 2007). The Qur’anic use of sakīnah, a word that was presumably adopted from the language of the Medinan Jews, is an evident case in which the semantics of a loanword underwent far-reaching adjustment in accordance with the meaning of its Arabic root s-k-n, conveying rest and calmness. As a result, the Qur’anic sakīnah, though explicitly identified as being God’s, has a distinctly psychological slant and does not convey the presence of God at a particular place, as does the rabbinic concept (Durie 2018, 178–179). One may surmise that the Jews of Medina employed the word sakīnah to describe God’s presence in the ark of the covenant (Q 2:248). This would be in line with God’s statement in Exod 25:8 that he will “dwell” in the Israelites’ sanctuary, which the Targum Onqelos renders, “And I shall cause my presence (shkinti) to dwell among them.” The Qur’an, by contrast, integrates the term into the theme of God’s reassuring impact on the believers’ hearts, into which the sakīnah is sent down according to Q 48:4 (see AHW 67 and under → qalb). Thus, while the concept’s original doctrinal context was a theology of God’s presence at particular places and times (see Durie 2018, 179), in its Qur’anic reception it is absorbed into what one might call the Islamic scripture’s theology of divine fortification: the prime arena in which God can be experienced as present, above and beyond his universal role as the world’s creator and sustainer (→ khalaqa), is the human heart.}} | ||
== | == The term khalāq == | ||
Sinai (2023 notes the Qur’an uses ''khalāq'' (“share, portion”) in verses threatening that some will have “no share in the hereafter” (e.g., Q 2:102, 2:200, 3:77). Unlike the usual Arabic root ''kh-l-q'' (“to create”), ''khalāq'' seems to be a loanword, likely from Hebrew ''ḥēleq'' or Aramaic ''ḥulaqa'', both meaning “share” or “allotted fate.” This phrasing strongly resembles rabbinic expressions about having (or lacking) a “share in the world to come,” widely attested in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmud, and Midrash. The Qur’an’s diction thus reflects Jewish idiom, likely adopted in a Medinan context, making ''khalāq,'' like ''ummī'' (“scriptureless”) and ''baraʾa'' (“to create”) etc. an example of Jewish Rabbinical terminology integrated into Qur’anic usage. | |||
==Parallels in the hadith== | ==Parallels in the hadith== | ||
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