The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran

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The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran
Author Christoph Luxenberg
Original title Die Syro-Aramäische Lesart des Koran
Country Germany
Language English
Subject(s) Philology, Koran studies
Genre(s) Non-fiction
Publisher Hans Schiler Publishers
Publication date 1 May 2007
Media type Print (Hardcover)
Pages 352
ISBN ISBN 3-89930-088-2

The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran: A Contribution to the Decoding of the Language of the Koran English Edition of 2007 (Die syro-aramäische Lesart des Koran: Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Koransprache (2000) is a book by German philologist and professor of ancient Semitic and Arabic languages Christoph Luxenberg[1][2][3].

This book takes a philological and text-critical approach to the study of the Qur'an and is considered a major, but controversial work in the field of Qur'anic philology. The book triggered a worldwide debate about the history, linguistic origins and correct interpretation of the Qur'an and it has received extensive coverage in the mainstream media, unusual for a philological work.[4]

Contents

[edit] Thesis

The work advances the thesis that the content of critical sections of the Qu'ran has been broadly misread by succeeding generations of readers through a faulty and exclusive reliance on the assumption that classical Arabic formed the foundation of the Qu'ran whereas linguistic analysis of the text suggests that the prevalent Syro-Aramic language up to the 7th century formed a stronger etymological basis for its meaning.[5][6]

A notable trait of early written Arabic was that it lacked vowel signs and diacritic points which would later distinguish e.g. B, T, N, Y (Defective script), and thus was prone to misinterpretation. The diacritical points were added around the turn of the eighth century on orders of Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef, governor of Iraq (694-714).

Luxenberg, like many scholars before him, remarks that the Qur'an contains much ambiguous and even inexplicable language. He asserts that even Muslim scholars find some passages difficult to parse and have written reams of Quranic commentary attempting to explain these passages. However, the assumption behind their endeavours has always been that any difficult passage is true, meaningful, and pure Arabic, and that it can be deciphered with the tools of traditional Muslim scholarship. Luxenberg accuses Western academic scholars of the Qur'an of taking a timid and imitative approach, relying too heavily on the biased work of Muslim scholars.

The book's thesis is that the Qur'an was not originally written exclusively in Arabic but in a mixture with Syriac, the dominant spoken and written language in the Arabian peninsula through the 8th century.

“ What is meant by Syro-Aramaic (actually Syriac) is the branch of Aramaic in the Near East originally spoken in Edessa and the surrounding area in Northwest Mesopotamia and predominant as a written language from Christianization to the origin of the Koran. For more than a millennium Aramaic was the lingua franca in the entire Middle Eastern region before being gradually displaced by Arabic beginning in the 7th century.[7] ”

Luxenberg argues that scholars must start afresh, ignore the old Islamic commentaries, and use only the latest in linguistic and historical methods. Hence, if a particular Quranic word or phrase seems meaningless in Arabic, or can be given meaning only by tortured conjectures, it makes sense -- he argues -- to look to the Aramaic and Syriac languages as well as Arabic.

Luxenberg also argues that the Qur'an is based on earlier texts, namely lectionaries used in the Christian churches of Syria, and that it was the work of several generations who adapted these texts into the Qur'an we know today.

[edit] Philological methodology

  • Check whether a plausible, overlooked explanation can be found in Al-Tabari's commentary.
  • Check if there is a plausible explanation in the Lisan al-Arab by Ibn Mandhur, the most extensive Arabic dictionary (this dictionary antedates Tabari, so might contain new material).
  • Check if the Arabic expression has a homonymous root in Syriac or Aramaic with a different meaning that fits the context.
  • Judge whether or not the meaning of the Syriac/Aramaic root word might make better sense of the passage.
  • Check to see if there is a Syriac word which would make sense of the passage.
  • Experiment with different placements of the diacritics (which indicate vowels, etc.) later added to the earliest text, the rasm. Perhaps there is a version of the rasm that will give an Arabic word that makes sense of the passage.
  • If there is no Arabic word that works, repeat the experiment and look for Syriac words.
  • Translate the Arabic phrase into Syriac and check the Syrian literature for a phrase that might have been translated literally into Arabic; the original meaning in Syriac may make more sense than the resulting Arabic phrase (such translated phrases are called morphological calques).
  • Check to see if there is a corresponding phrase in the old Syrian literature, which may be an analog of an Arabic phrase now lost.
  • Check to see if it is a correct Arabic expression written in Arabic script, but in Syriac orthography.

"Plausability", "judging" and "making sense" of single word involves looking at occurrences of the same word in more obvious Koranic passages, and looking at Aramaic apocryphal and liturgical texts, which were carried over almost verbatim into the Koran.

[edit] Author's conclusions

  • The word Qur'an itself is derived from 'qeryana', a Syriac term from the Christian liturgy that means ‘lectionary’ ­ a book of liturgical readings. The book being a Syro-Aramaic lectionary, with hymns and Biblical extracts, created for use in Christian services. This lectionary was translated into Arabic as a missionary effort. It was not meant to start a new religion, but to spread an older one. [8]
5th Century Christian mural representing the white grapes symbolism located in the Coptic monastery Deir al-Suryan ("The Syrians") in the Wadi Natrun in Egypt
5th Century Christian mural representing the white grapes symbolism located in the Coptic monastery Deir al-Suryan ("The Syrians") in the Wadi Natrun in Egypt
  • The word huri, usually interpreted by generations of readers as white-eyed virgins (who will serve the faithful in Paradise; Qur'an 44:54, 52:20 ,55:72, 56:22) actually means white grapes. He says that many Christian descriptions of Paradise describe it as abounding in pure white grapes. This sparked much joking in the Western press; suicide bombers would be expecting beautiful women and getting grapes.[9]
  • The Quranic passage in Sura 24 commanding women to cover themselves, one of the texts on which the doctrine of hijab is based, actually commands women to "snap their belts around their waists".
  • The passage in Sura 33 that has usually been translated as "seal of the prophets" actually means "witness". By this reading, Muhammad is not the greatest of the prophets, but only a witness to those prophets who came before him.
  • The Qur'an was composed in a mixed Arabic-Syriac language, the traders' language of Mecca.
  • The interpretative mistakes that were made by the first commentators suggests that there must have been a gap in the oral transmission of the Qur'an.

[edit] Response to Luxenberg

Several academics have enthusiastically accepted Luxenberg's thesis, while others feel that his method is a recipe for picking the interpretation that best serves the needs of his argument.

In 2004 the German Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute for Advanced Study) in Berlin held an academic conference focusing on Luxenberg's thesis [10] and an international working group was formed to continue the discussion. Many of the conference discussions were critical of Luxenberg. However, a number of academics have stated that Luxenberg's work is valuable in that it has focused attention on various deficiencies in contemporary Quranic studies.

One is the lack of a critical edition of the Qur'an, referencing the manuscripts that still exist and studying the evolution of the received text as it is known today.

Another is the lack of an etymological dictionary of the Semitic languages that meets the strictest contemporary standards. This would surely contribute to discussions of borrowings from Syriac, Latin and Middle Persian into Arabic.

A 2005 conference at the University of Notre Dame (Towards a New Reading of the Qur'ān?) clearly indicated increasing acceptance of Luxenberg's approach.[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Virgins and the Grapes: the Christian Origins of the Koran
  2. ^ Le vergini e l´uva: le origini cristiane del Corano
  3. ^ An interview with "Christoph Luxenberg" by Alfred Hackensberger
  4. ^ The Koran As Philological Quarry A Conversation with Christoph Luxenberg
  5. ^ The New York Times Radical New Views of Islam and the Origins of the Koran
  6. ^ The Syro-Aramaic Reading Of The Qur'an, 2007, English Edition Chapter 18: "Contrary to the earlier assumption of a dialect of Arabic spoken in Mecca, the present study has shown that, insofar as the Arabic tradition has identified the language of the Koran with that of the Quraysh, the inhabitants of Mecca, this language must instead have been an Aramaic-Arabic hybrid language. It is not just the findings of this study that have led to this insight. Namely, in the framework of this study an examination of a series of hadith (sayings of the Prophet) has identified Aramaisms that had either been misinterpreted or were inexplicable from the point of view of Arabic. This would lead one to assume that Mecca was originally an Aramaic settlement. Confirmation of this would come from the name Mecca (Macca) itself, which one has not been able to explain etymologically on the basis of Arabic. But if we take the Syro-Aramaic root Km (ma, actually makk) (lower, to be low) as a basis, we get the adjective akm (mäkkä) (masc.), atkm (mäkk1ä) (fem.), with the meaning of "(the) lower (one)."
  7. ^ The Syro-Aramaic Reading Of The Qur'an 2007 English edition,Foreword
  8. ^ Giving the Koran a history:
  9. ^ "Virgins? What virgins?", The Guardian, 2002-01-12. 
  10. ^ Michael Marx. "What is the Koran?", inamo 37/2004, 2004-05-22. 
  11. ^ Conference Abstracts. "Towards a New Reading of the Qur'ān", University of Notre Dame, 2002-04-02. ?[1]

[edit] Further reading

  • The Transmission Of The Qur'an" Alphonse Mingana 1916
  • Syriac Influences On The Style Of The Kur'an, Alphonse Mingana 1927
  • An Ancient Syriac Translation Of The Kur'an Exhibiting New Verses And Variants Alphonse Mingana 1925
  • The Foreign Vocabulary Of The Qur'an, Arthur Jeffery 1938,
  • Leaves From Three Ancient Qur'âns Possibly Pre-`Othmânic With A List Of Their Variants, Alphonse Mingana & A. S. Lewis (eds.) 1914
  • Crone, Patricia & Michael Cook -- Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World, Cambridge University Press, 1977
  • A Challenge To Islam For Reformation - Günter Lüling (Motilal Banarsidass 2003)
  • The Qur'an: Misinterpreted, Mistranslated, and Misread. The Aramaic Language of the Qur'an Gabriel Sawma 2006
  • Donner, Fred -- Narratives of Islamic Origins, Darwin Press, 1998

[edit] External links

[edit] Popular press

[edit] Academic press