The metaphor of the camel passing through the eye of the needle is compared between the Synoptic Gospels(Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25) and the Qur’an (7:40).
However, there is a striking difference, in spite of the similarities between the Qur’anic and biblical texts: the Gospels talk about a rich person, whereas the Qur’an talks about those who arrogantly disbelieve in God’s signs. If we are to accept that the Qur’an is a quotation of (or an allusion to) the biblical text, then why does it appear to talk about different types of people, unless the Qur’an is equating those who arrogantly disbelieve in God’s signs with the rich? Although he recognised that the Qur’an in this verse refers to those who arrogantly disbelieve in God’s signs, while the Gospel speaks of someone rich (Ali 2008, pp. 72–89), he could not find a relationship between them when making the comparison. Accordingly, Ali concludes that the Qur’an is not quoting the Gospel, but only using a similar metaphor.
Points of intertextuality
The Greek term used in Matthew 19:23–24, Mark 10:25 and Luke 18:25 to mean “rich” is “plousios” or “plousion,” which refers to abundance and wealth, although its root word means “plenty”, “increase”, and“abundance”.18Etymologically,theGreek “plousios” isrelatedto “ploutos,”whichmeans “wealth”.19 The term “plousios” isrelatedto “polus,” meaning “to be made full,”20 or “polys,” meaning “many.” The term “polys” isalsousedintheprecedingverseinMatthew(19:22),wheretheGospelreportsthat themanhadmany (polys) possessions.The termusedintheQur’antomean“arrogant” is “istakbarū” with itsroot in “kbr,” which etymologically also means “to increase” and “greatness”.21 In Aramaic, the term “kbr” also means “enlarge”, “multiply”, and “abundance”, asthe Syriac term “kbyr” is also used to mean “richness” and “wealth”,22 although the Peshitta uses the term “‘tr” to mean “rich” in this verse, which is cognate to the Hebrew and Arabic “‘ashr.” Though the Hebrew Bible uses the term “‘ashr” also to mean “rich”, the root of the term “‘shr” means “abundance”,23 and the Arabic “ma‘ashar” alsomeans “multitude”.24 Therefore, the root definition of “‘shr” also resembles “plousios”, and containsthe meaning of abundance found in “kbr”. Morphological derivations of “plousios” are sometimes used by the Septuagint in connection withstubbornness(or perhaps arrogance). TheSeptuaginttranslates “she’on‘alizimḥadal” (“the noise of the jubilant has ceased”) in Isaiah 24:8 as “pepautai authadia kai ploutos asebōn” (“ceased the self-willed stubbornness and riches of the impious”). There are many hypotheses on the etymology oftheHebrew “‘aliz,” one of whichsuggestsits Arabic cognate to be “ghalīẓ” (“thick”),with the meaning “to be proud”.25 Although this seems improbable, the Septuagint translators appear to have understood the noise of the jubilant as people who are arrogant with riches. Similarly, the Septuagint uses “plousioi” in Isaiah 5:14 forthose who are “she’onahwa-‘aliz” (“[who]revel and exult her [Sheol]”). The Hebrew Bible termtypically used for “greatness”, asin the Arabic term “kbr”, is “gdl”.In Esther 1:4, the Septuagint translates the term “gedolat” for greatness as “ploutou.” One might assume, since the passage is speaking of riches from the Hebrew term “‘osher,” which is also translatedas “ploutos,” thatthe greatnessreferredtointhisspecificpassage is greatness of wealth. However, the Septuagint also translates “gedulat” in Esther 10:2 as “plouton” (riches), although that context would not necessitate such an understanding. Nevertheless, it must be noted that in this passage, the one given “gedulat” (plouton) is Mordecai, and as such, the translators did not consider the term “plouton” (riches) in thisinstance as arrogance.
The typical term for a “rich person” in Arabic is “ghany,” even though the term “kbr” also means “greatness” and “abundance,” which can be understood as “plousios” in Greek, therefore meaning “rich.” On that note, it is interesting that the Qur’an uses a morphological wordplay on the terms “ghany” and “kbr” in a few passages that follow the metaphor of the camel passing through the eye of the needle (Qur’an 7:48), as this is the second point of intertextuality. The third point of intertextuality between the rich man’s question in the Gospels and the Qur’an may be the presence of the term “eternal,” which in Greek is “aiōnion” for eternal life (Matthew 19:16, 19:29, Mark 10:17, 10:29, Luke 18:18, 18:29). TheGreekterm “aiōnion” is comparable with the Arabic term “khālidūn,” which also means “eternal.”27 In each Gospel, where the metaphor of the camel passing through the eye of the needle is mentioned, the term“eternal” is used twice within the same context. In the Qur’an, the term “khālidūn” for “eternal” is also repeated twice within the context of the metaphor of the camel passing through the eye of the needle (7:36, 7:42). The fourth point of intertextuality in the rich man’s question and context of this episode is the term for “inheritance.” The rich man asks Jesus what he must do to “inherit” eternal life, using the Greek term “klēronomēsō” or the Aramaic term “irt” for the word “inherit” in the Gospels of both Mark and Luke (Mark 10:17, Luke 18:18). Although this termis not part of the rich man’s question in the Gospel of Matthew, the term “inherit” (klēronomēsei/nirat) is used in the same context (as the rich man’s question), when describing those who will inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:29). The Septuagint, in some instances, uses morphological variants for the term “klēronomeō” to translate the Hebrew “yrsh,” which is cognate to the Aramaic “irt” and the Arabic “yrth,” meaning “inherit” (for example, Psalm37:29). In the Qur’anic text, afterstating that those who are arrogant (istakbarū) toward God’s signs will not enter heaven until the camel passes through the eye of the needle, it states that heaven is “inherited” (ūrithtumūhā) by those who are worthy(Qur’an 7:43).
In the fifth point of intertextuality, the Qur’an mentions that the gates of heaven (al-samā’) do not open to people who arrogantly disbelieve in God’s signs until the camel passes through the eye of the needle (Qur’an 7:40). It is important to distinguish between the Qur’anic terms for heaven, which are “jannah,” meaning “a hidden garden,” and “al-samā’,” meaning “sky” (heaven). When relating how Jesus states that it is difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Gospel of Matthew usesthe Greek term “ouranos” or the Aramaic “shmaya” (Matthew 19:23), which is comparable to the Arabic “al-samā’” used in the Qur’an.28 Tatian’s Diatessaron also uses Matthew’s rendition in this narrative. As such, it is difficult to judge whether or not the Qur’an used Tatian’s Diatessaron or the Gospel of Matthew directly, since the other Gospels refer to “the Kingdom of God”, rather than to “Heaven.” TheGospel of Luke relatesthe parableoftheRichFool (12:13–34). There are several points of intertextuality between this parable and the rich man seeking eternal life in the Synoptic Gospels. The parable of the Rich Fool immediately precedes Tatian’s narration of the camel passing through the eye of the needle in the Diatessaron (28:33–41). The first point of intertextuality is that in both cases, it is a rich man. The second point is that the rich man seeks to “inherit” eternal life, while in the parable of the Rich Fool, the subject matter isinheritance in the material world (Luke 12:13, 12:20). The third point isthat the rich man seeking eternal life is asked to sell all his possessions and give to the poor so that he receives treasure in heaven; in the parable of theRichFool,the same isrequestedin ordertoreceive treasure in heaven (Luke 12:33). Establishing a relationship between the parable of the Rich Fool and the episode of the rich man seeking eternal life isimportant, because in the context of the parable of the Rich Fool, the Gospelrelates that Jesus stated that no one can add an hour to his life (Luke 12:25), and hence one must not worry or be anxious. As such, the Gospel states that people who will go to heaven must not be afraid (Luke 12:32). Luke 12:40 continues thatJesus stated one must be ready for the coming of the hour. Similarly, in the passages preceding the camel passing through the eye of the needle in the Qur’an, it is stated that when the time comes, a nation will not be able to add an extra hour to its span (7:34) and that those who do good and go to heaven shall neither fear nor be sad (7:35, 7:49). Those are the sixth and seventh points of intertextuality respectively. In addition, the term used for “fool” in the parable ofthe Rich Fool isthe Greek “aphrōn”,related to “aphrōna,” which also means “arrogance”, “pride”, “ignorance”, “cunning”, and “sinfulness.”29 This meaning provides further intertextuality between the terms for being rich and for being arrogant, which in Arabic may be combined in the polysemous understanding of “istikbār.” This is the eighth point of intertextuality between the Qur’an and the Gospel’s narration of the rich man seeking eternal life. Furthermore, even the Aramaic termfor “fool,” “khsyr ra‘na,” may provide intertextuality with the Qur’an, which uses the terms “khasirū anfusahum” (7:9, 7:53) and “al-khāsirīn” (7:23) in the context of the camel passing through the eye of the needle.
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