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

DEVIN J. STEWART
modest gaze (qasiratu t-tarfi) are reinterpreted as references to pendant leaves,
and the phrase wa-zawwajnahum bi-hurin ‘in “we paired them (or married them)
with women with large, dark eyes” (44:54; 52:20) is emended to wa-rawwah
nahum bi-hurin ‘in, which Luxenberg understands to mean “we let them have
their repose (ausruhen) with white grape-vines.” 53 All of these emendations and
re-readings are unnecessary and extremely improbable. Moreover, the emendation
of the houri-passages requires the emendation of an entire second set of passages,
those referring to handsome male companions or servants (wildan, ghilman) who
also appear in paradise, for the presence of handsome youths in paradise would
appear to corroborate references to female companions and militate against interpreting
the latter as references to grapes or grape vines. 54 These emendations, too,
are extremely improbable. There nevertheless remains the possibility, already
suggested by Beck, that descriptions of the gardens of paradise in Christian
writings, including those of Ephraim the Syrian, influenced Qur’anic texts on the
same topic. 55
One of Luxenberg’s emendations that appear plausible is the following. Surat
al-Saffat (Q 37) includes a refrain that reads as follows in the textus receptus:
wa-tarakna ‘alayhim fi l-akhirin “We left on them in the succeeding
generations.”
(37:78, 108, 119, 129)
� wa-barakna ‘alayhim fi al-akhirin “We blessed them for posterity.” 56
The same emendation was already suggested by J. Barth in 1916, though
Luxenberg is apparently unaware of this. 57 This emendation involves no change
to the rasm of the text, but only a change in the pointing of one letter – from b to t.
The assumption of a long –a- vowel as opposed to short -a- is a simple matter,
for –a- is frequently not marked in the Qur’anic text. The emendation solves a
problem in the text as is, because the use of the verb taraka “to leave” with ‘ala
“on” is odd. Why would God say, “We left on them”? Where is the direct object?
Pickthall’s translation, for example, translates Q 37:108 as “And [We] left for him
among the later folk (the salutation):”. Rendering ‘ala, ordinarily meaning “on”
or “against,” as “for” is quite strange. In addition, he interprets the direct object
of the verb taraka as being the phrase that occurs in the next verse, “Peace be unto
Noah among the peoples!” The verb baraka (“to bless”), however, regularly takes
the preposition ‘ala, and it would make much more sense for God to bless Noah,
Abraham, Moses, Aaron, and Elias than to leave something on them. That this
emendation is correct is strongly suggested by verse 113 of the same sura, which
reads, wa-barakna ‘alayhi wa-‘ala Ishaq wa-min dhurriyyatihim muhsinun
wa-zalimun li-nafsihi mubin “And We blessed him [Ishmael or possibly Abraham]
and Isaac. And of their seed are some who do good, and some who plainly wrong
themselves.” The crucial point here is that the verb baraka is used prominently in
a context closely parallel to that of the other verses cited earlier.
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