NEAL ROBINSON Discovering the Qur'an 'If anyone asked me to recommend a clear and comprehensive introduction to the nature and role of the Qur'an, I would look no further than Neal Z Robinson's Discovering the Qur'an:A Contetporary approach to a Veiled Text.'- ®r Professor Oliver Leaman, Universit , of Kentucky (Expository Times) '...based on a magisterial command of Arabic, English, French and German sources .. a major analysis of the internal coherence of the Qur'an. taking into account the interrelationship of structure, intertextuality, meaning and sound.'- Dr. Murad Wilfried Hofimiann, Istanbul (Mluslim 14,rld Book Revieu,) ..... an intelligent, sophisticated and provocative book on a perplexing subject.' 0 - Professor Th. Emil Homerin, University of Rochester, NewYork (International A Journal of Middle Eastern Studies) - 'I have no doubt that this book is a major publication in its field.'- Dr. Martin Z Forward, Wesley House, Cambridge (The Epworth Review) This latest edition of Discovering the Qur'an includes a new Preface by the 0 author. Used by students around the world as a reliable guide to reading a translation of the Qur'an, this book will not disappoint those struggling with the primary text itself A * A vivid account of the part the Qur'an plays in the lives of Muslims In-depth discussions of Muslim and non-Muslim approaches to Quranic chronology A thorough critique of Crone and Cook's radical historiography , ** " A novel approach to the structure of surahs " A plausible explanation of why Allah, the implied speaker, ba£linglv - 4 w shifts from one pronoun to another. " An attempt to explain the logic behind the present order of the surahs Neal Robinson is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University ofWales, Lampeter. scm press ISBN 0-334-02951 -1 wwwscm-anterburypress.co.uk I , ... l 9 780334 029519 Discovering the Qur'an Other books by Neal Robinson Christ in Islam and Christianity: The Representation ofjesus in the Qur'dn and the ClassicalMuslim Commentaries, Macmillan & SUNY, 1991 The Sayings of Muhammad, Duckworth, 199 1/Eco, 1998 Islam: A Concise Introduction, Curzon & Georgetown University Press, i999 Discovering the Qur'an A ContemporaryApproach to a Veiled Text Neal Robinson Second Edition scm press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any .means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, SCM Press. © Neal Robinson 1996, 2003 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 033402951 I First published 1996 by SCM Press 9-17 St Albans Place, London NI ONX Second impression 2003 www.scm-canterburypress.co.uk SCM Press is a division of SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd, www.biddles.co.uk For Zo Contents List of Transliterations xi List of Maps and Illustrations xii Preface to the Second Edition xiii Preface to the First Edition Xv Introduction I Part One: Phenomenology 7 i. The Qur'an as Experienced by Muslims 9 i. i Listening to the Qur'an 9 1.2 Having the Qur'an by heart 14 1.3 The Qur'an in everyday life 17 Part Two: Chronology 25 2. Anchoring the Revelations in Space and Time 27 2.1 Introduction 27 2.2 The miracles attributed to the Prophet z8 2.3 Combing the Qur'an for clues to its provenance 30 2.4 Qur'anic clues to the date of the revelations 32 2.5 Early biographies of Muhammad 35 2.6 A plausible chronological framework for the revelations 37 2.7 Concluding discussion 44 3. An Alternative Account of the Rise of Islam 47 3.1 Introduction 47 3.2 Stepping outside the Islamic tradition 47 3.3 Critical appraisal 51 3.4 Conclusion 59 viii Discovering the Qur'an 4. Traditional Resources for Determining the Chronological Order of the Surahs 6o 4.1 Introduction 6o 4.2 Reports about the occasions of the revelation 61 4.3 Literature about abrogating and abrogated dyahs 64 4.4 Traditional lists of Meccan and Madinan surahs 69 4.5 The surah headings in the standard Egyptian edition 72 4.6 Conclusion 75 5. Western Attempts at Dating the Revelations 76 5.1 Introduction 76 5.2 The N61deke-Schwally classification of the surahs 76 5.3 The difficulties involved in dating individual surahs 8o 5.4 Bell's attempt at dating the surahs and surah sections 83 5.5 The best working hypothesis? 87 5.6 Concluding discussion 92 Part Three: Morphology, Structure and Coherence 97 6. The Formal Elements in the 'Early Meccan' Surahs 99 6.1 Introduction 99 6.2 Surah openings 100 6.3 Oaths 101 6.4 Eschatological sections io3 6.5 Narrative sections io6 6.6 Signs sections lo9 6.7 Revelation sections 112 6.8 Polemical sections 116 6.9 Didactic questions and answers 119 6.1o Messenger sections 120 6. 11 Miscellaneous 1.22 6.12 Conclusion 123 7. The Structure of the Meccan Surahs 125 7.I Introduction 125 7.2 'Early Meccan' surahs in a single register 126 7.3 'Early Meccan' surahs in two registers 128 7.4 'Early Meccan' surahs in three registers 131 7.5 Bipartite 'early Meccan' surahs in four or more registers 135 Contents ix 7.6 Other 'early Meccan' surahs in four or more registers 138 7.7 'Middle and late Meccan' surahs with narrative sections 146 7.8 Other 'middle and late Meccan' surahs 152 7.9 The interrelationships of the registers in the Meccan surahs 154 8. The Interrelation of Structure, Sound and Meaning in Three Meccan Surahs 162 8.1 Introduction 162 8.2 The integrity of Surah 103 162 8.3 The role of word-play in Surah 104 164 8.4 Structure, sound and meaning in Surah 78 167 9. The Integrative Role of Sound and Intertextuality 177 9. 1 Introduction 177 9.2 Surah 79: 'Has the account of Moses reached thee?' 177 9.3 Surah 17: The Night Journey 188 io. The Madinan Surahs 196 io.i Introduction 196 10.2 The survival and adaptation of the six principal registers 196 10.3 The refrains which mention the divine names 198 10.4 Introduction to Surah 2 201 10.5 Surah 2: The prologue (vv.I-39) 203 io.6 Surah 2: Criticism of the Children of Israel (vv.4o-I2i) 206 10.7 Surah 2: The Abrahamic legacy (vv. 122-152) 2o8 io.8 Surah 2: Legislation for the new nation (vv.153-242) 211 1O.9 Surah 2: The struggle to liberate the Ka'bah (vv.243-283) 215 IO.io Surah 2: The epilogue (vv.284-286) 221 i i. The Dynamics of the Qur'anic Discourse 224 ii. i Introduction 224 I 1.2 The implied speaker as both 'We' and 'He' 225 11.3 The implied speaker as 'I' 230 11.4 The implied speaker and embedded speakers 234 I1 .5 The omniscient perspective of the implied speaker 238 11.6 The implied privileged addressee 240 11.7 The objectification of the Messenger 244 11.8 Sudden changes in person and number 245 11.9 Conclusion 253 x Discovering the Qur'an 12. The Order of the Surahs: The Decreasing-Length Rule 256 12.1 Introduction 256 12.2 The surahs and their names 256 12.3 The decreasing-length rule: alleged precedents and parallels 258 12.4 Explaining the exceptions to the decreasing-length rule 260 12.5 The alleged order of the surahs in the manuscripts of Ibn Mas'Ud and Ubayy 263 12.6 The dovetailing of consecutive surahs 266 12.7 Conclusion 269 13. The Order of the Surahs: Isl~hi's Explanation 271 13. 1 Introduction 271 13.2 Summary of Islahi's views 271 13.3 Islhi's analysis of Surahs 5o-66 273 13.4 Evaluation of Isldhi's approach 275 13.5 Islahi's approach and the exceptions to the decreasing-length rule 28o 13.6 Conclusion 283 Postscript 284 Appendix A: Table for converting iyah numbers 288 Appendix B: A note on English translations of the Qur'an 291 Bibliography 292 Notes 302 Indexes 325 i Index of references to the Bible and Pseudepigrapha 325 2 Index of Qur'anic passages 325 3 Index of persons 328 4 Subject index 330 List of Transliterations Arabic characters irS J 1 b sh m %.Z t .n " th a h t W h z Y kh S ah; at (construct state) d L gh JI (article) al- and S dh f '1- except r 3 q before the anteropalatals) 3 z J k long vowels short vowels diphthongs . a aw U __ u ,- ay i -- i iyy (final form i) UWW (final form U) List of Maps and Illustrations Illuminated text of the Fatihah '9 Different styles of calligraphy 22 Arabic text of Surah 24.61 23 Arabia according to Ptolemy .33 Arabia in the seventh century 41 Zoomorphic calligraphy 287 Preface to the Second Edition The decision to reissue Discovering the Qur'an has furnished me with a welcome opportunity to make a number of amendments to the text. I have, however, resisted the temptation to tinker with the text or add further material. I am grateful to readers of the First Edition who contacted me to express their appreciation and to sound out their own ideas. Several were puzzled by the reference on page 9 to the Prophet's 'young wife Ayesha'. They pointed out that when the Prophet began to receive revelations he was married to Khadijah, a widow who was many years his senior, and that he did not take further wives until after her death.