Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland
Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland
Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland
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114 t CHAPTER FIVE<br />
The Quran Reads Itself:<br />
Abrogation, Emendation, Elaboration?<br />
It is a commonplace belief in the three monotheistic communities<br />
that Scripture interprets itself, that later verses sometimes elucidate<br />
<strong>and</strong> explain earlier ones. The latter books of the Bible often revert<br />
to the Torah, <strong>and</strong> the New Testament constantly reflects on the<br />
Old. Paul’s later letters revisit earlier ones to enlarge <strong>and</strong> clarify<br />
matters. Matthew <strong>and</strong> Luke “read” <strong>and</strong> edited Mark, <strong>and</strong> Mark<br />
himself, it has been argued, was revising the earlier Pauline “gospel”<br />
by supplying it with a narrative framework. The Quran too is<br />
its own primary exegete, though it represents a somewhat different<br />
case from the other Scriptures. It has been suggested, <strong>for</strong> example,<br />
that the Medina suras, which differ markedly in style <strong>and</strong> manner<br />
from what preceded them, are already a kind of “reading” of the<br />
“primary” revelation contained in the suras sent down during<br />
Muhammad’s twelve years at Mecca.<br />
To divide the Quran into a “primary” <strong>and</strong> a “secondary” stratum,<br />
even if both are called revelation, does violence to the Muslim<br />
tradition, but no one would deny that the work is the output of a<br />
single individual over some twenty-two years. There was no lack<br />
of opportunity, then, <strong>for</strong> that same individual, to offer revisions,<br />
emendations, or elaborations to what had already been promulgated.<br />
There is internal evidence that this is indeed what happened.<br />
In some early suras—74:31 is a good example—the internal rhythm<br />
<strong>and</strong> assonance scheme of the prose-poetry is abruptly interrupted<br />
by an intrusive prose passage that appears to be a later<br />
interpolation to explain a problematic word or concept in the preceding<br />
line, after which the original rhyme <strong>and</strong> rhythm resume.<br />
The Quran introduces, however, a radical <strong>for</strong>m of scriptural reinterpretation.<br />
The notion of inspiration, coupled with the conviction<br />
that God is both omniscient <strong>and</strong> unchanging, strongly argues<br />
that God’s Words are totally <strong>and</strong> simultaneously true, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
three monotheistic communities have generally regarded them as<br />
such. But where there were apparent contradictions or inconsistencies<br />
between two passages, these could be ironed out by careful<br />
application of a harmonizing exegesis. But at two points in the