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

326 Devin J. Stewartal-Wal;lidTal-NTsabiiri (d. 468/1076), often engages in form criticism and maymore useful to modem scholars in that mode than it is in historical rn"ttr,,.mWhile modem scholars often place little confidence in the veracity of theical incident to which a particular passage is attached in such works, thethere often correctly identifies the form or genre to which the passage belongsuses some of the relevant conventions of the genre in question in an attemptinterpret its meaning.Examination of other oracular traditions may provide some help in identiJfyinifand understanding the features and functions of these generic cortve:nticms.one will in any case depend heavily on the Qur'an itself. Typologicalfrom other cultures with strong oracular traditions and religious specialistsperformed functions similar to· those of the lathhan may provide "''Tnn•>r~ichrPinsights that assiduous investigation of the Qur'an in isolation or in cnr1ver~a1tionwith the pre-Islamic Arabian oracular material may not. Examination oforacles of ancient Greece and other cultures and the literary genres andtions associated with them may throw light on oracular passages of theand make new interpretations or broader understandings of such passages om;sttlle>Stefan Sperl has adopted a similar approach by comparing the Fatiba notthe Lord's Prayer but also to a Babylonian prayer to Sin, the moon-god. 12 .studies of this kind may help reveal, explain, and bring into focus or relief ·conventions of the genres belonging to the repertory of pre-Islamicreligious utterances which form the background of many passages in the Qur' .A simple demonstration of the value ofform criticism, particularly withto the pre-Islamic pagan material in the Qur'an, is the following. Theverse of a!- 'A~r (Siira 103) is an oath, wa-l- 'a~ri (103:1), meaning, "(I swear)the 'a~r." The Arabic word 'a~r has two distinct senses, and it is not clear fromimmediate context which one is intended: it can mean either "age, epoch" orafternoon." These two meanings have both influenced translations of thetext into English and other languages. On the one hand, some translators, mcludl!ngAbdullah Yusuf Ali, have adopted the first meaning of 'a~r noted above,lating the verse "By (the token of) Time through the Ages." Likewise,translates, "I swear by the time." Muhammad Asad, dispensing with the oathgether, a modernist move he makes regularly, renders the verse, "Considerflight of time!" On the other hand, other translators adhere to the second sense ·'a~r, "the late afternoon." Pickthall translates, "By the declining day." ·renders the verse, "By the afternoon." Abdel Haleem has, "I swear by the dec: liningday." In this case, form-critical considerations help decide the issue: 'a~r herenot mean "age" or "epoch" but rather "late afternoon," and the translationsMysterious letters and other features of the Qur'an 327Yusuf Ali, Shakir, and Muhammad Asad are simply wrong. The oathsbegin many Su.ras in the Qur'an clearly belong to an oracular genre that hasin the pre-Islamic soothsaying tradition. 13 It is common for these oaths tonot only the Sun, moon, stars, and planets, but also night and day, as well· particular times of day. The planets and stars so invoked may originally havereprese:nted deities. The Sun had been worshipped by members of the Qurayshin the not-too-remote past before the Prophet, because one of his ancestorsnamed 'Abd Shams (a brother of Hashim, after whom the Prophet's clan wasand supposedly the great-great-grandfather of 'Uthman b. 'Affiin, son-inofthe Prophet and the third Caliph after his death). As portrayed inQur' an, the people of Sheba worshipped the Sun during the time of Solomon27:24). The moon and the morning star-Venus-had probably been worshippedwell in the recent past. However, the Qur' an emphasizes the regular, predictablemoven1ents of the planets. They will always be there (until the end of the world,is,) and will always behave according to a regular pattern; this is one of theof God's unifed control over the universe. Similarly, the invocation of day,and specific times of day serves to emphasize the theme of regularity. Theseof day appear because they can be trusted to appear indefatigably, in theirorder. The following passage swears by night and day: wa-l-layli idha* wa-l-nahari idha tajalla *, "By the night when it covers, and the dayit is clear" (Q 92:1-2). Specific times of day occur in the following oaths:wa-l-qamar * wa-l-layli idha adbar * wa-1-~ub/:li idha asfar, "Nay! By theand the night when it withdraws, and the morning when it shines forth" (Qwa-~-~ubbi idha tanaffas, "By the morning when it breathes" (Quqsimu bi-1-shafaq, "Nay! I swear by the twilight" (Q 84: 15); wa-l­"by the dawn" (Q 89:1); and wa-1-r;luba "by the mid-morning" (Q 93:1).examples suggest that oaths by specific hours or times of day were alreadyfeature of oracular texts in pre-Islamic soothsaying and that this partieformalconvention was followed in oracular passages of the Qur'an. The wordhere evidently refers to a specific time of day, and not to an "age" or to "time"general, as that would not be in keeping with the formal conventions of theformal convention of oracular texts that has been misinterpreted inon the Qur' an is the wa-ma adraka -literally, "And what made you know. ?" - construction. Richard Bell has claimed that the phrase wa-ma adraka isused to introduce a later interpolation into the text of the Qur'an, glossingpuzzling term. Thus, for example, he argues that in the passage at the endal-Qari 'a, fa-ummuhu hawiyah * wa-ma adraka ma-hiyah * nanm l;!amiyah11 Wal)idi, Asbab a/-nuziil, Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya, 1991; Jallil al-Din al-Suyii\i,al-nuzzil, Cairo: Maktabat Nu~ayr, 1983; A. Rippin, "The exegetical genre asbab al-nuzzil: aographical and terminological survey," BSOAS 48, 1985, 1-15.12 S. Sperl, "The literary form of prayer: Qur'an Sura one, the Lord's Prayer and a BalJylcmian p111yeito the moon God," BSOAS 57, 1994, 213-27. See also H. Winkler, "Flitil)a und Vaterw1ser.Zeitschrift fiir Semilistik 6, 1928, 238-46.G.R. Smith, "Oaths in the Qur'an," Semitics 1, 1970, 126-56; A.T. Welch, "al-Kur'an," E/ 2. 5:(400-29) 421-22; A. Neuwirth, "Der Horizon!;" eadem, "Images and metaphors;" eadem,"Form and structure of the Qur'iin," EQ, 2:(245--66) 255-57; L. Kandil, "Die Schwtire in denMakkanischen Suren," inS. Wild (ed.), The Qur'iin as Text, Leiden: Brill, 1996, 41-57; G.R.Hawting, "Oaths," EQ, 3:561--66.