The Dialogue between the Qur'an and the Psalms (original) (raw)
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The Structure and the Categorization of the Quranic Surahs
The Quranic text consists of 114 surahs (chapters). The objective of this paper was to explore if there is any inherent structure within the surahs. A survey of these surahs suggests that they follow a structure. They start with an opening statement, followed by the main text, and end with a closing statement. The survey also suggests that, based on the opening statements, the surahs can be divided into nine categories: praise of Allah (ST) , a reference or oath to the Quran, starting with an oath, addressing the Prophet (SAW) , addressing people, Referring to certain events, mostly to the Hereafter, certifying certain events, condemnation of certain kind or characteristics of the people, seeking refuge with Allah (ST) , Ma'oodhatayn.
2014
It is a universally established fact that effective speech and writing comprise some basic and interconnected components such as preface, central theme, contextual flow, and conclusion. Absence of any of these elements may mar the beauty and effect of speech and writing. There is unanimity among Muslims, masses as well as scholars, over the Qur'an as the most effective speech revealed by Allah. The main reason for this quality of the Qur'an, as agreed by all Muslim scholars, is its inimitability (i'jaz al-Qur'an). Yet, it is unbelievably surprising that most of the mufassirun (commentators of the Qur'an) right from the early periods of Islamic history until today ignored the task of identifying various components of Qur'anic Surahs and establishing link among them. Some commentators like Qazi Abd al-Jabbar, al-Haralliyy, al-Razi, al-Biqa'i, Syed Qutb, Syed Mawdudi, al-Farahi, and Islahi did attempt in their commentaries of the Qur'an to interpret the Surahs as thematically coherent by identifying link among various components of each and every single Surah. Some of them simply tried to show the link among all the verses of Qur'anic Surahs; and some others identified various themes in a Surah and suggested possible link among them. It appears that no commentator paid attention to identifying preface in Qur'anic Surahs, particularly large ones. It may not be imaginable that the Qur'anic Surahs do not have introductory part. The claim that preface does not exist in Qur'anic Surahs controverts the belief that the Qur'an is the most effective speech. This paper represents a humble attempt to research that each and every single surah, short or large, contains one or the other preface, at times, spreading over several verses in the beginning and, at times, covering only the first one or two verses. With the identification of preface in a Surah, the task of interpretation may become easier than ever before. This paper is divided into two main parts: (1) framework and role of preface in the interpretation of the Qur'an, and (2) identification of preface in some Surahs and its link to the rest of the verses in the particular Surah.
Bible and Qur'an: Essays in Scriptural Intertextuality
Published by the Society of Biblical Literature, 2003
An edited volume of nine essays from scholars who center their research on the intersections of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literary traditions. These essays explore various aspects of the textual and behavioral connections discernible among these three major Near Eastern religious communities.
Some Explorations of the Intertwining of Bible and Qur'an
John C. Reeves, ed., Bible and Qur'an: Essays in Scriptural Intertextuality (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), 43-60, 2003
… a palimpsest, layer upon layer, tradition upon tradition, intertwined to the extent that one cannot really grasp one without the other, certainly not the later without the earlier, but often also not the earlier without considering the shapes it took later." 2 Many contemporary biblical scholars are aware that Bible and Qur'ān share and exploit a common layer of discourse consisting of a number of stories and themes featuring and drawing on certain paradigmatic characters such as Noah, Abraham, and Moses. Most however do not pursue the literary ramifications of this nexus, and hence they remain remarkably oblivious to the rich reservoirs of traditional lore tapped and channeled by the Qur'ān and its expounders. 3 The intent of the present essay is to suggest that a careful reading of the Qur'ān in tandem with the interpretive traditions available in ancillary Muslim literature such as ḥadīth, classical commentaries, antiquarian histories, and the collections of so-called "prophetic legends" (qiṣaṣ al-anbiyā') 4 can shed a startling light on the structure and content of certain stories found in Bible and its associated literatures (such as Jewish pseudepigrapha and rabbinic midrash).
2024
Abû Qays Ṣirma is credited with some poems collected into the Madinan sira / maghazi. The second poem, a testament for his sons, shares parallels with the Qurân. Of these parallels, those to suwar 4, 5, 17 (and/or 6), 20, and 54 are quotes; the suras 25 and 31 parallels are just that-parallel. The parallel with sura 67 is a shared opinion on what the word of God actually is, which is the collection of suwar up to then. It delivers in poetry a summary of the religion, like what sura 31 delivers in âyât.
Manuscripta Orientalia, 2022
The article analyses two suras of the Qur'an (Q. 105 and Q. 106) within the scope of the hypothesis that they initially constituted a textual unity. This assumption was presented by some reports of early Muslim traditions. Several modern researchers also mentioned the thematic coherence of these two suras. Structural analysis of the rhyming endings in both suras and distribution of their thematic units give new insights about supposed previous initial composition of the text. Rhetorical side of the revelation was also analysed according to the concept of emotional plots. These new arguments reinforce the idea that Q. 105 and Q. 106 were revealed as one distinctive piece of the Qur'anic text.
A Prolegomenon to the Relation of the Qur’a an and the Bible
2003
When an interpreter approaches the Holy Qur’a an from a perspective informed by a history of the world’s major religions, this canonical collection of 114 su ura s or “chapters” has the nature of a third canonical collection among the People of the Book. Traditional interpretation argues that around 90 C.E. rabbis at Jamnia (Jabneh or Yavneh) established the twenty-four books of the Tanak1 (Hebrew Bible) as canonical2 Holy Scripture for Jewish people.3 By approximately 110 C.E. Christians had written additional letters, narratives, and the like containing a dynamic relation to the Jewish Tanak,4 and by 200 C.E. most early Christians began to refer to a selection of these writings as New Testament (or New Covenant) alongside the Tanak as Old Testament (or Old Covenant).5 Shortly after the death of Muhammad in 632 C.E., the Qur’a an emerged as a canonical recital of God’s Holy Word that reconfigured aspects of both Hebrew Bible and New Testament discourse in a context of Jewish, Chris...