The Cosmopolitan World of the Quran and Late Antique Humanism

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Article The Cosmopolitan World of the Quran and Late Antique Humanism

Todd Lawson

Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1C1, Canada; [email protected]

Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate how two distinct but deeply related literary genres, which had become especially prominent in the 7th century Nile-to-Oxus region, have left an enduring impression on the form and contents of the Quran. By saying this, it is not intended to suggest that the Quran was “inﬂuenced” by this or that extraneous or extra-textual phenomenon. Rather, it is suggested that, along the lines of the Quran’s own theory of revelation, it speaks through Muh. ammad, “the language of his people” (Q14:4). Stated another away, the Quran employs themes and structures from both epic and apocalypse that would have been familiar to its audience in order to reveal and make clear its most cherished sacred truths, among which are: the Oneness of God, the Oneness of Religion and the Oneness of Humanity. Epic and apocalypse, then, emerge as features of the cultural and imaginative language of the intended audience of the Quran, just as Arabic is its “linguistic” language.

Keywords: Quran; epic; apocalypse; late antiquity; cosmopolitanism; revelation; audience reception; humanism

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Citation: Lawson, Todd. 2021. The 1. Part 1 Cosmopolitan World of the Quran Prologue: The Literary World of the Quran and Late Antique Humanism. To privilege theReferences literary character of the Quran it is not intended, by any means, to Religions 12: 562. https://doi.org/ detract from its undoubted status as divine revelation. Rather, the purpose should be 10.3390/rel12080562 considered part of aPrimary desire to Sources understand more deeply what divine revelation means in the context of the Quran andʾ its primary, though obviously not only, audience—Muslims. Academic Editor: Roberto Tottoli al-Qur ān al-Karīm, innumerable printings based on the 1924 Royal Egyptian Cairo edition. An indication of theThe way Koran in Interpreted which “literary”. Translated is toby beArthur taken J. Arberry throughout. London: this George essay Alan, is in Unwin, 1955. the title of the late ProfessorThe Message Issa of the J. Qur Boullata’sān̕ . Translated field-changing by Muhammad book: Asad.Literary Gibraltar: structures Dar al-Andalus, of 1980. Received: 24 May 2021 religious meaning inThe the Qurʾān. (TranslatedBoullata 2000 by Alan, also Jones. see Oxford: Suggested The ReadingE.J.W. Gibb1). Memorial Such a title Trust, 2007. Accepted: 10 July 2021 Quran statistics. https://www.qurananalysis.com/analysis/basic-statistics.php?lang=EN Published: 21 July 2021 may be thought at least partly inspired by the Quran itself: We sent no messenger except [to teach] in the language of his [own] people, in order to make [things] clear to them (Q 14:4). Secondary Sources language of Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral The methodological presupposition here is the same. It is assumed that the with regard to jurisdictional claims in his (own) people includes(Bakhtin much 1981) more Bakhtin, than Mikhail. the merely 1981. The linguistic Dialogic elementsImagination: of Four vocabulary, Essays. Edited by Michael Holquist. Translated by Caryl Emerson published maps and institutional affil- grammar, morphology andand syntax,Michael Holquist. and encompasses Austin: University those extra-linguistic of Texas Press. factors that iations. enliven any language(Bemong and which et al. supply, 2010) Bemong ultimately, Nele, those Pieter bases Borghart, upon Mi whichchel De any Dobbeleer, language and Kristoffel Demoen, eds. 2010. Bakhtin’s Theory of the acquires, generates and communicatesLiterary Chronotope: meaning: Reflections, that Applications, without which Perspectives meaning. Gent: is not Ginko really Academia Press. achieved no matter(Boullata what linguistic 2000) Boullata “mechanism”, Issa J., ed. (i.e., 2000. language, Literary Structures in the usual of Religious sense) Meaning is in in the Quran. Richmond: Curzon, 2000. play. This is, of course,(Böwering a very 2002) vast fieldBöwering, because Gerhard. there 2002. are many God and such His factors. Attributes. In this In Encicplopaedia essay, of the Qur’an. Leiden: Brill, vol. 2, pp. 316–31. (Brown 1983) Brown, Norman O. 1983. The Apocalypse of Islam. Social Text 8: 155–71. we will restrict ourselves to three or four in order to demonstrate something significant Copyright: © 2021 by the author. (Cameron 2017) Cameron, Averil. 2017. Late Antique Apocalyptic: A Context for the Qur’an? In Apocalypticism and Eschatology in Late about the Quran and its undoubted status as a book of divine revelation for Muslims, Islam Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Antiquity Encounters in the Abrahamic Religions, 6th–8th Centuries. Edited by Hagit Amirav, Emmanouela Grypeou and Guy This article is an open access article and Islam’s message to humanity.Stroumsa. Leuven: This significance Peeters, vol. is 17, closely pp. 1–20. related to what some have distributed under the terms and referred to as the “power”(Casanova of the 1911) Quran: Casanova, that whichPaul. 1911. commands Mohammed thrilled at la fin admiration du monde: Étude for the critique sur l’Islám primitif. Paris: Paul Geuthner. conditions of the Creative Commons sound and sense of the(Ciardi Quranic 1959) ArabicCiardi, inJohn. virtually 1959. How anyone Does whoa Poem understands Mean? Boston: its Houghton, “linguistic Mifflin. Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// substrate”—Arabic (cf.(Collins Q 8:2). 1987) This Collins, article John will J. suggest 1987. Apocalypse: that beyond An the Overview. beauty Enciclopaeida of the highly of Religion 1: 409–14. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ poetic and figurative(Frye Arabic, 2007) recited Frye, Northrop. and heard 2007. in rhythmicThe Great Code: cadences, The Bible in and which Literature the heard. Toronto: Penguin Canada. 4.0/). relation between vowels(Goppelt and 1982) consonants Goppelt, may Leonhard. be thought 1982. TYPOS: to provide The anTypological ever-changing Interpretatio yetn of the Old Testament in the New. Translated by Donald H. Madvig. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. (Hodgson 1974) Hodgson, Marshall G. S. 1974. The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 3 vols. Religions 2021, 12, 562. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080562 (Lawson 2017) Lawson, Todd. 2017. Thehttps://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Quran, Epic and Apocalypse. London: Oneworld Academic. (Leemhuis 2001) Leemhuis, Fred. 2001. Apocalypse. EQ 1: 111–14. (Martin 2005) Martin, Richard P. 2005. Epic as Genre. In A Companion to Ancient Epic. Edited by John Miles Foley. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 9–19. (Mir 1986) Mir, Mustansir. 1986. Coherence in the Quran: A Study of Iṣlaḥī’s Concept of Naẓm in Tadabbur-i Quran. Indianapolis: American Trust Publications. (Mir 2003) Mir, Mustansir. 2003. Names of the Quran. In Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an. Edited by Jane Dammen McAuliffe. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, vol. 3, pp. 505–15. (Sells 2000) Sells, Michael. 2000. A Literary Approach to the Hymnic Sūras of the Qur’ān: Spirit, Gender, and Aural Intertextuality. In Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur’ān. Edited by Issa J. Boullata, Richmond: Curzon, pp. 3–25. (Wright 2018) Wright, Peter Matthews. 2018. Islam: The Khalifa Ideal. In Thirteen Theories of Human Nature, 7th ed. Edited by Leslie Stevenson, David L. Haberman, Peter Matthews Wright, and Charlotte Witt. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 138–55. (Zadeh 2015) Zadeh, Travis. 2015. Quranic Studies and the Literary Turn. Journal of the American Oriental Society 135: 329–42. (Zwettler 1990) Zwettler, Michael. 1990. Mantic Manifesto: The Sūra of the Poets and the Qur’ānic Foundations of Prophetic Author- ity. In Poetry and Prophecy: The Beginnings of a Literary Tradition. Edited by James L. Kugel. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, pp. 75–119.

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somehow constant, aesthetically compelling obligato-like “background music”, there is also an overall structure to the Quran which introduces what may best be thought of as literary innovation—a kind of literary modernism for its time and place in the context of a well-established and traditionally familiar field of literary expectations, even if the line between “literature” and “religion” is not always perfectly drawn. In short, here we are concerned as much, if not more, with the question “How does the Quran mean?”—to adapt Ciardi’s useful heuristic title (Ciardi 1959)—than with the usual one: “What does the Quran mean?”. The heart of this 7th century literary and religious modernism that is the Quran has to do with the way in which the understanding of human and humanity seems to have expanded beyond its usual borders, the way in which well-known, contemporaneous ancient scriptures figure in the new work, reconfigured in the context of the new social reality, and, perhaps most importantly, the way in which two well-attested literary genres, epic and apocalypse, much esteemed by the otherwise vastly variegated potential Quranic audiences, are found in novel, combined form with the result that the existing “religious” (for lack of a better word) horizons of the readers and hearers are shifted and in some sense also expanded and enriched. By using the above title, then, two locations or worlds come to mind: (1) the literary world into which the Quran was born and (2) the world created by the literary structures employed and expectations assumed by the Quran. Here, we are mostly concerned with the second, but there will be some reference to the first. To begin, I would ask the reader to banish, in the spirit of experimentation, all ideas or preconceptions about the Sitz im Leben of the Quran: the culture, history, anthropology and geography of the time and place in which it is universally recognized to have been composed. Thus, we are placing ourselves firmly in the practical criticism school, one which stays focused on the text itself as opposed to, say, trying to read and understand the text according to external factors, including authorial intention—factors which the schools of more abstract criticism value very highly. Such external factors may be symbolized by the life of the author in biography or chronicle. For the purposes of this discussion, we will ignore such factors. Rather, we will treat the Quran as a mysterious text, along the lines of the Dead Sea Scrolls, whose author is as unknowable as Allah.¯ It is a text discovered by accident, preserved in ancient scrolls perhaps in a cave, in two clay jars, one marked tanz¯ıl and the other marked mus.h. af (more about this below). Over the years, we have arrived at an understanding of the composition, but we have virtually no knowledge of the author or the audience. You see, in this experiment, Islam has not occurred, did not exist and did not make all those magnificent contributions to world culture and history for which we are now very grateful. There have been no Muslims or Muslim community. All we have is the text of what we call the Quran, in a language never before encountered, which we call Arabic, and an idea, because of the manner in which it was discovered, of its obviously high value to those who took the trouble to preserve it in writing and protect the text by hiding it in clay jars in a remote cave, let us say, in 7th century Arabia. Let us even say somewhere in the Hijaz—perhaps in a cave on Mt. Hira. However, the most important extra-textual knowledge here is that these “Quran scrolls” were deemed very precious, put in safekeeping until such a time as the people who preserved them, or their progeny, returned to reclaim them. Thus, we have no vast libraries of Quranic sciences: lexicography, exegesis, grammar. Nor do we have those works of scholarship which we know to have been inspired or occasioned by the Quran such as theology, history, prose literature, tales of the prophets, poetry, magic, geography, and medicine. Nonetheless, we have somehow learned to understand the text as it is. Furthermore, we have discovered that the meaning and style of the “Dead Sea” Quran has much in common with other books from the ancient world, chiefly the Hebrew Bible and the Gospels—what some refer to as the Old and New Testaments. Indeed, the study thus far suggests that, in this connection, we might think of the Quran as The Newest Testament. (Cf. Wright 2018, esp. 141–45) However, there are other compositions as well. Most of these, excepting resonances with such things as the Religions 2021, 12, 562 3 of 20

Alexander Romance, are what have come to be known as holy books, so this is the category we are using in which to frame our study of the literary world of the Quran. Additionally, here we have two further possibilities: (1) the world reflected in the Quran, its themes, literary presuppositions, anthropology, artistry, science, history, etc.; (2) the way in which Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 20 the Quran “literizes” or, not to be shocking, “fictionalizes” these topics, devices, concerns, and values. Here, again, we are opting for number 2, and we are using the idea of fiction not as the opposite of truth, but as something else altogether: the opposite of the opposite ofFurthermore, truth. the places, communities, nations, races, languages that are acknowl- edged byThe the Bible, Quran in represent both testamentary a variety phases,heretofore we unencountered discover, is frequently in the Nile-to-Oxus referred to in li- this braryQuran. of either Additionally, epic or scripture. we notice One similarities may, in fact, along consider with the dramatic numerous differences. identities Thein that chief extra-Quranicdifference is document, one of form. stated The Quranto have is madebeen upwritten of 114 by sections Muḥammad, which itthe calls remarkablesura¯ s (Ar. pl. Constitutionsuwar) and of each Medina, sura isas madesomething up of of a numbera precursor, of verses adumbration (Arabic ay ¯orat¯ possibly, sing. aya¯ even, “signs”). re- flectionThenumber of the distinctive of verses forpluralism each sura and can cosmopolitanism vary widely. The of shortestthe Dār suraal-Isl isām identified of the Ab- as Q basid108 era and and bears beyond the paradoxical name al-kawthar, which means “abundance” in Arabic. It has 3 verses and 12 words. We discover that the names of the suras are derived from the 2.4.existence Humanity in them of particularly striking words. Thus, the longest sura in the Quran, Q 2, al-baqara “the cow,” has 285 verses and hundreds of words. Further, it is not about cows One of the most important distinguishing features of the Quran is its theme of hu- or farming or anything else the title might otherwise suggest. However, this distinctive manity, both in the aggregate and as individual. There are a number of Arabic words at and, therefore, memorable word occurs five times in sura 2, once in plural form and the play here: nās, insān, bashar, khalq, followed by subdivisions or categories: muslim, muʾmin, remainder in singular. Indeed, these two scrolls agree in the way their suras are entitled. muḥsin, Christian, Jew, Sabian, mushrik, mufsid, kāfir, jāhil, and their social units: qawm, To be clear, the scrolls are identical except for one crucial factor—their suras are arranged qabīl, alwān, alsān, amongst others. This third major component of our theory of Quranic in quite different order (again, more on this below). The respective headings for the sura epic and apocalypse has already been alluded to several times above. It seems beyond in the two jars do not actually say: surat¯ al-baqara “The chapter of the cow”. Rather, these dispute that one of the chief concerns of the Quran, perhaps as important as revelation headings are quite explicit: al-surat¯ al-lat¯ı dhukirat fihi al-baqara “The chapter in which ‘the itself, is humanity, both in the collective and as individual. A brief catalogue of all the cow’ is mentioned”. Furthermore, the length of the Quranic verse is also not standardized. wordsThe shortestused in versethe Quran is a single to designate word: Q this 55:64 “species”Dark green supports in color—mudh this assertion.ammat¯ an¯ .The The most longest frequentverse isterm, Q 2:282 al-nā withs, (from 256 N words. W S) occurs Between 241 these times two in extremesthe Quran we with find, the as meaning stated above, of humanity,a wide varietyman, men of lengthsand the of people. verses, Ins a totalān, un ofās 6236,and ins, and derived their respective from A N suras, S, refers of which 90 times to man/humankind/the human. Interestingly, it occurs five times in a verbal form, the total is 114.2 Another difference has to do with the voice of the Quran. It speaks in a ānasa, meaning to perceive. Bashar is another word for human, sometimes thought to refer wide variety of line length, end rhyme (from beginning to end), and subject-matter, and directlyyet it isto somehowthe “lower quite nature.” consistent It occurs with 37 regard times to as voice, such. even B SH if thereR is a are frequent different Quranic speakers. root,This occurring is unlike a total the multiple of 123 times. voices It is in interesting the Bible whichthat it occurs have, to 83 some times extent, in the verbal been unified and ʾ nominaland homogenized forms: “to give through, good fornews,” example a cognate the majestic to gospel. “King Imru James” “man/person” translation, x but11 and which imraremainʾa “woman/person” clearly multiple occurs as a function 26 times. of theRajū multiplel/rijāl, from authorship R J L, denotes of those man/men books. The and voice stronglyof Q 108 connotes is the same manliness, as the voicestanding of Q one’ 2. Voices ground, here maystrength, in fact triumph be thought and ofachievement in some ways againstas a synonymodds. Additionally, for world it or has universe, been used and frequently it stands forin literature the unified, to refer if variegated, to particularly literary devoutworld or of heroic the Quran. women. It occurs 57 times. Khalq, our last word, means “creation”, and is a synonymThe major for humanity. similarities It with occurs the a so-called total of “previous261 times in scriptures” the Quran, have to tostand do withfor the what creativein the activity case of of the God Dead and Seathe result Scrolls of has this been activity, called frequently the “community specified rule”,as the andhuman what (e.g.,we Q may 39:6). refer Thus, to asthere Abrahamic are numerous ethical word values,s in eschatology, the Quran that expectation are used and to designate apocalypse. communitiesThis community of humans: rule hasqawm, been from propagated, Q W M, occurs what 383 the times Quran meaning frequently folk, calls people, “sent com- down, munity;revealed” umma by from a Quranic U M M, antitype 64 times of the meaning Teacher nation, of Righteousness, people, community, also of “Dead religion; Sea Scrolls” the hapaxfame. shu Inʿū theb from case SH of the ʿAyn Quran, B meaning this figure nations; is frequently dīn from called D Y aN, prophet meaning (nab religious/cul-¯ı) or messenger tural/ethnic(rasul¯ ). We group, also findoccurs many 92 times. of the Ahl same “(the)dramatis people/family” personae in occurs the Quran 127 times, that we including find in the dozesearlier as the two distinctive testaments Quranic or covenants, epithet “people many of of which the Book” are designated (ahl al-kitāb as); earlierāl and the prophets re- latedand ūlī messengers., meaning people, Depending family, upon ancestors, the method and related of counting, usages, from the Quran ʾA W L, mentions occurs 170 25 of times.these, Tribe, including ‘ashīra/ma theʿ mostshar, from recent, ʿAyn a man SH namedR, occurs Mu sixh. ammad times; qab (mentionedīl twice as fourtribe(s) times (from in the Q Btext). L); rah Ofṭ, thesefamily, 25 x3 names, (R H Ṭ there); descendants are a few thatasbāṭ we x5 have(from not S B encountered Ṭ); sons/children, in other e.g., books, of Israelwhether or Adam scripture (from or B history,N Y) x160. such “Group,” as Muh. ammad, ʿuṣbah (from Hud,¯ ʿṢ ali¯B)h .occurs, and Shu‘ayb 5 times; (Q “groups, 11: 52–63 ”ʿizahand (from elsewhere, ʿAyn esp.Z W) Q is 26). a hapax; farīq/firqah (from F R Q) occurs 33 times; “group,” nafar/nafInīr what(from follows, N F R) occurs then, we three will times; outline “Groups,” and describe thub twoāt (from distinct TH features B Y) occurs of our once; “Dead “A Sea”company,” Quran, thullah namely, (from epic TH and L apocalypse. L) occurs 3 Ittimes; will beParties: seen that“Host, these group, two mastertroop,” genresfiʾah (F are ʾ Y)found occurs everywhere 11 times; “Party, in the textconfederates” both distinctly ḥizb (from and in Ḥ their Z B) distinctive occurs 20 times; Quranic “Party/sect” combination shīʿasah a(SH result Y ʿAyn of which) occurs the 20 epic times; genre finally, becomes “group, “apocalyptized”, party,” ṭāʾifah ( andṬ W apocalypse F) occurs 25 acquires times. a In light of this extensive vocabulary, including particular words for particular types of human (male and female), such as muʾmin/believer (x228), muslim (x41), ʿabd/servant and serving (x275), kāfir/unbeliever and kufr/unbelief (x525), Christian (x15 as Naṣārā/Naṣrāniyya ), Jew (x15 as Yahūd, Yahūdī and Hūd; x43 as Banu Isrāʾīl), mushrik/polytheist (x168), the various and numerous uses (x90) of ṣāḥib/aṣḥāb “member(s) of this or that group, e.g., those in hell (aṣḥāb al-nār) and the attendant verbal forms which can only be performed by humans, it is curious that in the Encyclopaedia of the Quran there is no article for human/humanity or even the somewhat outdated term “mankind”. This lack

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high degree of narrative and descriptive clarity and telos through being “epicized”. This Quranic literary landscape, together with a third remaining feature, helps us understand the almost unprecedented appeal the non-Dead Sea or real Quran had in real time and place: that vast geographic and culturally variegated expanse stretching from Cadiz to the Hindu Kush in the 7–9th centuries CE. As such, the text, whether from Jar #1 or #2, reﬂects and makes sense of to a certain remarkable degree the teeming cosmopolitan culture of the time and place. Now, obviously, here we are relaxing our methodological stricture. The third element, referred to above, is the degree to which the idea of humanity or the human being becomes a center of focus, both in the Quranic epic and the Quranic apocalypse. (Cf. Wright 2018) The combination of epic, apocalypse and humanity, and their interrelated highly generative literary dynamics, chief amongst which is the powerful literary feature of typological ﬁguration, will be the subject of what follows.

2. Part 2 2.1. Introduction: The Modes of the Quran For the balance of this discussion, we will focus on these four aspects of the Quran which redound to the richness of its appeal and the poetic urgency of its meaning, whether aesthetic or religious (if these two can be separated in the case of the Quran) and the efficiency with which this meaning is communicated. These four broad headings are: apocalypse, epic, humanity and typological figuration. In my recent book, Quran, epic and apocalypse, I suggested that the Quran may be seen as a fugue of the two genres, epic and apocalypse. Though by using this analogy, I was more concerned in expressing the way in which the Quran seamlessly combines the two genres rather than with the way in which one genre may be thought now to be “chasing” one genre and vice versa. This feature of the fugue is also in play in the Quran. Yet, the main point of this, perhaps unlikely comparison with European baroque musical composition and performance (including the quite characteristic feature of improvisation), is to say something about how these two separate genres are blurred in the Quran. The blurring is especially interesting in that it may be seen to produce what might be thought of as generic role reversal. Such blurring and reversal of the two genres help us understand the “literary structures of religious meaning” in the much-celebrated frisson of the recited text, which conditions any subsequent “silent” reading of the Quran’s written text. One of the unforeseen insights emerging from my above-mentioned 2017 book had to do with a perennial question in Quranic studies, whether “emic” or “etic”: why is the order of the “liturgical” Quran, that is the Quran in common use today—precisely the mus.h. af —almost exactly the reverse of the chronological order in which, according to Muslim tradition, the Quran was orally revealed/composed and performed? As a result of contemplating the nature, role and function in the Quran of these two familiar genres (possibly the oldest in literary history), epic and apocalypse, it seemed unavoidable to conclude that those who had transformed the tanz¯ıl (the scroll in Clay Jar # 1) into the mus.h. af (the scroll in Clay Jar #2) sought to present the most recent communication from the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jesus, and those otherwise unknown prophets mentioned above, and finally Muh. ammad, as a distinctive, “Quranic” epic, even though the Arabic term for epic is not used as a title. The mus.h. af begins, after the invocation known as the Fati¯ h. a (Q 1) “The Overture”, the short sura of seven verses that opens today’s Quran, with, precisely the story of humankind and its dramatic, tragic, apocalyptic and enlightening experience with the divine through periodic revelation from God to a “teacher of righteousness”, who, in the Quran, is the prophet or the messenger. This epic begins in earnest, after another brief introduction which may be considered a Quran praeperatio (Q 2:1–28) where, in the Quran’s parlance, the story of the “sons of Adam” (humanity) begins with the appointing of Adam as God’s caliph, the encounter of Adam and Eve with the Devil (Iblis) and their expulsion from the Garden (Q 2: 29ff). Religions 2021, 12, 562 5 of 20

By contrast, the tanz¯ıl (scroll in Jar #1) begins with the apocalyptic experience of an unnamed prophet’s encounter with a supernatural being who communicates revelations, to humanity, here al-insan¯ , at Q 96. It is interesting to observe that even in this early apocalyptic setting, with the otherworldly being commanding the anonymous prophet to read or recite, the epic élan of the Qur’an is expressed not in terms of the history and epic challenges to the sons of Adam, but in terms of the microcosmic epic of the growth of the individual human being, who begins their own private epic as a drop of sperm (Q 96:2). This highlights another frequent difference between epic and apocalyptic, their respective focus on the collective and the individual. Epic (cf. Clay Jar #2 the mus.h. af ) is the genre of telos/purpose, identity, adventure, heroism, courage, intelligence or even craftiness (furbismo), rationality and, more often than not, triumph and social order because it makes some kind of sense of everyone’s role in society as if that role had somehow been preordained. This is true of epics the world over. It is especially instrumental with regard to the existential-cum-literary business of identity. By contrast, apocalyptic, which characterizes the order of the tanz¯ıl (Clay Jar #1), is the genre of change or instability, conflict, oppression, persecution, revolution, mystic awareness and apperception, imagination, alienation and, therefore, individual suffering and growth. In apocalypse, the human is frequently not an actor but an audience, whereas in epic the human is both. Apocalypse is characterized by ambiguity, the supra-rational, the gnomic, fear, violence, the perpetual war between good and evil, salvation, damnation and punishment and ultimately justice. Its sometimes violent and frequently translucent if not completely opaque—yet highly poetic—recital is concerned more with the moment and/or the immediate future than the long term (kairos rather than telos, though there is overlap). Epic is the genre of stability, peace and justice; apocalypse is the genre of change and conflict, discontent, oppression and despair, hope and struggle. Epic, much more than apocalypse, answers discursively and poetically all the large questions of life: where we came from, why we are born, why we live, why we suffer, why we die and what happens after, epic is the genre of human experience, and has been called a metonym for culture. Humanity in the 7–9th century Nile-to-Oxus region was highly variegated, and the Quran, because of the vastness of the human variety in it and especially in its mus.h. af arrangement, an arrangement in which narrative compulsion—“beginning, middle, end”— may be seen as a blueprint, palimpsest, X-ray, or fingerprint of the rich cosmopolitanism of Late Antiquity (Cameron 2017). As such, the Quran’s human population, which is highly variegated as well, maps directly—if imperfectly (it is neither history nor census document)—onto the real historical situation of the Nile-to-Oxus 7–9th century time and place. Thus, the transformation from tanz¯ıl to mus.h. af signals a change in focus. The authorial decision to cast the canonical form of the revelation in the arrangement we call mus.h. af has had a profound effect on the way the Quran is read and understood. Imagine a Bible that begins with the Book of Revelation and ends with Genesis.

2.2. Apocalypse The argument for the Quran as apocalypse may seem unnecessary to many readers; however, it should be pointed out that it was important to make the explicit point in my earlier work because of the wide-ranging and rather robust refusal on the part of Quran scholars, apart from one or two exceptions, such as Casanova(1911) and Leemhuis(2001) to grasp the nettle and commit to an acknowledgement of the Quran’s apocalyptic nature. While apocalypse is certainly not its only nature, it is one of several generic literary streams in the Quran, and, as it turns out, one of the more prominent and characteristic. Since identifying the ﬁrst of the two elephants in the room, the scholarly world has grown more comfortable with the idea of an apocalyptic Quran. I will not take the time to demonstrate here such scholarly disinclination, or to muse on the reasons for such stubbornness, rather I will refer the interested reader to the appropriate discussion in my book (Lawson 2017, pp. 27–56). Religions 2021, 12, 562 6 of 20

That discussion is heavily inﬂuenced by the work of John J. Collins and his colleagues in the relatively recent academic “discipline” of apocalypse studies. A scan of this bur- geoning library, which began to be consolidated in the 1980’s, reveals that despite the otherwise universality of its scope, studies of Islamic or even islamicate phenomena are conspicuous by their absence in the pertinent bibliographies of apocalyptic studies (Collins

Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER1984 REVIEW). That the ideas of the Quran’s apocalyptic substrate were elaborated by me in con-13 of 20 versation chiefly with this impressive body of literature may, therefore, expose it to the kinds of criticisms that work has attracted. Whatever those criticisms might be, however, it Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 20 remains that Collins’ understanding and explication of something he calls “the apocalyptic imagination”Furthermore, is more than the suggestive places, communities, for the ongoing nati scholarshipons, races, on languages apocalyptic that as aare more acknowl- or lessedged universal by the genre Quran of literaryrepresent expression a variety nohereto matterfore whatunencountered language isin involved.the Nile-to-Oxus To library of either epic or scripture. One may, in fact, consider the numerous identities in that quotejudgment/destruction a particularly salient of wicked/persecu- and pertinent definition of apocalypse with immediate, and one mightextra-Quranic have thought document, obvious, stated relevance to have fordivine Quranic been punishment written studies: by Muḥammad, the remarkable tors Constitution of Medina, as something of a precursor, adumbration or possibly even re- Apocalypse, as the name of a literary genre, is derived from the Apocalypse judgmentflection /destruction of the distinctive of the world pluralism and see cosmopolitanism above, eschatology of the Dār al-Islām of the Ab- of John, or Book of Revelation, in the New Testament. The word itself means cosmicbasid transformations era and beyond khalq jadid resurrection‘revelation,’ but it is reserved for revelationspassim of a particular kind: mysterious revelations that are mediated or explained by a supernatural figure, usually 2.4. Humanity al-janna, al-nar, barzakh, jinn, shayatin, otheran forms angel. of afterlife: They disclose angels a & transcendent demons world of supernatural powers and an mala’ika eschatologicalOne of the scenario, most important or view of distinguishing the last things, fe thatatures includes of the the Quran judgment is its oftheme of hu- pseudonymity/anonymitythemanity, dead. Apocalypticboth in the aggregate revelations and are as not individual.au exclusivelythorship Thereof concernedthe Quranare a number with the of future. Arabic words at ambiguityTheyplay may andhere: multivocality also nās, beins concernedān, bashar , khalq with, cosmology,followed cf. the by tafsir includingsubdivis traditionions the or geography categories: of muslim the , muʾmin, heavensmuḥsin, and Christian, the nether Jew, regions, Sabian, as mushrik well asDivine, history,mufsid presence,, primordialkāfir, j ātajalli,hil, times,and sakina, their and al-haqq social the end, di-units: qawm, Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 20 glorytimes. motifqabīl, Thealwā judgmentn, alsān, amongst of the dead, others. however, Thisvine third is anames, constant major attributes, co andmponent pivotal signs, of feature, our the theoryWord, since ofthe Quranic allepic the and revelations apocalypse have has human already destiny been asBook, allude their the ultimated Lightto several verse focus. times (Q24:35) (Collins above. 1987 It )seems beyond dispute that one of the chief concerns of the Quran, perhaps as important as revelation The relevance such a definition has for thenumerous Quran and qul passages Islam may &be other further imperatives, affirmed illocutionFurthermore,itself, is humanity, the places, both communities, in the collective nations, and races, as individual. languages Athat brief are catalogue acknowl- of all the by the recent founding of the Journal of Apocalypticdirectives Studies . . . by Islamicists. edged bywords the Quran used represent in the Quran a variety to designate heretofore this unencountered “species” supports in the Nile-to-Oxusthis assertion. li- The most auralityDue to space considerations, I will consider oral compositon one or two and of aural the major reception apocalyptic brary of eitherfrequent epic term, or scripture. al-nās, (from One may,N W in S) fact, occurs consider 241 times the numerous in the Quran identities with thein that meaning of features identified in the literature and I reproduceloanwords, here, forhybrid the convenienceeschatology (Perso-se- of the reader, extra-Quranicculturalhumanity, hybridism document, man, menstated and to the have people. been Inswrittenān, un byās andMu ḥins,ammad, derived the from remarkable A N S, refers 90 a slightly modified version of the table from mymitic) book, entitled Apocalyptic themes and motifs Constitutiontimes of to Medina, man/humankind/the as something human.of a precursor, Interestingl adumbrationy, it occurs or five possibly times evenin a verbal re- form, with Quranic analogues. This table indicates how numerous other apocalyptic characteristics flection ofānasa, the distinctivemeaning to pluralism perceive. Basharand cosmopolitanism is anothervariety word of grammatical of for the human, Dār al-Islpersons sometimesām asof actor,the thought Ab- act- to refer orchestrationmay be assumed of authorial to be represented voices to a greater or lesser degree in the Quran (Lawson basid era and beyond ant, narrator 2017, p.directly 33). Thisto the table “lower sets nature.” out in point It occurs form, 37 thetimes numerous as such. coincidencesB SH R is a frequent of Collins’ Quranic literary forms and devices sajʿ, mathal, tashbih, story, epic, apocalypse and hisroot, colleague’s occurring cumulative a total of 123 definition times. It ofis apocalypticinteresting that by listingit occurs those 83 times features in the which verbal and 2.4. Humanitynominal forms: “to give good news,” previousa cognate epochs, to gospel. jahiliyya Imru,ʾ islamiyya “man/person”, pre-cre- x 11 and timeare seen and tohistory condition periodized the genre and the way in which these same features are seen to be presentOneimra of in theʾ thea “woman/person”most Quran. important It is not distinguishing occurs suggested 26 times. thatation features the Raj Quranūl/rij of āthel, duplicates from Quran R Jis L, perfectlyits denotes theme all ofman/men ofhu- the and manity,enantiodromiadefining bothstrongly characteristics in the connotes aggregate of manliness, Collins’ and as apocalypses individual. standingp one’assim inThere everys ground, are instance; a number strength, however, of triumph Arabic there words and is enough achievement at playclosure,resonance here:against ntheās and, end/goalins odds. similarityān, bashar Additionally, , tokhalq raise, followed the it has question been by subdivisy used andawm offer frequentlyal-dinions a provisionalor categories: in literature suggestion muslim to refer, mu regarding toʾmin particularly, mutheḥsin apocalyptic, Christian,devout or character Jew,heroic Sabian, women. of the mushrik QuranIt occurs, asmufsid indicated57 times., kāfir, inKhalqjāhil the, , and followingour lasttheir word, social Table means1 units:. “creation”,qawm, and qabīl, alwTheisān ,a most alssynonymān , important amongst for humanity. others.factor is,This of It thirdoccurs course, major a the total firstfirstco mponentof one261 intimes thetheof our aboveabovein thetheory list:Quran,list: of the Quranic to theme stand of for the epicrevelation. and creativeapocalypse We We activitycontent has ofalreadyourselves God and been with the allude resultan explicationexpd oftolication thisseveral activity, of times this Quranicfrequently above. apocalypticIt specifiedseems beyond astheme, the human disputewhich that (e.g., represents one Q 39:6).of the a merging Thus, chief thereconcerns of form are ofnumerous and th contents,e Quran, word perhaps ands in refer the as theQuran important reader that to areas my revelation used book to for designate a itself,more is completehumanity,communities consideration both of humans:in the collective of qawm, the remainin remaining from and Q as Wg individual.elements M, occurs in 383A the brief times above catalogue meaning list ((LawsonLawson offolk, all people, the2017,2017 , com- wordspp. xi–xxvi,usedmunity; in 27–115). the umma Quran30 from to Udesignate M M, 64 this times “species” meaning supports nation, thispeople, assertion. community, The most religion; the frequentThe hapaxterm, Quran Quran al-nshu isāʿ isūs ,reallyb really (fromfrom more moreSHN W ʿAyn about aboutS) occursB divinemeaning divine 241 revelation revelationtimes nations; in than thed thanīn Quran fromanything anything D with Y else.N, the else. meaning Its meaning Itsprimary primary religious/cul- of as- humanity,sertionassertiontural/ethnic is man, isthat that menrevelation, revelation, group, and the occurs the people. the Greek Greek92 times.Ins wordā wordn, Ahlun forā for s“(the) andwhich which ins,people/family” is derived ἀποκάλυψις from occurs A (Napokapokálypsis 127S,á referslypsis times,), 90 theincludingthe timessource to man/humankind/thedozes of the as English the distinctive word apocalypse,human. Quranic Interestingl epithet has always “peopley, it takenoccurs of placethe five Book” times and that( inahl a it,al-kit verbal theā b Quran,Quran,); form, āl and isis the re- ānasa,the most meaninglated recent ū tolī, faithfulperceive. meaning and people,Bashar accurate is family, another record ancestors, word of such for revelation.andhuman, related sometimes There usages, are thoughtfrom numerous ʾA toW refer L, words occurs 170 directlyfor this this totimes. mode modethe “lowerTribe, of of communication communication ‘ash nature.”īra/ma ʿItshar occurs distributed, distributedfrom 37 ʿAyn times ov SH overer as R,thousands such. thousandsoccurs B sixSH of times;versesR of is verses, a qab,frequent derivedīl derivedtwice fromQuranic as fromtribe(s) a few a (from root,Arabic,few occurring Arabic,Q mainly B L); mainlya rahtotal triliteral,ṭ, family,of triliteral, 123 roots. times. x3 roots.(R In ItH orderis Ṭ In interesting); orderdescendants of frequency, of frequency, that asbit occurstheseāṭ x5 these roots,(from 83 roots,times andS B in and Ṭthe );the sons/children, thenumber verbal number and of inof e.g., of nominalstancesinstances Israelforms: in in which whichor “to Adam theygive they occur,(fromgood occur, news,”Bare: are: N BY) B Y Yax160. N Ncognate “to “to “Group,” make to gospel. clear” ʿuṣbah (523); (523);Imru (fromʾ ʾA“man/person”A YYʿṢ Y/ Y/B)ʾ Aoccurs Y/Y/ʾAA x5W W 11times; Y and (Lane “groups, imraI, ʾ[130–131], a “woman/person””ʿizah etc.)(from “to ʿAyn indicate”: occurs Z W) 26 a is back-formedtimes.a hapax; Raj ūfarl/rij ī theoreticalq/firqahāl, from (from R rootroot J L,F forfor Rdenotes aya¯āQ)ya //occursāay¯y āat¯man/ment “sign(s)” 33 times; and (382); “group,” stronglyK TT BB “to nafar/nafconnotes“to write” write”īr manliness, (319);(from (319); N N ZN F L standingZR) “to L occurs descend”“to descend”one’ threes (293)—thisground, times; (293)—this “Groups,” strength, word word represents triumph thub representsāt (from theand “sending achievementTH the B “sendingY) down”occurs once; againstdown”of the odds.“A Quran of company,”the Additionally, fromQuran the fromthullah heavenly it the has (from heavenly been realm, TH used L itrealm,L) frequently is occurs the it basis is 3 the times;in of literaturebasis the Parties: wordof the to written “Host,wordrefer to writtengroup, onparticularly Clay troop,”on Jar Clay #1: fi ʾah (F devoutJartanz #1:¯ıl ;or ʾtanzA Y)heroic M occursīl R; ʾ (ofAwomen. M God)11 R times; (of “toIt God) occurs command,“Party, “to 57 command,confederates” times. order, Khalq cause” order,, ourḥizb (248); cause” last(from Wword, Ḥ(248); ZY meansB) “to W occurs divinely Ḥ “creation”,Y “to20 inspire” times;divinely and“Party/sect” (78); inis spire”a synonym sh(78);īʿah Bfor (SH ʿA humanity. YTH ʿAyn “to) divinelyoccurs It occurs 20 raise times; a total up, finally, ofreveal” 261 “group, times (67); Kin party,” SHthe FQuran, “to ṭāʾ ifahuncover” to (Ṭ stand W F) (20). occursfor Allthe 25of times. creativethese actionactivityIn words, lightof God of or thisand words extensivethe resultindicating vocabulary,of this revelation activity, including frequentlyas a noun, particular specifiedsuch wordsas “sign”, as thefor humanparticularare to be types (e.g.,considered Q 39:6).of human inThus, tandem (male there with andare bothnumerousfemale), the sourcesuch word as ofs mu inthe ʾthemin/ revelation, Quranbeliever that the(x228), are most usedmuslim common to (x41),designate designa- ʿabd /servant communitiestion forand which ofserving humans: is ALL (x275),Ā qawm,H (and fromk āderivatives,fir/ Qunbeliever W M, occurs2851), and 383together kufr times/unbelief with meaning all the(x525), folk, hundreds people, Christian of com- other (x15 as munity;mentions ummaNa ṣārā/Naṣrāniyyaof divinefrom U attributes M M, ), 64 Jew ortimes (x15the so-calmeaning as Yahledūd, “99nation, Yah names”ūd īpeople, and ofH ūGod: dcommunity,; x43 the as Merciful,Banu religion; Isrā ʾtheīl), mushrikCom-the /pol- hapaxpassionate, shuytheistʿūb fromthe (x168), Knowing, SH ʿAynthe various theB meaning Subtle, and among numerousnations; lite dīrally nuses from dozens (x90) D Y of N,of ṣ āothers.meaningḥib/aṣḥ Allāb religious/cul-“member(s) of these desig- of this or tural/ethnicnationsthat indicate group, group, revelationoccurs e.g., those 92 times.or in ap hell ocalypse.Ahl (a ṣḥ“(the)āb al-n Another people/family”ār) and such the attendantword, occurs from 127verbal Ḥ times, Q formsQ “toincluding whichbe true” can only dozes(287), as may bethe performed distinctivebe thought by Quranic of, humans, in the epithet form it is al- “peoplecuriousḤaqq, one thatof theof in the Book”the more Encyclopaedia (ahl lofty al-kit andāb );abstractof ā thel and Quran namesthe re-there of is no latedGod, ūl īas, articlemeaning the Absolutely for people,human/humanity Realfamily, or Trueancestors, or and, even asand the such, related somewhat represents usages, outdated anfrom even ʾtermA more W L,“mankind”. transcendentoccurs 170 This lack times.aspect Tribe, of the ‘ash divineīra/maʿ sharsource, from of ʿAynrevelation SH R,. occursThere aresix times;many qabotherīl twice words as tribe(s)throughout (from the Q QurB L);an rah whichṭ, family, sustain x3 (Rand H lend Ṭ); descendants harmony to asbtheā ṭidea x5 (from of apocalypse/revelation, S B Ṭ); sons/children, e.g., e.g., Ẓ ofH R Israel or Adam (from B N Y) x160. “Group,” ʿuṣbah (from ʿṢ B) occurs 5 times; “groups, ”ʿizah (from ʿAyn Z W) is a hapax; farīq/firqah (from F R Q) occurs 33 times; “group,” nafar/nafīr (from N F R) occurs three times; “Groups,” thubāt (from TH B Y) occurs once; “A company,” thullah (from TH L L) occurs 3 times; Parties: “Host, group, troop,” fiʾah (F ʾ Y) occurs 11 times; “Party, confederates” ḥizb (from Ḥ Z B) occurs 20 times; “Party/sect” shīʿah (SH Y ʿAyn) occurs 20 times; finally, “group, party,” ṭāʾifah (Ṭ W F) occurs 25 times. In light of this extensive vocabulary, including particular words for particular types of human (male and female), such as muʾmin/believer (x228), muslim (x41), ʿabd/servant and serving (x275), kāfir/unbeliever and kufr/unbelief (x525), Christian (x15 as Naṣārā/Naṣrāniyya ), Jew (x15 as Yahūd, Yahūdī and Hūd; x43 as Banu Isrāʾīl), mushrik/polytheist (x168), the various and numerous uses (x90) of ṣāḥib/aṣḥāb “member(s) of this or that group, e.g., those in hell (aṣḥāb al-nār) and the attendant verbal forms which can only be performed by humans, it is curious that in the Encyclopaedia of the Quran there is no article for human/humanity or even the somewhat outdated term “mankind”. This lack

Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 20 13 of 20

Furthermore, the places, communities, nations, races,Furthermore, languages the that places, are acknowl- communities, nations, races, languages that are acknowl- edged by the Quran represent a variety heretofore edgedunencountered by the Quran in the represent Nile-to-Oxus a variety li- heretofore unencountered in the Nile-to-Oxus library of either epic or scripture. One may, in fact, consider the numerous identities in that Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW brary of either epic or scripture. One may, in fact, consider13 of the 20 numerous identities in that extra-Quranic document, stated to have been writtenextra-Quranic by Muḥammad, document, the statedremarkable to have been written by Muḥammad, the remarkable Constitution of Medina, as something of a precursor,Constitution adumbration of Medina, or possibly as something even re- of a precursor, adumbration or possibly even reflection of the distinctive pluralism and cosmopolitanismflection of the distinctiveDār al-Islā mpluralism of the Ab- and cosmopolitanism of the Dār al-Islām of the Ab- Furthermore, the places,basid communities, era and beyond nations, races, languages that arebasid acknowl- era and beyond Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 8 of 20 edged by the Quran represent a variety heretofore unencountered in the Nile-to-Oxus library of either epic or scripture.2.4. HumanityOne may, in fact, consider the numerous identities2.4. Humanityin that extra-Quranic document, stated to have been written by Muḥammad, the remarkable One of the most important distinguishing featuresOne of the of theQuran most is importantits theme ofdistinguishing hu- features of the Quran is its theme of hu- Constitution of Medina, as something of a precursor, adumbration or possibly even re- manity, both (59),in the F aggregateT Ḥ (38), B andD Y as(31) individual. and Ṭ L ʿ ATheremanity, (19). areWords both a number forin theshine ofaggregate Arabicforth, glow words and and as at individual. irradiate also There are a number of Arabic words at flection of the distinctive pluralism and cosmopolitanism of the Dār al-Islām of the Ab- play here: nāsconnect, insān, bashar with ,the khalq Quranic, followed apocalypse: by subdivisplay N Wions here: R or“light” n categories:ās, ins (43),ān, bashar“fire” muslim, (145),khalq, mu, ʾfollowed“enlightened”min, by subdivis (6), ions or categories: muslim, muʾmin, basid era and beyond muḥsin, Christian,Ḍ W ʾJew,A “to Sabian, radiate, mushrik shine”, (6),mufsid M J, Dkā mufir“to,ḥ jbesināhil ,glorious” ,Christian, and their (6), Jew,social J L Sabian,W units: “to become mushrikqawm, manifest,, mufsid, kbeāfir , jāhil, and their social units: qawm, qabīl, alwān, alsrevealed”ān, amongst (5) and others. Z H This R “to third shine” major (1).qab coīlmponent, alwān, als ofā nour, amongst theory ofothers. Quranic This third major component of our theory of Quranic 2.4. Humanity epic and apocalypseIn addition,has already to words been alludefor thed sourceto epicseveral of and re timesvelation apocalypse above. and hasItthe seems actalready and beyond substancebeen allude ofd reve- to several times above. It seems beyond One of the most importantdispute distinguishing that onelation, of thefethereatures chief is also ofconcerns the the Quran range of th isofe itsindividuQuran, themedispute perhapsals, of hu- thethat above-mentionedas one important of the chief as revelation prophetsconcerns andof th messen-e Quran, perhaps as important as revelation manity, both in the aggregateitself, and is as humanity, individual.gers, who both There function in theare collectivea asnumber intermediaries andof Arabic as individual.itself, forwords and is humanity,atbearers A brief of catalogue bothrevelation, in the of andcollectiveall the then, andof course as individual. A brief catalogue of all the play here: nās, insān, bashar, khalqwords, followed used intheir bythe subdivisaudience. Quran ionsto One designate or may categories: consider this “species” muslim herewords ,that mu supportsʾ thmin usedis ,7th in thiscentury the assertion. Quran late antiqueto Thedesignate most composition this “species” suc- supports this assertion. The most muḥsin, Christian, Jew, Sabian, mushrik, ceedsmufsid in, k āroutinizingfir, jāhil, and the their otherwise social exceptionalunits:frequent qawm term, ,event al-n of āapocalypses, (from N Wby S)claiming, occurs 241as in times Q in the Quran with the meaning of frequentReligions term, 2021, 12al-n, x FORās, (from PEER REVIEW N W S) occurs 241 times in the Quran with the meaning of 13 of 20 qabīl, alwān, alsān, amongst others.humanity, This man, third10:47: men major “every and co themponentcommunity people. of Insourhasān theoryhad, un āas messenger.” andofhumanity, Quranic ins, derived man, This fromismen so evenandA N the ifS, the referspeople. Quran 90 Ins namesān, un onlyās and ins, derived from A N S, refers 90 epic and apocalypse has alreadytimes tobeen man/humankind/the allude25 ord so to such several figures. human.times To above. cheatInterestingl aIt bitseems herey,times it beyond anoccurs tod referman/humankind/the five to times the post-Quranic in a verbal human. form, tradition, Interestingl Muslimy, it occurs five times in a verbal form, dispute that one of the chiefā nasa,concerns meaning of scholarsth toe Quran,perceive. eventually perhaps Bashar speculated isas another important wordthat as in forārevelationnasa, order human, meaning to accountsometimes to perceive. for thought the Basharhistory to refer is of another humanity word re- for human, sometimes thought to refer Furthermore, the places, communities, nations, races, languages that are acknowl- itself, is humanity, both in directlythe collective to thecently and “lower as rewritten individual. nature.” by It MuslAoccurs briefim 37cataloguescholars times assuchdirectly of such. all as the atoBṭ- ṬSHtheabar R“lower īis (d. a frequent923) nature.” there Quranic Ithad occurs to have 37 timesbeen atas such. B SH R is a frequent Quranic edged by the Quran represent a variety heretofore unencountered in the Nile-to-Oxus li- words used in the Quran toroot, designate occurring thisleast a “species”total 124,000 of 123 suchsupports times. prophets It thisis interesting andassertion. messengers thatroot, The it occurring mostoccurs to account 83 atimes total for intheof the123 highly verbal times. variegated andIt is interesting number that it occurs 83 times in the verbal and brary of either epic or scripture. One may, in fact, consider the numerous identities in that frequent term, al-nās, (from nominalN W S) occursforms:of languages“to241 givetimes good inand the news,”cultures Quran a thatcognatewith had the toexisted meaningnominal gospel. and ofImruforms: still ʾ exist.“man/person” “to giveNothing good isx news,” 11more and emblematic a cognate to of gospel. Imruʾ “man/person” x 11 and extra-Quranic document, stated to have been written by Muḥammad, the remarkable humanity, man, men and theimra people.ʾa “woman/person” Instheān, cosmopolitanunās and occurs ins, derivedélan 26 times.of the from QuranRaj Aū l/rijN than S,āimral ,refers from thisʾa “woman/person” number. 90R J L, denotes Furthermore, man/men occurs these 26 and times. figures, Raj accord-ūl/rijāl, from R J L, denotes man/men and Constitution of Medina, as something of a precursor, adumbration or possibly even re- times to man/humankind/thestrongly human. connotes Interestingling to manliness, they, foundationalit occurs standing five Quranictimes one’s inground, literarya verbalstrongly strength, and form, connotesdoctrinal triumph manliness,device and achievementof typologicalstanding one’ figuration,s ground, strength, triumph and achievement flection of the distinctive pluralism and cosmopolitanism of the Dār al-Islām of the Ab- ānasa, meaning to perceive. Basharagainst is odds. another wereAdditionally, word all as for much human, it has apocalypticists been sometimes used frequently thought as theyagainst wereto in refer literature odds. teachers Additionally, to of refer righteousness to particularly it has been or law-givers. used frequently in literature to refer to particularly basid era and beyond directly to the “lower nature.”devout It occurs or heroic 37 times women.These as two such. It occurs elements, B SH 57 R times. theis a idea frequent Khalq of revelation,devout our Quranic last or word, andheroic the means women. vehicle “creation”, (propheticIt occurs and 57 figure) times. of Khalq reve-, our last word, means “creation”, and root, occurring a total of 123is times. a synonym It is interestinglation, for humanity. are that so muchit occursIt occurs in evidence—as83 timesa total in of the 261 both verbalis timesa formsynonym and in and the contents—in forQuran, humanity. to stand the It literary occursfor the “circuitry” a total of 261 of times in the Quran, to stand for the 2.4. Humanity nominal forms: “to give goodcreative news,” activity a cognatethe ofQuran, God to gospel. andso much the Imru result a partʾ “man/person” of of this the activity,text creativethat x 11frequently it wouldand activity be specified ofcounterprodu God andas the the ctivehuman result to tryof thisand activity,tabu- frequently specified as the human Religions 2021, 12, 562 7 of 20 imraʾa “woman/person” occurs(e.g., 26 Q times.39:6).late Thus,Raj theūl/rij there frequencyāl, from are numerous Rof J their L,One denotes occurrence wordof the sman/men inmost (e.g.,inthe thisimportant Quran Q andbrief 39:6). that article. Thus,distinguishing are usedthere toare designate fenumerousatures of theword Qurans in the is itsQuran theme that of arehu- used to designate strongly connotes manliness,communities standing one’ ofs humans: ground,In addition, qawm,strength, to from manity,the triumph process Q W both M, andof occursin revelation, achievementthecommunities 383aggregate times there meaning and areof humans: asnumerous individual. folk, qawm,people, other Therefrom apocalypticcom- Qare W a M, number occurs“occa- of383 Arabic times wordsmeaning at folk, people, com- against odds. Additionally, itmunity; has been umma usedsions” from frequently throughoutU M M, in literature64 theplaytimes Quran, here: meaning to refer n asās ,indicated insto nation, particularlyāmunity;n, bashar people,in the,umma khalq above community,, fromfollowed table. U M Asby M,religion; susubdivis 64ggested, times theions meaningby or especially categories: nation, muslim people,, mu community,ʾmin, religion; the devout or heroic women. It hapaxoccurs shu 57 ʿtimes.ūb Jarfrom #1,Khalq SH tanzB, ʿAynourAīl, THthe last B “tomeaningvery word,mu divinelyḥ earliestsin means, nations;Christian, raise revelations “creation”, up,dī hapaxnJew, reveal”from aboundSabian, andshu D (67);ʿY ū bN, frommushrikwith K meaning SH SHwhat F, “to mufsidʿAyn religious/cul-Iuncover” have B, kmeaningā firelsewhere, j (20).āhil ,nations; Alland deemed of their these dīn social from action units:D Y N, qawm meaning, religious/cul- is a synonym for humanity.tural/ethnic It occurs a group,total“tropes of occurs 261 ofwords, intensity” times 92 ortimes. in wordsqab the(Lawson īAhll, Quran,alw indicating “(the)ān 2017,, alsto people/family”ā standn pp., revelation tural/ethnicamongst xxiv, for thexxvi, others. as occurs group, axxvii, noun, This 127 43,occurs such third times,49, 52, as92 major including“sign”,78,times. 196 co Ahl mponent aren. 65). “(the) to beIt is consideredofpeople/family” here our theory in of occurs Quranic 127 times, including creative activity of God anddozes the result as the of distinctive thatthis weactivity, becometandem Quranic frequently apprised withepic epithet both and specified of the“people thapocalypsee source sun as becomingof thedozes ofthe thehashuman Book” as revelation,already wrappedthe ( ahldistinctive beenal-kit thein ādarkalludeb most); Quranic ānessl andd common to (Q the severalepithet 81:1); re- designation the times“people cleaving above. of for the whichIt Book”seems (beyondahl al-kit āb); āl and the re- (e.g., Q 39:6). Thus, there arelated numerous ūlī, meaning ofword the people,s moon inis the ALL (Q family,QuranAH ¯54:1–2),dispute (and ancestors,that the derivatives, are that darkening used andone to relatedoflated 2851),designate theof the ūchiefusages, togetherlī ,moon meaning concerns from (Q with 75:7–8),people, ʾ Aof all W th the L,e thefamily, Quran,occurs hundreds falling ancestors, 170perhaps of of the other stars asand important mentions related(Q usages, ofas revelation from ʾ A W L, occurs 170 communities of humans: qawm,times. from Tribe, Q W ‘ash81:2), M,ī ra/maoccurs thedivine mountainsʿshar 383, times attributesfromitself, transformedʿAynmeaning or isSH thehumanity, R, folk,so-called occurs into people, times.tufts bothsix “99 times; ofcom- Tribe,in names”wo theol qab ‘ash(Qcollectiveī ofl 101:5)twiceīra/ma God: orasʿ shar theand crumbledtribe(s) Merciful,, fromas individual. (from ʿAyn to the dust SH Compassionate, (Q R,A occurs7:143),brief catalogue six times; the of qab allīl twicethe as tribe(s) (from munity; umma from U M M,Q 64 B L);times rah meaningṭ, family,murdered nation,x3Knowing, (Rinfants H people, Ṭ); speaking thewordsdescendants Subtle,community, used from among inasb the the āreligion; ṭgrave Q literallyx5 Quran B (from L); demanding the rah dozensto S ṭdesignateB, family,Ṭ);of sons/children, to others. knowx3 this (R All“species”whyH Ṭ of); theye.g., thesedescendants hadofsupportsdesignations been asbkilledthisāṭ assertion.x5 indicate (from S The B Ṭ );most sons/children, e.g., of hapax shuʿūb from SH ʿAynIsrael B meaning or Adam nations;(Q (from70:9), drevelation mountainsīBn Nfrom Y) x160.D frequentor Yground N,apocalypse.“Group,” meaning intoterm, ʿsandu al-nreligious/cul-ṣ AnotherbahIsrael ā(Q s(from, (from73 :14),or such ʿAdamṢ N mountainsB) word,W occurs S)(from occurs from 5 blown Btimes; NH .241 Y)Q away “groups,timesx160. Q “to (Q “Group,”in be 77:10), the true” Quran moun- (287),ʿuṣbah with may(from the be ʿmeaningṢ B) occurs of 5 times; “groups, tural/ethnic group, occurs 92” ʿtimes.izah (from Ahl “(the) ʿAyntains people/family”movedZ W)thought is away a hapax; of, (Qhumanity, inoccurs 78:20, the farī formq/firqah 81:3,127 man, times,al- 18:47), H(from. menaqq” includingʿ izah,the oneandF boilingR(from of theQ) the occurspeople. ʿAynover more of Z33 lofty InstheW) times;ā nseasis and, una (Qā“group,”hapax; abstracts and81:6, ins, 82:3);far names ī q/firqahderived damning of God,(fromfrom asAF theRN Q)S, refersoccurs 90 33 times; “group,” dozes as the distinctive Quranicnafar/naf epithetīr (from “peoplecritiques N F R)Absolutelyof of theoccurs social Book” injusticethreetimes Real (ahl times; or toal-kit (Q Trueman/humankind/the 4:10;ā“Groups,”b and,); ā 2:220;l andnafar/naf as such, the4:75,thub re-ī representsā r4:98t (from(from human. and NTH passim anF Interestingl BR)even Y) occurs), occursfalsely more threey, once; transcendentclaimingit occurs times; to five“Groups,” be aspect timesop- ofin thub thea verbalāt (from form, TH B Y) occurs once; lated ūlī, meaning people, family,“A company,” ancestors,pressed thullah and relateddivine (Q(from 4:97); TH sourceusages, ascensions Lānasa, L) of fromoccurs meaning revelation. toʾA 3the Wtimes; toL,realms perceive. There“Aoccurs Parties: company,” of are 170heaven Bashar“Host, many thullah(Q is othergroup, another17:1); (from words troop,”warnings word TH throughout fiLforʾ ahL)about human, (Foccurs impending the sometimes3 times; Quran Parties: which thought “Host, to refer group, troop,” fiʾah (F times. Tribe, ‘ashīra/maʿshar, ʾfrom Y) occurs ʿAyn SH11justice times; R, occurs and“Party,sustain sixpunishment times; confederates” anddirectly lend qab īforl harmony twice tobreaking ḥtheizb as (from “lower totribe(s) theʾGod’s Y) Ḥ idea occurs nature.”(fromZ lawB) of occursapocalypse/revelation, 11(passim It times; occurs 20, times;esp. “Party, 37 with times“Party/sect” confederates” the as root e.g., such. Ẓ HLB M, RḥSHizb (59), 315x), R(from is F Ta frequentḤ Z(38), B) occurs Quranic 20 times; “Party/sect” Q B L); rahṭ, family, x3 (R Hsh Ṭī);ʿah descendants (SH Y ʿAynfrequent )asb occursāBṭ mentions x5 D 20Y(from(31) times; andofroot,S B al-sfinally, Ṭ occurring);āLʿ sons/children,a,A “the “group, (19). Hour,” a Words total shparty,”īʿ ah(49),ofe.g., for (SH123 ṭshine\ofā ʾal-yawm times.Yifah ʿAyn forth,(Ṭ It W), occursis“the glowF) interesting occurs Day” and20 times; (405)25 irradiate thattimes. offinally, it reckoning, occurs also “group, connect 83 timesthe party,” with in the ṭā verbalʾifah (Ṭ and W F) occurs 25 times. Israel or Adam (from B N Y) x160.In light“Group,” ofal- thisākhira ʿu extensiveṣbah Quranicsequel (from ofvocabulary, apocalypse: ʿ“hereafter”Ṣnominal B) occurs forms: including N (220)5 W times; R “to and “light” giveparticular“groups, al-qiyIn (43),good lightāma “ﬁre” wordsnews,”of“judgment/resurrection” this (145), for extensivea cognate particular “enlightened” vocabulary, to typesgospel. (6), (70), DImru. including Wwhichʾ A“man/person” “to is particular radiate, x words 11 and for particular types ”ʿizah (from ʿAyn Z W) is aof hapax; human far (maleīq/firqahalso and frequently (from shine”female), F (6),mentionedR such Q) Mimra Joccurs as Dʾa “tomu“woman/person” throughout ʾ be33min/ glorious”times;believerof the“group,” human (6), (x228),Qura occurs J L n, (male W muslim and, “to26 and times. becomefinally, (x41), female), Raj references manifest,ʿabdūl/rij /servantsuchāl, frombetoas revealed”power mu Rʾ min/J L,fallingbeliever denotes (5) and (x228), Zman/men H muslim and (x41), ʿabd/servant nafar/nafīr (from N F R) occursand three serving times; to(x275), those“Groups,” R who “tokāfir/ hadthub shine”unbeliever onceātstrongly (from (1). been TH and connotesoppressed B Y)kufr occurs /unbeliefandmanliness, (Q 13:11).once;serving (x525), standing (x275), Christian one’ kāsfir/ ground,unbeliever (x15 strength,as and triumph kufr/unbelief and achievement (x525), Christian (x15 as “A company,” thullah (from NaTHṣārā/Naṣrāniyya L L) occurs 3 times;All ), Jewthis, Parties: (x15 together as against“Host, Yah withūd, group, odds.Yah thoseūd Additionally, ī troop,” virtuallyandNa Hṣārā/Naṣrāniyyaū fidʾ ;ahnumberless x43 (F it ashas Banu been instancesIsr ), used āJewʾīl), frequently(x15mushrik in aswhich Yah/pol- inū guidance,d, literature Yahūdī andsal- to refer Hūd ;to x43 particularly as Banu Isr āʾīl), mushrik/pol- Table 1. Apocalyptic themes and motifs with Quranic analogues. ʾ Y) occurs 11 times; “Party, ytheistconfederates” (x168),vation, theḥizb various (from deliverance Ḥ an Z dB) numerous devout occursfrom error, 20or usestimes;heroic distinguishing (x90) “Party/sect” women.ytheist of ṣā ḥ (x168),Itib truthoccurs/ aṣḥā thebfrom “member(s)57 various times. falsehood, Khalqan ofd numerousreadingthis, our or last the word, uses signs (x90) means of of “creation”,ṣāḥib/aṣḥāb and“member(s) of this or shīʿah (SH Y ʿAyn) occurs 20 times; finally,God “group, for the party,” truth, ṭā isʾleaveifah a synonym ( Ṭno W doubt F) occurs for that humanity.that 25 revelation group,times. It e.g., occursis, thosein fact,a totalin onehell of (of a261ṣḥ theā btimes al-nmostā rin )important and the theQuran, attendant to stand verbal for formsthe which can only that group, e.g., those in hell (aṣḥāb al-nAPOCALYPSEār) and the attendant verbal forms which can QURANonly In light of this extensivebe vocabulary, performedthemes includingby humans, of the particular Quran:it is curiouscreative itwords is a that workactivity for inparticular that the of be is EncyclopaediaGod its performed owntypes and mainthe resultbyof character, thehumans, ofQuran this a itthereactivity,work is curious isthat nofrequently is aboutthat in itself. specifiedthe Encyclopaedia as the human of the Quran there is no revelation tanzil, kashf, bayan, haqq, aya of human (male and female),article such for as human/humanitymuFurthermore,ʾmin/believer the(x228), or urgency even(e.g., muslim theQ of 39:6).somewhat the(x41), revelationsThus, ʿabdarticle outdatedthere/servant forin aredicate human/humanity termnumerous that “mankind”. apocalyptic-cum-eschatological word s orThis in even the lack Quranthe somewhat that are outdatedused to designate term “mankind”. This lack and serving (x275), kāfir/unbeliever andexpectation kufr/unbelieftruth may well communities(x525), have beenChristian of focused humans: (x15 on qawm, thase near from al-haqqfuture Q W ratherM, occurs than 383 some times quite meaning later folk, people, com- Naṣārā/Naṣrāniyya ), Jew (x15 as Yahūd, Yahdate.ūd īThus, andother-worldly H theūd ;Quran x43munity; as revelator/intermediarymayBanu ummabeIsr seenāʾīl ),from mushrikas a Udistinctive M/pol- M, 64 buttimes Gabriel unmistakable meaning nation, record people, and voice community, of religion; the ytheist (x168), the various and numerousapocalypse. uses (x90) of ṣāḥibhapax/aṣḥāb shu“member(s)ʿūb from SHof this ʿAyn or B meaning nations; dīn from D Y N, meaning religious/cul- cosmogony Quranic creation narrative that group, e.g., those in hell (aṣḥāb al-nār) andAs the a attendant segue into tural/ethnicverbal the next forms section, group, which it occurs willcan onlybe 92 useful times. to Ahl remark “(the) upon people/family” the cosmic implica-occurs 127 times, including et passim be performed by humans, it is curious thattions in of the theprimordial Encyclopaedia Quranicdozes events notion of as the ofthe QuranJudgment distinctive there and isQuranic Salvation,no epithet Day Heaven of “people the Covenant,and ofHell, the Q7:172Good Book” and (ahl Bad. al-kit āb); āl and the re- article for human/humanity or even the somewhatAs a resultrecollection outdated of the mannerlated ofterm the ū l past“mankind”.ī ,in meaning which thesepeople, This themeslack family, and ancestors, stories motives of prophets and are relatedwoven & their usages,into communities a singlefrom ʾA W L, occurs 170 message, eschatologicalit becomestimes. clear events Tribe,that & what upheavals ‘ashī ra/mawe mistakeʿshar, from for “nature” ʿAynal-sa SHa, al-amr is R, really occurs, al-waqi a cosmicsixa ,times;al-akhira system qabīl twicefor as tribe(s) (from communicatingpersecution theQ divine of B theL); righteous rahmessage.ṭ, family, Nowhere x3 (R H is Ṭthis); descendants more stories clear of the thanasb prophetsāṭ in x5 the (from much-quoted S B Ṭ); sons/children, e.g., of verse (Q 41:53): Israel or Adam (from B N Y) x160. “Group,” ʿuṣbah (from ʿṢ B) occurs 5 times; “groups, judgment/destruction of wicked/persecutors divine punishment ”ʿizah (from ʿAyn Z W) is a hapax; farīq/firqah (from F R Q) occurs 33 times; “group,” judgment /destructionnafar/nafīr (from of the N world F R) occurs three see times; above, “Groups,” eschatology thubāt (from TH B Y) occurs once; cosmic transformations“A company,” thullah (from TH L L)khalq occurs jadid 3 times; Parties: “Host, group, troop,” fiʾah (F resurrectionʾ Y) occurs 11 times; “Party, confederates”passim ḥizb (from Ḥ Z B) occurs 20 times; “Party/sect” shīʿah (SH Y ʿAyn) occurs 20 times; finally, “group, party,” ṭāʾifah (Ṭ W F) occurs 25 times. other forms of afterlife: angels & demons al-janna, al-nar, barzakh, jinn, shayatin, mala’ika In light of this extensive vocabulary, including particular words for particular types pseudonymity/anonymityof human (male and female), such authorship as muʾmin/ ofbeliever the Quran (x228), muslim (x41), ʿabd/servant ambiguity and multivocalityserving (x275), kāfir/unbeliever cf. the tafsirand traditionkufr/unbelief (x525), Christian (x15 as Naṣārā/Naṣrāniyya ), Jew (x15 as YahDivineūd, Yah presence,ūdī andtajalli, Hūd sakina,; x43 as al-haqq Banu, divineIsrāʾīl), mushrik/pol- glory motifytheist (x168), the various and numerousnames, attributes,uses (x90) signs, of ṣā theḥib Word,/aṣḥābthe “member(s) Book, of this or that group, e.g., those in hell (aṣḥābthe al-n Lightār) and verse the (Q24:35) attendant verbal forms which can only be performed by humans, it is curiousnumerous that qulin thepassages Encyclopaedia & other of the Quran there is no illocution article for human/humanity or evenimperatives, the somewhat directives outdated term “mankind”. This lack aurality oral compositon and aural reception cultural hybridism loanwords, hybrid eschatology (Perso-semitic)

variety of grammatical persons as actor, orchestration of authorial voices actant, narrator literary forms and devices saj , mathal, tashbih, story, epic, apocalypse previous epochs, jahiliyya, time and history periodized islamiyya, pre-creation enantiodromia passim closure, the end/goal yawm al-din Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 20

Furthermore, the places, communities, nations, races, languages that are acknowl- edged by the Quran represent a variety heretofore unencountered in the Nile-to-Oxus library of either epic or scripture. One may, in fact, consider the numerous identities in that extra-Quranic document, stated to have been written by Muḥammad, the remarkable Constitution of Medina, as something of a precursor, adumbration or possibly even reflection of the distinctive pluralism and cosmopolitanism of the Dār al-Islām of the Ab- basid era and beyond

imraʾa “woman/person” occurs 26 times. Rajūl/rijāl, from R J L, denotes man/men and strongly connotes manliness, standing one’s ground, strength, triumph and achievement against odds. Additionally, it has been used frequently in literature to refer to particularly (59), F T Ḥ (38), B D Y (31) and Ṭ L ʿA (19). Words for shine forth, glow and irradiate also Furthermore, the places, communities, nations, races, languages that are acknowl- Religions 2021devout, 12, 562or heroic women. It occurs 57 times. Khalq, our last word, means “creation”, and 8 of 20 connect with the Quranic apocalypse: N W R “light” (43), “fire” (145), “enlightened” (6), edged by the Quran represent a variety heretofore unencountered in the Nile-to-Oxus li- is a synonym for humanity. It occurs a total of 261 times in the Quran, to stand for the Ḍ W ʾA “to radiate, shine” (6), M J D “to be glorious” (6), J L W “to become manifest, be brary of either epic or scripture. One may, in fact, consider the numerous identities in that creative activity of God and the result of this activity, frequently specified as the human revealed” (5) and Z H R “to shine” (1). extra-Quranic document, stated to have been written by Muḥammad, the remarkable (e.g., Q 39:6). Thus, there are numerous words in the Quran that are used to designate In addition, to words for the source of revelation and the act and substanceIn of addition reve- toConstitution words for the of sourceMedina, of revelationas something and theof a act precursor, and substance adumbration of revelation, or possibly even re- communities of humans: qawm, from Q W M, occurs 383 times meaning folk, people, com- lation, there is also the range of individuals, the above-mentioned prophetsthere and messen- is also theflection range of of individuals,the distinctive the pluralism above-mentioned and cosmopolitanism prophets and of messengers, the Dār al-Islām of the Ab- munity; umma from U M M, 64 times meaning nation, people, community, religion; the gers, who function as intermediaries for and bearers of revelation, and then,who of function course asbasid intermediaries era and beyond for and bearers of revelation, and then, of course their hapax shuʿūb from SHaudience. ʿAyn B meaning One may nations; consider dīn here from that D Y this N, 7th meaning century religious/cul- late antique composition succeeds their audience. One may consider here that this 7th century late antique composition suc- tural/ethnic group, occursin routinizing 92 times. Ahl the “(the) otherwise people/family” exceptional occurs event 127 of apocalypsetimes, including by claiming, as in Q 10:47: ceeds in routinizing the otherwise exceptional event of apocalypse by claiming, as in Q 2.4. Humanity dozes as the distinctive“every Quranic community epithet “people has had of athe messenger.” Book” (ahl Thisal-kit isāb); so āl even and the if the re- Quran names only 25 10:47: “every community has had a messenger.” This is so even if the Quran names only One of the most important distinguishing features of the Quran is its theme of hu- lated ūlī, meaning people,or so family, such figures.ancestors, To and cheat related a bit usages, here and from refer ʾA to W the L, occurs post-Quranic 170 tradition, Muslim 25 or so such figures. To cheat a bit here and refer to the post-Quranic tradition, Muslim manity, both in the aggregate and as individual. There are a number of Arabic words at times. Tribe, ‘ashīra/mascholarsʿshar, from eventually ʿAyn SHspeculated R, occurs six that times; in order qabī tol twice account as tribe(s) for the (from history of humanity recently scholars eventually speculated that in order to account for the history of humanity re- play here: nās, insān, bashar, khalq, followed by subdivisions or categories: muslim, muʾmin, Q B L); rahṭ, family, x3rewritten (R H Ṭ); descendants by Muslim scholars asbāṭ x5 such(from as S aBt.- Ṭ);abar sons/children,¯ı (d. 923) there e.g., had of to have been at least cently rewritten by Muslim scholars such as aṭ-Ṭabarī (d. 923) there had to have been at muḥsin, Christian, Jew, Sabian, mushrik, mufsid, kāfir, jāhil, and their social units: qawm, Israel or Adam (from B124,000 N Y) x160. such “Group,” prophets andʿuṣbah messengers (from ʿṢ B) to occurs account 5 times; for the “groups, highly variegated number of least 124,000 such prophets and messengers to account for the highly variegated number qabīl, alwān, alsān, amongst others. This third major component of our theory of Quranic ”ʿizah (from ʿAyn Z W)languages is a hapax; and far culturesīq/firqah that (from had F existed R Q) andoccurs still 33 exist. times; Nothing “group,” is more emblematic of the of languages and cultures that had existed and still exist. Nothing is more emblematic of epic and apocalypse has already been alluded to several times above. It seems beyond nafar/nafīr (from N F R)cosmopolitan occurs threeé times;lan of the“Groups,” Quran than thub thisāt (from number. TH B Furthermore, Y) occurs once; these figures, according to the cosmopolitan élan of the Quran than this number. Furthermore, these figures, accord- dispute that one of the chief concerns of the Quran, perhaps as important as revelation “A company,” thullah (fromthe foundational TH L L) occurs Quranic 3 times; literary Parties: and doctrinal“Host, group, device troop,” of typological fiʾah (F figuration, were all as ing to the foundational Quranic literary and doctrinal device of typological figuration, itself, is humanity, both in the collective and as individual. A brief catalogue of all the ʾ Y) occurs 11 times; “Party,much confederates” apocalypticists ḥizb as they(from were Ḥ Z teachersB) occurs of 20 righteousness times; “Party/sect” or law-givers. were all as much apocalypticists as they were teachers of righteousness or law-givers. words used in the Quran to designate this “species” supports this assertion. The most shīʿah (SH Y ʿAyn) occurs 20These times; two finally, elements, “group, the party,” idea of ṭ revelationāʾifah (Ṭ W and F) occurs the vehicle 25 times. (prophetic figure) of revela- These two elements, the idea of revelation and the vehicle (prophetic figure) of reve- frequent term, al-nās, (from N W S) occurs 241 times in the Quran with the meaning of In light of this extensivetion, are vocabulary, so much in including evidence—as particular both form words and for contents—in particular thetypes literary “circuitry” of the lation, are so much in evidence—as both form and contents—in the literary “circuitry” of humanity, man, men and the people. Insān, unās and ins, derived from A N S, refers 90 of human (male and female),Quran, sosuch much as mu a partʾmin/ ofbeliever the text (x228), that it muslim would be(x41), counterproductive ʿabd/servant to try and tabulate the Quran, so much a part of the text that it would be counterproductive to try and tabu- times to man/humankind/the human. Interestingly, it occurs five times in a verbal form, and serving (x275), thekāfir/ frequencyunbeliever of theirand occurrence kufr/unbelief in this (x525), brief article.Christian (x15 as late the frequency of their occurrence in this brief article. ānasa, meaning to perceive. Bashar is another word for human, sometimes thought to refer Naṣārā/Naṣrāniyya ), Jew (x15Inaddition, as Yahūd, to Yah theūd processī and Hū ofd; revelation, x43 as Banu there Isrāʾ areīl), mushrik numerous/pol- other apocalyptic “occa- In addition, to the process of revelation, there are numerous other apocalyptic “occa- directly to the “lower nature.” It occurs 37 times as such. B SH R is a frequent Quranic ytheist (x168), the varioussions” an throughoutd numerous the uses Quran, (x90) asof indicatedṣāḥib/aṣḥā inb “member(s) the above table. of this As or suggested, by especially sions” throughout the Quran, as indicated in the above table. As suggested, by especially root, occurring a total of 123 times. It is interesting that it occurs 83 times in the verbal and that group, e.g., those inJar hell #1, (tanzaṣḥā¯ılb ,al-n theār very) and earliest the attendant revelations verbal abound forms which with what can only I have elsewhere deemed Jar #1, tanzīl, the very earliest revelations abound with what I have elsewhere deemed nominal forms: “to give good news,” a cognate to gospel. Imruʾ “man/person” x 11 and be performed by humans,“tropes it is of curious intensity” that ( Lawsonin the Encyclopaedia 2017, pp. xxiv, of the xxvi, Quran xxvii, there 43, is 49, no 52, 78, 196 n. 65). It is “tropes of intensity” (Lawson 2017, pp. xxiv, xxvi, xxvii, 43, 49, 52, 78, 196 n. 65). It is here imraʾa “woman/person” occurs 26 times. Rajūl/rijāl, from R J L, denotes man/men and article for human/humanityhere that or even we become the somewhat apprised outdated of the sunterm becoming “mankind”. wrapped This lack in darkness (Q 81:1); the that we become apprised of the sun becoming wrapped in darkness (Q 81:1);cleaving the cleaving of the moonstrongly (Q 54:1–2),connotes the manliness, darkening standing of the moon one’s (Qground, 75:7–8), strength, the falling triumph of the and achievement of the moon (Q 54:1–2), the darkening of the moon (Q 75:7–8), the falling ofstars the (Qstars 81:2), (Q theagainst mountains odds. transformed Additionally, into it has tufts been of wool used (Q frequently 101:5) or in crumbled literature to to dust refer to particularly 81:2), the mountains transformed into tufts of wool (Q 101:5) or crumbled to dust (Q 7:143), (Q 7:143), murdereddevout infants or heroic speaking women. from It the occurs grave 57 demanding times. Khalq to, our know last why word, they means had “creation”, and murdered infants speaking from the grave demanding to know why they hadbeen been killed killed (Q 70:9),is a synonym mountains for ground humanity. into sandIt occurs (Q 73:14),a total mountainsof 261 times blown in the away Quran, (Q to stand for the (Q 70:9), mountains ground into sand (Q 73:14), mountains blown away (Q 77:10), moun- mountainscreative moved activity away (Q of 78:20,God and 81:3, the 18:47), result the of boilingthis activity, over offrequently the seas (Qspecified 81:6, as the human tains moved away (Q 78:20, 81:3, 18:47), the boiling over of the seas (Q 81:6, 82:3);82:3); damning damning critiques(e.g., Q 39:6). of social Thus, injustice there are (Q numerous 4:10; 2:220; word 4:75,s 4:98in the and Quranpassim that), falsely are used to designate critiques of social injustice (Q 4:10; 2:220; 4:75, 4:98 and passim), falsely claimingclaiming to beto op- be oppressedcommunities (Q 4:97); of humans: ascensions qawm, to from the realms Q W M, of occurs heaven 383 (Q times 17:1); meaning warnings folk, people, com- pressed (Q 4:97); ascensions to the realms of heaven (Q 17:1); warnings aboutabout impending impending munity; justice and umma punishment from U M for M, breaking 64 times God’s meaning law ( passimnation,, esp.people, with community, the root religion; the justice and punishment for breaking God’s law (passim, esp. with the root Ẓ L M, 315x),315x), frequenthapax mentionsshuʿūb from of al-sSHa¯ ʿAyna, “the B meaning Hour,” (49), nations;\al-yawm dīn from, “the D Day” Y N, (405) meaning of religious/cul- frequent mentions of al-sāʿa, “the Hour,” (49), \al-yawm, “the Day” (405) of reckoning,reckoning, the the al-tural/ethnicakhira¯ sequel group, of “hereafter” occurs 92 (220) times. and Ahlal-qiy “(the)ama¯ people/family”“judgment/resurrection” occurs 127 times, including al-ākhira sequel of “hereafter” (220) and al-qiyāma “judgment/resurrection” (70), which isis alsodozes frequently as the mentioneddistinctive throughoutQuranic epithet the Quran,“people and, of the finally, Book” references (ahl al-kit toāb); āl and the re- also frequently mentioned throughout the Quran, and, finally, references to power falling to thoselated ū wholī, meaning had once people, been oppressed family, ancestors, (Q 13:11). and related usages, from ʾA W L, occurs 170 to those who had once been oppressed (Q 13:11). All this, togethertimes. withTribe, those ‘ashīra/ma virtuallyʿshar numberless, from ʿAyn SH instances R, occurs in whichsix times; guidance, qabīl twice sal- as tribe(s) (from All this, together with those virtually numberless instances in which guidance,vation, deliverance sal- Q B from L); rah error,ṭ, family, distinguishing x3 (R H Ṭ truth); descendants from falsehood, asbāṭ x5 reading (from S the B Ṭ signs); sons/children, of e.g., of vation, deliverance from error, distinguishing truth from falsehood, readingGod the forsigns the of truth, Israel leave or noAdam doubt (from that Brevelation N Y) x160. is, “Group,” in fact, oneʿuṣbah of the(from most ʿṢ B) important occurs 5 times; “groups, God for the truth, leave no doubt that revelation is, in fact, one of the mostthemes important of the Quran:”ʿizah it (from is a work ʿAyn that Z W) is its is own a hapax; main character,farīq/firqah a (from work thatF R isQ) about occurs itself. 33 times; “group,” themes of the Quran: it is a work that is its own main character, a work that isFurthermore, about itself. thenafar/naf urgencyīr of(from the revelationsN F R) occurs indicate threethat times; apocalyptic-cum-eschatological “Groups,” thubāt (from TH B Y) occurs once; Furthermore, the urgency of the revelations indicate that apocalyptic-cum-eschatologicalexpectation may “A well company,” have been thullah focused (from on TH the nearL L) occurs future 3 rather times; than Parties: some “Host, quite group, later troop,” fiʾah (F expectation may well have been focused on the near future rather than somedate. quite Thus, later the Quranʾ Y) occurs may 11 be times; seen as “Party, a distinctive confederates” but unmistakable ḥizb (from recordḤ Z B) andoccurs voice 20 times; of “Party/sect” date. Thus, the Quran may be seen as a distinctive but unmistakable recordapocalypse. and voice of shīʿah (SH Y ʿAyn) occurs 20 times; finally, “group, party,” ṭāʾifah (Ṭ W F) occurs 25 times. apocalypse. As a segue into theIn light next of section, this extensive it will be vocabulary, useful to remark including upon particular the cosmic words impli- for particular types As a segue into the next section, it will be useful to remark upon the cosmiccations implica- of the Quranicof human notion (male of Judgmentand female), and such Salvation, as muʾmin/ Heavenbeliever and (x228), Hell, Goodmuslim and (x41), ʿabd/servant tions of the Quranic notion of Judgment and Salvation, Heaven and Hell, GoodBad. and As aBad. result ofand the serving manner in(x275), which thesekāfir/unbeliever themes and and motives kufr are/unbelief woven into(x525), a single Christian (x15 as As a result of the manner in which these themes and motives are woven message,into a single it becomes Naṣārā/Naṣrāniyya clear that what ), we Jew mistake (x15 as for Yah “nature”ūd, Yahū isdī really and H aū cosmicd; x43 as system Banu Isr forāʾīl), mushrik/pol- message, it becomes clear that what we mistake for “nature” is really a cosmiccommunicating system for theytheist divine (x168), message. the various Nowhere and is numerous this more clearuses (x90) than inof theṣāḥ much-quotedib/aṣḥāb “member(s) of this or verse (Q 41:53): communicating the divine message. Nowhere is this more clear than in the much-quoted that group, e.g., those in hell (aṣḥāb al-nār) and the attendant verbal forms which can only verse (Q 41:53): Soon We willbe showperformed them Ourby humans, signs (ay¯ itatin¯ is a¯curious) in the that physical in the realm Encyclopaedia and in their of the Quran there is no own souls soarticle that theyfor human/humanity may come to know or theeven truth the (al-hsomewhat. aqq). outdated term “mankind”. This lack The litany of such oppositions as the above-mentioned “Heaven 6= Hell”, and many others as well, is ceaselessly heard throughout the Quran resulting in a text or composition whose coherence is significantly maintained through this interplay of dualities and oppositions Religions 2021, 12, 562 9 of 20

no matter which scroll we are reading (Lawson 2017, pp. 76–93). Thus, according to the Quran, apocalypse/revelation occurs in three different but profoundly related locations: (1) in the Quran itself whose “verses” are actually called “signs” (ay¯ at¯ ), (2) in the physical realm, literally the “horizons” (af¯ aq¯ ), and ﬁnally (3) in the souls of human beings (anfus, singular nafs). That reading the divinely revealed signs appearing in these three distinct but deeply interrelated realms is such a foundational human duty and characteristic, according to the Quran, suggests that our species could be just as easily designated Homo lector as Homo sapiens. There are many passages which are deeply moving or touching, even to the objective and hard-bitten “pure” philologist who has stabilized an English version of our scrolls. One of these is the exquisite Light Verse (Q 24:35). This verse states, in unrivalled poetic diction and metaphor, that over all this revelatory/apocalyptic activity presides God, who is described in one of the most beautiful passages of any scripture or, for that matter, work of literature. God is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth. His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass. And this glass is itself like a glittering star. Kindled from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the East nor of the West Whose oil well-nigh would shine, even if no ﬁre touched it. Light upon Light! God guides to his light whom he will. Thus does God strike similitudes for men. While God has knowledge of everything. (Arberry translation, slightly adapted) From the scroll in Jar #1, then, we gain an idea of the power and beauty of divine revelation, that it is now occurring, and that it is part of the sunna or “practice” of God, and, therefore, has always occurred. We also understand that there is a great intensity pursuing the audience in the literary form of spectacular and even catastrophic “natural” events in line with the moral and spiritual state of the audience. In the next section, we gain some idea, through the contents of Jar #2, of how this same process has played out in history, how history began, what are the important events that punctuate humanity’s collective sojourn on earth and what may be expected in the future.

2.3. Epic “(E)pic is hugely ambitious, undertaking to articulate the most essential aspects of a culture, from its origin stories to its ideals of social behavior, social structure, relationship to the natural world and to the supernatural. The scope of epic is matched by its attitude: as Aristotle noted, it dwells on the serious. (Even its meter, says Aristotle, is ‘most stately and weightiest ... ’ Poetics 1459, b34–5.) Epic, the ultimate metonymic art form from the perspective of its pars pro toto performance, is on the level of ideology a metonymy for culture itself.” (Martin 2005, p. 18) In the epic, humanity itself is the center of attention, unlike those events in the oldest suras such as the falling of the stars or the splitting of the moon, or the nearness of “the Hour”. Note, also, these things remain as the divine word, but they now occupy, by comparison, a less prominent place in the textual landscape and grammar of the Quran. The Quran remains powerfully—not to say apocalyptically—eschatological. However, now the logic of such eschatology is more readable and trumps the less accessible logic of apocalypse. The new epic form marks out the experience as one of a community composed of individuals rather than an individual who may or may not be a member of a community. Religions 2021, 12, 562 10 of 20

For a working deﬁnition of epic, we rely on the current comparative scholarship from which these twelve principal elements are derived. (See Suggested Reading, note 1) We will treat each one of these brieﬂy.

2.3.1. An Epic Is Frequently the First or Oldest Literary Work—Oral or Written—Of a Given Culture The Quran is generally regarded as the first book in Arabic. It is certainly the book which more than any other has contributed to the consolidation of the identity of the “nation” of Muslims, whether Arab or not. Thus, after the Fati¯ h. a and a few lines of human- centered homiletics, Q 2:29 begins, seemingly, with the beginning of humanity in the story of Adam. One says seemingly because we do, in time, discover that the creation of Adam and Eve, the bowing of the angels to him, the refusal of Iblis to accept Adam’s superiority, this scenario (Q 2:29–38 and elsewhere) was not the first event of significance, according to the Quran.

2.3.2. An Epic Opens in Medias Res For this event, we must wait until the seventh sura, where the real beginning in the Quran of both time, history and the awakening of consciousness is disclosed. Known as the day of the covenant (yawm al-m¯ıthaq¯ ) in Islam, it is understood to have occurred in a spiritual realm before creation, before time and place existed. There, at verse 172, God summoned the souls of all future humans to his presence and asked them the deﬁning question: “Am I not your Lord?”. To this question, the vast gathering of numberless souls responded “Indeed, to this we testify!”. Such an episode renders the story of Adam and Eve at Q 2:29ff a perfect example of an epic that begins in medias res: “in the midst of things”.

2.3.3. The Time and Place of the Text Is Vast, Covering Many Geographic Settings, Nations and/or Worlds The Quran addresses a humanity that has existed since before time began, according to the mythic scenario of the Day of the Covenant above. It speaks of various worlds of God who is “the Lord of all worlds” (Q 1:2) and acknowledges a recurring covenant that has been instituted between God and every human and every human community that ever was. This vastness is symbolized in the prophetic history which the Quran teaches. Narrative compulsion at the surface level of the Quranic literary vision begins on this Day of the Covenant. However, it is clear, from the ethos of the Quran, that the Sitz im Leben for the narrative is precisely the chaos of religions in the Late Antique, 7th century Nile-to-Oxus region where various communal identities based on Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, to name the most prominent, vie for cultural space. However, lest we get ahead of ourselves, let us list the other main constituents or elements of the epic form.

2.3.4. An Epic Usually Begins with an Invocation or Request for Inspiration/Guidance In the case of the Quran, this would be the above-mentioned ﬁrst sura, al-Fati¯ h. a, which means literally the opener or “overture”. It will be useful to quote a translation here to give a further idea of the nature of the epic character of the Quran. 1 In the name of the Merciful and Compassionate God. 2 Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Worlds, 3 The Merciful, the Compassionate, 4 Master of the Day of Reckoning. 5 You we serve; to You we turn for help. 6 Guide us on the straight path, 7 The path of those You have blessed, not of those with whom You are angry nor of those who go astray. Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 20

2.4. Humanity One of the most important distinguishing features of the Quran is its theme of humanity, both in the aggregate and as individual. There are a number of Arabic words at play here: nās, insān, bashar, khalq, followed by subdivisions or categories: muslim, muʾmin, muḥsin, Christian, Jew, Sabian, mushrik, mufsid, kāfir, jāhil, and their social units: qawm, qabīl, alwān, alsān, amongst others. This third major component of our theory of Quranic epic and apocalypse has already been alluded to several times above. It seems beyond dispute that one of the chief concerns of the Quran, perhaps as important as revelation itself, is humanity, both in the collective and as individual. A brief catalogue of all the words used in the Quran to designate this “species” supports this assertion. The most frequent term, al-nās, (from N W S) occurs 241 times in the Quran with the meaning of humanity, man, men and the people. Insān, unās and ins, derived from A N S, refers 90 times to man/humankind/the human. Interestingly, it occurs five times in a verbal form, ānasa, meaning to perceive. Bashar is another word for human, sometimes thought to refer directly to the “lower nature.” It occurs 37 times as such. B SH R is a frequent Quranic root, occurring a total of 123 times. It is interesting that it occurs 83 times in the verbal and nominal forms: “to give good news,” a cognate to gospel. Imruʾ “man/person” x 11 and imraʾa “woman/person” occurs 26 times. Rajūl/rijāl, from R J L, denotes man/men and strongly connotes manliness, standing one’s ground, strength, triumph and achievement against odds. Additionally, it has been used frequently in literature to refer to particularly devout or heroic women. It occurs 57 times. Khalq, our last word, means “creation”, and is a synonym for humanity. It occurs a total of 261 times in the Quran, to stand for the creative activity of God and the result of this activity, frequently specified as the human (e.g., Q 39:6). Thus, there are numerous words in the Quran that are used to designate communities of humans: qawm, from Q W M, occurs 383 times meaning folk, people, com- Religions 2021, 12,munity; 562 umma from U M M, 64 times meaning nation, people, community, religion; the 11 of 20 hapax shuʿūb from SH ʿAyn B meaning nations; dīn from D Y N, meaning religious/cultural/ethnic group, occurs 92 times. Ahl “(the) people/family” occurs 127 times, including dozes as the distinctive Quranic epithet “people of the Book” (ahl al-kitāb); āl and the related ūlī, meaning people, family, ancestors, and related usages,(Jones from ʾ translation,A W L, occurs slightly 170 adapted) times. Tribe, ‘ashīra/maIt isʿshar pertinent, from ʿAyn to note SH that R, occurs this text six is times; perhaps qabī thel twice single as mosttribe(s) recited (from scripture on the Q B L); rahṭ, family,planet x3 because (R H Ṭ it); isdescendants used on numberless asbāṭ x5 (from occasions S B Ṭ as); sons/children, a prayer or blessing e.g., of in addition to its Israel or Adam role(from in B the N fiveY) x160. daily “Group,” prayers of ʿu Muslims.ṣbah (from It ʿṢ is B) also, occurs interestingly 5 times; “groups, enough, in the current ”ʿizah (from ʿAyncontext, Z W) deemed is a hapax; by the far scholarlyīq/firqah tradition(from F R to Q) have occurs been 33 revealed times; twice,“group,” the first time as the nafar/nafīr (from“opener” N F R) occurs of the apocalypsethree times; in “Groups,” Mecca, the thub secondāt (from as the TH opening B Y) occurs introduction—something once; “A company,” thullahof a praepositio (from TH(see L nextL) occurs item) 3 in times; Medina. Parties: Here, “Host, it is important group, troop,” to note fi theʾah semantic(F range of ʾ Y) occurs 11 times;the Arabic “Party, root confederates” for the word ḥfizbati¯ h. (froma,FT Ḥ .Z It B) can occurs mean 20 “to times; open” “Party/sect” or to “conquer” a territory, shīʿah (SH Y ʿAynto) open occurs the 20 mind times; or finally, the heart “group, or to open, party,” as inṭāʾ discloseifah (Ṭ W and F) unveil,occurs 25 a secret. times. Thus, this twice In light of revealedthis extensive distinctive vocabulary, brief sura including functions particular simultaneously words for as particular an element types of the apocalypse of human (maleand and the female), epic modes such ofas themu Quran.ʾmin/believer (x228), muslim (x41), ʿabd/servant and serving (x275), kāfir/unbeliever and kufr/unbelief (x525), Christian (x15 as Naṣārā/Naṣrāniyya2.3.5. ), AnJew Epic (x15 Also as Yah Earlyūd, Yah on Introducesūdī and Hūd a; Theme:x43 as Banu This Isr Isā theʾīl), Praepositio mushrik/polytheist (x168), the variousIn addition and numerous to the Fati¯ usesh. a, another(x90) of introductionṣāḥib/aṣḥāb “member(s) to the epic of Quran this or may be seen as that group, e.g.,following those in hell immediately. (aṣḥāb al-nār The) and first the fewattendant verses verbal of sura forms 2, al-Baqara which can (the only 91st or 87th sura be performed byto humans, be revealed, it is accordingcurious that to thein the most Encyclopaedia common chronologies of the Quran ofthere revelation), is no lay out the article for human/humanitygeneral concerns or even of the the epic somewhat Quran (2:1–29): outdated the term continuity “mankind”. of revelation—it This lack has happened before, it is happening now; the importance of obedience to the revelation and its laws; the promise of reward for good and punishment for evil. The ensuing verses and suras, much concerned with the heroism of the prophets and messengers, may be thought to illustrate the truth of these opening verses.

2.3.6. An Epic Makes Pervasive and Fluent Use of Epithet The Quran is rhetorically very rich, and epithet is among its most pervasive riches, setting another gauge of continuity. As in the Homeric “rosy ﬁngers of dawn” or “the wine dark sea”, the Quran uses in abundance such epithets as “the life of this world below” (h. ayat¯ al-dunya¯), signaling spiritual distance from God, or the “heavens and the earth” (as-samawat¯ wa’l-ard. ) as an epithet of totality.

2.3.7. Epic Similes and Figures Abound As a sign of the Quran’s self-reflexivity, it even speaks about using similes and metaphors and acknowledges that such poetic devices are a part of its own modus operandi. Sura 2, in addition to introducing the epic story of humanity, granted in medias res, also expands on this use of mathal “simile”, as when the light is snatched away (Q 2:17) or when the gnat or whatever is above it is stated to be fair grist for the Quranic mill (Q 2:26). The prime example for the Quranic dependence upon metaphor and simile,we have already quoted above, the verse of light (Q 24:35). Such figures abound. A particularly characteristic Quranic employment of simile or metaphor may also be seen in the dozens of divine names throughout the text. These so-called “ninety-nine names” are a characteristic feature of the Quran; indeed, it could be stated that no other feature is more characteristic. On the basis of the firm Quranic teaching (Q 112 et passim), that God is utterly unknowable and unlike anything else, these names acquire a particular anagogic or metaphoric status. Their numbers are set somewhat arbitrarily at 99, but there are many more words than 99 that qualify as names or indicators of the divine (Böwering 2002). These names, along with the numerous epithets for the Quran itself found in the Text (Mir 2003), represent an interesting variation on the epic simile or metaphor, and they may also be thought to perform double duty as a feature of the next item—epic lists.

2.3.8. An Epic Contains Long Lists of Culturally Specific Realia/Artifacts/Products The culturally specific “artifacts” here are chiefly the types of humans identified by the Quran, either by their religious communities or their moral health (see below Section 2.4 Humanity). We may consider a neologism such as “anthrotope” here, along the lines of Bakhtin’s chronotope, to help us consider this very distinctive Quranic feature of a “place of human variety and pluralism”. With regard to lists of material objects, there Religions 2021, 12, 562 12 of 20

has not been much work done on the material culture mentioned in the Quran and what has been done seems to have been restricted to the material culture of the Arabs of the peninsula. Since much of this material had “migrated” from points further north, east and in some cases south, and even west, it also reflects the culture from an epic angle. For long lists and itemizations, we do not find an equivalent to the lists of ships or arms in Homer, for example. In addition to the human types, and the various religious communities that may be thought part of such a list, there are also the numerous names and attributes of God, as mentioned in the previous section, which may be thought to fulfill, in some ways, this epic “requirement”.

2.3.9. The Epic Features Extended Examples of Verbal Eloquence and Artistry The Quran is seen as both the ﬁrst book and the epitome of eloquence in the Arabic language. It is, from one perspective, a single long speech by God through Muh. ammad as mediated by the angel of revelation, identiﬁed later as Gabriel.

2.3.10. The Epic Demonstrates and Describes Divine Intervention in Human Affairs This element really requires no explication or comment. The entire epic thrust of the Quran has to do with God’s intervention in history and human affairs. The Quran represents itself not only as being about such interventions, but actually being the latest intervention by God.

2.3.11. The Epic Features Heroes Who Embody and Personify the Values and Ethos of the Culture These are those 25 or so Quranic and those 124,000 theoretical pre-Quranic prophets and messengers mentioned earlier. It is important to note, however, that such heroism is participated in, emulated, studied and embodied by the audience, whether collective or individual, whether as a mere reader who achieves and wins understanding, or as a “citizen” who participates in the venture of a just and peaceful society or community and accepts the moral and existential challenges of the Quran.

2.3.12. Epic Is Performed before an Audience This feature also requires no comment. The revelations, according to tradition were composed during performance, thus, pointing to the artistic category of improvisation.

2.3.13. An Epic Describes a Vast Setting of Time and Place The scale of time and place in the Quran is vast. The Quran’s “setting” or more accurately, the Quran’s chronotope, is epic in every way: it begins before the created beginning with that important and utterly cosmopolitan “day of the covenant” scene at Q 7:172 and carries on until “the end that has no end” with those apocalyptic visions of the Hour, Judgment and Resurrection.4 In essence, each of these moments is another occasion for revelation, which, according to the Quran’s theory of prophecy and history, will never end: And if all the trees on earth were pens, and the sea were ink, with seven more seas yet added to it, the words of God would not be exhausted; for verily, God is almighty, wise (Q 31:27, Asad translation). Furthermore, the places, communities, nations, races, languages that are acknowl- edged by the Quran represent a variety heretofore unencountered in the Nile-to-Oxus library of either epic or scripture. One may, in fact, consider the numerous identities in that extra-Quranic document, stated to have been written by Muh. ammad, the remarkable Con- stitution of Medina, as something of a precursor, adumbration or possibly even reﬂection of the distinctive pluralism and cosmopolitanism of the Dar¯ al-Islam¯ of the Abbasid era and beyond. Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 20

Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEERReligions REVIEW 2021 Religions,Religions 12, x FOR 2021 2021 PEER, 12, ,12 x REVIEW,FOR x FOR PEER PEER REVIEW REVIEW 13 of 20 13 of 20 13 13of of20 20 edgedReligions by 2021 the, 12Quran, x FOR represent PEER REVIEW a variety heretofore unencountered in the Nile-to-Oxuscommunities li- of humans: qawm, from Q13 W of M, 20 occurs 383 times meaning folk, people, com-

brary of either epic or scripture. One may, in fact, consider the numerous identitiesmunity; inumma that from U M M, 64 times meaning nation, people, community, religion; the hapax shuʿūb from SH ʿAyn B meaning nations; dīn from D Y N, meaning religious/cul- extra-Quranic document, stated to have been written by Muḥammad, the remarkable Furthermore, the places, communities, nations, races, languages that are acknowl- Constitution of Furthermore,Medina, as Furthermore,something the places, of thecommunities,a precursor, places, communities, adumbration nations, races, nati or languagesons,possiblytural/ethnic races, even thatlanguages re-group,are acknowl- thatoccurs are 92 acknowl- times. Ahl “(the) people/family” occurs 127 times, including Furthermore, the places, communities,Furthermore, natiFurthermore,ons, the races, places, languages the communities, places, that communities, are nati acknowl-ons, races, nations, languages races, languagesthatedged are acknowl- by that the are Quran acknowl- represent a variety heretofore unencountered in the Nile-to-Oxus li- flection of theedged distinctive by theedged Quran pluralism by representthe Quranand cosmopolitanism a representvariety hereto a varietyfore of the unencounteredhereto Dārfore al-Isl unencountereddozesām inof theasthe the Nile-to-Oxus Ab- distinctive in the Nile-to-Oxus li-Quranic epithet li- “people of the Book” (ahl al-kitāb); āl and the re- edged by the Quran represent a edgedvariety by hereto theedged Quranfore by unencountered therepresent Quran arepresent variety in the hereto Nile-to-Oxusa varietyfore heretounencountered li- fore unencountered in the Nile-to-Oxusbrary in ofthe either Nile-to-Oxus li- epic or scripture. li- One may, in fact, consider the numerous identities in that basid era andbrary beyond of either brary epic of oreither scripture. epic or One scripture. may, in One fact, may, consider in fact, the consider numerouslated ū thelī, meaningidentities numerous people, in identities that family, in that ancestors, and related usages, from ʾA W L, occurs 170 brary of either epic or scripture. Onebrary may, of either inbrary fact, epic of consider eitheror scripture. epic the numerousor Onescripture. may, identities inOne fact, may, consider in thatin fact, the consider numerous the numerousidentitiesextra-Quranic in identities that document, in that stated to have been written by Muḥammad, the remarkable extra-Quranicextra-Quranic document, document,stated to have statedḥ been to havewritten been by writtenMuḥtimes.ammad, by Tribe, Muḥ theḥ ammad,‘ash remarkableīra/ma theʿshar remarkable , from ʿAyn SH R, occurs six times; qabīl twice as tribe(s) (from extra-Quranic document, statedextra-Quranic to have beenextra-Quranic document,written by document, statedMu ammad, to havestated the been to remarkable have written been by written Mu ammad, by Mu theḥConstitutionammad, remarkable the of remarkable Medina, as something of a precursor, adumbration or possibly even re- 2.4. HumanityConstitution Constitution of Medina, ofas Medina,something as ofsomething a precursor, of a adumbrationprecursor,Q Badumbration L); or rahpossiblyṭ, family, oreven possibly x3 re- (R H evenṬ); descendants re- asbāṭ x5 (from S B Ṭ); sons/children, e.g., of Constitution of Medina, as somethingConstitution of aConstitution precursor, of Medina, adumbration of as Medina, something as or something possiblyof a precursor, even of a re- precursor,adumbration adumbration or possiblyflection or even ofpossibly the re- distinctive even re- pluralism and cosmopolitanism of the Dār al-Islām of the Ab- flection of theflection distinctive of the pluralismdistinctive and pluralism cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitanism of theIsrael Dār oral-Islof Adamtheām D ā of(fromr al-Islthe Ab-Bā mN ofY) thex160. Ab- “Group,” ʿuṣbah (from ʿṢ B) occurs 5 times; “groups, flection of theReligions distinctiveOne 2021of the, 12pluralism, most 562 flection important and ofcosmopolitanism flectionthe distinguishing distinctive of the distinctive pluralismof fe theatures Dā rofandpluralism al-Isl the cosmopolitanism āQuranm ofand the is cosmopolitanism itsAb- theme of the of hu-Dār ofal-Isl thebasidā Dmā ofr era al-Isl the and āAb-m beyond of the13 Ab- of 20 basid era andbasid beyond era and beyond ”ʿizah (from ʿAyn Z W) is a hapax; farīq/firqah (from F R Q) occurs 33 times; “group,” basid era andmanity, beyond both in the aggregatebasid era andandbasid beyondas era individual. and beyond There are a number of Arabic words at play here: nās, insān, bashar, khalq, followed by subdivisions or categories: muslimnafar/naf, muīrʾ min(from, N F2.4. R) Humanityoccurs three times; “Groups,” thubāt (from TH B Y) occurs once; 2.4. Humanity2.4. Humanity “A company,” thullah (from TH L L) occurs 3 times; Parties: “Host, group, troop,” fiʾah (F 2.4. Humanitymu ḥsin, Christian, Jew,2.4. Sabian,Humanity2.4. mushrik Humanity, mufsid , kāfir, jāhil, and their social units: qawm, 2.4. Humanity ʾ Y) occurs 11 times; “Party,One confederates” of the most important ḥizb (from distinguishing Ḥ Z B) occurs 20features times; of“Party/sect” the Quran is its theme of hu- One of qabtheī l,most alwā nimportant, alsānOne, amongst distinguishingof theOne Onemostothers. of of theimportant theThis fe mostatures most third important distinguishing importantof major the Quran co distinguishingmponent distinguishing isfe itsatures themeof our offe aturesfetheoftheoryatures hu- Quran of of of the Quranic isthe Quranits Quran theme is is itsofmanity, its themehu- theme both of of hu- inhu- the aggregate and as individual. There are a number of Arabic words at OneOne of of the the most most important important distinguishing distinguishingshīʿah fe features(SHatures Y ʿAynof of the the) occurs Quran Quran 20 is istimes; its its theme theme finally, of of hu-“group, hu- party,” ṭāʾifah (Ṭ W F) occurs 25 times. manity, bothepic in theand aggregate apocalypsemanity, and bothmanity, has manity,as in alreadyindividual. the both bothaggregate beenin in the There the allude aggregate and aggregate are das ato individual. number severaland and as as ofindividual.times individual.ThereArabic above. are words There a ThereItnumber seemsat are are a of beyondnumbera Arabicnumber ofwords of Arabicplay Arabic at here: words words nās ,at ins atā n, bashar, khalq, followed by subdivisions or categories: muslim, muʾmin, manity,manity, both both in in the the aggregate aggregate and and as as individual. individual.In There Therelight areof are this a a number number extensive of of Arabicvocabulary, Arabic words words including at at particular words for particular types play here: nādisputes, insān , thatbasharplay one, khalqhere: of theplay, nfollowedplayā schief, here:ins here:ā nconcerns ,nby basharā ns ,subdivisā sins, ins,ā khalqnofā, n basharth,ions bashar,e followed Quran, ,or khalq, categories:khalq ,perhaps byfollowed, followed subdivis muslim as by importantbyions subdivis, subdivis mu orʾ mincategories:ions as,ions revelation or or categories: muslimcategories: , mu muslimmu ʾmuslimminḥsin, , ,mu ,Christian, muʾminʾmin, , Jew, Sabian, mushrik, mufsid, kāfir, jāhil, and their social units: qawm, playplay here: here: nnāas¯s, ,insinsāan¯n, ,basharbashar, ,khalqkhalq, ,followed followed byof by subdivishuman subdivisions (maleions or orand categories: categories: female), muslim suchmuslim as, mu, muʾminʾmin/, ,believer (x228), muslim (x41), ʿabd/servant muḥsin, Christian,itself, is Jew, humanity,mu Sabian,ḥsin, Christian, bothmushrikmumuḥ sininḥsin ,the, Christian,mufsid , Jew,Christian, collective Sabian,, kā firJew, , Jew, andj āmushrik hilSabian, ,asSabian, and individual., mufsidtheirmushrik mushrik social, k, āAmufsidfir, mufsid brief,units: jāhil, cataloguek,, ā andqawmkfirāfir, j,ātheir ,hilj āhil, of and,social andall theirthe theirunits: social social qawm units: units:, qawm qawm, , mumuḥhsinsin, ,Christian, Christian, Jew, Jew, Sabian, Sabian, mushrikmushrik, ,mufsidmufsidand , ,kservingkāafir¯fir, ,jājahil¯hil (x275),, ,and andqab their theirīlk,ā alwfir/ social socialunbelieverān, als units: units:ān, amongst qawmqawmand , ,kufr others./unbelief This third(x525), major Christian component (x15 of ouras theory of Quranic qabīl, alwān, wordsalsān, amongstusedqab inī l ,theothers. alw Quranāqabn,qab Thisalsīl, īā alwl,ton alwthird, āamongstdesignatenā, nals ,major als.ānā, nothers.amongst , this coamongstmponent “species” This others. others. third of supportsour This major This theory third third co thismponent ofmajor majorQuranicassertion. co componentofmponent our The theory most of of our ofour theoryQuranic theory of of Quranic Quranic qabqabīl¯ıl, ,alwalwāan¯n, ,alsalsāan¯n, ,amongst amongst others. others. This This third thirdNa majorṣārā/Naṣrāniyya major co componentmponent epic), of ofJew our ourand (x15 theory theory apocalypse as Yah of of ūQuranic Quranicd, Yah hasū dalready ī and H ūbeend; x43 allude as Banud to Isr severalāʾīl), mushrik times /pol-above. It seems beyond epic and apocalypsefrequent term,hasepic already al-nandā sepicapocalypse, (frombeenepic and andallude N apocalypse W apocalypsehas dS) tooccursalready several has has241 been alreadytimes timesalready allude above. inbeen beendthe to allude ItQuran severalalludeseemsd withdto beyond timesto several severalthe above. meaning times times It above.seems ofabove. beyondIt Itseems seems beyond beyond epicepic and and apocalypse apocalypse has has already already been been allude alludedytheistd to to several(x168), several thetimes times variousdispute above. above. an that Itd It seemsnumerous seems one of beyond beyond the uses chief (x90) concerns of ṣāḥ ofib/ athṣḥeā bQuran, “member(s) perhaps of asthis important or as revelation dispute thathumanity, one of the man,dispute chief men concerns thatdispute anddispute one theof ofthat th people. thatthee oneQuran, chiefone ofIns of theconcerns āperhaps nthe, chiefun chiefās andconcernsofas concerns thimportant ins,e Quran, derived of of th astheperhaps Quran, erevelationfrom Quran, A asperhaps N perhapsimportant S, refers as as important 90 asimportant revelation as as revelation revelation disputedispute that that one one of of the the chief chief concerns concerns of of th thethate Quran, Quran, group, perhaps perhaps e.g., those as asitself, importantin important hell is humanity, (aṣḥ asā asb al-nrevelation revelation ābothr) and in the the attendant collective verbal and as forms individual. which canA brief only catalogue of all the itself, is humanity,times to both man/humankind/theitself, in the is humanity,collectiveitself,itself, is ishumanity, andhuman. bothhumanity, as in individual. Interestinglthe both bothcollective in in the A y,the brief collectiveitand collectiveoccurs catalogueas individual. five and and times asof as individual.all individual.inA the abrief verbal catalogue A form, Abrief brief catalogue of catalogue all the of of all all the the itself,itself, is is humanity, humanity, both both in in the the collective collective and andbe performedas as individual. individual. by humans,A Awords brief brief catalogue catalogueusedit is curiousin the of of allQuran allthat the the in to the designate Encyclopaedia this “species” of the Quran supports there isthis no assertion. The most words usedā innasa, the meaning Quranwords to to designateperceive.usedwordswords in the Basharusedthis used Quran “species”in is in theanother tothe Qurandesignate Quran supports word to to designate forthis designatethis human, “species” assertion. this sometimesthis “species”supports “species”The most thought supportsthis supports assertion. to refer this this assertion. The assertion. most The The most most wordswords used used in in the the Quran Quran to to designate designate this thisarticle “species” for human/humanity supports frequent this assertion. orterm, even al-n The Thetheās ,mostsomewhat most(from N W outdated S) occurs term 241 “mankind”.times in the This Quran lack with the meaning of frequent term,directly al-nā sto, (from frequentthe “lower N W term,frequent S)frequentnature.” occurs al-n term,ā s Itterm,,241 (fromoccurs al-ntimes al-n āN s37,ā Wsin(from, times (fromtheS) occurs NQuran as NW such.W S)241 withS) occurs Btimesoccurs SHthe 241 Rinmeaning 241 is thetimes a times frequentQuran inof in the withthe Quranic Quran Quran the meaningwith with the the meaningof meaning of of frequentfrequent term, term, al-nal-nāas¯s, ,(from (from N N W W S) S) occurs occurs 241 241 times times in in the the Quran Quranhumanity, with with the theman, meaning meaning men and of of the people. Insān, unās and ins, derived from A N S, refers 90 humanity, man,root, menoccurring andhumanity, the a total people.humanity, ofman,humanity, 123 Ins mentimes.ān man,, unandman, Itā s is men theand interestingmen people. andins, and derivedthe theIns thatpeople. āpeople.n it,from unoccurs āInss AInsandā n N83ā, n unins, S,,times un āreferss derived āands inand the90ins, ins, fromverbal derived derived A and N from S,from refers A AN N90S, S,refers refers 90 90 humanity,humanity, man, man, men men and and the the people. people. InsInsānan,¯ un, unās asand¯ and ins,ins derived, derivedtimes from to from man/humankind/the A N A S, N refers S, refers 90 human. Interestingly, it occurs five times in a verbal form, times to man/humankind/thenominal forms:times “to to human. man/humankind/thegivetimestimes good Interestinglto to man/humankind/the news,”man/humankind/the y,a cognateit human. occurs to Interestinglfive human.gospel. human. times InterestinglImru in Interestingly, a itʾ verbal “man/person”occursy, form, y,fiveit itoccurs occurs times x 11five in five and a times verbal times in form,in a verbala verbal form, form, times90 times to man/humankind/the to man/humankind/the human. human. Interestingl Interestingly,y, it occurs it occurs fiveānasa, times five meaning in times a verbal into perceive. a verbalform, Bashar is another word for human, sometimes thought to refer ānasa, meaningimra toʾa perceive.“woman/person”ānasa, Bashar meaningānasa, isānasa, anotheroccurs tomeaning meaningperceive. 26word times.to to perceive.forBashar perceive. human,Raj isūl/rij another Bashar Basharsometimesāl, from is word isanother anotherR thoughtJfor L, human, worddenotes word to for refer forsometimes human,man/men human, sometimes thoughtsometimesand to thought referthought to to refer refer āform,nasa, meaninganasa¯ , meaning to perceive. to perceive. Bashar Basharis anotheris another word for word human, for human, sometimesdirectly sometimes to thought the “lower thought to refer nature.” to It occurs 37 times as such. B SH R is a frequent Quranic strongly connotesdirectly manliness, to thedirectly “lower standing to thenature.” “lower one’ Its ground,occursnature.” 37 strength,It times occurs as triumph 37such. times B and SHas such. Rachievement is a B frequent SH R is Quranica frequent Quranic directly to the “lower nature.” Itdirectly occurs to37 directly therefertimes “lower directly as to such. the nature.” to “lower B the SH “lower It Rnature.” occurs is a nature.” frequent 37 It timesoccurs It occursQuranic as 37 such. times 37 times B asSH such. as R such. is Ba frequentSH Broot, SH R Ris occurring is aQuranic afrequent frequent a totalQuranic Quranic of 123 times. It is interesting that it occurs 83 times in the verbal and against odds.root, Additionally, occurringroot, a itoccurringtotal has ofbeen 123 a used totaltimes. frequently of It 123 is interesting times. in literatureIt is thatinteresting it to occurs refer that 83to itparticularlytimes occurs in the83 times verbal in and the verbal and root, occurring a total of 123 times.root, It is occurring interestingroot,root, aoccurring occurringtotal that ofit occurs123 a a total totaltimes. 83 of of times It123 123 is times.interesting times.in the It verbal It is is interesting that interesting and it occurs that that 83 it ittimes occurs occurs in nominal83 83the times times verbal forms:in in theand the verbal verbal“to give and and good news,” a cognate to gospel. Imruʾ “man/person” x 11 and devout or heroicnominal women. forms:nominal It “to occurs giveforms: 57good times.“to news,”give Khalq good a, cognateourʾ news,” last word,to a gospel.cognate means Imru to “creation”,gospel.ʾ “man/person” Imruʾ andʾ “man/person” x 11 and x 11 and nominal forms: “to give good news,”nominal a cognate forms:nominalnominal “toto gospel. forms:give forms: good “toImru “to givenews,” give “man/person” good good a cognate news,” news,” x toa a11 cognate cognategospel. and toImru gospel. “man/person” Imruimraʾ “man/person”ʾa x“woman/person” 11 and x x 11 11 and and occurs 26 times. Rajūl/rijāl, from R J L, denotes man/men and ʾ is a synonymimra forʾa humanity.“woman/person”imraʾ ʾa It“woman/person” occurs occurs a total 26 of times. occurs261 times Raj 26ū l/rijtimes.in theāl, from RajQuran,ūl/rij R Jāto lL,, standfrom denotes Rfor J L,theman/men denotes and man/men and imra a “woman/person” occurs imra26 times.a “woman/person” Rajimraimraūl/rijʾaa “woman/person”ā“woman/person”l, from occurs R J L, 26 denotes occurstimes. occurs man/menRaj26 26 ūtimes.l/rij times.āl , andRajfromRajū ul/rijl/rij¯ R āJlal¯ , L,,from from denotes R R J J stronglyL, L,man/men denotes connotes man/menand manliness, and and standing one’s ground, strength, triumph and achievement creative activitystrongly of God connotesstrongly and the manliness, connotes result of standing manliness,this activity, one’ standing sfrequently ground, one’ strength, specifieds ground, triumph as strength, the human and triumph achievement and achievement strongly connotes manliness, standingstrongly one’ connotesstronglysstrongly ground, manliness, connotes connotes strength, manliness, manliness,standing triumph one’and standing standing sachievement ground, one’ one’s strength,s ground, ground, triumph strength, strength, and triumphagainst triumph achievement odds. and and achievement achievementAdditionally, it has been used frequently in literature to refer to particularly (e.g., Q 39:6).against Thus, odds. thereagainst Additionally, are odds.numerous Additionally, it hasword beens in usedit the has frequentlyQuran been used that in frequentlyare literature used to in to designateliterature refer to particularly to refer to particularly against odds. Additionally, it hasagainst been used odds.against againstfrequently Additionally, odds. odds. in Additionally, literature Additionally, it has been to refer it used it has has to beenfrequently beenparticularly used used frequently in frequently literature in in to literature literature referdevout to particularlyto to refer referor heroic to to particularly particularly women. It occurs 57 times. Khalq, our last word, means “creation”, and communitiesdevout of humans: or heroicdevout qawm, women. or from heroic QIt Woccurswomen. M, occurs 57 It times. occurs 383 timesKhalq 57 times., meaning our last Khalq word,folk,, our people, meanslast word, com- “creation”, means “creation”,and and devout or heroic women. It occursdevout 57 times. or devoutheroicdevout Khalq women. ,or orour heroic heroic last It word, women. occurs means 57 It times.occurs “creation”, Khalq 57 times.times., our and KhalqKhalqlast word,,, ourour last lastmeans word, word, is“creation”, meansa means synonym “creation”, “creation”, and for humanity. and and is It occurs a total of 261 times in the Quran, to stand for the munity; ummais a fromsynonym Uis M a for M,synonym humanity.64 times for meaning Ithumanity. occurs nation, a totalIt occurs people, of 261 a total timescommunity, of in 261 the times Quran,religion; in theto the stand Quran, for to the stand for the is a synonym for humanity. It occursis a synonym a totalisa a synonymof forsynonym 261 humanity. times for for humanity.in humanity.theIt occurs Quran, It occursa It totalto occurs stand aof total 261a for total of times the 261 of times in261 the times in Quran, the in Quran, the tocreative Quran,stand to stand activityfor to for thestand the of creativeforGod the and the result of this activity, frequently specified as the human hapax shuʿūcreativeb from SHactivitycreative ʿAyn of B Godmeaningactivity and of thenations; God result and d ofī nthe fromthis result activity, D Yof N, this frequentlymeaning activity, religious/cul- specifiedfrequently as specified the human as the human creative activity of God and the creativeresult of activitythiscreativeactivity activity, of activityGod of Godfrequently and of and the God the result specified and result ofthe this of asresult this theactivity, activity,ofhuman this frequently activity, frequently frequently specified specified(e.g., as specified the asQ the 39:6).human human as Thus, the human (e.g., there Q are numerous words in the Quran that are used to designate tural/ethnic(e.g., group, Q 39:6).occurs(e.g., Thus, 92 Q times. 39:6). there Ahl Thus, are “(the) numerous there people/family” are wordnumerouss in occursthe word Quran 127s in times, thatthe Quranare including used that to are designate used to designate (e.g., Q 39:6). Thus, there are numerous(e.g., Q 39:6).word(e.g.,39:6). Thus,s Qin Thus, 39:6).the there Quran there Thus, are are that numerousthere numerous are are used numerousword words to sdesignate in in the theword Quran s in the thatthat Quran areare used used thatcommunities to to designateare designate used toof communities humans:designate qawm, from Q W M, occurs 383 times meaning folk, people, com- dozes as thecommunities distinctivecommunities Quranicof humans: epithet ofqawm, humans: “people from qawm, Q of W the M, from Book” occurs Q W ( 383ahl M, al-kittimes occursāb meaning); 383 āl and times folk,the meaning re- people, folk, com- people, com- communities of humans: qawm, fromcommunities Q W M,communitiesof occurs of humans: humans: 383qawm timesof qawm, humans:, frommeaning from Q qawm, Q W folk, W M, M,from occurs people, occurs Q W 383 com- 383M, times occurstimes meaning meaning 383 times folk, folk, meaningmunity; people, people, folk, community;umma com- people, from ummaUcom- M M, 64 times meaning nation, people, community, religion; the lated ūlī, meaningmunity; people, ummamunity; fromfamily, umma U ancestors,M M,from 64 Utimes and M M, relatedmeaning 64 times usages, nation, meaning from people, ʾnation,A W community, L, people,occurs 170 community, religion; the religion; the munity; umma from U M M, 64 munity;times meaning ummamunity;from fromnation, U umma M U M, Mpeople, from 64M, times64 Ucommunity, times M meaning M, meaning 64 times religion; nation, nation, meaning people, the people, nation, community, community, people,religion;hapax community, religion; shu theʿū bthe hapax religion;from SHshu theʿAynub¯ B meaning nations; dīn from D Y N, meaning religious/cul- ʿ times. Tribe,hapaxʿAyn ‘ash īra/ma shuʿūhapaxʿbshar from, from shu SHʿ ʿ ū ʿAynʿAynb from SH B meaningSH R,ʿAyn occursʿAyn Bnations; six meaning times; dī n qabnations; fromīl twice D dY īasn N, fromtribe(s) meaning D (fromY N, religious/cul- meaning religious/cul- hapax shu ūb from SH B meaninghapax shu nations;hapaxūfromb from d SHshuīn SHfromʿūAynb from D B Y meaningB SH N,meaning ʿAynmeaningnations; B nations; meaning religious/cul-d¯ın d īnnations;from from D D Yd īYn N, N,from meaning meaning D Y N,tural/ethnic religious/cultural/ethnic religious/cul- meaning group,religious/cul- occurs 92 times. Ahl “(the) people/family” occurs 127 times, including Q B L); rahṭtural/ethnic, family, x3tural/ethnic group,(R H Ṭ );occurs descendants group, 92 times. occurs asb Ahl ā92ṭ “(the)x5 times. (from people/family” Ahl S B“(the) Ṭ); sons/children, people/family” occurs 127 e.g., times,occurs of including 127 times, including tural/ethnic group, occurs 92 times.tural/ethnic Ahl “(the)tural/ethnicgroup, group, people/family” occurs occurs group, 9292 times.times. occursoccurs Ahl 12792 times. “(the)times, people/family”Ahl including “(the) people/family” occurs occurs 127 127 occurs times,dozes times, 127including as including thetimes, distinctive including dozes Quranic as epithet “people of the Book” (ahl al-kitāb); āl and the re- Israel or Adamdozes (from as the Bdozes distinctiveN Y) as x160. the Quranicdistinctive“Group,” epithet ʿ Quranicuṣbah “people (from epithet ʿ Ṣof B) the“people occurs Book” 5of times; (theahl al-kitBook” “groups,āb );(ahl āl andal-kit theāb); re- āl and the re- dozes as the distinctive Quranic dozesepithet as “people thedozesthe distinctive distinctive ofas the Book”distinctive Quranic Quranic (ahl epithet al-kitQuranic epithetā b“people); “peopleāepithetl and of the “people ofthe re- the Book” Book” of the(ahl (Book” ahlal-kit al-kitā b(lated);ahlab¯ ā );lal-kit and al¯ūlandī, ā themeaningb); the āre-l and related people, the re-ul¯ ¯ı ,family, ancestors, and related usages, from ʾA W L, occurs 170 ”ʿizah (fromlated ʿAyn ū līZ, meaningW)lated is a ū lhapax;people,ī, meaning far family,īq/firqah people, ancestors, (from family, F and ancestors,Rʾ Q) related occurs and usages, 33 related times; from usages,“group,” ʾA W fromL, occursʾ ʾA W 170 L, occurs 170 lated ūlī, meaning people, family,lated ancestors, ūlī, meaninglatedmeaning and ū relatedlī ,people, meaning people, usages, family, family,people, from ancestors, ancestors, family,A W L, ancestors,and occurs and related related 170 and usages, related usages, from usages, from A Wtimes. Afrom L, W occurs L,Tribe,ʾA occursW 170 L,‘ash occurs 170īra/ma times. 170ʿshar , from ʿAyn SH R, occurs six times; qabīl twice as tribe(s) (from nafar/nafīr (fromʿtimes. N Tribe, F R)ʿAyntimes. ‘ashoccursīra/ma Tribe, threeʿshar ‘ash times;, īfromra/maʿ “Groups,” ʿAynʿshar ,SH from R, ʿAynthub ʿAynoccursāt (fromSH six R, times; THoccurs B qabY) six īoccursl times;twice once; asqab tribe(s)īl twice (from as tribe(s) (from times. Tribe, ‘ashīra/ma shar, fromtimes. SHTribe, R,times.Tribe, occurs‘ash īTribe,ra/ma‘ash six¯ıra/ma times;shar‘ashī,sharra/ma from qab, fromīʿ lshar twice, AynfromSH as R, tribe(s) SH ʿAyn occurs R, SH occurs (from six R, times;occurs six times; qabsixī ltimes;qab twice¯ıl twice qabasQ tribe(s)īBl as twiceL); tribe(s) rah (fromasṭ, tribe(s)family, (from Q (fromx3 B (R L); H Ṭ); descendants asbāṭ x5 (from S B Ṭ); sons/children, e.g., of ṭ“A company,”Q B thullahL);Ṭ rah ṭ(fromQ, family, B L); TH rah ṭ x3Lṭ L),(R family, occurs ṭH Ṭ); x3 descendants3 times;(R HṬ ṬParties:Ṭ); descendants asb ā“Host,ṭ x5 (from group, asbṭ āSṭ Bx5 troop,” Ṭ (from); sons/children, fiSʾ ahBṬ Ṭ(F); sons/children, e.g., of e.g., of Q B L); rah , family, x3 (R H ); Qdescendants B L); rahQrah, Bfamily,asb.t L);,ā family, rahx5 x3 ṭ(from, family, x3(R (RH S HB ); x3 descendants); (R descendantssons/children, H Ṭ); descendants asbasbā e.g., ax5¯.t x5 (fromof asb (from ā ṭS x5 B S B(from); );sons/children, sons/children, S BIsrael Ṭ); sons/children, or e.g.,Adam e.g., of of(from Israel e.g., B of orN Y) x160. “Group,” ʿuṣbah (from ʿṢ B) occurs 5 times; “groups, ʾ Y) occurs Israel11 times; or Adam“Party,Israel (from confederates”or Adam Bʿ Nṣ Y)(from x160. ḥizb B N“Group,”ʿ(fromṢ Y) x160. Ḥ Z ʿB) u“Group,”ṣ bahoccurs (fromʿ 20 ʿṣu ʿtimes;ṣṢbah B) (fromoccurs “Party/sect”ʿṢ ʿ Ṣ5 B)times; occurs “groups, 5 times; “groups, Israel or Adam (from B N Y) x160.Israel “Group,” or AdamIsraelAdam u (frombahor (from Adam (from B BN N (fromY) Y) B) x160. x160. occurs B N “Group,” “Group,”Y) 5 x160.times; “Group,”u u“groups,s.bahbah (from(from ʿ u ṣbah B) (from occurs ʿṢ 5 5B) times;times;” ʿoccursizah “groups, (from“groups, 5 times; ʿAyn ” izah“groups, Z (fromW) is a hapax; farīq/firqah (from F R Q) occurs 33 times; “group,” ʿ shʿAynīʿah (SH Y” ʿʿAynizah )(from occursʿ” ʿʿAynizah 20 times; (fromZ W)ʿAyn finally, ʿAynis a hapax;Z “group, W) isfar a īparty,” q/firqahhapax; ṭ (fromāfarʾifahīq/firqah (FṬ WR Q)F)(from occursoccurs F R 25 33Q) times. times;occurs “group,” 33 times; “group,” ” izah (from Z W) is a hapax;” izah far (fromīq/firqah”ʿAyn izah (from Z(from W)Z W) isF ʿAyn aRis hapax; Q)a Z hapax;occurs W)far is¯ıq/firqah far33a ī hapax;q/firqahtimes;(from far“group,”(from Fīq/firqah R Q) F occursR (fromQ) occurs 33 F times; R Q)33 “group,”occurstimes;nafar/naf “group,”33nafar/nafīr times;(from ¯ırN“group,”(from F R) occurs N three times; “Groups,” thubāt (from TH B Y) occurs once; In lightnafar/naf of this īextensiver (fromnafar/naf N vocabulary, Fīr R)(from occurs N Fincludingthree R) occurs times; particular three “Groups,” times; words thub“Groups,” foratā¯t (fromparticular thub THā tB types(from Y) occurs TH B once; Y) occurs once; thullah nafar/nafīr (from N F R) occurs threenafar/naf times;īr nafar/naf(from F“Groups,” R) occurs N īFr (fromR) thub three occursā Nt times;(from F threeR) occurs“Groups,”TH times; B Y)three “Groups,”occurs times; once;(from “Groups,”thub THāt (from B Y) thub occurs THāt B(from once;“AY) occurscompany,” TH “A B company,” once;Y) occurs thullah once; (from TH L L) occurs 3 times; Parties: “Host, group, troop,” fiʾah (F of human (male“A company,” and female),“A company,”thullah such(from (from as thullah THmu THʾ Lmin/ L L) (from L)believer occurs occurs TH 3 L3(x228), times; L)times; occurs Parties:muslim Parties: 3 times; (x41), “Host, “Host,ʾ Parties: ʿabd group,group,/servant “Host, troop,”troop,” group, fifiʾahah troop,” (F(F Y)ʾ occursfiʾah (F 11 times; “A company,” thullah (from TH L“A L) company,” occurs“A 3 times; company,” thullah Parties: (from thullah “Host, TH L(from L) group, occurs TH troop,” L 3 L) times; occurs fi ahParties: 3(F times; “Host, Parties: group, “Host,ʾ troop,”Y) group,occurs fi ah11troop,” (F times; fi ʾ“Party,ah (F confederates” ḥizb (from Ḥ Z B) occurs 20 times; “Party/sect” ʾ and servingʾ Y) (x275),occursʾ 11ʾ kY)ā times;fir/ occursunbelieverḥ “Party,“Party, 11 times; confederates”confederates”andḤ “Party, kufr /unbeliefconfederates” hḥizbizb (from(from (x525),ḥ Ḥ ḥ izbZ B) Christian(from occurs Ḥ Ḥ Z20 20 B) (x15times; times; occurs as “Party/sect” “Party/sect” 20 times; “Party/sect” sh¯ı ah (SH Y Ayn) Y) occurs 11 times; “Party, confederates” Y) occurs ʾ 11izbY) times;occurs(from “Party, 11 Z times; B) occursconfederates” “Party,. 20 times; confederates” izb“Party/sect” (from ḥizb Z (fromB) occurs Ḥ Z 20 B) times;occursshīʿ “Party/sect”ah 20 (SH times; Y ʿAyn “Party/sect” ) occurs 20 times; finally, “group, party,” ṭāʾifah (Ṭ W F) occurs 25 times. ʿ NaʿAynṣārā/Naṣrāniyyashīʿah (SH ), JewYsh ʿʿAynīʿ (x15ah )(SH occurs asoccurs YʿAynYah ʿAyn 20ūd,20 times;) Yah occurs times;ūd finally,īṭ and20 finally,ʾ times; H “group,ūṬd “group,; x43finally, as party,” party,”Banu “group, Isrṭātʾāifahʾ party,”īifahl), (mushrikṬ( Wṭ W ʾṭ F)āʾ F)ifah /pol-occurs occursṬ (Ṭ W 25 25F) times. times.occurs 25 times. shī ah (SH Y ) occurs 20 times;sh īfinally,ah (SH “group,shY īʿah (SH) party,”occurs Y ʿAyn 20ā) times;ifahoccurs ( finally,W 20 F) times; occurs “group, finally, 25 .times.party,” “group, ā ifahparty,” ( W ṭā F)ʾifah occurs (Ṭ WIn 25 F)light times.occurs of this 25 extensivetimes. vocabulary, including particular words for particular types ytheist (x168), theIn lightvarious of thisanInd light extensivenumerous ofIn this light vocabulary, extensiveuses of this(x90) extensive vocabulary, ofincluding ṣāḥib vocabulary,/aṣḥ particular āincludingb “member(s) including words particular of for particularthis particular words or for words types particular for particular types types of In light of this extensive vocabulary,In light including of Inthis light extensiveparticular of this vocabulary,extensivewords for vocabulary, particular including types particularincluding particularwords for wordsparticularof human for particulartypes(male and types female), such as muʾmin/believer (x228), muslim (x41), ʿabd/servant that group,of e.g., human those (maleinof hellhuman and (aʾmin/ṣḥhuman female),ā(maleb al-n (maleāandr )such and female), and theas female), muattendant ʾsuchmin/ such believeras verbalmu asʾmin/ʾʿmin/abd (x228), formsbeliever/believer whichmuslim (x228), (x228),can (x41), onlymuslimmuslim ʿabd /servant (x41),(x41),ʿabd ʿabd /servant and serv- of human (male and female), suchof humanas mu of(male humanbeliever and (malefemale), (x228), and muslimsuch female), as (x41), mu such asbeliever/servant muʾmin/ (x228), believer muslim (x228), (x41), muslimand serving /servant(x41), ʿabd(x275), /servant kāfir/ unbeliever and kufr/unbelief (x525), Christian (x15 as be performedand by serving humans,and (x275), itserving is ingcurious k (x275),āfir/(x275), unbelieverthatkafir/¯ ink āunbelieverthefir/ unbelieverEncyclopaediaand kufr and/unbelief kufrand of/unbelief thekufr Quran(x525),/unbelief (x525), there Christian Christian (x525),is no (x15Christian (x15 asas Na s(x15ar¯ a/Na¯ ass raniyya),¯ and serving (x275), kāfir/unbelieverand serving andand kufr (x275),serving/unbelief k ā(x275),fir/ unbeliever(x525), kā fir/Christianunbeliever and kufr(x15 /unbeliefand as kufr /unbelief(x525), Christian (x525),Naṣārā/Naṣrāniyya Christian(x15. as .(x15 ), Jew as (x15 as Yahūd, Yahūdī and Hūd; x43 as Banu Isrāʾīl), mushrik/pol- ṣārā/Naṣrāniyyaarticle for human/humanityNaṣārā/NaṣrāniyyaNaṣārā/Naṣrāniyyaṣārā/Naṣrāniyya or ), evenJew Jew (x15 (x15the assomewhat as),Yah JewYahud,¯ ū(x15d, Yah Yahoutdated asud¯ ū Yah¯ıdandī andūd,ʾ Hterm YahHud¯ ū;dū x43;“mankind”.d x43ī and as asBanu HBanuūd; Isr x43This Isrā¯ıl asʾ ),īlackl ),mushrikBanu mushrik Isrʾ/polytheistāʾ/pol-īl), mushrik (x168),/pol- the vari- Na ), Jew (x15 asNa Yahūd, YahNaūdṣārā/Naṣrāniyyaī and H), ūJewd; x43 (x15 as ),as Banu Jew Yah (x15Isrūd,ā Yah asīl), Yah ūmushrikdī ūandd, Yah /pol-Hūūdd; īx43 and as H Banuūd; x43 Isr asā ytheistī lBanu), mushrik Isr (x168),āʾī/pol-l), mushrik the various/pol- and numerous uses (x90) of ṣāḥib/aṣḥāb “member(s) of this or ytheist (x168),ytheist the various(x168),ous and the an numerous dvarious numerousṣ ḥ anṣḥ usesd usesnumerous (x90) (x90) of s ofa¯usesh ibṣā/ḥ a(x90)ibsh/aab¯ṣḥ “member(s)āofṣb ḥ“member(s)ṣāḥibṣḥ/aṣḥā ofb “member(s) this of this or that or group, of this e.g., or those in ytheist (x168), the various and numerousytheist (x168), usesytheist the(x90) (x168), various of ā the iban/ avariousd numerousāb “member(s) and numeroususes. . of(x90) this. . usesof or ā (x90)ib/a ofāb ṣ ā“member(s)ḥib/aṣḥthatāb “member(s)group, of this e.g., or thoseof this in or hell (aṣḥāb al-nār) and the attendant verbal forms which can only that group,ṣḥ thate.g., group,thosehell in e.g., hell (as hthose ab¯(aṣḥ al-nā inbar¯ al-n hell) andā rṣḥ()a ṣḥ theandāb attendant theal-n attendantār) and verbal the verbal attendant forms forms which verbal which can forms only can beonly which performed can only by humans, that group, e.g., those in hell (a thatāb al-n group,ār) andthat e.g., the group, those. attendant. e.g.,in hell those verbal (a ināb forms hellal-n ā(ra )ṣḥwhich andāb al-n the canā attendantr) only and the verbalattendant forms verbal bewhich performed forms can whichonly by canhumans, only it is curious that in the Encyclopaedia of the Quran there is no be performedbe performedby humans,it is curious by it humans,is curious that in it thethatis curiousEncyclopaedia in the Encyclopaediathat in of the the Encyclopaedia Quran of thethere Quran is of nothere the article Quran is no for there human/humanity is no be performed by humans, it is curiousbe performed thatbe in performed bythe humans, Encyclopaedia by it humans, is curious of the it Quran isthat curious in there the that Encyclopaediais no in the Encyclopaedia of the Quranarticle of thethere for Quran human/humanityis no there is no or even the somewhat outdated term “mankind”. This lack article for human/humanityarticle or for evenarticle human/humanityarticle the for somewhatfor human/humanityor human/humanity even theoroutdated even somewhat the orterm or somewhateven even outdated“mankind”. the the somewhat outdatedsomewhat term This “mankind”. outdatedtermlack outdated “mankind”. Thisterm term lack“mankind”. “mankind”. This becomes lack This more This lack glaringlack when articlewe revisit for human/humanity the main theme of or the even Quran the assomewhat epic: to accountoutdated for term the birth,“mankind”. growth, This identity, lack triumphs and failures of humanity on a global scale.

2.5. Typological Figuration Even in its mus.h. af arrangement, we encounter problems and obstacles usually not met with in the average book. Among these, it has been remarked by both Muslim and general readerships, is the apparent violation, from time to time, of the immutable literary law of consistency, sequence and coherent arrangement. This feature is particularly glaring Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 14 of 20

becomes more glaring when we revisit the main theme of the Quran as epic: to account for the birth, growth, identity, triumphs and failures of humanity on a global scale.

2.5. Typological Figuration Even in its muṣḥaf arrangement, we encounter problems and obstacles usually not Religions 2021, 12, 562 met with in the average book. Among these, it has been remarked by both Muslim14 ofand 20 general readerships, is the apparent violation, from time to time, of the immutable literary law of consistency, sequence and coherent arrangement. This feature is particularly glaring in Quran translations and so it is frequently adduced as a symbol of the “irrationality” in Quran translations and so it is frequently adduced as a symbol of the “irrationality” of the Quran and, by association, the prophet Muḥammad, Islam and Muslims. Such a of the Quran and, by association, the prophet Muhammad, Islam and Muslims. Such a conclusion is really an act of intellectual violence and. should be seen as such. For those conclusion is really an act of intellectual violence and should be seen as such. For those who take the trouble to appreciate the Arabic Quran, however, the charge of incoherence who take the trouble to appreciate the Arabic Quran, however, the charge of incoherence is is not heard, even if there may be an expression of puzzlement with regard to the narrative not heard, even if there may be an expression of puzzlement with regard to the narrative or compositionalor compositional flow flow of theof the text text in thisin this or thator that instance. instance. What What is almostis almost universally universally heard heard is anis an expression expression of admiringof admiring amazement amazement of how of how the Quranthe Quran does does indeed indeed seem seem to fit togetherto fit to- ingether an intricate in an intricate and astonishing and astonishing manner manne (Mirr 1986 (Mir). 1986). The QuranThe Quran demands demands much much from from the reader,the reader, morally, morally, intellectually, intellectually, and and existentially, existentially, particularly particularly with with regard regard to the to the question ques- “howtion “how best best to read?”. to read?”. This This is because is because the the Arabic Arabic of of the the Quran Quran performs performs the the function function ofof supplying its own unifyingunifying music toto thethe texttext throughthrough itsits language:language: thethe entireentire QuranQuran isis inin rhyme, thethe soundssounds ofof thethe Arabic consonantsconsonants andand vowelsvowels alsoalso provideprovide aa powerfulpowerful unifyingunifying music as well asas thethe instrumentinstrument withwith whichwhich suchsuch musicmusic isis performed.performed. Thus,Thus, questionsquestions ofof continuity recede in urgency in the presence of thethe compellingcompelling soundscape of the Quran, whichwhich alsoalso entailsentails aa pervasive use of the languagelanguage of opposition and duality, aa featurefeature thatthat may be consideredconsidered a partpart ofof thethe textualtextual grammargrammar ofof thethe Book.Book. WhileWhile thisthis topictopic hashas beenbeen covered in detaildetail elsewhere,elsewhere, it isis importantimportant herehere toto givegive somesome ideaidea ofof exactlyexactly whatwhat thisthis entails, as in thisthis quotation:quotation: Dualities pervadepervade thethe QuranQuran fromfrom thethe merelymerely quotidian quotidian up up6= ≠down, down,north north6= ≠ south, nightnight 6=≠ day,day, hot 6=≠ cold,cold, to to the the downright downright Wagnerian Wagnerian eschatological em- blems ofof thethe beginning beginning and and the the end, end, hell he andll and heaven, heaven, including including those those anonymous anony- andmous mysterious and mysterious groups, groups, the Party the Party of God of (hGod. izb Allah(ḥizb), Allah the), Party the Party of Satan of Satan (h. izb al-Shay(ḥizb al-Shay.tan¯ ), theṭān), People the People of the of Right the Right Hand, Hand, the Peoplethe People of the of the Left Left Hand Hand and and so on.so on. It wouldIt would become become the the task task of of exegesis exegesis to to identify identify such such groupsgroups asas thethe as.ṣḥāh. ab¯ b al-yam¯ınīn//al-maymana,al-maymana, a ṣḥās.h. ab¯b al-mashʾama and al-sal-sāabiq¯biqūun¯n, and and a a third third category category iden- iden- tifiedtified byby thethe QuranQuran asas thosethose broughtbrought nearnear ((al-muqarrabunal-muqarrabun,, QQ 56:1156:11 && 14:29;14:29; NightNight 6=≠ day;day; heaven heaven ≠ 6=earth;earth; private private ≠ public;6= public; hidden hidden ≠ seen;6= moonseen; ≠ moon stars;6= sunstars; ≠ moon; sun 6=firemoon; ≠ water; fire air6= water;≠ earth; air male6= earth; ≠ female; male mountain6= female; ≠ mountain plain; road6= plain;≠ wilderness; road 6= wilderness;shade ≠ sunshade are frequently6= sun are invoked frequently featur invokedes of the features natural of world the natural found world men- foundtioned mentionedthroughout throughoutthe Quran. They the Quran. appear Theyto have appear someth toing have in common something with in commonsimilar pairs with of similar opposites, pairs near-opposites of opposites, near-opposites and other pairs and of othermoral-religious pairs of moral- val- religiousues and valuesqualities and invoked qualities throughout invoked throughout the Quran: the guidance/salvation Quran: guidance/salvation ≠ perdi- 6=tion;perdition; faith ≠ unbelief; faith 6= unbelief; good ≠ evil; good obedience6= evil; obedience ≠ rebelliousness;6= rebelliousness; lying ≠ truth-talk- lying 6= truth-talking;ing; violence ≠ violence peace; patience6= peace; ≠ impatience; patience 6= kindnessimpatience; ≠ brutality; kindness frivolity6= brutality; ≠ se- frivolityriousness;6= knowledgeseriousness; ≠ ignorance; knowledge civility6= ignorance; ≠ barbarism. civility These6= inbarbarism. turn have Thesesome- inthing turn in have common something with inthe common oppositions with that the oppositionsdesignate the that last designate things such the last as: thingsheaven such ≠ hell; as: heavenreward 6=≠ punishment;hell; reward 6 =delightpunishment; ≠ suffering; delight peace6= suffering; ≠ torment. peace Fi- 6=nally,torment. these Finally,oppositions these and oppositions dualities and resonate dualities with resonate those thought with those special thought be- specialcause they because designate they designatenames of God names Himself: of God the Himself: Manifest the ≠ the Manifest Hidden;6= thethe Hid-First den;≠ the theLast; First the 6=Mercifulthe Last; ≠ the the Wrathful; Merciful the6= theRewarding Wrathful; ≠ the the Punishing; Rewarding the6= An-the 6= Punishing;gry ≠ the Clement the Angry (Lawsonthe 2017, Clement. p. 84). (Lawson 2017, p. 84) From beginning to end, whether reading thethe scrollscroll inin ClayClay JarJar #1#1 or the one in Clay Jar #2, thethe readerreader isis struckstruck byby thethe frequentfrequent andand repeatedrepeated useuse ofof tropestropes ofof oppositionopposition andand dualityduality which seem to point to an extraordinary noetic event known to medieval theologians as which seem to point to an extraordinary noetic event known to medieval theologians as the joining of opposites (concidentia oppositorum). As was observed, no matter where one the joining of opposites (concidentia oppositorum). As was observed, no matter where one begins reading in the Quran, one finds that one is always in the “right place,” at the very center of the message (Brown 1983, p. 166). Such an experience is no doubt enhanced by this frequent and quite characteristic Quranic literary structure, the technical term for which is enantiodromia: the interplay of opposites and dualities. (See above, Table1) The Quran, then, represents a literary and readerly “performance” of the idea that God is a sphere whose center is everywhere. The center of the Quran occurs no matter where in the text one is reading, and the center, as mentioned earlier, is the event of divine revelation (Brown 1983), an event that escapes logical understanding in the same way that the uniting of opposites escapes logical understanding. Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 15 of 20

begins reading in the Quran, one finds that one is always in the “right place,” at the very center of the message (Brown 1983, p. 166). Such an experience is no doubt enhanced by this frequent and quite characteristic Quranic literary structure, the technical term for which is enantiodromia: the interplay of opposites and dualities. (See above, Table 1) The Quran, then, represents a literary and readerly “performance” of the idea that God is a sphere whose center is everywhere. The center of the Quran occurs no matter where in Religions 2021, 12, 562 the text one is reading, and the center, as mentioned earlier, is the event of divine revela-15 of 20 tion (Brown 1983), an event that escapes logical understanding in the same way that the uniting of opposites escapes logical understanding. Typological figuration is understood in the context of this interplay of dualities and oppositions.Typological The pervasiveness figuration is understood of enantiodromia, in the context a few forms of this of interplay which were of dualities given above, and oppositions. The pervasiveness of enantiodromia, a few forms of which were given above, tells us that in the Quran we are constantly engaged in drawing analogies, comparing, tells us that in the Quran we are constantly engaged in drawing analogies, comparing, looking at one thing in light of another. It is from such a thick atmosphere of binary intel- looking at one thing in light of another. It is from such a thick atmosphere of binary lection that the defining literary figure or device, typological figuration, emerges. Typo- intellection that the defining literary figure or device, typological figuration, emerges. logical figuration has long been recognized for its importance in reading the Bible, partic- Typological figuration has long been recognized for its importance in reading the Bible, ularly in the way the language of the New Testament relates “fulfils” and “makes sense” particularly in the way the language of the New Testament relates “fulfils” and “makes of the language of the Old Testament (Goppelt 1982). Typological figuration has only re- sense” of the language of the Old Testament (Goppelt 1982). Typological figuration has cently become of interest to Quranic studies. Through a masterful and imaginative read- only recently become of interest to Quranic studies. Through a masterful and imaginative ing of Quran 26, the Sura of the Poets, Michael Zwettler (1990) first drew attention to the reading of Quran 26, the Sura of the Poets, Michael Zwettler(1990) first drew attention to distinctive nature in which the Quran defines prophethood, both that of historical figures the distinctive manner in which the Quran defines prophethood, both that of historical and that of Muḥammad. Through comparison and contrast, Zwettler pointed out that all figures and that of Muh. ammad. Through comparison and contrast, Zwettler pointed out thatof the all prophetic of the prophetic figures figuresmentioned mentioned in the Qura in then Quranacquire acquire a distinct a distinct identity identity through through being beingcontrasted contrasted with withthe role the roleof the of thepoet. poet. Typological Typological figuration figuration comes comes into into play whenwhen Muḥammad is “silently” brought into the equation and discovered to fulfill all of the re- Muh. ammad is “silently” brought into the equation and discovered to fulfill all of the requirementsquirements for for prophethood prophethood found found in those in those mentioned mentioned in the in sura. the sura. Such Such a powerful a powerful liter- literaryary device device is at iswork at work throughout throughout the Quran. the Quran. The flatness The flatness of the oftypological the typological portrait portrait allows allowsthe equation the equation to be worked to be worked out on out theon level the of level the ofabstract, the abstract, such as such the as good the goodand the and bad, the bad,the saved the saved and the and damned. the damned. As we As have we have seen, seen, such such oppositions oppositions are very are very much much a part a part of the of theQuran. Quran. In The In The Quran, Quran, epic epic and and apocalypse apocalypse (2017),(2017), I Iextended extended the the application application of Zwettler’sZwettler’s method to a a study study of of the the cloak cloak of of Joseph Joseph and and his his story story in inSura Sura 12, 12, Yū Ysuf,usuf,¯ the the greatest greatest of all of ḥ ṣ ṣ allstories stories (a (sanah. san al-qa al-qaa s.).a s.The). The poetic poetic and and literary literary function function of of typological typological figuration, figuration, it waswas suggested there, ultimately comes to stand for spiritual knowledge or truth: in the Quran, all of the prophetsprophets andand messengersmessengers are equalequal (Q(Q 2:136),2:136), andand thethe typologicaltypological resonancesresonances that obtain between, say, thethe life,life, careercareer andand portraitportrait ofof Moses,Moses, thethe messengermessenger mostmost oftenoften mentioned in in the the Quran, Quran, and and the the life, life, career career and and portrait portrait of Mu ofḥ Muammad—whoh. ammad—who is by is con- by contrasttrast mentioned mentioned only only four four times— times— are are decisive decisive and, and, according according to to the the Quran, Quran, irrefutable. irrefutable. The same may be stated for the typologicaltypological resonances between Joseph and Muḥh.ammad. Thus, if a spiritualspiritual identityidentity be establishedestablished between these heroes ofof thethe Quran,Quran, thethe samesame may be stated to occur for the Quran’s villai villains.ns. Additionally, Additionally, most most importantly, importantly perhaps, the same may be stated to occur when a spiritualspiritual kinship is, thus, established betweenbetween thethe followers and the communities of either the he heroesroes or the villains. Typological Typological figuration, figuration, as much if not more, thanthan dualityduality and opposition,opposition, provides a streamstream ofof continuitycontinuity toto thethe Quran, nono mattermatter fromfrom which which clay Clay jar Jar we we are are reading. reading. However, However, more more than than this, this, it connects it con- thenects historical the historical process process of revelation, of revelation, extends extends it to allit to humanity all humanity and renews,and renews, authenticates authenti- andcates enlivens and enlivens it every it every time thetime Quran the Quran is recited is recited or read, or asread, observed as observed in this in passage this passage from Marshallfrom Marshall Hodgson: Hodgson: For the Qurʾâânn continued, as in Mecca and Medina, to be a monumental challenge. In its form, it continued,continued, even afterafter thethe endingending ofof activeactive revelationrevelation withwith MuhMuḥ. ammad’s life, to be an event, an act, rather than merely a statement ofof factsfacts or of norms. It was never designed to be read for information or even for inspiration, but to be recited as anan actact ofof commitmentcommitment inin worship;worship; nornor diddid itit becomebecome a mere sacred source source of of authority authority as as the the founding founding of of Islam Islam receded receded into into time. time. It Itcontinued continued its its active active role role among among all all who who accepted accepted Islam Islam and and took took it it seriously. seriously. What oneone diddid withwith thethe Qurâʾânn was was not not to to peruse peruse it it but but to to worship worship by by means means of of it; not to passively receive it but, in reciting it, to reaffirm it for oneself: the event of revelation was renewed every time one of the faithful, in the act of worship, relived the ânic affirmations (Hodgson 1974, 1:367). While translated Qurans all fail equally in communicating this rare heavenly sym- phony of meaning, what some have referred to as the hymnic nature of the Quran (Sells 2000), it is possible, even in translation, to polish and cultivate an appreciation for the, certainly sometimes challenging, distinctive Quranic expressions of literary coherence and consistency, its unity of voice, purpose, narrative and religious meaning and po- Religions 2021, 12, 562 16 of 20

etic electricity. Much of this electricity is generated by the seamless fusion of epic and apocalypse.

3. Conclusions At one, perhaps unnaturally prolonged, stage in the history of the study of the Quran, there seemed to be a general consensus that the Quran, because of its very uniqueness, represented a genre of literature for which it was the only example—something of a paradox. In stressing the epic and apocalyptic literary universe of the Quran, we are, of course, employing the tried-and-true logical tool of analogy. Perhaps it is essential here to make clear what we are not saying so as to avoid potentially grievous misunderstanding. For this, we must turn on the light and return to the world in which Islam did occur. The life of the Prophet, associate “author” of the Quran, is to some extent known, and Muslim communities have thrived since its composition (oral or otherwise) and the history of its existence and function as scripture is remarkably well known. We are not saying that Muhammad and his Quran were directly or even indirectly influenced by this or that epic poet, poem or poetic tradition apart from the inevitable at least oblique influence from the vibrant, pre-Islamic Arabic poetic tradition. What did “influence” the form and contents of the Quran is what might be referred to as the literary, religious and aesthetic expectations of the intended audience. We are saying that the earliest audiences of the Quran, especially of the Quran in final mus.h. af form, were audiences that had and continued to enjoy and even compose various examples of the epic genre: Homer, Hesiod, the Sira of Muhammad, Firdawsi’s Book of Kings, the echoes of Gilgamesh, the Alexander romance. It was a story culture. We know that the epic genre is practically universal. Additionally, each community, in Quranic fashion, may be thought to have been sent a prophet or rhapsode who also communicated to their community some understanding of who that community was. Three Quranic verses, among many others, bespeaking such universality and cosmopolitanism are: Each community has [had] a messenger. When their messenger comes, judgement is given among them in equity, and they are not wronged. (Q 10:47) Those who are ungrateful say, ‘Why has no sign been sent down to him from his Lord?’ You are simply a warner; and for every people there is a guide. (Q 13:7) We have sent you with the truth, as a bearer of good tidings and a warner. There is no community, but a warner has passed away among them. (Q 35:24) This is the purpose of epic, no matter what label is used to describe it. It provides the lexicon of self-identity and a mythography for the broader cultural code (Lawson 2017, p. 12). Recent studies in the broad discipline of comparative epic literature support such an understanding. The same may be stated for the genre of apocalypse: it is a universal genre forged in the nexus of oppression, deliverance, punishment of tyrants, liberation of the oppressed and justice delayed but dreamt of and enlightenment. In this connection, the words of Northrop Frye on typological figuration are most salient: Typology points to future events that are often thought of as transcending time, so that they contain a vertical lift as well as a horizontal move forward. The metaphorical kernel of this is the experience of waking up from a dream, as when Joyce’s Stephen Dedalus speaks of history as a nightmare from which he is trying to awake. When we wake up from sleep, one world is simply abolished and replaced by another. This suggests a clue to the origin of typology: it is essentially a revolutionary form of thought and rhetoric. We have revolutionary thought whenever the feeling “life is a dream” becomes geared to an impulse to awaken from it. (Frye 2007, pp. 82–83) The intensity of the experience of revelation depicted in the Quran is reflected in the intensity and frequently fantastic language, imagery and symbolism of apocalyptic Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 17 of 20

Typology points to future events that are often thought of as transcending time, so that they contain a vertical lift as well as a horizontal move forward. The metaphorical kernel of this is the experience of waking up from a dream, as when Joyce’s Stephen Dedalus speaks of history as a nightmare from which he is trying to awake. When we wake up from sleep, one world is simply abolished and replaced by another. This suggests a clue to the origin of typology: it is essentially a revolutionary form of thought and rhetoric. We have revolutionary thought whenever the feeling “life is a dream” becomes geared to an impulse to Religions 2021, 12, 562 awaken from it (Frye 2007, pp. 82–83). 17 of 20 The intensity of the experience of revelation depicted in the Quran is reflected in the intensity and frequently fantastic language, imagery and symbolism of apocalyptic liter- literature.ature. At note At note1, below, 1, below, there there is a Suggeste is a Suggestedd Reading Reading section section indicating indicating some someof the of most the mostimportant important recent recent scholarship scholarship on these on these two genr twoes, genres, a scholarship a scholarship which which seems seems to agree to agree that thatthese these generic generic categories, categories, however however else elsethey they may may be designated be designated in this in thisor that or thatcultural cultural set- setting,ting, stand stand for for something something universal universal in in human human experience experience and and the the literature literature that reflectsreflects that experience. Unfortunately, the terms “epic”“epic” andand “apocalypse”“apocalypse” are openopen toto criticismcriticism when applied to some ofof thesethese otherother culturalcultural settings.settings. Chief among suchsuch criticismcriticism isis thatthat pertaining to using these terms toto applyapply toto thethe IslamicIslamic oror IslamicateIslamicate instance.instance. AA SaidianSaidian critique against the use of such “imperialist,” “colonialist,” or more scientifically scientifically “etic” terms, exposes a disservice to the culture becausebecause they are foreignforeign terms.terms. Never mind that Islamic scholarship itself has a long history of applying its own terminologyterminology in thethe studystudy of cultural and and historical historical phen phenomenaomena produced produced in in the the lands lands and and peoples peoples it itfound found itself itself in incharge charge of. of.We We recognize recognize that that these these are arepossibly possibly not notthe thebest best words, words, but butwe use we usethem them faut fautde mieux de mieux, and, and we wetrust trust that that much much of of the the foregoing foregoing has has demonstrated demonstrated their usefulnessusefulness throughout our discussion, one largely in the key of phenomenology.phenomenology. We meanmean herehere toto focus on what may bebe broadlybroadly construedconstrued asas thethe humanhuman realityreality andand understandunderstand IslamIslam toto represent aa distinctivedistinctive formform ofof beingbeing human.human. The point of this laboriouslaborious apologetic is to makemake veryvery clearclear ourour desireddesired purpose:purpose: toto provide a basisbasis forfor assertingasserting thethe universalityuniversality ofof IslamIslam andand itsits kerygmatickerygmatic éélan.lan. Here,Here, thisthis kerygma, call, challenge, summons—the technical term for which in IslamicIslamic ArabicArabic isis daʿwa—would be to simultaneously uphold the validityvalidity of the various revealed scriptural “epics”“epics” thatthat preceded preceded the the Quran Quran (of (of which which there ther hade had been been theoretically, theoretically, at least at least 124,000) 124,000) and toand demonstrate to demonstrate that duethat to due the to comparative the comparativ specificitye specificity of each of of each those of previous those previous revelations, rev- includingelations, including limitations limitations of “race,” of ethnicity, “race,” ethnicity, language, language, and general and cultural general presuppositions,cultural presup- eachpositions, previous each epicprevious was somehowepic was incomplete,somehow incomplete, especially especially to the extent to the that extent it posited that ait “chosen”posited a people.“chosen” The people. Quran The insists, Quran that insists, there that is no there such is thing no such as a chosenthing as people. a chosen people. Such universality is a response to, and reflects, the social imperatives of late antique cosmopolitanismSuch universality in what is a Hodgson response calledto, and “Islamdom”. reflects, the social It is important imperatives to emphasize of late antique that thecosmopolitanism people of the Quranin what do Hodgson not need called this to“Islamdom”. be demonstrated. It is important Such universalism to emphasize is partthat ofthe the people soul of and the mindQuran of do Islam. not need Therefore, this to be rather demonstrated. than use Such words universalism such as qas. ¯ıdais part(epic of ode),the soulqas. andas. (story), mind ofs¯ıra Islam.(travail, Therefor journey,e, rather biography, than use epic), wordsayy am¯such(“days” as qaṣīda = challenges,(epic ode), sufferingsqaṣaṣ (story), and sīra triumphs, (travail, journey, specifically biography, of the Arabs) epic), ayy withām which(“days” to = frame challenges, this discussion, sufferings theand “foreign”triumphs, term specifically epic, and of the its companionArabs) with apocalypse which to frame is used this by discussion, way of emphasizing the “foreign” a perhapsterm epic, under-appreciated and its companion religious apocalypse principle is used of by Islam: way of One emphasizing God, One a Humanity,perhaps under- One Religion. appreciated religious principle of Islam: One God, One Humanity, One Religion. To the extent that the Quran conforms to the various expectations of the epic genre, its To the extent that the Quran conforms to the various expectations of the epic genre, audience felt the form and contents to be familiar, edifying and entertaining. Its truth was, its audience felt the form and contents to be familiar, edifying and entertaining. Its truth therefore, that much more readily absorbed, engaged with, countenanced. The argument was, therefore, that much more readily absorbed, engaged with, countenanced. The argu- is perhaps subtle, but I think it is worth risking because if reasonable, then it gives us ment is perhaps subtle, but I think it is worth risking because if reasonable, then it gives more insight into the remarkable devotion of Muslims to their holy book. The same may us more insight into the remarkable devotion of Muslims to their holy book. The same be stated for the apocalyptic form and contents of the Quran. We are not saying that may be stated for the apocalyptic form and contents of the Quran. We are not saying that Muhammad in revealing the Quran was immediately stirred by numerous apocalypses Muḥ. ammad in revealing the Quran was immediately stirred by numerous apocalypses (in various languages) abroad in his time and place to, therefore, produce yet another one (in various languages) abroad in his time and place to, therefore, produce yet another one in Arabic. This, it is thought, would be immediately obvious and not require clarification. Nevertheless,in Arabic. This, to itbe is thought, as clearand would cautious be immediately as possible, obvious what weand are not saying require is: clarification. the time of Muh. ammad and the composition of the Quran was as much a time of literary apocalypses as it was of the epics. These genres may be thought of as somehow accurately representing

and corresponding to the form and contents of the “souls” of the inhabitants of the Nile-to- Oxus region of the 7th century CE. Stated another way, it would have been most surprising had a book such as the Quran arisen in this cultural milieu, attained such universal and widely distributed authority and esteem and not also been heavily characterized by the epic and apocalyptic genres. Neither literature nor history exist uninterpreted. As soon as they are composed and as soon as they are read or conveyed, they are interpreted. Additionally, the point of trying to abstract our “Dead Sea” Quran from its usual sociological, religious, historical and Religions 2021, 12, 562 18 of 20

Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 20 of 20 anthropological setting, is not the same as saying we have discovered an uninterpreted text. While there have been numerous studies of the Quran as literature over the last 2 or 3 decades (Zadeh 2015), none have sufficiently stressed the epic nature of the Quran References or the apocalyptic nature of the Quran. The virtue in doing so accomplishes a number of things: (1) it says something true and irrefutable about the Quran; (2) it demonstrates Primary Sources how the Quran as literature functions. What some prefer to understand and experience al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, innumerableas printings the divine based power on the of 1924 the Royal Text, Egyptian others may Cairo just edition. as easily refer to the astonishing literary The Koran Interpreted. Translated byand Arthur poetic J. virtuosityArberry. London: and power George of Alan, the Text. Unwin, It is1955. interesting to note that neither response The Message of the Qurān̕ . Translatedchanges by Muhammad the actual Asad. text. Gi Furthermore,braltar: Dar al-Andalus, by focusing 1980. on this power as literary, that is the The Qurʾān. Translated by Alan Jones.system Oxford: or dynamic The E.J.W. by Gibb which Memorial the words, Trust, verses 2007. and suras of the Quran “hang together” Quran statistics. https://www.qurananalysis.cin Northropom/analysis/basic-statistics.php?lang=EN Frye’s words about the Bible, then the Quran, an undoubted monument of world literature, is more easily approached by those who are not only religiously devoted Secondary Sources to it. It broadens the audience. The epic as a metonym for culture is, of course, a metonym (Bakhtin 1981) Bakhtin, Mikhail. 1981.for that The whichDialogic is Imagination: human. Four Essays. Edited by Michael Holquist. Translated by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press. (Bemong et al. 2010) Bemong Nele,Funding: Pieter Borghart,This research Michel received De Dobbeleer, no external and funding. Kristoffel Demoen, eds. 2010. Bakhtin’s Theory of the Literary Chronotope: Reflections, Applications, Perspectives. Gent: Ginko Academia Press. Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest. (Boullata 2000) Boullata, Issa J., ed. 2000. Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Quran. Richmond: Curzon, 2000. (Böwering 2002) Böwering, Gerhard. 2002. God and His Attributes. In Encicplopaedia of the Qur’an. Leiden: Brill, vol. 2, pp. 316–31. Notes (Brown 1983) Brown, Norman O. 1983. The Apocalypse of Islam. Social Text 8: 155–71. (Cameron1 Suggested 2017) Cameron, Reading Averil. 2017. Late Antique Apocalyptic: A Context for the Qur’an? In Apocalypticism and Eschatology in Late AntiquityThe foregoing Encounters essay isin based the Abraha largelymic on Religions, my 2017 book,6th–8thThe Centuries Quran, Epic. Edited and Apocalypse by Hagit (London,Amirav, Oneworld).Emmanouela There, Grypeou the basic and ideasGuy Stroumsa.presented hereLeuven: are morePeeters, fully vol. elaborated. 17, pp. 1–20. Below, I have listed a few other key books and articles for those interested in reading (Casanovamore 1911) widely Casanova, in the topics Paul. of 1911. Quran Mohammed as literature, at la Apocalyptic, fin du monde: Epic, Étude Typological critique sur Figuration l’Islám primitif and. Islam Paris: as Paul a blueprint Geuthner. or reflection (Ciardiof 1959) Late AntiqueCiardi, John. cosmopolitanism. 1959. How Does a Poem Mean? Boston: Houghton, Mifflin. (Collins 1987) Collins, John J. 1987. Apocalypse: An Overview. Enciclopaeida of Religion 1: 409–14. (Frye Quran2007) Frye, and Literature Northrop. 2007. The Great Code: The Bible and Literature. Toronto: Penguin Canada. Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 20 of 20 (GoppeltCuypers, 1982) MichelGoppelt, (2009), Leonhard.The Banquet: 1982. TYPOS: A Reading The of Typological the Fifth Sura Interpretatio of the Qur’ann of .the Miami: Old Testament Convivium. in the New. Translated by Donald H.Boullata, Madvig. Issa Grand J., ed. Rapids: (2000), WilliamLiterary StructuresB. Eerdmans of Religious Publishing Meaning Company. in the Qur’an¯ . Richmond, U.K.: Curzon. (HodgsonErnst, 1974) Carl Hodgson, W. (2011), MarshallHow to Read G. S. the 1974. Qur’an: The Venture A New of Guide Islam: with Conscience Select Translations and History. Chapelin a World Hill: Civilization University. Chicago: of North University Carolina ofPress. Chicago Press, 3 vols. References (LawsonFarrin, 2017) Raymond Lawson, (2014), Todd.Structure 2017. The and Quran, Qur’anic Epic Interpretation:and Apocalypse A. London: Study of SymmetryOneworld and Academic. Coherence in Islam’s Holy Text. First edition. (LeemhuisAshland, 2001) Oregon: Leemhuis, White Fred. Cloud 2001. Press. Apocalypse. EQ 1: 111–14. (MartinHajjaji-Jarrah, 2005) Martin, Soraya Richard M. (2000),P.Primary 2005. “The Epic Sources Enchantment as Genre. In A of Companion Reading: Sound, to Ancient Meaning, Epic. Edited and Expression by John Miles in Surat¯ Foley. al-‘ AdiyMalden:¯ at¯ ”. InBlackwellLiterary Publishing,Structures of 9–19. Religious Meaningal-Qur inʾā then al-Kar Qur’an¯īm,, edited innumerable by Issa J.printings Boullata, based Richmond, on the U.K.:1924 Royal Curzon, Egyptian 228–51. Cairo edition. (Mir 1986)Mir, MustansirMir, Mustansir. (1986), 1986.CoherenceThe Coherence Koran in Interpreted thein the Qur’an: Quran:. Translated A A Study Study of of by IIs.ṣla Arthurlah.ḥ¯ı’sī’s ConceptConcept J. Arberry ofof Na. ẓLondon:m in Tadabbur-i Tadabbur-i George Quran QuranAlan,. .Unwin,Indianapolis: Indianapolis, 1955. American Indiana: TrustAmerican Publications. Trust Publications. The Message of the Qurān̕ . Translated by Muhammad Asad. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus, 1980. (Mir 2003)Mir,Mustansir Mir, Mustansir. (1999), 2003. “IsThe the Names Qurʾā ofn. atheTranslated shapeless Quran. book?”.Inby Encyclopaedia Alan InJones.Renaissance Oxford: of the Qur’an, 9(8), The http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/issue/con-E.J.W.. Edited Gibb by JaneMemorial Dammen Trust, McAuliffe. 2007. Leiden: Brill Academictent.aspx?id=684 Publishers, (accessed vol.Quran 3, on pp. 4 Julystatistics.505–15. 2021). https://www.qurananalysis.com/analysis/basic-statistics.php?lang=EN (Sells Neuwirth,2000) Sells, Angelika, Michael. Nicolai2000. ASinai, Literary and Approach Michael Marx, to the eds. Hymnic (2010), SūTheras of the Qur’in Context:ān: Spirit, Historical Gender, and and Literary Aural Investigations Intertextuality. into Inthe Literary Qur’anic¯ Structures Milieu. Leiden: of ReligiousSecondary Brill. Meaning Sources in the Qur’ ān. Edited by Issa J. Boullata, Richmond: Curzon, pp. 3–25. The Primordial Covenant and Human History in the (WrightQadi, 2018) Wadad Wright, al- (2006),Peter Matthews.(Bakhtin 1981)2018. Bakhtin,Islam: The Mikhail. Khalifa 1981. Ideal. The In Dialogic Thirteen Imagination: Theories. Edited of Human Four by RamziEssays Nature. Baalbaki. Edited, 7th ed.by Beirut: MichaelEdited American by Holquist. Leslie Translated by Caryl Emerson Stevenson,University ofDavid Beirut. L. Haberman,and Peter Michael Matthews Holquist. Wright, Austin: and CharlotteUniversity Witt. of Texas New Press. York: Oxford University Press, pp. 138–55. Reda, Nevin (2017), The Al-Baqara Crescendo: Understanding the Qur’an’s Style, Narrative Structure, and Running Themes. Montreal (Zadeh 2015) Zadeh, Travis. 2015.(Bemong Quranic et al.Studies 2010) and Bemong the Literary Nele, Pieter Turn. Borghart,Journal of theMi chelAmerican De Dobbeleer, Oriental Society and Kristoffel 135: 329–42. Demoen, eds. 2010. Bakhtin’s Theory of the Quebec & Kingston Ontario, Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press. (Zwettler 1990) Zwettler, Michael. 1990.Literary Mantic Chronotope: Manifesto: Reflections, The Sūra Applications, of the Poets Perspectives and the Qur’. Gent:ānic FoundationsGinko Academia of Prophetic Press. Author- Sells, Michael (1999), Approaching the Qur’án: The Early Revelations. Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press. ity. In Poetry and Prophecy:(Boullata The Beginnings 2000) Boullataof a Literary, Issa Tradition J., ed. 2000.. Edited Literary by James Structures L. Kugel. of Religious Ithaca and Meaning London: in the Cornell Quran University. Richmond: Curzon, 2000. Press, pp. 75–119. (Böwering 2002) Böwering, Gerhard. 2002. God and His Attributes. In Encicplopaedia of the Qur’an. Leiden: Brill, vol. 2, pp. 316–31. Apocalyptic (Brown 1983) Brown, Norman O. 1983. The Apocalypse of Islam. Social Text 8: 155–71. Collins, John Joseph (1984), The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to the Jewish Matrix of Christianity. New York: Crossroad. (Cameron 2017) Cameron, Averil. 2017. Late Antique Apocalyptic: A Context for the Qur’an? In Apocalypticism and Eschatology in Late Gunkel, Hermann (2006), Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton: A Religio-Historical Study of Genesis 1 and Revelation Antiquity Encounters in the Abrahamic Religions, 6th–8th Centuries. Edited by Hagit Amirav, Emmanouela Grypeou and Guy 12. Translated by K. William Whitney Jr. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Stroumsa. Leuven: Peeters, vol. 17, pp. 1–20. Hanson, Paul D. (1979), The Dawn of Apocalyptic: The Historical and Sociological Roots of Jewish Apocalyptic Eschatology. Revised. (Casanova 1911) Casanova, Paul. 1911. Mohammed at la fin du monde: Étude critique sur l’Islám primitif. Paris: Paul Geuthner. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. (Ciardi 1959) Ciardi, John. 1959. How Does a Poem Mean? Boston: Houghton, Mifflin. Leemhuis, Frederick (2001), “Apocalypse”. In Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an. Vol. 1, Leiden: Brill, 111–14. (Collins 1987) Collins, John J. 1987. Apocalypse: An Overview. Enciclopaeida of Religion 1: 409–14. Murphy, Frederick James (1998), Fallen Is Babylon: The Revelation to John. Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International. (Frye 2007) Frye, Northrop. 2007. The Great Code: The Bible and Literature. Toronto: Penguin Canada. (Goppelt 1982) Goppelt, Leonhard. 1982. TYPOS: The Typological Interpretation of the Old Testament in the New. Translated by Donald Epic H. Madvig. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Beissinger, Margaret H., Jane Tylus, and Susanne L. Wofford, eds. (1999), Epic Traditions in the Contemporary World: The Poetics of (Hodgson 1974) Hodgson, Marshall G. S. 1974. The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 3 vols. (Lawson 2017) Lawson, Todd. 2017. The Quran, Epic and Apocalypse. London: Oneworld Academic. (Leemhuis 2001) Leemhuis, Fred. 2001. Apocalypse. EQ 1: 111–14. (Martin 2005) Martin, Richard P. 2005. Epic as Genre. In A Companion to Ancient Epic. Edited by John Miles Foley. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 9–19. (Mir 1986) Mir, Mustansir. 1986. Coherence in the Quran: A Study of Iṣlaḥī’s Concept of Naẓm in Tadabbur-i Quran. Indianapolis: American Trust Publications. (Mir 2003) Mir, Mustansir. 2003. Names of the Quran. In Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an. Edited by Jane Dammen McAuliffe. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, vol. 3, pp. 505–15. (Sells 2000) Sells, Michael. 2000. A Literary Approach to the Hymnic Sūras of the Qur’ān: Spirit, Gender, and Aural Intertextuality. In Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur’ān. Edited by Issa J. Boullata, Richmond: Curzon, pp. 3–25. (Wright 2018) Wright, Peter Matthews. 2018. Islam: The Khalifa Ideal. In Thirteen Theories of Human Nature, 7th ed. Edited by Leslie Stevenson, David L. Haberman, Peter Matthews Wright, and Charlotte Witt. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 138–55. (Zadeh 2015) Zadeh, Travis. 2015. Quranic Studies and the Literary Turn. Journal of the American Oriental Society 135: 329–42. (Zwettler 1990) Zwettler, Michael. 1990. Mantic Manifesto: The Sūra of the Poets and the Qur’ānic Foundations of Prophetic Author- ity. In Poetry and Prophecy: The Beginnings of a Literary Tradition. Edited by James L. Kugel. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, pp. 75–119.

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Apocalyptic Collins, John Joseph (1984), The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to the Jewish Matrix of Christianity. New York: Crossroad. Gunkel, Hermann (2006), Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton: A Religio-Historical Study of Genesis 1 and Revelation 12. Translated by K. William Whitney Jr. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Hanson, Paul D. (1979), The Dawn of Apocalyptic: The Historical and Sociological Roots of Jewish Apocalyptic Eschatology. Revised. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. Leemhuis, Frederick (2001), “Apocalypse”. In Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an. Vol. 1, Leiden: Brill, 111–14. Murphy, Frederick James (1998), Fallen Is Babylon: The Revelation to John. Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International. Religions 2021, 12, 562 19 of 20 Epic Beissinger, Margaret H., Jane Tylus, and Susanne L. Wofford, eds. (1999), Epic Traditions in the Contemporary World : The Poetics of Community. Berkeley: University of California Press. CommunityFoley, John. Miles, Berkeley: ed. University(2005) A Companion of California to Ancient Press. Epic. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Foley,Revard, John S.V., Miles, and J.K. ed. (2005)NewmanA Companion (1993), “Epic. to Ancient I. History Epic (Revard). Malden, and MA: II. Blackwell Theory (Newman)”. Publishing. In The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Revard,Poetry and S.V., Poetics and, J.K. Edited Newman by A. (1993),Preminger “Epic. and I. HistoryT.V.F. Brogan, (Revard) Princeton, and II. Theory N.J.: Pr (Newman)”.inceton University In The New Press, Princeton 361–75. Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Edited by A. Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 361–75. Typological Figuration TypologicalAuerbach, FigurationErich (1984), “Figura.” In Scenes from the Drama of European Literature, translated by Ralph Manheim, Manchester: Auerbach,Manchester Erich University (1984), Press, “Figura.” 1984, In 11–78.Scenes from the Drama of European Literature, translated by Ralph Manheim, Manchester: ManchesterFrye, Northrop University (2006), The Press, Great 1984, Code: 11–78. The Bible and Literature. Edited by Alvin A. Lee. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Goppelt, LeonhardLeonhard (1982),(1982),TYPOS: TYPOS: TheThe TypologicalTypological Interpretation Interpretation of of the the Old Old Testament Testament in in the the New New. Translated. Translated by by Donald Donald H. H. Madvig. Madvig. Grand Rapids:Rapids: William B.B. EerdmansEerdmans PublishingPublishing Company.Company. Lawson, ToddTodd (2012),(2012), “Typological“Typological FigurationFiguration andandthe the Meaning Meaning of of ‘Spiritual’: ‘Spiritual’: The The Qur’anic Qurʼanic Story Story of of Joseph”, Joseph”,Journal Journal of of the the AmericanAmerican OrientalOriental SocietySociety 132132 (2),(2), 221–44.221–44. Walﬁsh,Walfish, BarryBarry D.D. (2003),(2003), “Typology, “Typology, Narrative, Narrative, and and History: History: Isaac Isaac Ben Ben Joseph Joseph Ha-Kohen Ha-Kohen on on the the Book Book of of Ruth”. Ruth”. In InWith With Reverence Reverence forfor thethe Word:Word: MedievalMedieval ScripturalScriptural ExegesisExegesis inin Judaism,Judaism, Christianity, Christianity, and and Islam Islam,, edited edited by by Jane Jane Dammen Dammen McAuliffe, McAuliffe, Barry Barry D. D. Walﬁsh, Walfish, andand JosephJoseph W.W. Goering,Goering, 1st1st ed.ed. NewNew York:York: OxfordOxford UniversityUniversity Press,Press, 119–32.119–32. Zwettler, MichaelMichael (1990),(1990), “Mantic“Mantic Manifesto:Manifesto: TheThe S Sura¯ūra of of the the Poets Poets and and the the Qur’ Quranic¯ʾānic Foundations Foundations of of Prophetic Prophetic Authority”. Authority”. In In PoetryPoetry andand Prophecy:Prophecy: TheThe BeginningsBeginningsof ofa aLiterary Literary Tradition Tradition, edited, edited by by James James L. L. Kugel. Kugel. Ithaca Ithaca and and London: London: Cornell Cornell University University Press, Press, 75–119.75–119.

Art,Art, AestheticsAesthetics andand MaterialMaterial CultureCulture Cameron, AverilAveril (2005),(2005), “Art“Art andand thethe EarlyEarly ChristianChristian Imagination”.Imagination”.Eastern Eastern ChristianChristian ArtArt,, 2, 2, 1–8. 1–8. Greifenhagen, F.V.F.V. (2009), (2009), “The “The Qam Qam¯ıs.īṣin in ‘S ‘Surat¯ ūrat Y Yusuf’:¯ ūsuf’: A A Prolegomenon Prolegomenon to to the the Material Material Culture Culture of of Garments Garments in in the the Formative Formative .Journal of Qur’anic Studies 11: 72–92 .ﺍﻟﻘﻤﻴﺺ ﻓﻲ ﺳﻮﺭﺓ ﻳﻮﺳﻒ: ﻣﻘﺪﻣﺔ ﻟﻠﺜﻘﺎﻓﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺩّﻳﺔ ﻟﻠﻤﻼﺑﺲ ﻓﻲ ﺑﺪﺍﻳﺔ ﻋﺼﺮ ﺍﻻﺳﻼﻡ/IslamicIslamic Period Gruber, ChristianeChristiane J.,J., ed.ed. (2019).(2019). TheThe ImageImage Debate:Debate: Figural Representation inin IslamIslam andand acrossacross thethe WorldWorld.. London:London: Gingko.Gingko. Rustomji, NerinaNerina (2009),(2009), TheThe GardenGarden andand thethe Fire:Fire: HeavenHeaven andand HellHell inin IslamicIslamic CultureCulture.. NewNew York:York: ColumbiaColumbia UniversityUniversity Press.Press.

HistoryHistory Bauer, Thomas (2018), WarumWarum es es kein kein islamisches islamisches Mittelalter Mittelalter gab: gab: das das Erbe Erbe der derAntike Antike und undder Orient der Orient [Why[Why there there was no was Islamic no Islamic Middle MiddleAges: the Ages: legacy the of legacy Antiquity of Antiquity and the andOrient]. theOrient]. München: München: C.H. Beck. C.H. Beck. Cameron, AverilAveril (2017), (2017), “Late “Late Antique Antique Apocalyptic: Apocalyptic: A A Context Context for for the the Qur’an?”. Qur’an?”. In InApocalypticism Apocalypticism and and Eschatology Eschatology in in Late Late Antiquity Antiquity EncountersEncounters inin thethe AbrahamicAbrahamic ReligionReligionss,, 6th-8th6th-8th Centuries Centuries,, edited edited by by H. H. Amirav, Amirav, E. E. Grypeou, Grypeou, and and G.G. G.G. Stroumsa. Stroumsa. Leuven: Leuven: Peeters, Peeters, 17:1–20.17:1–20. Donner, Fred McGraw McGraw (2010), (2010), MuhammadMuhammad and and the the Believers: Believers: At Atthe theOrigins Origins of Islam of Islam. Cambridge,. Cambridge, Mass.: Mass.: The Belknap The Belknap Press of Press Harvard of HarvardUniversity University Press. Press. Hodgson, MarshallMarshall G.G. S.S. (1974),(1974),The The Venture Venture of of Islam: Islam: Conscience Conscience and and History History in in a Worlda World Civilization Civilization. 3. vols.3 vols. Chicago: Chicago: University University of of Chicago Press.Press. Mauder, Christian (2020), “Review (i (inn English) English) of of Thomas Thomas Bauer, Bauer, WarumWarum es es kein kein Islamisches Islamisches Mittelalter Mittelalter gab: gab: Das Das Erbe Erbe Der Der Antike Antike Und UndDer Orient Der Orient, Munich:, Munich: C.H. C.H. Beck, Beck, 2018”. 2018”. In Al-Usur In Al-Usur al-Wusta: al-Wusta: The Journal The Journal of Middle of Middle East EastMedievalists Medievalists, 28, ,465–470. 28, 465–470. Stetkevych,Stetkevych, Jaroslav (1996), (1996), MuhammadMuhammad and and the the Golden Golden Bough: Bough: Reconstructing Reconstructing Arabian Arabian Myth Myth. Bloomington:. Bloomington: Indiana Indiana University University Press. 2 Press.https://www.Qurananalysis.com/analysis/basic-statistics.php?lang=EN (accessed on 4 July 2021). 2 3 https://www.Qurananalysis.com/analysis/basic-statistics.php?lang=EN Obviousy each of these comparisons as suggested in the above Table could (accessed be the subject on 4 July of separate 2021). and in some cases quite 3 Obviousyextensive studies. each of these comparisons as suggested in the above Table could be the subject of separate and in some cases quite Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 20 of 20 4 extensive Chronotope studies. is a translation of a Russian technical term made prominent in literary theory by Mikhail Bakhtin (1981, pp. 84– 4 Chronotope258). Literally, is a“chronotope” translation of means a Russian the technicalusually imaginative term made prominentor fictional intime literary and space theory cont by Mikhailinuum of Bakhtin a particular(1981, work. pp. 84–258). Literally,“Bakhtin “chronotope”has shown how means literature the usually can help imaginative us to appreciate or ﬁctional he fa timect that, and in space the course continuum of cult ofural a particular history, transformations work. “Bakhtin of has Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 20 of 20 References showntime concepts how literature and spatial can helprepresentations us to appreciate reflect the radical fact that, changes in the in coursecultural of attitu culturaldes history,and lived transformations experience.” (Bemong of time conceptset al. and2010, spatial p. iii). representations reﬂect radical changes in cultural attitudes and lived experience.” (Bemong Nele et al. 2010, p. iii). 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