The Qur'an in its historical context (pdf - Islam and Christian-Muslim ...

GERHARD BÖWERING
41 D. Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus, St Petersburg: Buchdruckerei der
kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1856.
42 F. de Blois, “The Sabians (Sabi’un) in pre-Islamic Arabia,” Acta Orientalia 56, 1995,
39–61; idem, “Elchasai – Manes – Muhammad. Manichäismus und Islam in religionshistorischem
Vergleich,” Der Islam 81, 2004, 31–48.
43 H.H. Schaeder, “Nazarenos, Nazoraios,” in G. Kittel (ed.), Theological Dictionary of
the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968, 4, 874–9.
44 F. de Blois, “Nasrani and hanif: Studies on the religious vocabulary of Christianity and
Islam,” BSOAS 65, 2002, 1–30.
45 U. Rubin, “Hanifiyya and Ka’ba – an inquiry into the Arabian pre-Islamic background
of Din Ibrahim,” JSAI 13, 1990, 85–112.
46 K. Ahrens, “Christliches im Qoran. Eine Nachlese,” ZDMG 84, 1930, 15–68, 148–90.
47 J.M.F. Van Reeth, “L’Évangile du Prophète,” Acta Orientalia Belgica 3, 2004, 156–74.
48 For example, A. Neuwirth, “Qur’anic literary structure revisited,” in S. Leder (ed.),
Story-telling in the Framework of Non-Fictional Arabic Literature, Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz, 1998, 388–420; “Zur Archäologie einer Heiligen Schrift,” in C. Burgmer
(ed.), Streit um den Koran, 82–97.
49 H. Motzki, “The Collection of the Qur’an. A reconsideration of Western views in light
of recent methodological developments,” Der Islam 78, 2001, 1–34. Recent Muslim
contributions to the topic are M. Sfar, Le Coran, la Bible et l’Orient ancien, Paris: Sfar,
1998 and idem, Le Coran est-il authentique?, Paris: Sfar, 2000. Reference may also be
made to S. Wild (ed.), The Qur’an as Text, the recent re-issue of articles on Qur’anic
topics under the pseudonym Ibn Warraq, The Origins of the Qur’an, Amherst,
NY: Prometheus, 1998 and idem, What the Koran Really Says, Amherst, NY:
Prometheus, 2002, and the re-issue of articles by A. Rippin, The Qur’an: Formative
Interpretation, Aldershot: Ashgate/Variorum, 1999, and idem, The Qur’an: Style and
Contents, Aldershot: Ashgate/Variorum, 2001. R. Paret, Der Koran, Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1975, had previously published another selection
of significant scholarly articles on Qur’anic topics. A controversial treatment of the
Qur’an is the anonymous Brother Mark, A Perfect Qur’an, posted on the internet 2000,
and ongoing.
50 G. Vajda, “Ahl al-kitab,” EI 2 1, 264–7; S.D. Goitein, “Banu Isra’il,” EI 2 1, 1020–1.
51 For a recent study of the mushrikun, see G.R. Hawting, The Idea of Idolatry and the
Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1999. According to all evidence, the term mushrikun refers primarily in the
Qur’an to pagan Arab polytheists, who associate partners with God, but it may also
imply Christians with Trinitarian beliefs.
52 Within the larger frame of reference one would have to count all the scholarly work that
has been done on the patriarchs and prophetical characters in the Qur’an as well as on
the principal religious ideas that the Qur’an shares with the biblical tradition, whether
normative, midrashic or apocryphal. This cannot be examined here, but H. Busse, Die
theologischen Beziehungen des Islam zu Judentum und Christentum, Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1988, may be cited as a lucid re-examination of
these issues during the last two decades.
53 M. Hamidullah, “Two Christians of Pre-Islamic Mecca,” Journal of the Pakistan
Historical Society 6, 1958, 97–103.
54 In the Qur’an, the term hanif occurs ten times in the singular and twice in the plural
with reference to the true follower of the religion of Abraham. In extra-Qur’anic
literature the term hanif refers either to true Muslims or to pre-Islamic seekers of God,
see F. de Blois, “Nasrani and hanif,” 16–25.
55 W.M. Watt, “Hanif,” EI 2 , 3, 165–6; U. Rubin, “Hanif,” EQ, 2, 402–4; see also
D.S. Margoliouth, “On the origin and import of the names muslim and hanif,” JRAS
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