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

366 Clare Wildedhis divinity." 35 Abii Qurra: "Were he a man, one of Adam's sons, he wouldhave worked the signs and wonders that he worked, enlivening the deadother such things that it would take too long to put forth, with no helperassistant. Rather, it was by way of an effective command and a resolutement. But he came to us as perfect man and perfect God"; cf. Q 5:11 0;Rather than contesting the details of the miracles ascribed to Jesus by the(e.g. the enlivening of a clay bird, which is not found in the - canonical -tian accounts of Christ's miracles), both Theodore and the anonymousevoking the Qur'anic description of God's creation of Jesus (God need only say"lam"- be- and things "become"; cf. e.g. Q 3:47), insist that it was not by · ·permission of God (cf. Q 5:110) that Jesus performed his miracles, but becausehe was the incarnation of the divine, creative, word (especially cited in supportof this claim is Q 4: 17_1), that Christ was able to perform his miracles.Theodore cites Q 108 and 111 almost· as if they had been read together: "lfyou knew the certain truth, you would know that your scripture is the onethat is corrupted .... Tell me, 0 Muslim, whether you speak a lie against your:Lord in that He says, 'We have given you abundance [1], so pray to yourLord and slaughter (a sacrifice] [2]. The one who hates you is the one withoutoffspring. [3]' (Q 108:1-3) Tell me, 0 Muslim, who is this enemy, theone without offspring (al-abtar)? Also, where it says, 'Perish the hands ofAbu Lahab, and may he perish too. [1] May neither what he has nor what hehas acquired enrich him. (2] ... [3] His wife will be a carrier of firewood.[ 4] A rope of palm fiber will be upon .her foot (rijl, instead of the 'Uthmanic ."neck,"]Td). [5]' (Q 111:1-5, with a variation in versd, and verse 3 omitted).This is something bearing no resemblance to inspiration and revelation. It isnot true that your messenger said any of this. Rather, he said, 'I was sentthe Qur'iin confirming what came in the Gospel and the Torah.' (cf. Q 3:3)And he also spoke ofMuslim men and women, and of men and women believers(cf. Q 33:35). So tell me, 0 Muslim, who are the Muslims and who are ·the believers?" 37e. Throughout the account of the majlis session, Theodore uses Q 4:171 's designationof Jesus as a "word" and "spirit" from God to gloss Qur'anic discus- .sions of God's creative "word" as "word and spirit." E.g., seeminglyreferencing Q 10:82 and 8:7, Theodore states "Your own scripture says, 'God35 Sinai Ar. 434, f. l77v, II 6-9.36 Abii Qurra, 82-83.37 Abii Qurra, 108. On this see, C. Wilde, "The Qur'an: Kalam Allah or words of man? A case oftafsir transcending Muslim-Christian communal borders," Parole de /'Orient 32 (2007}, 1-17.38 Abii Qurra, 85. cf. Sinai Ar. 434, f. 179r, 1!.4--6: wa-qa/a anna Al/aha yubaqqiqu bi-kalimati1-/~aqq ay af'a/ al-masib kalimat Allah hiya baqqun mubiqqun fa-/a yukadhdhibiina bi-ha wa-ji1-Qur 'an min hadha kathir ma br-tzaja ilayhi idh anta ta 'arrifuhu - "and God verifies with theword ofthe truth-that is, the deeds of the Messiah, the Word of God. It [the Word] is the verifYingtruth, and he does not lie with it, and in the Qur'an are many such proofs if you only knew."Early Christian Arabic texts 367verifies the truth with His Word and His Spirit.' " 38 Is this an attempt to gamerQur'anic testimony in support of Trinitarian theology, in response to Q4:171's exhortation to the "People of the Book" not to say "Three," nor to"exceed the limits" in their religion?Abii Qurra relates, "He was before all creation. Creatures will perish; Hewill not perish" (cf. Q 55:26-27; 28:88). 39 Again, the sense parallelsQur'anic sentiment, but the wording does not (Theodore's text uses tabid/yabfd-rather than the 'Uthmiinicfonin ofQ 55:26 or halikofQ 28:88 -for"perish").· · None of these citations matches any of the recorded variants to the 'Uthmiinic· . codex. Are they mis-wordings, confiations or paraphrases of passages known· ·from the 'Uthmiinic codex or quotations of an alternative Qur' an codex known to·our Christian authors? Ifthe former, is the mis-wording (or re-wording, as verseconflationor paraphrasing) intentional or unintentional? In some cases (as posited. in 'e' above) the author means to make a "Qur'iinic" argument for the veracity of. Christianity (a tactic seen later in the letter of Paul of Antioch). 40 But could thesecitations reflect only the works of individuals well-versed in both Bible and, Qur'iin, living in a time and place in which Qur'anic diction, phraseology and· theology permeated and shaped the larger environment?For one who has not committed tlie text to memory (i.e. is not a "tzafo. Ia"), such. "mis-wordings" - seeming conflations of verses, or word substitutions - are notsurprising, especially when one is paraphrasing from memory- and/or attemptingto convey the gist of a text, rather than to focus on the exact letters and wording ofa given passage - particularly if Arabic is not the native language. Such a "loose"handling of the Arabic Qur' iin would be of particular interest in the light of theeventual Islamic insistence on precise Qur'iinic citations- out of respect for theeternal and inimitable Word of God.Now we might imagine that the temptation to "correct" the Qur'iin to accord• . with Christian theological understandings often proved too strong to resist.· and accordingly mistrust Christian re.adings of Qur'iinic passages dealing with· Trinitarian or Incamational themes. This concern, however, would not applyto Christian citations of Qur'iinic verses (e.g. Q 108 and 111, above, and the"mysterious letters,'• below) that do not touch on Christian themes; such citationsmay provide hints on the nature or contents of the Qur'iin known to early ArabophoneChristians. Yet any comprehensive evaluation of such "discrepancies"would necessitate thorough perusal of all available manuscripts with this matter inmilld, a task yet to be achieved.39 Abii Qurra, 102.40 P. Khoury (ed. and trans.), Paul d'Antioche: Eveque me/kite de Sidon (Xlle s.), Beirut: 1mprimerieCatholique Beyrouth, 1965, par. 45. See also D. Thomas and R. Ebied's recent publication of aparallel text: Muslim-Christian Polemic during the Crusades: The letter from the people ofCypntsand Ibn Abi Talib al-Dimashqi's response, Leiden: Brill, 2004.