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

464 Emran El-Badawistranger, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick, and visiting those in prison(Matthew 25:35-39). To Jesus, these actions embody true sacrifice, as the physicalrecipient of such charitable acts is human, but the true recipient is God(Matthew 25:40).This is not so for evildoers. Matthew states, "Then he will say to those at his lefthand (Syr. semaleh), 'You that are cursed, depart from me into the eternal fire(Syr. nfthra d 'alma) that is prepared (Syr. hay dam!fba) for the devil and hisangels'" (Matthew 25:41). The different elements of this verse, namely the "lefthand," "eternal fire," and the fact that it is "prepared" are expressed in differentpassages of the Qur'an. In al-waqi 'a, the companions of the left hand (a.yl:zabal-shimal) are condemned to a scorching doom (Q 56:42). Elsewhere in theQur'an we read about the evildoer, " ... verily he will have in the fire (nar) ofjahannam to dwell in for eternity (khalidanfthi) .. . " (Q 4:14; 9:63). Additionally,in al-Baqara, the fire (nar) is "prepared for the rejecters" (u 'iddat li-1-kajirin)(Q 2:24). In addition to the parallels in content, semaleh and a.yl:zab al-shima/,nilhra d 'alma and nar ... khalidan fthi, and hay damtfba and u 'iddat li ... arecalques, which further establishes the connection between the Syriac of Matthew. and the Arabic of the Qur'an. ·Matthew then enumerates the crimes of the evildoers in the same way as thegood actions ofthe righteous:"I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothingto drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, I was naked and youdid not give me clothing, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me."(Matthew 25:42-43) 85Similarly, in the Qur' iin those condemned to hell enumerate their misdeeds to therighteous: " 'We were not from those who prayed; nor did we feed th~ needy; andwe used to sin with the sinners; and we used to disbelieve in the Day of Judgment'" (Q 74:43-46). Although the list of misdeeds in the two texts are not thesame, save for not feeding the needy, a relationship is likely given the commonsequence of parallels on final judgment and the occurrence of the Qur'anic list ofmisdeeds in the same place (i.e. after being cast into hell fire) and style (i.e. theevildoers "did not do" X) as in Matthew.Matthew 25:46 concludes, "They will enter into eternal punishment (tasnfqadaf'alma) and the righteous into eternal life." In a similar fashion, the Qur'anstates, "He who set up another god besides Allah, cast him into the severe punishment(a/- 'adhab al-shadfd)" (Q 50:26). Their torment is elsewhere described"They will dwell in it for eternity (khalidfn ftha); their punishment will not b~lessened; nor will they rest" (Q 2: 162). Again in this passage we notice calques ofSyriac terms: 'adhab for tasnfqa, and khalidfn ftha for dal 'alma.Condemnation in the Qur ·an and the Syriac Gospel of Matthew 465The Qur'an's many elaborate accounts of the final judgment and the apocalypticevents surrounding it, many of which especially reference the language ofMatthew or the Hebrew Bible, 86 are too numerous to examine here exhaustively.Some of these verses emphasize the common scene of God gathering the people,personally conversing with the evildoers and condemning them to hell fire(Q 6: 128), much as the Son ofMan does in Matthew (see earlier). Others reinforcecommon Matthean.:_Qur'anic themes, most of which Khouri mentions in hisstudy, 87 such as the strong relationship ofprophetology to divine majesty, judgmentand condemnation (Q 39:56-61, 67-75). However, the examples citedshould be sufficient to suggest a relationship between the language of condemnationin the Syriac Gospel of Matthew and the Arabic text of the Qur'an.ConclusionThe rejection of Jesus's renewed interpretation of the law by Pharisees,Sadducees, and the scribal class was recorded in Matthew's Gospel in a distinctlanguage of condemnation, modeled after the Hebrew Bible. As a consequence ofsimilar experiences, like Mul;lammad's rejection by the Jews of Medina, Khaybar,other Hijazi locales, and even by the Qurayshis of Mecca, this language manifesteditself also in the Qur'an. Sharing the Gospels' image of Jesus as the son ofDavid, preserver and reviser of Mosaic law, the Qur' an's condemnation of rabbinicaland ecclesiastical authority for various abuses often replicates the causticlanguage of Jesus against the religious authorities of his day. Aside from severalthematic parallels which likely come from Syriac Matthew and which ultimatelyevoke the spirit of Hebrew Scripture, like the loosening of dietary laws, and theemphasis. of internal sacrifice, close linguistic relationships exist as well. Theseinclude: general Arabic calques for the Syriac text - ri 'a' al-nas for dnetl:zazftnlabnay anasa, nominal 'ama for verbal 'ma.y, a.yl:zab al-yamln for ymfneh, a.yl:ziibal-shimiil for semaleh, niir khalidan fthi for nfthra dal 'alma, u 'iddat li-1-kii.firznfor hay damtfba, 'adhab for tasnfqa; general cognates like 'ibadiit for 'bad€, ·zedqiita for .yadaqat; cognate phrases like way! li for wiiy li, shahidii 'alii'anfusihim (third person plural) for msahdfn antftn 'a! naftla?n (second personplural), yaqtuhin al-nabiyin (present tense) for daqtalft lanbfye (perfect tense), ftadhiinihim waqr for bidnayhftn yaqfriiyft sham 'u, verbal qasat qulzlbulatm fornominal qasyftt lab/aln; and the use of etymologically related words in an identicalcontext of condemnation like asfor and siifre (against scribes).The disjointed presentation of occasionally unconnected Qur' anic verses hasbeen less than ideal. But this too is telling. The distribution of Syriac Mattheanphrases tin:oughout the different Siiras of the Qur' an proves that such material wasdiffuse in the Arabian oral tradition of the Qur' an's milieu and not acquired viaa single piece of text. This is because Syriac wisdom was disseminated into the85 This passage resurfaces within later Islamic tradition in the form of a (wdith qudsT in Muslim32:6232.86 For more on this see I. Hasson, EQ, "Last Judgment," 3, 136.87 Khouri, "Selected ethical themes," 13-43.