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424 Waleed AhmedConclusionThe analysis I have presented in this study calls for a rigorous examination of theQur'1inic narratives through the lens of lritertextuality and within the formativecultural milieu of the Qur'iin. It suggests that an emphasis on discourse andmeaning as opposed to source-influence criticism could be exceptionally informative,particularly if the gradual emergence of the corpus ofQur'anic texts is takeninto account. A comparison between the analysis I have presented and the representationof the Qur'anic account of Lot's story in Fred Leemhuis's article "Liitand His People in the Koran and its Early Commentaries" shows that Leemhuis'smethod did not enable him to discover the intertextual meaning embedded inverse 71 of al-lfijr and verses 78-79 of Hiid. In fact, the synthesis of Lot's st9ryin Leemhuis's article disregards verse 71 of al-lfijr, which suggests that Leemhuisthought that verse 78 of Hiid encapsulates its meaning. 5° As I have demonstratedin the first case study, the significance of the Lot's daughters episode isequally shared between verse 71 of al-lfijr and verses 78 and 79 of Hiid. It is notonly imparted by these verses but is also produced as a result of the audiences'"interaction" with the parallel Biblical story earlier Qur'anic texts, and, possibly,a concomitant oral discourse.Thus far, the focus in modem scholarship has mainly been on delineating thedevelopment of narrative-text exegesis in Muslim exegetical literature or on identifYinglater additions to the Qur'anic narratives in this literature. This work iscertainly worth pursuing. However, as this study demonstrates, Muslim exegeticalliterature, even if it is largely posterior to the emergence of the Qur'iin, is-importantin assessing the significance of the Qur'iinic narratives within the context ofthe Qur'an's initial cultural milieu, perhaps as important as the Biblical and apocryphalsources which influenced-this context. Recourse to material from Qur'iinicexegesis should, however, be explicit and should not take precedence over thecontextual analysis of the Qur'iinic texts themselves. Bearing this in mind, anappreciation of Muslim exegetical literature can contribute positively to anintertextual analysis of the stories of the prophets in the Qur'iin.50 See Leemhuis, "Li:i! and his people," 101-2.18 Joseph among the IshmaelitesQ 12 in light of Syriac sources 1.. IntroductionJoseph WitztumIn recent years there has been a renewed interest in the study of the Qur'iin inlight of the Syriac literary tradition. Examples of :fine studies are those of SidneyGriffith and Kevin van Blade! dedicated to the "Companions of the Cave" storyand to the Dhii 1-Qamayn narrative respectively? In this chapter I follow theirlead, with one major difference: I examine a Qur' iinic retelling of a narrative fromthe Hebrew Bible. Such retellings are often assumed to reflect Jewish traditions,and thus Western scholarship tends to ignore Christian sources. Syriac texts arecited now and then but are not covered systematically in any manner comparableto the way the Jewish texts are treated. 3This chapter is a slightly enhanced version of an oral presentation. A fuller study will be set out ina chapter of my dissertation and published elsewhere. I thank my advisor Michael Cook, PatriciaCrone, Judith Loebenstein-Witztum, Manolis Papoutsakis and Gabriel Reynolds for their commentson earlier drafts. I am also grateful to Kristian Heal for generously sharing his work before publication.Quotations from the Qur'iin are usually adapted versions of Arberry. Biblical verses are citedfrom the NRSV.2 S. Griffith, "Christia!:l Lore and the Arabic Qur'iin: The 'Companions of the Cave' in Siirat al-Kahfand in Syriac Christian tradition," in QHC, 109-37; K. van Blade!, "The Alexander Legend in theQur'iin 18:83-102," ibid., 175-i03.3 See N.A. Stillman, ''The story of Cain and Abel in the Qur' an and the Muslim commentators: Someobservations," JSS 19, 1974, (231-39) 231-32. Even scholars who argue for a strong Christianimpact on the Qur' an are often content with a general observation that Christians too transmittednarratives from the Hebrew Bible. Textual parallels from Christian sources are usually not pursued.One attempt to balance scholarship on this point will be found in my dissertation, the title of whichis The Syriac Milieu of the Quran: The Recasting of Biblical Narratives. It includes a survey of thestudies which did take into account oriental Christian literature. See for now, S. Lee, ControversialTracts on Christianity and Mohammedanism, Cambridge: Smith, 1824, 124-38 (I am indebted toKrisztina Szilagyi for this reference); T. Andrae, Les origines de /'islam et le christianisme, Paris:Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1955, 201-2; and the occasional comments in H. Speyer, Die biblischenErziihlzmgen im Qoran, Hildesheim: Olrns, 1961. A more recent example is G.S. Reynolds,"Redeeming the Adam of the Qur'iin," in D. Kreikenbom et al. (eds), Arabische Christen- Christenin Arabien, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2007, 71-83.