QURANIC NARRATIVE ISRA’ILIYYAT IN WESTERN SCHOLARSHIP & IN CLASSICAL EXEGESIS pdf

Quranic Narrative Isra’iliyyat In Western Scholarship & In Classical Exegesis by Ismail Al Bayrak

QURANIC NARRATIVE ISRA’ILIYYAT IN WESTERN SCHOLARSHIP & IN CLASSICAL EXEGESIS

The main subject of this thesis is twofold. On the one hand it analyses how the Qur’an presents stories, on the other hand it examines the classical Muslim commentators’ response to the Qur’anic narration.

In part one we remark that the theory that the Qur’an borrowed extensively from the Bible has clouded the vision of many Western scholars.

They explained the Qur’anic narratives in accordance with their preconceptions; only a few emancipated themselves from this prejudice, but some of these scholars were sensitive to the literary qualities of the Qur’anic narrative.

Adopting their general approach to the Qur’anic narrative we analyse the Qur’anic narrative of the ‘golden calf’ episode.

Here we invite the reader to step into the textual world of the Qur’an im order to appreciate its otherness.

At the same time we try to show the internal coherence among the verses (and also among the surahs) to remove the assumption of the incoherence of the Qur’an which has veiled much of its literary excellence from view.

 In addition, this study gives us an opportunity to appreciate one of the most neglected aspects of the Qur’anic narratives, namely the relationship between the oral recitation and the written characters of the Qur’an.

The written text lacks the contextual richness provided by the oral dimension for it cannot convey intonation, emphasis, and so on, but the transcription of the spoken word displays the relationship of sound and meaning within the surahs or verses together with special emphasis upon phonological effects.

The first chapter of part two is designed to provide a general overview of the notion of isra’iliyyat, taking into account the opinions held by both Muslim and non- Muslim authorities.

We raise two important questions regarding this technical term When did the technical term isra’iiyyat come into general use? Who first used it critically?