By Babatunde Jose
The Last Book sent by Allah, is the Quran: Revealed for 23 years 610-632 CE. Belief in Quran is central, fundamental and non-negotiable in Islam. The Quran in Arabic is believed to be the actual word of Allah: But translations are not, as they are renderings of the meaning and reading; a translation, it is claimed, is not equal to the recitation of the actual Arabic text of the Qur’an. Even though the Quran is still the Word of Allah, and a symbol of “Islamism”, part of the social rituals and component of the spiritual rituals (like salat); howbeit, without understanding the content, Muslims still have faith in it. Today only 20% of Muslims can understand the Quran in its original Arabic! Yet, they believe and turn to helpful sources such as translations, commentaries and dictionaries of the Quran. Though these sources are useful, they are also full of problems: Translations come with the translator’s understanding and prejudice •Tafsir are often out of reach for various reasons •Dictionaries do not provide full understanding and sometimes these resources confuse rather than enlighten.
The revelation started during the month of Ramadan and continued for 23 years till the prophet died. The canonical text was not achieved until twenty years after the Prophet’s death. The Quranic material which had been preserved in written and oral forms was then carefully collected at the behest of the third caliph, Uthman, who published it as the only officially authorized version of the Quran (Uthmanic Codex).
The very word Quran seems to mean ‘recitation’, particularly recitation for liturgical purposes. Muslim tradition advanced the view that the Quran characterized Muhammad (in Q 7:157–8) as al-nabı l-ummı meaning ‘the prophet who did not know how to write’. The Quran also frequently refers itself as al-kitab, ‘the book’.
Muslim tradition reports that an early collection may have been prepared in the caliphate of Abu Bakr 1632–4,which was later kept by the caliph Umar 634–44 and then by the latter’s daughter Hafsa, widow of the Prophet. More specific are the accounts that ascribe the preparation of an official written copy to the time of the third caliph, Uthman 644–55. This official ‘Uthmanic Codex’ is generally considered to be the archetype for the Quran as we have it today. The 1924 Cairo edition of the Quran is however the most widely used version today.
Jewish and Christian missionaries have leveled many criticisms against the Quran and this took added impetus during and after the Crusades 1095 – 1492 AD. The ensuing rise of Islamophobia has not been helped by the subsequent bad blood that had since developed between the two faiths (the partition of Palestine and colonization of Muslim nations by the West. Yet they are both successors to Abraham. Karen Armstrong claims that there are “far more numerous passages in the Quran” which speak positively of the Jews and their great prophets, than those which were against the “rebellious Jewish tribes of Medina” (during Muhammad’s time); The Battle for God; Karen Armstrong.
Even though the Quran criticizes the Christian worship of Jesus as God, and other practices and doctrines of both Judaism and Christianity, the Quran still has high praise for these religions, regarding them as the other two parts of the Abrahamic trinity. The expression ‘the People of the Book’ occurs 31 times in the Quran. The Quran also uses other expressions to refer to the People of the Book, such as alladhīna ūtū al-kitāb (those who have received the Book), which occurs 15 times, and other expressions that indicate that they were given the Book, and ahl al-dhikr (the people of the remembrance), which occurs twice. The Qur’an names the Jewish people as yahūd (nine times), hūdan (three times), alladhīna hādū (10 times) and banū Isrāʾīl (40 times), and uses the term naṣārā for Christians in 14 places. The Qur’an also addresses the Christians as ahl al-Injīl (the People of the Gospel) in Q 5.47
The greatest charge leveled against the Quran however, is the theory of borrowing; that is, the Quran borrowed or plagiarized the Bible. In answer to this, it should be realized that first, the Quran is a revealed book and could not have copied from the Bible.
Secondly, Muhammad being illiterate could not have studied and selected from previous scriptures without the ability to read and write.
Thirdly, the first Arabic version of the Bible appeared a few hundred years after the death of Muhammad.
Fourthly, similarity does not constitute sufficient evidence of copying. Both of them could be based on a common third source. This is precisely the argument of the Quran.
It should be realized that the Bible is not one book but a collection of at least 66 books according to the Protestant version or 75 according to the Roman Catholic Douay and a mixture of both divine statements and human commentaries. See for example Luke 1:1-4, and I Corinthians 7:25. The Quran has no such commentaries, even the words of Muhammad are not part of the Qur’an. The four gospels teach about Jesus, his life and mission whereas, the Quran is not a biography of Muhammad written by his followers.
The idea that the Quran had borrowed from the Bible is further contradicted by the existence of basic creedal differences between the two texts.
The Biblical concept of God is quite different from the Quranic one. The Quran denies that the similitude of God is like that of man or any of His creation: And there is none like unto Him. (Quran 112:4)
The Biblical concept of prophethood is also radically different from the one presented in the Quran. There are also creedal differences concerning belief in the hereafter, the concept of salvation and orientation towards life.
Apart from doctrinal differences, there are also major variations even in stories common to both the Quran and the Bible and the differences have very serious doctrinal implications. There are major variations in the stories of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, Lot, Moses and Jesus.
The idea that the Quran has largely borrowed from the Bible is certainly erroneous. In fact even those scholars who postulate the borrowing theory like Phillip Hitti hasten to add that: …”the resemblances do not warrant the conclusion of borrowing or quoting.”
The charges of borrowing might as well have been leveled against the Bible: For instance, stories in the Bible were considered to be historically accurate and entirely unique until the mid-19th century when archaeologists discovered the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Bible was considered the oldest scrpture in the world until much older literature was discovered which told the same stories, in an earlier form, than those found in the Bible.
No one could read Egyptian hieroglyphics until Jean Jacques Champollion (1790-1832) completely deciphered them after discovery of the Rosetta Stone; and also the literature of Sumer was completely unknown to the modern world.
In the mid-19th century museums and publications sent archaeologists from the West to the region of Mesopotamia to find physical evidence that would substantiate biblical narratives. What they found instead astounded them. Iconic stories such as the ‘Fall of Man’ and the ‘Great Flood’, they found, were not unique to the Bible but had already been written down centuries before the Hebrew scribes revised them in their own work. The great law code of Moses, thought to be the first in history, was discovered to have had a predecessor in the Law Code of Ur-Nammu and the more famous Code of Hammurabi.
The story of Noah may be part of the Abrahamic canon, but the legend of the Great Flood almost certainly has prebiblical origins, rooted in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia. The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh date back nearly 5,000 years. See Heidel, Alexander, The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949). Also, Shawna Dolansky, “Gilgamesh and the Bible”
A vast body of evidence shows that the cross was used centuries before the birth of Christianity. The cross originated from the ancient Babylonians before its spread to other parts of the world such as Syria, Egypt, Greek, Latin, India, and Mexico.
Osiris in ancient Egypt had over 200 divine names, including familiar Christological names such as Lord of Lords, King of Kings and God of Gods. He was called the ‘Resurrection’. Shafer, Byron E, ed. (1991). Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice; Cornell University Press.
Once ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics were able to be read, the myths of Egypt were found to have similarities to the Christian figure of the dying and resurrecting god and Mary, the mother of Jesus, to have taken on many of the attributes and epithets of the Egyptian goddess Isis.
As stories of these discoveries became more widely known, belief in the Bible as the word of God began to change to an understanding of the work as inspired by God or as scripture written by inspired men.
It is possible this would happen in the case of the Quran too, given honest research into its sources and revision of its concepts. There is no doubt religion as a cultural artifact must undergo changes or temporary dynamism even though it is naturally parochial. As it is with the Bible, so it is with the Quran; time will tell.
Barka Juma’at and Ramadan Kareem
