Legends and the Qur'an

This article considers the relation of the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam, and myths and legends. "Myths are narratives that serve to explain and describe the experienced world by laying bare its archetypal patterns; they are often staged in a cosmic or supernatural framework so as to manifest binding truths, to generate meaning and provide guidance. Legends, raising no such universal claim, may be understood as narratives of pious imagination celebrating an exemplary figure." Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, "myth, legends and the Qur'an"]

Whether the Qur'an contains myths or legends is a hyper-sensitive and controversial question since "the term 'myth,' in particular, is sometimes thought to be irreconcilable with the concept of revelation." The Qur'an contains many religious accounts considered legendary or derivative by non-Muslim historians. [C. C. Torrey, Jewish Foundation of Islam, 1933, Ktav Publishing House, Inc.: New York, See pages 117 and 119.] Most of this literature was created hundreds of years after the events they document, therefore they are not considered to have any historical accuracy. The content is usually Jewish folklore rejected by Jewish scholars. Historians and source critics think that Muhammad mistook these accounts for being orthodox Jewish and Christian beliefs and therefore incorporated them into the Qur'an. [Joseph Campbell. The Masks of God:Occidental Mythology] Critics of Islam therefore conclude that the Qur'an cannot be from God because it contains these unhistorical legends.

The Qur'an's response

During Muhammad's lifetime, non-Muslims accused Muhammad of borrowing from "tales of the ancients" to compose the Qur'an. Because Muslims believe that the Qur'an was not revealed all at once, the Qur'an quotes these critics.

atan and Adam

In the Qur'an, Satan originally has favor with God. When God creates Adam, he commands all the angels to bow to him. Satan refuses to bow to Adam and is therefore rebuked by God. The apocryphal Jewish work Life of Adam and Eve also contains this narrative.

Quran

cquote|Behold! thy Lord said to the angels: "I am about to create man, from sounding clay from mud moulded into shape; "When I have fashioned him (in due proportion) and breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down in obeisance unto him." So the angels prostrated themselves, all of them together: Not so Iblis: he refused to be among those who prostrated themselves. (God) said: "O Iblis! what is your reason for not being among those who prostrated themselves?" (Iblis) said: "I am not one to prostrate myself to man, whom Thou didst create from sounding clay, from mud moulded into shape."

The Life of Adam and Eve

Additionally, some confusion comes from the Qur'anic passage because in it God speaks to the angels, implying that Satan is an angel while elsewhere in Islam Satan is called a jinn instead, this is because of the grammatical rule called tagleeb in the arabic language, in which the majority in a certain area gets the noun. For example, if in a room there is 100 boys and one girl, the tagleeb rule applies all in the room as boys because they are the majority but the girl is still a girl, thus when God says to the angels "Prostrate" Satan was in the area but is not an angel.

Animal names

According to the Qur'an, God dictates the names of the animals to Adam. This element is similar, but the opposite of Genesis, that tells about the naming of the animals but says that Adam named them. There is a document written later than Genesis and before the Qur'an that might link these two accounts.

Killing all mankind

The Qur'an says that because of the murder of Abel by Cain,

The Qur'an does not tell the reason for the connection between Abel and this proverb, but the Jewish Mishnah does.

cquote|For this reason, man [i.e. the first human being] was created alone to teach that whoever destroys a single life is as though he had destroyed an entire universe, and whoever saves a single life is as if he had saved an entire universe.(Mishnah Sanhedrin, 4:5) [ [http://www.chiefrabbi.org/dd/sources/sourece85.html Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5] ]

Note that the Mishnah is respected by most Jews as human commentary, not divine.

Abraham idol wrecker

The Qur'an has the same story as the Midrashic about Abraham smashing idols contained in Midrash Bereishit 38:13 and Surah 21 in the Qur'an. Abraham's father was an idolater but Abraham is a devout monotheist. Abraham breaks many idols and the people try to burn him until God rescues Abraham.

The Qur'an does not explain what it means that the idolaters lost more than Abraham, but the Midrash explains. The story is accepted by Jews as non-historical and created by Jews who were warning of following the Greek gods. Elements of the story probably have roots in the "Apocalypse of Abraham" and the "Book of Jubilees". Abraham's father's name is Azar in the Qur'an and Terah in the Midrash and Bible

However Shia Muslims believe that Azar is Abraham's Uncle, and that he looked after Abraham like a son when his biological father died.

Moses' milk

God forbids Moses from suckling from a foster mother in both the Qur'an and Talmud .

Pharaoh's magicians

Pharaoh's magicians in the Bible magically turn their staffs into snakes, but the Qur'an says this was only a trick and that the magicians convert and follow Moses. Ambrosiaster, a 4th century biblical commentary, also says the magic was a trick and they converted:

Korah's keys

The Qur'an describes Korah as exceedingly wealthy in the same way as the Talmud.

Flying mountain

Both the Qur'an and the Talmud tell the story of God raising a mountain over the Israelites

The Cave

The story of men protected by sleeping in a cave is taken from a Jewish legend, according to Muhammad Asad, though was understood by the earliest Islamic scholars as a Christian legend.

But despite of reference by Muhammad Asad in his book of verse 9-26 to the cave story, the verse does not imply any similarity with the cave event.There is a widely agreement among the muslim scholar that chapter 9 of the quran revealed as a sign of warning to pagan maccans and to give moral boost to the Prophet Muhammad and his followers.Below the verse of quran 9-26:

cquote|"But Allah did pour His calm on the Messenger and on the Believers, and sent down forces which ye saw not: He punished the Unbelievers; thus doth He reward those without Faith."

Mary's care

Several elements of Mary's story in the Qur'an, her miraculous food and finding a husband, are absent in the Bible but present in the Gospel of James.

God cares for Mary

Quran

Gospel of James

Casting lots to care for Mary

Quran

Gospel of James

Mary receives miracles from baby Jesus

The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew describes Mary sitting below a palm tree with Jesus, Jesus talking to Mary when he is a baby and baby Jesus performing miracles to nourish Mary with dates from a palm tree and a stream of water.

Quran chapter 19

Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew chapter 20

Jesus creates birds

In the Qur'an, Jesus forms birds out of clay,

Quran

This parallels an episode in the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas where he does the same: [Rev. W. St. Clair-Tisdall, The Sources of Islam: A Persian Treatise, translated and abridged by Sir William Muir, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, Scotland. 1901]

Infancy Gospel of Thomas

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas was written, at the earliest, in the second century or, at the latest, in the sixth century.

Jesus speaks in the cradle

The Injilu 't Tufuliyyah or the "Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ", contains an Arabic translation of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and additional narratives. This contains a narrative of Jesus speaking while an infant, also contained in the Qur'an.

Quran

Infancy Gospel of Thomas

References

ee also

*Origin and development of the Qur'an
*Source criticism
*Biblical narratives and the Qur'an

External links

* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/jftl/jftl09.htm Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends The Star Child] The story of Abraham smashing the idols