In what century was the Koran written? History of the Quran I: What is the Quran

Chapter 10

SACRED TEXTS OF ISLAM

(Study and translations of the Qur'an)

The Koran is the book of books of Islam. According to sacred tradition, the original of the Koran, written in Arabic, is with Allah in heaven. Allah sent down the Koran to his Prophet Muhammad through the angel Jabrail (biblical Gabriel) The name “Koran” comes from the Arabic verb “kara “a”, i.e. read recitative The book is a collection of sermons and teachings of Muhammad, with which he addressed his listeners on behalf of God for almost a quarter of a century (610-632).

The Koran was created in the living flow of life, under the influence and in relation to specific events. Hence the inimitable, free form of the monument. It is devoid of a single composition, a plot line, so characteristic of any literary work. Direct speech (the speech of Allah), addressed either directly to Muhammad himself or to the listeners, is replaced by a third-person narration. Brief rhythmic phrases, the rhyming of most verses (signs-revelations) create a complex example of artistic style and form.
poetic speech, very close to folklore.
During Muhammad's lifetime, the creed was created, updated and spread through oral tradition. The desire to preserve the Koran in written form arose soon after the death of the prophet. Already under the first caliph Adu-Bakr (632-634), work began on compiling a written text of Muhammad's sermons. By order of the third caliph Osman (644-654), a set of these sermons was written down, subsequently canonized and called “Ko-

Ran Osman." The process of improving writing continued for more than two centuries and was largely completed at the end of the 9th century.
The Qur'an consists of 14 sections, or chapters, called suras. Surahs, in turn, consist of verses, or verses. Based on their place of origin, suras are divided into Meccan and Medina. Within the boundaries of the Meccan cycle (610-622), three periods are distinguished. The earliest (610-616) is called poetic. It is represented by short suras, which often resemble peculiar hymns. They provide a concise and extremely figurative presentation of the dogma of monotheism, pictures of the Day of Judgment, and the hellish torments of sinners. The second period (617-619) was called the Rakhman, or teacher's period. Here the tonality of the suras is noticeably softened. They become more extensive, and the plots become more detailed. The first narrative texts—legends—appear. The third period (620-622) is prophetic. Narrative texts often contain retellings of biblical stories and legends of ancient prophets. They are distinguished by the sequence of presentation of events.
The second large cycle is a collection of Medina suras (623-632). They are characterized by a wide overlap with biblical stories. At the same time, the sermons are becoming more and more detailed. A significant place in them is occupied by rules and regulations governing the life of believers. Muhammad increasingly acts as a legislator and judge. Within the cycle, there are five periods associated with major events in the life of the religious community (military battles, etc.), which served as a kind of impulse for Muhammad’s religious creativity. If at the beginning of his work he acted mainly as a poet-prophet, then in subsequent periods he acted as a religious teacher, legislator, judge, and leader of a mass community.
The main idea of the Koran is the overcoming of paganism and the establishment of monotheism. Allah, unlike the Christian three-hypostatic God, is consubstantial. Muhammad did not resurrect

Rice. The veil covering the entrance to the Kaaba sanctuary. Lines from the Koran are embroidered in gold

He accepted neither the Jewish idea of the Messiah nor the Christian idea of the Savior. He was concerned not so much with the problem of posthumous retribution as with the creation of a just society on earth. Muhammad viewed Judaism and Christianity, we emphasize once again, as the result of people’s misunderstanding of the revelations of God and the teachings of the first prophets. He considered himself as the last prophet, who was called upon to correct the faith of people. That is why it is called the “seal of the prophets” in the Koran.
In a broad cultural and historical aspect, the Koran contains the ideals of social order as they were seen by Muhammad as an exponent of the progressive sentiments of a certain era. In this sense, the book reflects the entire spectrum of social relations in Arab society at the turn of the 6th-7th centuries. These are, first of all, relations of slavery, but specific, patriarchal (domestic) slavery, significantly softened in comparison with the slavery of the ancient world, as well as tribal relations. In particular, the customs of blood feud and mutual assistance are sanctified by the authority of Allah. However, they are interpreted as customs not of a tribal community, but of a religious community, i.e. community not by kinship, but by faith. Commodity-money relations are also reflected in the Koran. Many verses sound like codes of commercial honor, instructions for drawing up contracts. The book also touches on the forms of early feudal relations (tribute system, sharecropping).
In terms of their general humanistic origin, the new forms of human society, sanctified by Islam, were much higher than those inherent in paganism. For example, in comparison with previous norms of attitude towards women, the commandments of the Koran turned out to be more progressive. A man has the right to maintain no more than four wives, while previously this number was not limited. Rules have been introduced to limit the husband's willfulness. A woman's right to part of the property in the event of divorce or death of her husband is carefully regulated. However, in general, a Muslim woman occupies a purely subordinate position in society and in the home. Muhammad's democracy turned out to be, although superior to its time, still significantly limited from the point of view of historical progress.
The canonical texts of Islam are not limited to the Koran. The Sunnah is important. It is a collection of hadiths - stories, legends about what Muhammad said and how he acted in certain cases. The example of the life of the prophet thus serves as a model and guide for all Muslims. The emergence of the Sunnah was due to the fact that as society developed, questions increasingly arose that were not answered in the Koran. They used stories passed down orally by Muhammad's companions about his actions and sayings on various occasions. The result of recording and systematizing these stories was the Sunnah. There are different collections of hadiths between Sunnis and Shiites. Among Sunnis, the Sunnah includes six collections. The collections of the famous theologian are recognized as the most authoritative

Bukhari (810-870) and his student Muslim (817-875).
The Koran remains the main book of Islam today. It is taught and studied in various educational institutions in Muslim countries. There are countless volumes of Quranic commentaries accumulated over more than a thousand years of Islamic history. The traditional profession of reciters (reciters) of the Koran is still alive today. It is taught from a young age. This is indeed a great art, since it is not only about reading, but chanting. The profession enjoys great honor and respect.
Ideas and images of the Koran are widely used in literature, and sonorous formulas and expressions are used in everyday speech. The texts of many verses still retain their significance as motifs for decorative elements in fine arts and architecture.

The Koran, according to Muslims, is a book inspired by God and cannot be translated into other languages. Therefore, true believers use the Quran only in Arabic. In Muslim countries there is a huge literature, mainly theological, devoted to the study and interpretation of the main book of Islam. However, the meaning of the Koran has long gone beyond just a religious source. As an outstanding historical and cultural monument of Arab civilization and humanity in general, it attracts great attention from scientists from various countries and ideological orientations. We will limit ourselves here only to Europe.
The history of the study of Islam and the Koran in the countries of European civilization is dramatic in its own way. For more than a millennium, Christian Europe did not recognize Islam as an independent religion equal in rank to Christianity. Beginning with the Byzantine theologian John of Damascus (8th century), the ideologists of the Christian Church have developed a tradition of refute the basic postulates of Islam. In the minds of medieval Europeans, the image of Islam was formed as the devilish law of the Saracens, and Muhammad as a false prophet who perverted the biblical commandments and teachings. Only since the 19th century. The desire to objectively understand Islam is gradually taking shape and strengthening, mainly among the intellectual elite, by studying it for what it really is - an original phenomenon of religious life.
This general attitude towards Islam determines the rather late appearance of translations of the Koran into European languages. Modern Arabists usually trace the history of its translations back to the 12th century, when Europe was preparing for the Second Crusade.

I guess. Around 1142, on the personal initiative of Abbot Peter the Venerable (1092-1156), a Latin translation of the Koran was made. However, by order of Pope Alexander III, he was publicly burned as a heretical book.
Another early Latin translation was made at the beginning of the 13th century, but remained unpublished. These early translations were transpositions of the text of the Koran and were intended to prove the inconsistency of Muslim claims to possession of the holy scripture.
The first official publication of the Latin translation was carried out only in 1543 in Basel (Switzerland). It was followed by an Italian translation (1547), and a century later - a French translation (1649). But even then the Catholic Church did not change its attitude towards the main book of Islam. The Council of Roman Censors under Pope Alexander VII (1655-1667) banned its publication and translation.

Rice. Edition of the Koran in Russian. 1995

Nevertheless, interest in the Koran did not die, and the needs of the ideological struggle against Islam prompted its study. In 1698, a fundamental work, “Refutation of the Koran,” appeared in Padua. It contained an Arabic text, a Latin translation of the source, and carefully selected extracts from the works of Arab commentators and theologians. This publication greatly accelerated the emergence of new, more objective editions and translations of the Koran. During the XIII-XIX centuries. Several of its editions were published: in English (translated by J. Sale, 1734), German (translated by Fr. Baizen, 1773), French (translated by A. Kazimirsky, 1864). All of them, with the exception of the first, are usually classified as interlinear. But already in the 20th century. semantic translations have developed. According to experts, the best results in this regard were achieved by M. Ali, M. Assad, Maududi (in English), R. Blacher (in French). European scholars are credited with interpreting the Koran as the original work of Muhammad.
In Russia, the first written mentions of Islam date back to the 11th century, and they appear in translations of Greek chronicles and Christian polemical works. Needless to say, these ideas about Islam were anti-Muslim in nature. For many centuries, Russian Orthodoxy followed the footsteps of Byzantine theology.

The origins of the new and, so to speak, secular interest in Islam and the Koran go back to the era of Peter I. Back at the end of the 17th century. Essays on the Koran were prepared in Russian especially for princes Peter and Ivan. Russia wanted to turn not only to Europe, but also to the Muslim East. Peter put acquaintance with the Islamic East on a state basis. On his initiative, the study of Oriental languages began, and a special institution was organized for collecting and storing monuments of the written and material culture of the peoples of the East. Later, the Asian Museum arose on its basis. By order of Peter, the first Russian translation of the Koran (from French) was carried out. It was published in 1716.
In 1787, the complete Arabic text of the Koran was published in Russia for the first time. For this purpose, an Arabic font was specially cast, reproducing the handwriting of one of the most famous Muslim calligraphers of that time. During the 17th century. book ran into five editions. In general, texts of the Koran translated from French and English were distributed in Russia. Translation by M.I. Verevkin, executed from French in 1790, inspired A. S. Pushkin for the famous poetic cycle “Imitation of the Koran”. With all their shortcomings, these translations stimulated the interest of Russian educated society in Islam and its main book. In this regard, it is impossible not to mention P.Ya. Chaadaeva. He showed deep interest in Islam and considered it as one of the stages in the formation of the universal religion of Revelation.
In the 70s XIX century the beginning was laid for Russian translations of the Koran from Arabic. The first belonged to D. N. Boguslavsky (1828-1893), an educated Arabist who served for a long time as a translator at the Russian embassy in Istanbul. He apparently expected to publish his work upon returning to Russia, but this did not happen, since by this time a similar translation had appeared in the country, completed by G. S. Sablukov.
G. S. Sablukov (1804-1880) - Kazan orientalist and missionary. His translation was published in 1877 and reprinted in 1894 and 1907. He also published “Appendices” (1879) - perhaps the best index to the Koran in Europe at that time. The translation by G. S. Sablukov was destined to have a long life. For almost a century, it satisfied the interests of science and the various needs of Russian cultural society. It still retains its significance today, although it is partly outdated.
The period of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. is significant in that the foundations of Russian Islamic studies are laid as an independent scientific direction of national and world level. In 1896, a biography of Muhammad was published, written by the Russian philosopher and poet B. S. Solovyov (“Mohammed, his life and religious teachings”). This book, which transcends the traditions of anti-Muslim polemicism, is an example of sympathetic insight.

The introduction of a person of a different culture into the inner world of the founder of Islam.
At the beginning of the 20th century. In connection with the rapid development of science and technology, it becomes possible to become more familiar with the monuments of Islamic culture. At this time, printing houses for the publication of Muslim literature were operating in eight cities of Russia. They publish the Koran in the original language in large quantities. The first attempts are being made to translate it into the national languages of Russia (a Tatar translation was published in 1914). Special periodicals for scientific and cultural purposes are beginning to be published regularly (the magazine "World of Islam", the almanac "Oriental Collection"). Samples of Muslim literature are included in various publications on the history of world literature.
Since October 1917, a new period has begun in the history of Islamic studies. Not everything here contributed to progress. An objective study of Islam was complicated by political conflicts - the negative attitude of the clergy towards Soviet power, the ideological intolerance of Bolshevism towards religion, political terror against the Church. However, the development of Islamic studies did not stop. V.V. Bartold's book "Islam", published in 1918, is to this day a profound scientific exposition of the history and essence of this religion.
In the 20s a new attempt to translate the Koran from Arabic into Russian is being made by I. Yu. Krachkovsky (1883-1951). He developed a new system for studying and translating this outstanding monument of world culture. The working translation was completed mainly by 1931, but the scientist continued to improve it for a long time, was engaged in literary processing, and composing a commentary, but did not manage to complete his work. The translation in the first edition was published in 1963, in the second - in 1986. This was the first scientific translation of the Qur'an into Russian, and almost all modern editions of this monument are made mainly from it, for example, the chapter-by-chapter publication of the Qur'an with comments by M. Usma- new in the magazine "Star of the East" (1990-1991).
Of scientific and cultural interest is the translation of the Koran undertaken by N. Osmanov, which was published in the Pamir magazine in 1990-1992. Recently, V. Porokhova’s book “The Koran. Translations of Meanings” has become famous. Departing from scientific accuracy and often modernizing the meaning of the verses, the translator achieves a subtle reproduction of the poetic beauty of the Koran. Its translation enhances the philosophical and poetic sound of the monument [See: Islam. Historiographical essays. Section I. Koran and Koranic studies. - M., 1991].
The school of Russian and Soviet Arabists includes many major names. In addition to V.V. Bartold and I.Yu. Krachkovsky, one can name B.A. Belyaev, V.N. Vinnikov, A. E. Krymsky, K. S. Kashtalev, A. E. Schmidt, L. I. Klimovich, M. B. Piotrovsky, V. R. Rosen. In recent times, the publication of literature on Islam has noticeably

Increased. In 1991, the first encyclopedic dictionary “Islam” created in our country was published. Let us note the detailed and first biography of Muhammad in Soviet times, written in the style of the famous series “The Life of Remarkable People” [Panova V.F., Bakhtin Yu.B. The Life of Muhammad. - M., 1990].
But in general, Islam and the Koran certainly deserve deeper study. In the West, for example, the multi-volume Encyclopedia of Islam has long existed. Our country has been and remains predominantly Christian-Muslim in its religious character. This unique feature cannot be ignored. The formation and development of a humane and democratic society, the creation of conditions for the free spiritual development of all citizens is unthinkable without mastering the thousand-year-old traditions of Christian and Islamic culture and its humanistic content.

Security questions

1. How was the Koran, the holy book of Muslims, created? What is it and what is its main purpose?
2. Tell us, what is the significance of the Sunnah for Muslims?
3. What was the attitude towards Islam in European countries in the Middle Ages?
4. When and for what reason did interest in the Muslim religion and the Koran arise in Western Europe?
5. In what direction has the attitude towards Islam as a religion evolved in the Russian state?
6. When was the complete Arabic text of the Koran published in Russia?
7. What influence did translations of the Koran have on the spiritual development and culture of Russian society?

Russia is a multinational state. This determines the large number of religions that are officially registered on the territory of the Russian Federation. Due to ignorance of basic things about other religions and the Holy Scriptures, conflict situations often arise. This situation can be resolved. In particular, you should familiarize yourself with the answer to the question: “What is the Koran?”

The word "Koran" is of Arabic origin. Translated into Russian it means “recitative”, “reading aloud”. The Koran is the main book of Muslims, which, according to legend, is a copy of the Holy Scriptures - the first book, which is kept in heaven.

Before answering the question of what the Koran is, a few words should be said about the origin of Scripture. The text of the main book of Muslims was sent to Muhammad through an intermediary - Jebrail - by Allah himself. During the secular period, Muhammad recorded only individual notes. After his death, the question arose about the creation of the Holy Scriptures.

Muhammad's followers reproduced his sermons by heart, which were later compiled into a single book - the Koran. What is the Koran? First of all, an official document of Muslims written in Arabic. It is believed that the Koran is an uncreated book that will exist forever, like Allah.

Who recorded the Koran?

According to historical data, Muhammad could not read or write. That is why he memorized the Revelations received from Allah, and then pronounced them out loud to his followers. They, in turn, learned the messages by heart. For a more accurate transmission of the Sacred texts, followers used improvised means to record revelations: some resorted to parchment, others to wooden tablets or pieces of leather.

However, the most proven way to preserve the meaning of Scripture was to retell it to specially trained readers who could remember long sunnahs - verses. The Hafiz subsequently accurately conveyed the Revelations told to them, despite the stylistic complexity of the fragments of the Koran.

The sources record about 40 people who were involved in writing Revelations. However, during the life of Muhammad, the suras were few known and practically unclaimed. This is due to the fact that there was no need for a single Holy Scripture. The first copy of the Koran created after the death of the Prophet was kept by his wife and daughter.

Structure of the Quran

The holy book of Muslims consists of 114 chapters, fragments, which are called “sura”. Al-Fatiha - the first sura - opens the Koran. It is a prayer of 7 verses, which is read by all believers. The content of the prayer is a summary of the essence of the Quran. That is why believers say it every time, performing five prayers daily.

The remaining 113 chapters of the Quran are arranged in Scripture in descending order, from greatest to least. At first, the suras are large in volume and are real treatises. At the end of the book, the fragments consist of several verses.

Thus, we can answer the question: What is the Koran? This is a clearly structured religious book, having two periods: Meccan and Medina, each of which symbolizes a certain stage in the life of Muhammad.

In what language is the Muslim Holy Book written?

As noted above, the recognized language of the Quran is Arabic. However, to understand the essence of Scripture, the book may be translated into other languages. But in this case, we should talk about the subjective transmission of the meaning of Holy Scripture by a translator who was able to convey his own interpretation to the readers. In other words, the Koran in Russian is only a kind of Holy Scripture. The only correct option is considered to be the Koran, written in Arabic, which appeared on earth by the will of Allah.

The Koran in Russian has its place, but any righteous believer must come to read the scripture in the source language.

The style in which the Qur'an is written

It is believed that the style in which the Koran is presented is unique, unlike either the Old or the New Testaments. Reading the Quran reveals sharp transitions from first-person to third-person narration and vice versa. In addition, in the suras, believers can encounter various rhythmic patterns, which complicates the study of the message, but gives it uniqueness, leads to a change in topic, and also gives a small hint at the revelation of secrets in the future.

The passages of suras that have a complete thought are mostly rhymed, but do not constitute poetry. It is impossible to classify fragments of the Koran as prose. While reading the Holy Scriptures in Arabic or Russian, a large number of images and situations arise that are reflected through the intonation and meaning of phrases.

The Qur'an is not just a book. This is the Holy Scripture for all Muslims living on Earth, which incorporates the basic rules of life for righteous believers.

Excerpts from the book “The Origin of the Qur'an, Classic Studies of the Holy Book of Islam, edited by Ibn Warraq; Prometheus Books 1998."

Introduction

The Prophet Muhammad died in 632. The earliest biography of him is the book of Ibn Ishaq, written in 750, one hundred and twenty years after the death of Muhammad. The authenticity of this biography is made even more doubtful by the fact that the original work of Ibn Ishaq has been lost, and what is available is only parts of a later text belonging to Ibn Hisham (died 834), two hundred years after the death of the Prophet.

The historical and biographical tradition concerning Muhammad and the early years of Islam was thoroughly tested at the end of the 19th century. But even before this, scientists were well aware of the presence of legendary and theological elements in this tradition.

It was believed that after some sifting of the evidence, enough information would remain to form a clear sketch of Muhammad's life. However, this illusion was shattered by Wellhausen, Caetani and Lammens, who raised questions about the reliability of this information.

Wellhausen divided the historical information dating from the 9th and 10th centuries into two groups: the first, a primitive tradition written down at the end of the eighth century, the second, a parallel version that was deliberately forged to refute the first. The second version is contained in the tendentious works of historians, for example, Sayaf bin Umar.

Caetani and Lammens questioned even the data that had previously been accepted as objective. Muhammad's biographers were too distant from the time they described to have true data, and they were far from objective. The goal of the biographers was not to describe reality, but to construct an ideal. Lammens dismissed the entire biography of Muhammad as conjectural and tendentious interpretation.

Even cautious scholars have admitted that we know extremely little about the actual life of Muhammad before he became the prophet of God, unless we take into account the legendary biography revered by believers.

Skepticism. Hadiths

Muhammad was illiterate. It depended on oral information transmitted from Christians and especially Jews. Distortions in oral transmission explain the inaccuracy of the stories. Here are some historical errors: Mary is called Aaron's sister ( 3:35-37 ), Haman is called Pharaoh's courtier ( 28:38 ), Gideon and Saul mix ( 2:249 ). There is a contradictory attitude towards non-Muslims. Ayat 2:191 calls to fight with the infidels, and Sura at-Tawba calls for war with those who disagree, but the verse 2:256 says that "there is no compulsion in religion", and the verse 16:125 calls only for friendly disputes with Jews and Christians.
If we discard the comments, the Qur'an is incomprehensible. Islamic theologians explain the controversy by placing the verses (verses) in historical context and by appealing to the theory of "verse abrogation". Without commentary, the Koran is completely distorted and meaningless.
Transfer from 612–613? Muhammad never gave orders to write down the Koran, and when Abu Bakr first asked Zayd ibn Thabit to do this, he refused, citing the fact that he had no right to do this if Muhammad did not consider it necessary. (The amazing memory of the Arabs is exaggerated. For example, if we compare the Itaba version of the elegy among different clans, we see significant differences). Some of the verses appear to have been written down, but we do not know which ones and cannot guess how they were preserved. What happened to the notes after codification? They couldn’t just be thrown away - that’s blasphemy!
Who is the author of our standard text and is this text authentic? Zayd ibn Thabit supposedly wrote down the complete text of the Qur'an at least twice (under Abu Bakr and then under Uthman). The first copy was given to Hafsa, but 15 years later the believers were still arguing about what the Quran even was, so Zaid, at Uthman's request, wrote down the second copy, and all the others were destroyed by Uthman. It is possible that Zayd was trying to accurately reproduce Muhammad's words, otherwise he would certainly have improved the style and grammar and corrected historical and typographical errors. Indeed, the Koran today is essentially identical to this 2nd edition, although not necessarily identical to the words of Muhammad. The claim that the Qur'an is the ideal of the Arabic language is absurd, since there are many examples of repetition, weak rhyme, substitution of letters to improve rhyme, use of foreign words, strange usage or substitution of names (for example, Tera with Azhar, Saul with Talut ( 2:248:250 ), Enoch on Idris 19:56 ).

The text of the Qur'an has traditionally been studied: 1) through commentaries, 2) by grammarians who study Arabic vowels and diacritics, 3) through the type of script used.

The first interpreter was Ibn Abbas. It is a major source of interpretation, although many of its opinions are considered heretical. Other commentators include al-Tabari (839–923), al-Zamakhshari (1075–1144), and al-Beidhawi (d. 1286).
Diacritics did not exist before the Umayyad Caliphate. They were borrowed from Hebrew and Aramaic. Of the most important grammarians, we can note Khalil ibn Ahmad (718–791), who coined the “hamza,” and Sibawayhi (Khalil). The vowels were not revealed until the end of the 8th century. It happened at a training center in Baghdad under the influence of Aramaic.
Three main scripts were used: Kufic, Naskh and mixed. The type of font allows for the first rough dating of the manuscripts. A more accurate determination of the age of manuscripts is achieved by analyzing other features of the text, such as the use of diacritics.

Transfer of the Quran

Alphonse Mingana

There is no agreement in the traditions regarding the collection of the Qur'an. The earliest evidence of the composition of the Qur'an is ibn Sa'd (844), Bukhari (870) and Muslim (874).
Ibn Saad lists 10 people who could have compiled the Koran during the life of Muhammad (a number of hadiths are also given in favor of each of them). Then there is a hadith attributing the collection to Uthman during the caliphate of Umar, and elsewhere the compilation is attributed directly to Umar.
Buhari's account is different. He attributes the collection of the Qur'an during Muhammad's lifetime to a number of people (but their list differs from that of ibn Sa'd). Then he gives the history of the redaction of Abu Bakr, carried out single-handedly by Zayd ibn Thabit. And then immediately follows the hadith about the work on the edition of Uthman carried out by Zayd together with three other scholars.
The last two traditions (edited by Abu Bakr and Uthman) were accepted along with all the others, but it is not clear why. Moreover, if the Koran was already completely assembled by them, why was it so difficult to make a compilation? It seems that these two editions are also fictitious, like the others.
Other Muslim historians further confuse the picture:
- The author of Fihrist lists all the stories of ibn Saad and Bukhari and adds two more to them.
- Tabari tells us that Ali ibn Ali Talib and Uthman wrote down the Qur'an, but when they were absent, ibn Ka'b and Zayd ibn Thabit did so. At that time, people accused Uthman of reducing the Qur'an from several books to one.
- Waqidi writes that the Christian slave Ibn Qumna taught Muhammad, and that Ibn Abi Sarkh claimed that he could change what he wanted in the Qur'an simply by writing about it to Ibn Qumna.
- Another source of tradition attributes the compilation of the Koran to Caliph Abdul-Malik b. Marwan (684–704) and his deputy Hajjaj b. Yusuf. Bar-Ghebreus and Jalal ad-Din al-Suyuti attribute the creation to the former, and ibn Dumaq and Makrizi to the latter. Ibnul 'Athir says that al-Hajjaj outlawed the reading of al-Mas'ud's version, ibn Khallikan states that al-Hajjaj tried to bring the authors to an agreement on the text, but failed. Indeed, discrepancies persisted and were noted by Zamakhshariya and Beidhavi, although anyone who adhered to the variants was severely persecuted.

Transmission of the Qur'an according to Christian authors

639 AD e. - dispute between the Christian patriarch and Amr b. al-Azdom (the results of the dispute are reflected in a manuscript dated 874 AD). We find out that:
- The Bible was not translated into Arabic;
- in Arab society there was teaching of the Torah, denial of the divinity and resurrection of Christ;
- there are no references to any Arabic holy books;
- some of the Arab conquerors were literate.
647 AD e. - A letter from the Patriarch of Seleucia, Ishoyab III, refers to the beliefs of the Arabs without any reference to the Koran.
680 AD e. - The anonymous author in Guidi does not know the Koran, believes that Arabs simply practice the Abrahamic faith, and does not realize that Muhammad is a religious figure.
690 AD e. - John Bar Penkayi, writing to the reign of Abdul-Malik, knows nothing about the existence of the Koran.

It was not until the 8th century that the Qur'an became a subject of discussion between Muslims and Christians. Early Christian critics of the Koran: Abu Nosh (secretary to the governor of Mosul), Timothy (Nestorian patriarch of Seleucia) and the most significant - al-Kindi (830 AD, i.e. 40 years before Bukhari!).

Kindi's main argument: Ali and Abu Bakr argued about the rights of succession to Muhammad. Ali began compiling the Qur'an, while others insisted on including their own passages in the Qur'an. A number of options were recorded. Ali pointed out discrepancies with Uthman, hoping to damage other versions, so Uthman destroyed all but one copy. Four copies of Uthman's collection were made, but all the originals were destroyed. When Hajjaj b. Yusuf gained power (Abdul-Malik was caliph 684-704), he collected all the copies of the Koran, changed the passages according to his own will, destroyed the rest and made 6 copies of a new version. So, how could we distinguish the original from the fake?

Something like the Muslim response to Kindi is given in an apology for Islam written 20 years later in 835 AD. e. doctor Ali b. Rabannat-Tabari at the request of Caliph Motevekkil. In it, Tabari ignores Kindi's historical point of view and insists that the Sahabah (i.e., the prophet's entourage) were good people. He then sets out an apologia for Islam, which is important because it gives an earlier date to the hadith.

So, there is no evidence to suggest that Christians knew about the official Koran before the end of the 8th century and seem to have viewed Islam as some kind of political enterprise with religious overtones.

Conclusions

By the time of Muhammad's death, the Qur'an had not actually been written down. It is unclear how well-known records existed in Mecca and Medina at that time.
A few years after Muhammad's death, those around him began recording Muhammad's prophecies. This gave them an advantage. Uthman's version received the highest approval, and the rest were destroyed. Obviously, dialect differences were not a problem, since the Arabic script at that time could not represent them in writing.
Uthman's Qur'an was possibly written down on parchment scrolls (suhufs), and later under Abdul-Malik and Hajjaj b. Yusufe was placed in the book with a fair amount of editorial corrections, a number of insertions and omissions.

Materials on the history of the text of the Koran

Muslim authors show no interest in criticizing the text of the Qur'an until 322 A.H., when the text was consolidated by Wazir ibn Muqla and Ibn Isa (with the help of Ibn Mujahid). After this, anyone who used the old versions or variants was punished (Ibn Muskam and Ibn Shanabud are good examples of what happens to those who disobey). Although the actual manuscripts were destroyed, variations survive to some extent in the commentaries of Az-Zamakhsham (d. 538), Abu Hayan of Spain (d. 749), and al-Shawrani (d. 1250), as well in the philological works of al-Uqbari (d. 616), Ibn Halawai (d. 370), and Ibn Jinn (d. 392). However, this information was not used to create a critical text of the Quran.

Muslim tradition (for example, that before his death Muhammad ordered the Koran to be written down, although not in book form) is largely fictional. Among other things, the same tradition claims that only minor parts were written down, and most of the Koran could have been lost after the death of the Muslims at al-Yamamah.

Perhaps Abu Bakr collected something that many others did (there is no agreement on the list of persons in the two lists given by traditions); but its assembly was not an official edition, but rather a private matter. Some devout Muslims claim that the word jama"a(“to collect”) only means “to memorize” (“to memorize”) in the traditions referring to the capital's vaults, since these collections were transported on camels and of course burned in fire, most likely they were written vaults. Different capital territories adhered to different codes: Homs and Damascus adhered to al-Aswad, Kufa to Ibn Masud, Basra to al-Ashari, and Syria to Ibn Ka'b. Significant discrepancies between these texts gave rise to Uthman to carry out a radical revision. The Qurra fiercely resisted him in this, and Ibn Masud stubbornly refused to leave his list until he was forced to do so.

Variants were retained by commentators and philologists only if they were sufficiently close to the orthodox reading to compile tafsirs. They insist that they retained only the variants that were explanatory articles to the text of Uthman.

“The amount of material preserved in this way is, of course, relatively small, but it is remarkable that it was preserved at all. With the general acceptance of the standard text, other types of texts, even if they escaped the flames, would have died out during transmission due to the absolute lack of interest in them. Such variants, if they were cited in the educated part of society, should have survived only in small numbers, only having theological or philological significance, so most of the variants should have disappeared early. Moreover, even though these variants persisted, there were some attempts at suppression in the interests of orthodoxy. One may cite, for example, the case of the great Baghdad scholar Ibn Shanabud (245-325), who was allowed to become an outstanding authority on the Koran, but who was forced to publicly renounce the use of versions from old manuscripts in his work.

More striking differences were not recorded for fear of reprisals.

Masahif Books

During the 4th Islamic century, three books were written by Ibn al-Anbari, Ibn Ashta and Ibn Ubi Dawud, each with the same title: Kitab al-Masahif, and each discussed lost manuscripts. The first two are lost and survive only in quotations; the third book has survived. Ibn Abu Dawud, the third most important hadith collector, refers to 15 primary manuscripts and 13 secondary lists (the latter being predominantly based on Mas'ud's primary manuscript).

One of the major obstacles to constructing variants through hadith is that the transmission of variants was not as meticulous as the transmission of the canonical version, so it is difficult to assert authenticity. However, despite the limitations, there is significant information available to assist in the formation of a critical text. 32 different books contain the main sources of variations.

Code of Ibn Masud (d. 32)

Ibn Masud was one of the first converts to Islam. He participated in the Hegira to Abyssinia and Medina, participated in the battles of Badr and Uhud, was the personal servant of Muhammad and learned surahs from the prophet 70. He was one of the early teachers of Islam, and the prophet himself praised him for his knowledge of the Koran.

He compiled a manuscript which he used in Kufa and many copies were made from it. He indignantly rejected the offer to abandon his manuscript because he considered it more accurate than the manuscript of Zayd ibn Thabit. His manuscript did not include Surahs 1, 113 and 114. He did not consider them as part of the Qur'an, although he was aware of them and offered various readings of them. The order of the suras also differed from the official codex of Uthman.

Codex Ubay b. Kaaba (d. 29 or 34)

Ibn Ka'b was one of the Ansar. He was Muhammad's secretary in Medina and was ordered to write down a treaty with the people of Jerusalem. He was one of the 4 teachers recommended by the prophet. His personal manuscript dominated in Syria even after standardization. He was probably involved in the creation of Uthman's text, but the tradition distorts what exactly his participation was. He also probably knew the same number of suras as the official version of the Koran, although the order was different. His personal manuscript never reached the popularity of Ibn Mas'ud's and was quickly destroyed by Uthman.

Codex Ali (d. 40)

Ali was Muhammad's son-in-law and supposedly began composing the manuscript immediately after Muhammad's death. He was so engrossed in this task that he neglected his oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr. It is believed that he had access to a hidden repository of Quranic materials. Ali's division into suras is very different from Uthman's, which is why it is so difficult to say whether material was lost or added. Ali supported Uthman's editorship and burned his manuscript. It is difficult to assert whether the variants attributed to Ali originate from the original manuscript or from his interpretation of Uthman's manuscript.

Progress in the study of the text of the Qur'an

Arthur Jeffrey

A quick glance at the Muslim commentaries reveals many difficulties with the vocabulary of the Qur'an. Commentators tend to assume that Muhammad meant the same things that they meant by certain words, and they interpreted the Qur'an in the light of the theological and judicial controversies of their time.

Geoffrey had already compiled a lexicon of non-Arabic words in the Qur'an, but the Arabic words could not be properly researched until the existence of a critical text. Closest to text receptions is the textual tradition of Hafs from Asim (the best of the three traditions of the Kufan school). A standard edition of this text was undertaken by the Egyptian government in 1923.

Following the Muslim tradition, the text coming from Uthman's edition did not have periods or vowels. When diacritics were invented, different traditions developed in the major metropolises. Even with agreement regarding consonants (khuruf), different variants of text harmonization could be invented. Therefore, a large number of ihtiyar fil huruf (i.e., consonant traditions) developed, where differences in the placement of dots led to variations in the text of the consonants. These systems not only differed in the placement of periods and vowels, but from time to time they used different consonants, as if trying to improve Uthman's text. (It is important to note that there are 7 systems for placing points of ihtiyar fil huruf, each with two systems of vowels, for a total of 14 classical readings. When citing a system, both the source of the huruf and the source of the vowels are indicated)

In 322 after Hijra, ibn Mujahid (a great authority on the Qur'an) declared the fixation of the Khuruf (presumably Uthman) and prohibited all other ihtiyar and limited the variations of agreement to 7 different systems. Later, three more systems were adopted on equal terms.

Thus, the text of the Qur'an has two main versions, canonical versions limited to vowel readings (of which the system of Asim of Kufa, according to Hafs, is somehow the most popular) and non-canonical consonantal versions.

Fatih invariants

Arthur Jeffrey

The Fatihah (first sura) is not generally considered to be the original part of the Qur'an. Even the earliest Muslim commentators (e.g. Abu Bakr al Asamm, d. 313) did not consider it canonical.

One version of Fatih is given in Tadkirot al-Aimah Muhammad Bakuir Majlizi (Tehran, 1331), the other is in a small book of fiqh written about 150 years ago. These two options differ from each other and from textus recepticus, although the meaning of all three remains the same. The differences include substitution of synonyms, changes in verb forms, and single substitutions of words that are not synonyms but have a generally related meaning (e.g. r"-rahmana(merciful) on r-razzaqui(generous)). These differences are not meant to improve the grammar or clarity of the text and do not appear to have any teaching value - rather it appears to be a spoken prayer that was subsequently written down.

Khalib b. Ahmad, a reader at a school in Basra, offers another option. He received it from Isa b. Imara (d. 149) and was a student of Ayub al-Sakhtiyani (d. 131), both of whom are known for transmitting non-canonical variants.

Abu Ubayd on the Lost Verses

Arthur Jeffrey

There may be a few incorrect invocations that have crept into the Qur'an, but what can be said more confidently is that many authentic invocations have been lost. Geoffrey gives the full text of a chapter from Kitab Fada il al-Quran, Abu Ubaidah, folios 43 and 44, regarding the lost chapters of the Qur'an.

Abu Ubayd al-Qasim Sallam (154–244 after Hijra) studied under renowned scholars and himself became well known as a philologist, jurist, and expert on the Qur'an. Following his hadith:

Umar recorded as a saying that most of the Qur'an is lost;
Aisha reports that Sura 33 had 200 verses, most of which have been lost;
Ibn Ka'b reports that Sura 33 had as many verses as Sura 2 (i.e. at least 200) and included verses about stoning adulterers. Now there are 73 verses in Sura 33;
Uthman also refers to missing verses about stoning adulterers (this is reported in several different hadiths);
Ibn Ka'b and al-Khattab disagree about the identity of Sura 33 in the Qur'an;
some (Abu Waqid al-Layti, Abu Musa al-Amori, Zayd b. Arqam and Jabir b. Abdullah) recall the verse about the greed of man, which is unknown in the Qur'an;
Ibn Abbas admits that he heard something that he could not say whether it was part of the Quran or not;
Abi Ayoub b. Yunus quotes a verse he read from Aisha's list, which is not now included in the Qur'an, and adds that Aisha accused Uthman of distorting the Qur'an;
Adi b. Adi criticizes the existence of other missing verses whose original existence was confirmed by Zayd ibn Thabit;
Umar questions the loss of another verse, and then Abu al-Rahman b Auf informs him: “They fell out of the Koran along with other dropped verses”;
Ubaid concludes the chapter by stating that all these verses are authentic and were quoted during prayers, but they were not overlooked by scholars because they were seen as additional, repeating verses contained elsewhere in the Qur'an.

Textual discrepancies in the Qur'an

Orthodox Islam does not require uniformity from the Qur'an. 7–10 options are allowed, usually (but not always) differing only in minor details.

Other (unorthodox) variations may be explained by the fact that Muhammad frequently changed his revelations and some of his followers may not have known what the abrogated verses were. After his death, it became a political necessity for Uthman to standardize the text, and Hajjaj carried out another redaction towards the end of the 7th century.

For a long time there was a misunderstanding about what belongs to the Koran and what does not. Sometimes the words of poets were quoted as the words of Allah. Even religious leaders were not always sure of the correctness of the text. For example, in one of his letters, Caliph Mansur incorrectly quotes the verse 12:38 , relying on the word "Ishmael" to prove his point, although this word does not even appear in the text. It is remarkable that neither Mubbarad nor ibn Khaldun, both of whom copied this letter, noticed the error. Even Bukhari, at the beginning of his Kitab al-Manaqib, quotes something from revelation, although it is not contained in the Qur'an. These errors arose while the written version existed; it is clear that the errors would not have crept in if the text was still transmitted orally.

Much misunderstanding arises from the lack of diacritics. For example, Hamza, who later participated in the invention of dot notation, admits that he mixed up la zaita fihi(there is no oil in it) and la raiba(no doubt), due to the lack of points. Thus, the absence of dots can radically change the meaning. Of course, a dotting system based on the Aramaic was adopted, although Caliph Mamun (198–218 after the Hegira) prohibited the use of diacritics and vowels. A distinct tradition of dots has developed over time, usually with minor differences in meaning, but in some cases a difference in dots has resulted in a major difference in meaning.

Sometimes the text variations seem like a deliberate attempt to add to the text. Sometimes readers used historical research to support grammatical studies in determining the authenticity of a text. For example, Ibrahim preferred instead Abraham(which probably serves as a rhyme).

Sources of the Qur'an

What did Muhammad borrow from Judaism?

Concepts borrowed from Judaism

Tabut– ark [of the covenant];
Taurat- law;
Jannatu"Adn- paradise;
Jahannam– hell;
Ahbar- teacher;
Darasa– study of scripture in order to find meanings introduced into the text;
Sabt– Shabbat;
Sakinat– presence of the Lord;
Taghut- error;
Ma"un– shelter;
Masanil- repetition;
Rabanit- teacher;
Furquan- deliverance, redemption;
Malakut- government.

These 14 words of Jewish origin used in the Qur'an describe the idea of God's guidance, revelation, judgment after death and were borrowed by Islam from Judaism. Otherwise, why weren't Arabic words used?

Views borrowed from Judaism

Views Relating to Doctrine.

Unity of God (Monotheism);
Creation of the world in 6 days, 7 heavens (defended in Shagiga, compare the “7 paths” used in the Talmud, 7 abysses - including 7 gates and trees in the gates);
State of Revelation;
Retribution, including the Last Judgment and the Resurrection from the Dead - for example, the connection between the Resurrection and the Judgment, the world lying in evil before the coming of the Messiah/Mahdi, the war between Gog and Magog, the bodies of people will testify against them. (For example, 24:24 ), idols will be thrown into hell fire, sinners will prosper and their iniquity will increase. 1,000 years from the day of the Lord, the resurrected man will rise in the clothes in which he was buried.
The doctrine of spirits is identical beliefs regarding angels and demons (jinn). Although Islam has a much more earthly concept of heaven, some common features remain.

Moral and legal standards

Prayer: the positions of the teacher during prayer coincide (standing, sitting, reclining), see. 10:12 ; shortened prayers during war; Prayer while intoxicated is prohibited; the prayer is pronounced loudly, but not loudly; The change of day and night is determined by the ability to distinguish the blue (black) thread from the white one.
Woman: A divorced woman waits 3 months before remarrying; time for weaning a child - 2 years; similar restrictions on marriages between relatives.

Outlook on life

Righteous death is rewarded - Koran, 3:198 , and Num. 23:10;
Achieving full understanding at the age of 40 - Koran, 46:15 ;
Intercession effectively leads to reward - the Qur'an, 4:85 ;
After death, family and acquired wealth do not follow a person, only his deeds - Sunnah 689 and Pirke Rabbi Eliezer 34.

Plots borrowed from Judaism

We can assume that Muhammad received the Old Testament narratives from the Jews, since there are no specific Christian characteristics.

Patriarchs

From Adam to Noah:
- Creation - Adam is wiser than the angels because he could name the animals ( 2:33 ), see also Midrash Rabbah on Numbers 19, Midrash Rabbah on Genesis 8 and 17 and Sanhedrin 38;
- The story of Satan, who refused to serve Adam ( 7:11 ), 17:61 , 18:50 , 20:116 , 38:74 ) was clearly rejected by the Jews, see Midrash Rabbah on Genesis 8;
- Cain and Abel - victim and killer.
- Koran: Raven tells Cain how to bury the body ( 5:31 ), Jews - the raven tells the parents how to bury the body (Pirke Rabbi Eliezer Ch. 21);
- Koran: killing a soul equals killing all humanity ( 5:32 ). This is taken from the context of Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5;
- Idris (Enoch) - taken to heaven after death and resurrected, see 19:57 and Genesis 5:24, as well as Tract Derin Erez (according to Midrash Yalkut Ch. 42);
From Noah to Abraham:
- Angels lived on earth, watched over women and destroyed marriages. Ayat 2:102 refers to Midrash Abhir (quoted from Midrash Yalkut Ch. 44);
- Noah - in the role of teacher and prophet, as well as the flood of water correspond to rabbinic views (Compare 7:64 , 10:73 , 11:40 , 22:42 , 23:27 , 25:37 , 26:105-121 , 29:14 , 37:74-82 , 54:9-15 , 71:1 and further from Sanhedrin 108, from Midrash Tanshuma (section “Noah”) and from Rosh Hashanah 162. The words of Noah are indistinguishable from the words of Muhammad (or Gabriel/Allah).
From Abraham to Moses:
- Abraham is the archetype of the prophet, a friend of God, lived in the temple, wrote books. A conflict over idols put him in danger of being burned alive, but God saved him. Muhammad's identification with Abraham is so strong that words are attributed to Abraham that would not apply to anyone else outside the context of Muhammad.
- Almost the entire 12th sura is dedicated to Joseph. Additions to biblical history come from Jewish legends. For example, Joseph is warned about Potiphar's wife in a dream ( 12:24 , Sotah 6:2), Egyptian women cut off their hands because of Joseph's beauty ( 12:31 , compare with references in Midrash Yalkut to the "Great Chronicles").

Moses and his time

Very similar to the biblical story with some errors and the addition of material from Jewish legends.

Baby Moses refused the breast of an Egyptian woman ( 28:12 , Sota 12.2).
Pharaoh declared himself a god ( 26:29 , 28:38 , Midrash Rabbah on Exodus, Ch. 5).
Pharaoh eventually repented ( 10:90 and further, Pirke Rabbi Eliezar, section 43).
The Lord threatens to bring down a mountain on the Israelites ( 2:63 , 2:93 , 2:171 , Aboda Zera 2:2).
There is confusion about the exact number of executions: 5 executions ( 7:133 ) or 9 ( 27:12 );
Haman ( 28:6 , ; 29:39 ) and Korea ( 40:24 ) are considered advisors to the pharaoh.
Aaron's sister Miriam is also believed to be the mother of Jesus ( 3:35-37 ).

Kings who ruled undivided Israel

Almost nothing is said about Saul and David. Solomon is discussed in much more detail. The story of the Queen of Sheba ( 27:22 ) is almost identical to the second Targum on the book of Esther.

Saints after Solomon

Elijah, Jonah, Job, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego (not named), Ezra, Elisha.

Conclusions: Muhammad borrowed quite a lot from Judaism, both from Scripture and from tradition. He freely interpreted what he heard. "Worldviews, doctrinal issues, ethical principles and general views on life, as well as more specialized issues of history and tradition, have indeed been transferred from Judaism to the Koran."

Appendix: Views of the Koran that are hostile to Judaism

Muhammad's goal was to unite all religions except Judaism, with its many laws, and at the same time remain his own. Therefore, he broke with the Jews, declaring them enemies who killed the prophets ( 2:61 , 5:70 ), thought they were chosen by God ( 5:18 ), believed that only they would enter heaven ( 62:6 ), mistook Ezra for the son of God ( 9:30 ), believed in the intercession of their ancestors, distorted the Bible ( 2:75 ). To emphasize the break, he changed some Jewish traditions. For example:

dinner precedes prayer (Sunnah 97ff) in contrast to the Talmud's strong emphasis on prayer;
Sex is permitted during Ramadan. The Talmud prohibits sex on the eve of holidays. In addition, men can remarry divorced wives only if the woman married and divorced someone else ( 2:230 ). This is in direct conflict with the Bible;
most Jewish dietary rules are ignored;
Muhammad refers to "an eye for an eye" and reproaches the Jews for replacing this commandment with the payment of money ( 5:45 ).

Sources of Islam

Views of Muslim theologians on the origins of Islam

The Quran was handed down directly by God from heaven, through Gabriel, to Muhammad. God is the only "source" of Islam.

Certain views and customs of the Arabs preserved in Islam, according to the book “Days of Ignorance”

Islam has preserved much from pre-Islamic Arabia, including the name of God - Allah. The concept of monotheism existed in the Jahiliya - even the pagans had the idea of a God superior to all others. There are hints that idolatry persisted (e.g., the Satanic Verses). The Kaaba has been the masjid (mosque, place of worship) of many tribes since 60 BC. e. The tradition of kissing the black stone comes from the pagans. Two passages from Saba Muallaq Imraul Qais are quoted in the Qur'an ( 54:1 , 29:31 And 29:46 , 37:69 , 21:96 , 93:1 ). There is also a hadith where Imraul ridicules Fatima for copying from him and claiming it to be Revelation.

Borrowing the principles and stories of the Koran and Tradition from the Jewish commentators, and some religious customs from the Sabaeans

The Sabaeans are a now extinct religious group. Very little is known about it, but the surviving information allows us to highlight the following customs:

7 daily prayers, 5 of them coincide in time, chosen by Muhammad;
prayer for the dead;
30-day fast from sunrise to nightfall;
observance of the holiday of the establishment of the 5 principles;
worship of the Kaaba.

The Jews were the three main tribes that lived in the vicinity of Medina: Banu Quraiza, Banu Qaynuqa and Banu Nadir.

Cain and Abel - 5:27:31 , Wed Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziah, Jerusalem Targum. Particularly noticeable are the parallels with Pirke Rabbi Eleazer (the story of the raven who taught people how to bury) and the Mishnah Sanhedrin (a commentary on bloodshed).
Abraham saved from Nimrod's fire ( 21:69 ) – borrowed from Midrash Rabbah (Gen. 15:7). The parallels are especially obvious when there is a reference to the corresponding hadith. The only notable discrepancy is that the Quran calls Abraham's father Azar rather than Terah, but Eusebius reports that this name is similar to that used in Syria. Jewish commentary resulted from an erroneous translation Ur, which means "city" in Babylonian, as Or meaning "fire", so the commentator (Jonathan without Uzziah) suggested that Abraham was sent into the fiery furnace of the Chaldeans.
Visit to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba 27:22 and further) borrowed from the 2nd Targum on the book of Esther.
Harut and Marut ( 2:102 , especially Araysh al-Majalis - a commentary on the said verse) - are identical to several passages from the Talmud, especially Midrash Yalkut. The stories are similar and differ only in the names of the angels. The names in the Koran coincide with the names of two goddesses revered in Armenia.
A number of other borrowings from the Jews:
- The construction of Mount Sinai - 2:63 and Aboda Sarah;
- making the golden calf - 2:51 and Pirke Rabbi Eleazerzh
- the man who created the golden calf is called in the Koran the word Sameri, however, the Samaritans did not appear until 400 years after Moses.
Some more Jewishisms:
- Many words in the Koran are of Hebrew, Chaldean, Syriac, etc., and not of Arabic origin;
- The concept of 7 heavens and 7 deeps is taken from the Hebrew books Chagigah and Zohar ( 15:44 , 17:44 );
- The throne of God is located above the water ( 11:7 ) - borrowing from Hebrew Rashi;
- The angel Malik rules Gehenna - his name is taken from Moloch, the god of fire in pagan Palestine.
- The wall separating heaven and hell ( 7:46 ) – a number of places in the Jewish Midrash.
Religious rites of Islam, borrowed from the Jews:
- The beginning of the day is determined by the ability to distinguish a white thread from a black (Islam) or blue (Judaism) thread ( 2:187 , Mishnah Berakot)
- The Qur'an is preserved on the heavenly tablets ( 85:21-22 ), similar to the tablets of the Decalogue (Deut. 10:1-5), regarding which Jewish legend embellishes that the Torah, Scripture, Prophets, Mishnah and Gemara are written on them (Rabbi Simeon).

Concerning the belief that much of the Qur'an originated from the accounts of heretical Christian sects

Many heretics were expelled from the Roman Empire and migrated to Arabia before Muhammad.

Seven Sleepers or Cave Brothers ( 18:9-26 ). The story is of Greek origin, found in the Latin work of Gregory of Tours (History of the Martyrs, 1:5) and is considered by Christians to be a sanctimonious fabrication.
Mary's story ( 3:35-37 , 19:28 , 66:12 ). Mary is called the sister of Aaron, the daughter of Imran (Hebrew Amran - the father of Moses) and the mother of Jesus. The hadith tells that Mary's mother, an old barren woman, promised that if God gave her a child, she would give him to the temple (from the Proto-Gospel of James the Less). The Hadith also explains that the throwing of wands mentioned in the Qur'an refers to the priests vying for the right to contain Mary. They threw their rods into the river, and only Zechariah's rod did not drown (from The History of our Holy Father the Aged, the Carpenter (Joseph)). Mary was accused of adultery, but proved her innocence (from the Proto-Gospel, a Coptic book about the Virgin Mary) and gave birth under a palm tree that helped her (from “The History of the Origin of Mary and the Childhood of the Savior”).
Childhood of Jesus: Jesus spoke from the cradle and sculpted birds from clay and then brought them to life ( 3:46:49 ). Taken from the Gospel of Thomas Israelite and the Gospel of the Childhood of Jesus Christ, ch. 1, 36, 46. Jesus was not actually crucified ( 4:157 ) according to the heretic Basilides (quoted by Irenaeus). The Qur'an erroneously believes that the Trinity consists of Father, Mother and Son ( 4:171 , 5:72-73 , 5:116 ).
Some other stories from Christian or heretical writers: in the hadith (Qissas al-Anbial) God sends angels for the ashes to create Adam, and Azrael brings them from the 4 cardinal points (Ibn Atir through Abdul Feda). This is from the heretic Marconius, who argued that humans were created by an angel (“God of the Law”), and not by God himself. Balance of good and evil deeds (
Arab and Greek historians report that much of the Arabian Peninsula was under Persian rule before and during Muhammad's life. Ibn Ishaq reports that the stories of Rutem, Isfandiyar and ancient Persia were told in Medina, and Quraysh often compared them with the stories of the Qur'an (for example, the tales of Nadr, son of al-Harith).
1. Ascension (Mi'raj) of the Prophet ( 17:1 ). There are significant differences in interpretation. Ibn Ishaq quotes Aisha and the prophet that it was an exit from the body. Muhayyad Din [ibn al-Arabi] agrees. But Ibn Ishaq also quotes the prophet that this was a literal journey. Kotada refers to the prophet's saying that this was a real journey to the seventh heaven. In Zoroastrianism, the Magi send one of their number to heaven to receive a message from God (Ohrmazd) (from Pahlavi's Arta Viraf Namak, 400 BC). The Testament of Abraham also records that Abraham was taken to heaven in a chariot.
2. Gurias, with which paradise is full ( 55:70 , 56:22 ), similar to the pariahs in Zoroastrianism. The words “guria”, “jinn” and “bihist” (paradise) come from Avesta or Pahlavi. "Youths of Pleasure" ("gilunan") also come from Hindu tales. The name of the angel of death is taken from the Jews (there are two names in Hebrew, Sammael and Azrael, the latter was borrowed by Islam), but the concept of an angel killing those in hell is taken from Zoroastrianism.
3. Azazel, emerging from hell - according to Muslim tradition, he served the Lord for 1,000 years in each of the seven heavens until he reached earth. Then for 3,000 years he sat at the gates of heaven, trying to tempt Adam and Eve in order to destroy creation. This is very similar to the Zoroastrian legend about their devil (Ahriman) in the book Victory of the Lord. Peacock agrees to let Iblis into heaven in exchange for a prayer with magic numbers (Bundahishin) - an association noted by the Zoroastrians (Eznik, in his book "Against Heresies").
4. The Light of Muhammad is the first created thing (Qissas al-Anbial, Rauza al-Ahbab). The light was divided into 4 parts, then each part into 4 more parts. Muhammad was the first part of the first division of light. This light was then placed on Adam and descended on his best descendants. This actually repeats the Zoroastrian views describing the division of light (“Minuhirad”, “Desatir-i Asmani”, “Yesht”); the light was placed on the first man (Jamshid) and passed on to his greatest descendants.
5. The Sirat Bridge is a concept borrowed from Dinkard; in Zoroastrianism the bridge is called Chinawad.
6. The view that each prophet predicts the appearance of the next one is borrowed from Desatir-i Asmani, where each Zoroastrian prophet predicts the next one. In addition, the beginning of these books (for example, “Desatir-i Asmani”) is as follows: "In the name of God, the Giver of blessings, the Beneficent", which corresponds to the beginning of the suras: "In the name of God, the Gracious and the Merciful".
7. How could Muhammad know about this? Rauza al-Ahbab reports that the prophet often spoke to people from different places. Al Kindi accuses the Qur'an of using "old wives' tales." In addition, from “Sirat Rasul Allah” we learn about the Persian Salman, Muhammad’s adviser at the Battle of the Trench, accused of helping to compile the Koran (the Koran mentions him, although it does not call him by name).
Hanifites: their influence on Muhammad and his teachings

The influence of the Hanifites (Arab monotheists) on Muhammad is most reliably described by Ibn Hisham with quotes from Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat. Six Hanifis are mentioned by name - Abu Amir (Medina), Umeya (Tayif), Waraqa (became a Christian), Ubaidallah (became a Muslim, moved to Abyssinia and converted to Christianity), Osman, Zayd (expelled from Mecca, lived on Mount Hira, where Muhammad went to meditate) (the last four were from Mecca).
, ), but Muslims were ordered to kill idolaters the moment they discovered them (even if they are not fighting against Islam!), since they do not profess the correct faith.
Jewish foundation of Islam

Charles Cutler Torrey

Allah and Islam

Muhammad tried to create a religious history for the Arabs, but the history of Arab beliefs did not provide him with sufficient sources for this. Such references appear mainly in the Meccan period. He refers to Hud, the prophet of the tribe of Hell; Salih, the prophet of Tamud and Shuaib, the prophet of the Medes. All pagan customs not directly related to idolatry have been preserved in Islam, including the rituals of the Hajj.
After exhausting the Arabic material, Muhammad turned to the Jewish material, since it was well known and could serve the new religion to spread more deeply over a larger area. In addition to apocryphal works, Muhammad must have known the canonical Bible, especially the Torah. He knew only prophets with interesting destinies, and therefore passed by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and all the minor prophets, with the exception of Jonah. From folk tales, the Arabs knew about the Jewish view of the origin of both peoples from a common ancestor - Abraham and his sons Isaac and Ishmael (Hagar is not mentioned in the Koran). The Koran claims that they built the Kaaba (although later Islamic tradition claims that Adam built the Kaaba and Abraham cleansed it of idols). It seems possible that the Hanifs (Arab monotheists who followed the religion of Abraham) are an invention of later Islam. The story of Iblis (or Shaitan) prostrating himself before Adam is not about worship, since there is a possible Jewish source for this story in Sanhedrin 596 and Midrash Rabbah 8. Shuaib probably corresponds to the biblical Jethro. Uzair is Ezra, and the Jews are accused of declaring him the son of God. Idris is also Ezra (Greek name). The Jewish chronology in the Koran is very weak, in particular, Muhammad makes Moses and Jesus contemporaries (Moses' sister is also the mother of Jesus).
Isa ibn Mariam is Jesus. Muhammad knows very little about him, and there is no Christian teaching in the Koran. What little information we have about Jesus came first from facts and fancies circulating throughout Arabia, and secondly, to a small extent, through the Jews. The name Isa is in itself incorrect: in Arabic it should sound like Yeshu. One of two things, either this name was given by the Jews (associating Jesus with their ancient enemy Esau), or it is a corruption of the Syriac Isho. In the Qur'an itself, Jesus' position is no higher than Abraham, Moses or David. The exaltation occurred later, during the caliphate, when the Arabs began to have close contacts with Christians. Several Christian terms (Messiah, Spirit) have found their way into the Quran without any real understanding of their meaning. Perhaps the move to Abyssinia served to turn Muhammad to Christian stories. Rudolf and Arens argue that if Muhammad had learned about Jesus from the Jews, he would have ignored or insulted Jesus. But many Jews accepted Jesus as a teacher, while rejecting the Christian worldview. In addition, Muhammad feared a large Christian empire, so he would not trust anyone who defamed Jesus. The information about Christ in the Koran is presented in such a way as not to disturb the Jews. The Quran's views on Jesus are:
1. confirmed the correctness of the views of the Torah;
2. preached monotheism;
3. warned about the possibility of the emergence of new sects.
In general, the Koran does not say anything specifically Christian about Jesus.
Torrey then moves on to argue about the constituent Meccan suras, closely following traditional Muslim views. He points out the implausibility of mixing Meccan and Medinan verses if the prophet publicly recited his revelation and his followers memorized the revelation as it happened. Constantly adding new material to existing suras would certainly lead to confusion or skepticism. Traditional commentators often overlook the Jewish population of Mecca, to whom some verses of the Meccan suras may be addressed. In fact, Muhammad's personal contacts with the Jews were longer and closer before the Hijra than after. Can we assume that the Meccan Jews were friendly towards Muhammad? And after the eviction or massacre of the Jews at Yathrib, it is not surprising that the Jews quickly left Mecca.
Torrey recommends viewing the Meccan suras as a whole, without interpolation, unless absolutely proven otherwise. This reduces the variations in style and vocabulary that distinguish the two periods. Simply put, he advocates literary rather than formal criticism.

Origin of the term Islam
Main article: Meaning of the word Islam
It is believed that Islam means submission, especially towards Allah. But this is not the meaning that the 4th stem of the verb should have "salima". This is especially strange due to the fact that submission is not a dominant quality of Muhammad or his religion, and is in no way emphasized in the Qur'an. However, it is an important attribute of Abraham, especially in his potential sacrifice of Ishmael.

Narration of the Qur'an

Muhammad uses the stories of the prophets for the following purposes:
- provide clear connections to previous “religions of Scripture”;
- to show his compatriots that his religion had been preached before, and those who did not recognize it were punished.
However, Muhammad's stories are boring. And An-Nadr ibn Al-Harit ridicules the prophet, claiming that An-Nadr’s own stories about the Persian kings are much more interesting (after the Battle of Badr, the prophet took revenge by executing An-Nadr). Muhammad himself appreciated good stories and, where he could, included folk tales in the Koran. However, this presented Muhammad with a choice: if he simply retold the story, he would be accused of plagiarism, and if he changed them, he would be accused of falsification. He simply could not come up with new stories, because his imagination was vivid, but not creative. All of his characters talk the same way and he has very little sense of action. His solution was to repeat the stories he knew, but in fragments, using introductory words that implied that he could tell more if he wanted (for example, “and when...”, “and then, while...”).
The story of Joseph is the most complete account of the Qur'an, but, again, irritatingly poor in detail. Why were women given knives? How does feast relate to anything? Why was Joseph imprisoned after Potiphar's wife confessed? The story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba ( 27:22 ) taken straight from the Haggadah. The story of Jonah is a distillation of the Bible account, but the names are based on Greek rather than Hebrew forms. Saul and Goliath (Talut and Jalut) is a mixture of the story of Gideon (Judges 7:47) with David and Goliath. The story of Moses summarizes Exodus 1–4, although Muhammad does not associate Moses with the Israelites. Haman is considered the vizier of the pharaoh. As in the Talmud (Sotah 126), the baby Moses refuses the breast of an Egyptian woman. The marriage of Moses in Media broadly follows the story of Jacob and Rachel; and the tower (almost identical to the Tower of Babel) is built by Pharaoh to reach Allah. These narratives show how free Muhammad felt in reinterpreting the biblical tradition.
Sura 18 is unusual in that the story it contains does not belong to the Bible or rabbinic literature, and is not referred to by Muhammad anywhere else in the Qur'an.
1. The Seven Sleepers - comes from the legend of seven Christian youths who fled from Ephesus to the mountains to escape the persecution of Decius Trajan (250 AD). Although this is a Christian story, for several reasons it appears that it came to Muhammad through the Jews: a) the hadith states that the Jews of Mecca were especially interested in this story (see Baydawi on verse 23); b) there is a high probability that the remaining stories in the chapter also reached the Jewish edition; c) the internal evidence of verse 18, which mentions the importance of “clean” eating, a concept important to Jews but not to Christians. There is nothing specifically Christian in this story. They could just as well have been Israeli youths. Apparently, the legend existed in different forms and Muhammad doubted what the correct number of youths was. The Qur'an dispels doubt by stating that only God knows the right answer.
2. The following story is a simple parable about the confrontation between a God-fearing poor man and an arrogant rich man. The latter is punished.
3. Then there is the story of Moses searching for the fountain of life, similar to the fountain in the story of Alexander the Great, but only the names are changed. This legend has its roots in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
4. Finally, the story of the “two-horned” hero is again from Alexander the Great. The hero travels to the place of sunset and to the place of its rise as a messenger of God. He is protected from Gog and Magog (Yajuj and Majuj in the Quran) and builds a great wall. These fantasies are intertwined with the Haggadah, which provides another argument in favor of the Jewish origin of the entire sura.
Thus, the following sources of the Koran used by Muhammad can be distinguished:
1. Biblical stories with distortions.
2. A well-preserved Jewish Haggadah.
3. There is some essentially Christian material from Aramaic.

Literature

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Russia is a multinational state. This determines the large number of religions that are officially registered on the territory of the Russian Federation. Due to ignorance of basic things about other religions and the Holy Scriptures, such situations can often be resolved. In particular, you should familiarize yourself with the answer to the question: “What is the Koran?”

What is the essence of the Quran?

Who recorded the Koran?

Structure of the Quran

In what language is the Muslim Holy Book written?

The Koran in Russian has its place, but any righteous believer must come to read the scripture in the source language.

The style in which the Qur'an is written

It is believed that the style in which the Qur'an is presented is unique, unlike either the Old One, or the Reading of the Qur'an reveals sharp transitions from the narration from the first person to the third and vice versa. In addition, in the suras, believers can encounter various rhythmic patterns, which complicates the study of the message, but gives it uniqueness, leads to a change in topic, and also gives a small hint at the revelation of secrets in the future.

The Quran is not just a book. This is the Holy Scripture for all Muslims living on Earth, which incorporates the basic rules of life for righteous believers.

An ancient hand scripted Quran

The Koran is the holy book of Muslims, a collection of revelations sent by Allah to Muhammad from above, the basis of Muslim doctrine. Based on the basic provisions of the Koran, social, economic, political, legal and family relations are built in Islam. The Quran was revealed in Arabic. The Qur'an is a book containing more than 500 pages of text and 114 chapters (surahs). Significant portions of the text of the Quran are rhymed prose.

According to the doctrine of Islam, the Koran is an uncreated book, existing forever, like Allah himself, it is his word. Judging by the data of the Muslim tradition, the revelations of Allah were transmitted to the Prophet Muhammad around the years 610-632, and their recording, collection and compilation of the book lasted for many years. And for almost 14 centuries this book has lived and retained its significance not only as a religious, but also as a historical and literary monument. In countries where Islam is the state religion, many legal acts are based on the Koran; people take oaths and oaths on the Koran. The study of the Koran and its interpretations (tafsir) is one of the main subjects of religious educational institutions in a number of countries.

What does the word “Koran” mean?

The title of the Muslim holy book is usually translated as "reading". But this does not mean reading in the literal sense of the word. After all, Muhammad read his sermons not from a written text, but from memory. In addition, Muhammad delivered his sermons rhythmically, as if reciting them. The word “Quran” is often used with the article “al” - “Al-Quran”, which means a holy book, which, like the Bible, the Torah, is intended to be read aloud, by heart. According to Muslim tradition, the Koran cannot be translated into other languages. Muslims whose native language is not Arabic memorize the most important parts of the Qur'an. Reading or listening to the Koran in Arabic means for a Muslim to listen to the speech of God himself.

The famous scientist, orientalist, translator of the Koran into Russian I. Yu. Krachkovsky writes that the Koran is very difficult to understand, many manifestations of the spiritual world of the people of that era turned out to be forever lost to our time. Since translating and printing the Koran into other languages was forbidden, therefore for a very long time the Koran was only copied.

Being illiterate, Muhammad did not write down his sermons, but many of his followers memorized them because they were similar to poetry. Those who knew the entire Koran by heart were called hafiz. However, some passages of the Koran were written down by literate Arabs on palm leaves, parchment, flat bones, and clay tablets. Part of the holy book was written down by Muhammad's personal scribe, Zayd ibn Thabit.

After the death of the prophet, the first caliph, friend and relative Abu Bakr, decided to collect all the texts and compile a collection of Muhammad's sermons. The first version of the Koran (Suhuf) appeared, but the final book of the prophet, prepared under Caliph Uthman, was called “Mushaf” and was canonized. This book was large in size and written on parchment. Several copies were made of the Mushaf, one of which is kept in the Kaaba next to the “black stone”. Another copy of the Koran is kept in Medina, in the courtyard of the Prophet's Mosque. It is believed that two more original copies of the Koran have survived: one is in Cairo, in the Egyptian National Library, the other in Tashkent.

The Koran for Muslims is a guide to action and life. It is addressed to Muslims and gives them advice on how to live, work, and relate to people. The Koran is a guide in which a Muslim finds answers to many questions that interest him. Being predominantly a religious-philosophical work and a legislative book. The Koran is a unique historical and literary work, by reading which we learn about the geographical features of the Arabian Peninsula, about the life and way of life, the activities of the Arabs, and the historical events of that era. In the Koran you can read about the moral culture of Muslims, their behavior, and relationships. Dwelling on the contents of the Koran, we note that Muhammad’s sermons present various subjects - traditions, myths, legends of Arab tribes. The fight against polytheism, the affirmation of monotheism, that is, the unity of God, is the main idea of the Koran. The Koran presents some religious information about the immortality of the soul, about heaven and hell, about the end of the world, about the Day of Judgment, about the creation of the world and man, about the fall of the first people - Adam and Eve, about the global flood and others.

A distinctive feature of the Koran is that Allah speaks in it in the first person - this is the first and most significant difference between the Koran and the Torah and the Gospel. Most of the Koran is a dialogue between Allah and people, but always through Muhammad, through his lips. Since the Koran is a difficult work to understand, there are different interpretations of it. The most authoritative scholars were allowed to interpret the Koran before and now; it is unacceptable to distort the meaning of a single verse of the Koran. Unfortunately, these days we see how various terrorist organizations and sects, interpreting and distorting the meaning of the Koran in their own way, call illiterate people to war and to commit all sorts of crimes against humanity.

Also amazing and attractive in the Koran is the imagery of presentation, emotionality, and richness of poetic techniques and vocabulary. The verses of the Koran worried many famous scientists and poets. The great Russian poet A. S. Pushkin wrote about the role of the Koran:

The list is given from the heavenly book

You, prophet, are not for the obstinate:

Calmly proclaim the Quran,

Without forcing the wicked!

And the great Tatar poet G. Tukay noted: “The Koran is a true stronghold.” Let us remember the words of B. Pasternak regarding the Bible, but they are surprisingly applicable to the Koran: “... this is not so much a book with hard text as a notebook for humanity.” The texts of the Koran are ancient, but ageless, accepted by past generations and awaiting acceptance by future generations, feeding followers of Islam, scientists, and poets with living thought...

This is interesting:

English Islamic scholar William Watt writes: “When Arab studies, Arab thought, Arab writings are presented in full, it becomes clear that without the Arabs, European science and philosophy could not have developed at such a pace. The Arabs were not just transmitters, but also genuine carriers of Greek thought. The Europeans had to learn everything they could from the Arabs before they could move forward." (L. I. Klimovich “Book about the Koran, its origin and mythology.” - M., 1986)

Who recorded the Koran?

Structure of the Quran

In what language is the Muslim Holy Book written?

The style in which the Qur'an is written

Introduction

Skepticism. Hadiths

Transfer of the Quran

Transmission of the Qur'an according to Christian authors

Conclusions

Materials on the history of the text of the Koran

Masahif Books

Code of Ibn Masud (d. 32)

Codex Ubay b. Kaaba (d. 29 or 34)

Codex Ali (d. 40)

Progress in the study of the text of the Qur'an

Fatih invariants

Abu Ubayd on the Lost Verses

Textual discrepancies in the Qur'an

Sources of the Qur'an

What did Muhammad borrow from Judaism?

Concepts borrowed from Judaism

Views borrowed from Judaism

Plots borrowed from Judaism

Appendix: Views of the Koran that are hostile to Judaism

Sources of Islam

Views of Muslim theologians on the origins of Islam

Certain views and customs of the Arabs preserved in Islam, according to the book “Days of Ignorance”

Borrowing the principles and stories of the Koran and Tradition from the Jewish commentators, and some religious customs from the Sabaeans

Concerning the belief that much of the Qur'an originated from the accounts of heretical Christian sects

Hanifites: their influence on Muhammad and his teachings

Jewish foundation of Islam

Allah and Islam

Origin of the term Islam

Narration of the Qur'an

Literature

What is the essence of the Quran?

Who recorded the Koran?

Structure of the Quran

In what language is the Muslim Holy Book written?

The style in which the Qur'an is written

What does the word “Koran” mean?