Abstract
Originating in a conference organized by Oxford University in September 2015 titled “The Biblical Interpretation in Islamic Context,” a bold and intriguing book was born. It is bold because it seeks to turn the tables on the more or less standard scholarly approach of reading the Qur’an through a biblical lens, without claiming to do so and intriguing because it raises issues that will pique the curiosity of most scholars, perhaps most notably those in biblical studies.
The aim of this book is to show readers how to understand the Bible “in conversation with” Islam (p. 3). To accomplish this goal, the papers are divided into three parts using David Tracy’s model reading theory: inter-textual studies (Chapters 2–6), textual questions (Chapters 7–11), and analogical explorations (Chapters 12–16). Each of the three parts has a distinct focus, but they all work together in the overall scheme. As an opening act in this chapter, Ida Glazer explains the concept of reading the Bible in the Islamic context. The Islamic context, as stated in the title of this book, was chosen due to several considerations (p. 5): consideration of the similarities and differences between biblical and Qur’anic ideas of revelation and of the nature of Scripture, consideration of the Qur’an’s treatment of characters and stories found in the Bible, consideration of Qur’anic themes, and consideration of the range of Muslim readings of the Qur’an. Interestingly, in this opening chapter Glazer summarizes the key points of each essay in the book and relates the discussion to each other; therefore, the reader already has a complete initial picture, if it can be said, of the book’s discussion before reading its full content.
Part 1 of the book (“Intertextual Conversations”) contains chapters that compare the report of an event in the Bible with a report of the same event in the Qur’an. This section contains two Christian chapters, two Muslim chapters, and one dialogical Muslim–Christian chapter. Each has its own analytical approach, and worth noting is that the Muslim authors’ chapters are more focused on the specific narratives being contrasted, while the Christian authors’ chapters look at the narratives in their larger canonical contexts. Each chapter recognizes the similarities and differences between the selected biblical and Qur’anic content, but they deal with this content in different ways.
George Bristow (chapter 2) undertakes his comparative narrative study of the Abraham stories in the form of a discussion of the Bible’s worldviews (as seen through his own evangelical tradition) and the Qur’an’s worldviews (as perceived by the Turkish Muslims with whom he is in conversation). Shirin Shafaie (chapter 3) examines the bible’s narrative strategy and Qur’anic versions of Joseph’s story, demonstrating that the two versions serve different purposes and have different theological roles. She identifies two relevant issues discussed further in other chapters: first, Genesis and the Qur’an hold opposing views on the essence of prophecy, and, second, Islamic tradition has interpreted the Qur’anic accounts through the prism of the doctrine of “ismah (‘infallibility,’ meaning that prophets are preserved from sin). Ali Makhlabi and Larry Ciccarelli collaborate in chapter 4 to examine together how the doctrine of ‘ismah has influenced Muslims” understanding of David and the ewe lamb.
Unlike the previous authors, Carol Walker (chapter 5) uses rhetorical analysis to explain how the story of King David and the ewe lamb works in the biblical context of the books of Samuel and then how the different telling of the story works in the Qur’anic setting of Surah Sad. In this section’s final chapter, Mohammad Ghandehari and Mohsen Feyzbakhsh (chapter 6
Part 2 (“Questions about Texts”) examines the Muslim reading of the Bible and biblical traditions. Wan Mohd Fazrul Azdi Wan Razali, Ahmad Yunus Mohd Noor, and Jaffary Awang (chapter 7) describe the evolution of a Muslim technique of Bible reading: the Qur’an is employed to examine the parts in which the biblical text delivers a real revelation, the parts in which it provides an uncertain guidance to truth, and the parts in which it contradicts the truth in its current corrupt form. Nazirudin Mohd Nasir (chapter 8) explores the Muslim approach to the Bible as illustrated by Muslim Indian scholar Hamiduddin Farahi’s nineteenth-century interpretation of the Hebrew text of Gen 22 and expresses some misgivings about this approach as a means of comprehending the Bible’s text. Daniel Crowther (chapter 9) examines how seven separate aspects of the Bible’s shape and substance offend Muslim readers. In each case, Crowther discovers that the trait generating the controversy reveals the Bible’s distinct identity and function as Scripture in comparison to the Qur’an. Martin O’Kane and Talha Bhamji (chapter 10) look at the ways in which Muslims view Abraham’s son’s near-sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Although the relationship between the Bible’s text and the Qur’an’s text is ambiguous, O’Kane and Bhamji suggest that the Qur’anic text and subsequent Muslim traditions are important chapters in the reception history of Gen 22. Finally, Ali Aghaei (chapter 11) examines the origin of the Islamic story concerning the sons of Israel’s cow, as recorded in Q2:67–74. Through a careful investigation of nine different traditions recounted in al-Tabari, Aghaei analyzes how Muslim tradition arose in conjunction with the biblical text and biblical tradition.
Part 3 (“Analogical Explorations”) explores different analogies for understanding the Bible in the relation to the Qur’an. Dwight Swanson (chapter 12) contrasts and analyzes the cultic themes of purity and impurity in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur’an. Georgina Jardim (chapter 13) points out that while the Qur’an’s story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba differs from the biblical story, the biblical story of Ruth the Moabitess has a similar premise (a female outsider) and a similar end (a declaration of faith and allegiance).
According to Michael Lodahl (ch. 14), the new viewpoint on Paul (as a rabbinic disciple of Christ) gives readers a new opportunity to compare biblical and Qur’anic views on creation, idolatry, and human nature. Andy Warren-Rothlin (ch. 15) sees a parallel between the use of human metaphors and figures of speech to express divine truths in the Bible and the Qur’an. Warren then contrasts and examines the various approaches taken by translators to these various “anthropotheisms.” Finally, Daniel Madigan (ch. 16) employs a Jewish reading of John’s Gospel to challenge Christian beliefs about Jesus’s divinity and pre-existence. Through this reappraisal, Madigan revisits the points of interaction between Christian conceptions of Jesus Christ as the Word of God and Muslim conceptions of the Qur’an as the pre-existent Word of God.
This work is highly interesting because it invites readers to reflect on complex and sometimes sensitive issues. It is a ground-breaking endeavor to bring together a diverse range of perspectives on the issue of reading the Bible in an Islamic context. There are many theological works on the Bible in various contexts, but finding engagement with Islamic and Muslim contexts and vice versa is still rare to find. This book is the result of a series of in-depth experiments undertaken in order to change that condition. This book is an important step in the development of biblical interpretation and in opening up an entirely new way of approaching the issue.