The Quran

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

The Quran: Tradition vs. History

It belongs not to any mortal that god should speak to him, except by inspiration, or from behind a veil, or that He should send a messenger and he reveal whatsoever He will, by His leave; surely He is All-high, All-wise.2

1 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Quran_cover.jpg Gatje p.45; Zamahshari on Sura 42:51/50f

Page 1

The Quran

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

The Quran is the main focus of Islamic religion and provides day-to-day guidance in regards to the laws by which all Muslims need to abide; a projection to ancient prophets, and a definition of Islam in contrast with the other major monotheistic religions of the time in which it was composed. The work consists of 114 chapters, called suras, arranged roughly in order of length, from longest to shortest each chapter is divided into verses, ayas, the total number amounting to somewhere between 6,204 and 6,236, differing according to various schemes of counting,3 In regards to its overall composition however, the Quran is far more complex that it would at first seem. Claimed by Muslims to have come directly from God (Allah) via Muhammad, the historicity of the work gives us a picture of a volume that had been put together after Muhammads death and which evolved into a cohesive whole. As we have learned in this class, the Quran serves a paradigmatic function within the Muslim community meant to join them to the enlightened traditions of the West with a monotheism superior to that of the existing religions of the same claim.4 The focus of this research paper will be how Muslim tradition sees the Quran and what the peculiar compositions of its structure say about the development of Islam as a religion. We will find that Islam, as well as the Quran, is a composition that evolved at the hands of a devoted class of followers who sought to consolidate the sayings of Muhammad as revealed to him by God.

The Quran in Islamic Tradition When it comes to Islam itself, traditional beliefs about the Quran are straightforward, the book was passed down from God to Muhammad,5 according to some traditionalists in seven dialects,6 and it served the purpose of guiding the believers or creatures that He had created so that when the end of the world came, those who have chosen to follow Him would be saved.7 The book establishes itself early on as unique and above all others in regards to its message, denouncing Judaism and Christianity as
3 4

Rippin p.20; Weil p.349 From my notes on Lecture IV of this course by professor Von Sivers 5 Gatje pp.4-5 6 Weil P.346; of which Quraish was selected as the main linguistic characterization 7 Rippin p.21

Page 2

The Quran

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

conformist religions in regards to unbelievers.8 These ideas reinforce Muslim traditional belief in the uniqueness9 of the Quran and their necessity to adhere to a single God10 which is indivisible and beyond all understanding. However, like Christianity and Judaism, Islam needed to connect itself to older traditions in order to establish what it was trying to revive or oppose, and the Quran offered this idea to traditional Muslims so as to vindicate the antiquity of the religion and its approach to traditional revelation.11 There are twenty-eight figures other than Muhammad named in the Quran as having been commissioned or selected by God to spread His message.12 It would seem, however, that the most important function of the Quran in traditional Islam is the guidance it offers in regards to salvation; A dichotomy of forbidden (aram) and permitted (all) permeates the Quran and provides an elements of the foundation for Islamic ethics.13 What is hall and aram defines the propriety of every Muslim, and it is the behavior of the individual towards these concepts and what they embodied that will be the staple of judgment when God brings about the end of time. In the end, salvation to a Muslim seems to depend on Quranic revelation, as it provides a clear and perfect version of the will of God, the correct rendition of revelation.14

The Quran, its Composition, and the Secular View As we have seen, the Quran is an absolute text to the Muslim, written by Muhammad by direct revelation from God. However, its composition is more complex than the view of traditional Islam would have us believe. Muhammad himself is actually excluded from any work regarding the collection of the Quran into a book, though there are accounts in which he goes over the entire text with his cousin, and future
8 9

Quran 9/30-1 This trait or, as Rippin puts it in p.35 of his book, The Doctrine of Inimitability, is used as evidence by the Muslims, first under the guide of al-Rummani (d. 996), for the veracity of its contents 10 Quran 2/255-6 gives us an overall description of God in Islam thought 11 Muhammad claimed that he recited back portions of the Quran to the angel Gabriel in order to establish is correctness (Weil p.347) 12 Rippin p.23; see also Gatjes chapter III (pp. 92-129) on Salvation History for greater detail on the matter 13 Rippin p.27 14 Rippin p.30

Page 3

The Quran

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

son-in-law, Ali.15 Islam defends this initial lack of records by stating that it was unnecessary, because de verses revealed by him were at once committed to memory by his companions, and thus were saved from oblivion.16 Credit for the collection of scripture is given to a Zayd ibn Thabit, a compation of Muhammad, while the pages of the text were entrusted to a Hafsa, who was one of Muhammads wives. Later on, under Caliph Uthmn ibn Affn (b.579- d.656 CE),17 the third ruler of the Muslim Empire, a final version of the Quranic text was commissioned and finalized. Thus there are two ways of tradition in Muslim religion, that of the oral tradition by Muhammad and the written tradition by Caliph Uthman.18 The evidence for the traditional view is not extant, but some documents have been found which date the existing text to be completed by the eight century; however, all studies indicate that the current text is the product of reflection upon a primitive written text and not upon the parallel transmission of an oral text as Muslim tradition has suggested.19 In the end, what this represents is a religion that has evolved with time and was not set from the beginning. As much as Islam would like to portray a divine and finalized text directly from Muhammad to the Muslims, evidence even within the traditions of Islam portray a much more different and dynamic text. Secularly speaking, the Quran was orally transmitted by Muhammad and, though he may have seen a finalize version of the text before he died, the final work was not compiled until after his death by Caliph Uthman, who is viewed by science as the creator of the written Quran.20 Later writers such as Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari would attempt to interpret the Quran in order to expound on its meaning,21 yet further evidence of is complexity and evolution.

15 16

Ali will also be the figurehead of the later Shii movement Weil p.344 17 Hinds p.457 18 Rippin p.31 19 Rippin p.32 20 Weil p.348 21 Rippin p.37; see also Weil p.346

Page 4

The Quran
Conclusion

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

Naturally, Islam will find its own explanations for this seeming separation between the word of God transmitted by Muhammad and the written version of the Caliphs, but this will be only further evidence of the dynamic Traditional Islam we have come to know and understand through this course, one which developed into its current form through debate and change into the Islam we know and understand today. What the Quran is traditionally cannot be superseded with what it is historically, but in order to understand the development of the culture of Islam as a religion we must also grasp its meaning in a community that has built itself around a book considered law. Islam tries to set itself apart in a world in which all religions seem to share traditional beginnings.

Page 5

The Quran
Bibliography

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

Gatje, Helmut, The Quran and its Exegesis (Selected texts with Classical and Modern Muslim Interpretations (1976) Berkley and Los Angeles Hinds, Martin, The Murder of the Caliph 'Uthman International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Oct., 1972), pp. 450-469 Cambridge University Press Muhammad, Ali, Yusuf Abdullah (Translator) The Quran 23rd US Edition (2008) Tahrike Tarsile Quran Inc, New York Rippin, Andrew, Muslims (their religious beliefs and practices) 4th Edition (2012) Routledge Press, New York Weil, Gustav, An Introduction to the Quran. III. The Biblical World Vol. 5, No. 5 (May, 1895), pp. 343359 The University of Chicago Press

Page 6