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

KEVIN VAN BLADEL
Floods of nations and the prophecy of Jesus
There is one more point related to the Qur’anic retelling of this Syriac text that
deserves attention. While it is widely known that Jesus was and is regarded as a
prophet by Muslims, since he is so designated in the Qur’an (19:30), there is little
discussion of just what Jesus was supposed to be a prophet of. It is often overlooked
that Jesus was thought even by Christians to be prophesying nothing less
than the end of the world (as in Matthew 24 and Luke 21:5–28), and that this
would be preceded by a siege of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20). The sack of Jerusalem
by the Persians in 614 therefore shocked Christian contemporaries especially
because it seemed to indicate that the end the world and the return of the Messiah
were near according to the very words of Jesus. Other signs predicted by Jesus
preceding the end would be seen in the heavens, and there would be “distress of
nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves” (Luke 21:25). 66
Contemporary sources show that witnesses to the great war of 603–30 saw the
fulfillment of Jesus’ words in it.
Most important here is the account of the Türk invasion of Caucasian Albania
used by the Armenian author Movses Dasxurants‘i, the 682 History. Before
describing how the Türks broke through the Wall at Darband, this source adapts
the prophecies appearing in Matthew 24:6–7, 29 and Luke 21:25 in its prologue,
paraphrasing them, saying that there would be “confusion of nations like the
confusion of the waves of the sea” x˝ovut‘iwnk‘ Δo„ov7rdoc‘ orpes aleac‘ covu
x˝oveloy. 67 Then it goes on to describe the events of the wars, using allusions to
these paraphrased words of Jesus’ prophecy in order to prove that the prophecies
were fulfilled. For this purpose, the Türks are likened explicitly to overwhelming
waves, the waves of confusion among nations in Jesus’ predictions: “Then gradually
the waves moved on against us,” apa takaw marΔein alik‘n 7nddem mer. 68
After raiding Caucasian Albania the Türks turned west: “the floods (u„xn) rose
and rushed over the land of Georgia.” 69 Even Khosro II “rose up like a raging torrent”
when he set out to war against them 70 and we are reminded of the image
again with the phrase, “waves of invaders.” 71 Thus the author of the 682 History
takes every opportunity to show that Jesus’ prophecy was being fulfilled in the
invasions of the Türks and the wars of this period in general.
This image of nations as waves was also used specifically to describe the
Türks’ overwhelming of the walls at Darband. The 682 History does not connect
Alexander with these walls, but it does say that near #‘o„ (a town near the gate at
Darband) were
magnificent walls which the kings of Persia had built at great expense,
bleeding their country and recruiting architects and procuring many
different materials for the construction of the wonderful works with
which they blocked [the passes] between Mount Caucasus and the
eastern sea [the Caspian]. When the universal wrath confronting us
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