reynolds-the-quran-in-its-historical-context-2

182 Gerd-R. PuinIn the traditional interpretation the '1 is turned positively by formulating .·.rhetorical question: "And why should I not worship Him (AlHih alone) Who hascreated me ... " (transl. Hilall). In his commentary Fatb al-Qadfr al-Shawkaniexplains: ~'That means: Which obstacle from my side prevents me from vvv•~u.upingthe One who created me?" 44On the other hand, if we regard the '1 to be the affirmative preposition la- ..plene before the hamza of~\ the sentence could mean: "How then! I do worship···Him Who has created me ... " As a proof of the possibility of a different interpre~tation we can adduce that in the Samarqand mu~l:zaf (AHn this verse the "';/ ismistakenly written :11," as Jeffery comments. 45 But, since Jeffery's judlgrrtenlts·("mistakenly," "erroneously," etc.) are not always substantiated- since the"errors" are found in comparable manuscripts - we are entitled to ratherourselves whether the concept of the scribe makes sense, too, and what mayinduced him to write "his" variant, even if no other traditional variant of thisis reported. In our case, i.e. by the use of :II instead of :I, the translation would"I have no choice but to worship Him Who has created me ... "Thus, theof the sentence is quite the same, although the concept is different.However, the ortho-epic alifmay open the way for an altogether new rn' Lterore·•".tation in other passages. An example of this kind is al-Kajinln (109) whichusually understood in a negative way:(1) Say: 0 ye that reject Faith! (2) I worship not that which ye .,v,,~mv.(3) Nor will ye worship that which I worship. ( 4) And I will not worshipwhich ye have been wont to worship, (5) Nor will ye worship that whichworship. (6) To you be your Way, and to me mine.According to Islamic tradition this Sura is one of the earliest revelations inwhich would mean that the addressee ("Say [Mul;tammad?]:") is ordered toup any hope of gaining the unbelievers to his cause. Later on, when thereligion had been well established and had taken the offensive, the last versewould have seemed to be an appeal for co-existence, so that it was claimed to b{"abrogated" by the so-called "sword verse" (Q 9:5). 46Nevertheless, the actual sitz im !eben of this SOra is explained inanonymous semi-official Shi'ite Qur'an commentary in this way: "This is aexample for all Muslims that under no conditions should they collude withthe enemies of Islam against the basis of the religion, and if it happensVowel letters and ortho-epic writing in the Qur'an 183ask them to .follow such suggestions they should make them totallymodem Sunni commentator in the USA claims that "This Sfuah was notto preach religious tolerance as some people of today seem to think, butrevealed in order to exonerate the Muslims from the disbelievers' religionto express their total disgust and unconcern with them; to tell them that Islam:=~'x,.u,u (unbelief) had nothing in common ... Although it was initially addresseddisbelieving Quraysh in response to their proposals of compromise, it is not.vvJUlll.u;;u to them only. Having made it a part of the Qur'an, Allah gave the.:;!•''~""'~ the etemal.Jeaching, stating that they should exonerate themselves byand deed from the creed ofKufr (disbelief), wherever and in whatever formbe ..."4s(2)&.J~~~.q(5) ~ \;; &./0 p .qj.·view of the fact that all four a lift of the negation :I can be understood as orthobeforethe following words which begin with a hamza, a much more conciliinterpretationof the text becomes possible by redefining the negation into aassertion:(1) Say: 0 you ungrateful! 49 (2) I do worship that which you worship, (3) andyou do worship what I worship, (4) and I shall verily worship that which, .·you are worshipping, (5) and you will verily worship that which I worship!··. (6) (However,) yours is your Din, and my Din is mine!positive turn of SOra 109 is backed by verse 46 of SOra 29, which is alsoMeccan times, according to Muslim tradition. In it the adherents ofM1:tl;tamn1ad are admonished that their god and the god of the People of the Book44 Mul:mmmad al-ShawkanT, Fatb ai-Qadir, Beirut: Dar Ibn I;!azm, 142112000, 1466.45 Jeffery & Mendelsohn, "Orthography," 193a.46 D.S. Powers, "The EKegetical Genre niisiklz ai-Qur'iin wa-manszikhuhu," in A. Rippin (ed.),Approaches to the History af the Interpretation of the Qur 'an, OlCford: Clarendon Press, 1988,(117-38), see appendilC A and B (p. 137f.).. An Enlightening Commentary into The Light of the Holy Qur'an, by a group of Muslim scholars,· , .. ed. Somaiyah Berrigan, tran. Abbas Sadr-' Ameli, Isfahan: Amir-al-Mo'mineen Ali Library, I 994. AD I 1373 I 1415 AH, 2:266.English Translation of the Meaning of ai-Qur 'an. The Guidance for Mankind. by Muhammadrar