Article Moses Maimonides mentions the Sabians frequently. He believed that by studying Sabian ritual he would gain insight into the logic behind the commandments (Heb. ta‘amei hamizvot) and their meanings (see Maimonides, Dalālat al-Ḥā’irīn, 3:29). Maimonides ascribed many variant beliefs and customs to the Sabians. As a result, some scholars have argued that, for Maimonides,…

Article In fact, pre-Islamic Jewish sources actually admit that Ezra changed the script in which the Torah is written from ancient Hebrew to ‘Assyrian’ letters (B.Sanhedrin 21b-22a). Moreover, in one Talmudic passage it is implied that Ezra did so to spite the Samaritans (b.Sanhedrin 21b-22a). Post-Islamic sources such as Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and Midrash Tanhuma…

Article On the other hand, immediately after the Basmala and sometimes before the title, 29 twenty-nine Qurʾānic Suras have so-called “Mysterious Letters,” i. e. a single letter or a one- or two-word combination of up to five letters each. These letters cannot be read as proper Arabic and have been interpreted very differently by scholars old…

Welch in the article on the Qurʾān in the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam . He concludes that the mysterious letters are part of the original text, that they in some fashion represent the Arabic alphabet rather than provide initials or abbreviations of other names or words, that they are associated with the…

Article Here are the letters, arranged by their order of appearance: ten threshold observations: How The Qur’ān’s Prophetology Evolved From Its Basal State Helping to assert the unity of quranic revelation, in my view the letters were divined as a ‘written’ reminder that inspired their following Arabic speech. In this respect the letters were functionally…

Article Several verses particularise which prophet was given what: David is given ḥikmah only (Q 2:251; 38:20), while Jesus is associated with kitāb and ḥikmah (Q 3:48; 5:110; 19:30; 43:63). Moses is never said to have been given ḥikmah. Rather, he is only given the kitāb (e.g., Q 2:53, 2:87, 17:2, 23:49, and 25:35). John…

Article His summary of the main prooftexts from the Qur’an: This chapter has highlighted ten passages that associate the term kitāb exclusively with the scriptures of Moses and Muhammad, thereby challenging the generic understanding of kitāb as “book” in qur’anic scholarship. The first text, a reflection on prophetic history from Noah to Jesus, highlights Moses…

Article The sura uses three main arguments to refute the attacks of the Meccans: the first is a gendered approach in which eloquence is impossible when it is feminine, the second is a denial that monotheism has conceptually allowed multiplicity of the Godhead or seeing God as a father, and finally, the refusal to admit…

Article For the pagans of late antique Arabia, death was an undeniable reality. They knew that humans are tragic because they die; to be heroic was one way of overwhelming death, if only for a brief moment. There was also the option of salvific religions and their promise of an eternal life in faith. All…

Article The Qur’an refers three times to humans being changed into apes. In two cases (2:65; 4:163–166), the change represents divine punishment meted out to people who somehow broke the Sabbath, though the exact violation is not articulated. In the third case, God curses certain people with whom He is angry and makes some of…