Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins (28 page)

All this evidence reinforces the possibility that Arabic exegetes of the Qur'an were working with what was originally a Christian text.

The Last Supper

The Qur'an's Christian substratum can be seen in what Islamic tradition regards as chronologically the Qur'an's very first segment. In what now stands as sura 96, the angel Gabriel appears before Muhammad in the cave on Mount Hira and exhorts him to “Recite!”:

1. Recite: In the name of thy Lord who created,

2. Created Man of a blood-clot.

3. Recite: And thy Lord is the Most Generous,

4. who taught by the Pen,

5. taught man that he knew not.

6. No indeed; surely Man waxes insolent,

7. for he thinks himself self-sufficient.

8. Surely unto thy Lord is the Returning.

9. What thinkest thou? He who forbids

10. a servant when he prays—

11. What thinkest thou? If he were upon guidance

12. or bade to godfearing—

13. What thinkest thou? If he cries lies, and turns away—

14. Did he not know that God sees?

15. No indeed; surely, if he gives not over, We shall seize him by the forelock,

16. A lying, sinful forelock.

17. So let him call on his concourse!

18. We shall call on the guards of Hell.

19. No indeed; do thou not obey him, and bow thyself, and draw nigh.

This text is, in the words of the contemporary Islamic scholar Ibn Rawandi, “for the most part, incoherent nonsense” that “makes a mockery of the Koran's description of itself as ‘clear Arabic language.’”
²⁴
For example, the word
kalla
, “no indeed,” occurs three times in sura 96: in verses 6, 15, and 19. According to Ibn Rawandi, “its first appearance at XCVI.6 is senseless, since it cannot be a negation of the preceding section no matter how those verses are interpreted.”
²⁵
The Qur'an translator Rudi Paret draws out that senselessness in his rendering of verses 4-6: “[He] who has taught the use of the writing cane has taught unto man what he didn't know. Not at all! Man is really rebellious…”
²⁶

The sura shows signs of editing, appearing to be in two parts. Verses 1–8 fit in with the traditional Muslim setting, in which Gabriel approached Muhammad on Mount Hira. But then the subject abruptly and unaccountably changes in verses 9–19, denouncing some unnamed
person who prevents a “servant” (or “slave,” as many other translations have it) from praying.

Günter Lüling explains this sudden shift by suggesting that the text of sura 96 was originally a strophic Christian hymn that had been reworked to fit it into an Islamic setting. In Lüling's reconstruction, based on an original reading of the Arabic text, “Recite in the name of your Lord” becomes “Invoke the Name of your Lord.” Lüling translates the Arabic verb
iqra
as “invoke” rather than “recite,” pointing out that the Arab philologist Abu Ubaida (d. 818), author of
Strange Matters of Hadith (Gharib al-Hadith)
, explained that the verb
qara'a
—“to recite,” with
iqra
as its imperative form—meant the same thing as the verb
dakara
: “invoke, laud, praise.”
²⁷
Ibn Rawandi supports Lüling's argument, noting that “understanding
‘iqra’
as ‘invoke,’ rather than ‘read’ or ‘recite,’ becomes plausible when it is realized that in the ancient world reading was invariably reading aloud, so that the distinction between reading and invoking would not have been what it is today.” Thus to “recite” would mean essentially the same thing as “invoke”: to proclaim aloud.
²⁸

The entire phrase “Invoke the Name of your Lord” recalls the common Hebrew phrase
qara' be shem Yahwe
, “Invoke the name of the Lord” (cf. Genesis 4:25-26). It also recalls Psalm 130, known in Latin as
De profundis
, “out of the depths I call to you,” in which “to call to God,”
qeraatiikha
in Hebrew, is rendered in Latin as
Clamavi ad te Domine
, which obviously means “to pray to God.”

In Lüling's reconstruction, the digressive “He who forbids a servant when he prays” becomes a confession of God's faithfulness: “Have you ever seen that He denies a servant when he prays?” The warning questions, “What thinkest thou? If he cries lies, and turns away—Did he not know that God sees?” become “Have you ever seen that He betrayed and turned away? Have you not learned that God sees?” The odd “So let him call on his concourse! We shall call on the guards of Hell” Lüling renders as an exhortation to call on the members of the heavenly court: “So call for His High Council! You will then call up the High Angelship!”
²⁹

Lüling's reconstruction of sura 96 as a Christian hymn exhorting the pious to call on God's name and assuring them of his faithfulness makes more sense than the cryptic, abrupt, and decontextualized canonical text of sura 96.

Examining the Syriac substratum, Luxenberg goes even further. He agrees with Lüling that
iqra
is more accurately rendered “invoke” rather than “recite.” But he contends that the sura does not simply fit into a Christian liturgical context but actually calls its followers to participate in that Christian liturgical service. Luxenberg writes that “the lexicological and syntactical analysis of this sura, examined under its Syriac connection, has revealed—contrary to the confusion which has reigned in its Arabic reading up to now—a clear and coherent composition in which the faithful is entreated to pray and participate in the liturgical service that the Koran designates as the Eucharist, corresponding to
iqtarib
, taken from the Syriac liturgical term
etqarrab
, which signifies ‘take part in a liturgical service’ as well as ‘to receive the Eucharist.’”
³⁰

Specifically, he renders the segment of the sura's last verse not as “bow thyself, and draw nigh,” but as a call to participate in the Eucharistic celebration: “Return to your religious practices and take part in the offering (= Eucharist).”
³¹
Luxenberg explains that the word
iqtarib
, normally translated as “draw nigh,” is “in fact Arabic only in form and corresponds in reality to the liturgical Syriac term
el qarra / ethqarrab
, meaning ‘to take part in the offering (Eucharistic)’ as well as ‘to receive the Eucharist.’”
³²

In Qur'an 5:114–115, Jesus prays: “‘O God, our Lord, send down upon us a Table out of heaven, that shall be for us a festival, the first and last of us, and a sign from Thee. And provide for us; Thou art the best of providers.’ God said: ‘Verily I do send it down on you; whoso of you hereafter disbelieves, verily I shall chastise him with a chastisement wherewith I chastise no other being.’” This has long been seen as a vestige of the Christian doctrine of the Eucharist, but Luxenberg sees it as much more than a mere vestige. Jesus' prayer in Qur'an 5:114 asks Allah that this table from heaven be “a feast
(‘id)
for us and a sign
(ayah)
from thee.” Notes Luxenberg: “The Arabic word
'id
, borrowed from the Syriac, has been, in conformity with its Arabic meaning, correctly translated by ‘celebration’ [or ‘feast,’ in the liturgical sense].”

Luxenberg is not alone. In fact, in the words of the scholar of Islam and Jesuit priest Samir Khalil Samir, “according to unanimous scholarly opinion [the Arabic word ‘id] is a borrowing from the Syriac
'ida
, which signifies ‘Feast’ or ‘liturgical festival.’”
³³
Noting that this verse is the only place in the Qur'an where the word
'id
appears, Samir concludes: “This
ma'ida
[table] is thus defined by two terms:
'id
and
aya
, a ‘Feast’ or ‘liturgical festival’ and a ‘sign.’ Is this not the most appropriate definition of the Eucharist of Christians, which is a festive celebration and a sacramental sign? Even more, it seems evident that in this passage we are dealing with a rather faithful description of Christian faith, otherwise not shared by Muslims.”
³⁴

Luxenberg adds even more:

The table being laid out, one could have thought, in fact, that the passage was talking about “having a celebration.” However, the same writing or script transcribed in Syriac and pronounced
'yadda
has the meaning “liturgy.” Thus one must understand this verse as follows: “Lord our God, send us down from the sky a Last Supper which would be a liturgy for the first and last of us.” In his reply, God says…‘I am going to send it down to you. Whoever is then impious among you will receive from me a torment the like of which I will not inflict on anyone else in the world.’”
³⁵

“For the first and last of us” in 5:114 is
li-awwalina wa-akhirina
, another phrase found nowhere else in the Qur'an; literally it means “all, nobody excluded.” Samir relates this to the Christian liturgical phrase regarding the Body and Blood of Christ, “which is offered for you and for many for the remission of sins.”
³⁶
Thus this brief and mysterious Qur'an passage likely contains yet another hint of Christian Eucharistic theology.

Accordingly, Luxenberg concludes: “Islam was not impressed by this divine injunction with its threats of the most severe punishments, not having grasped its significance. If the Muslim exegetes had understood these passages as the Koran intended them, there would have been a liturgy of the Last Supper in Islam.”
³⁷

A Christian Confession of Faith

One Qur'anic passage that shows obvious signs of editing is sura 74, reproduced here in its entirety in order to demonstrate an obvious anomaly in the verse structure and rhythm (even in English translation):

1. O thou shrouded in thy mantle,

2. arise, and warn!

3. Thy Lord magnify,

4. thy robes purify,

5. and defilement flee!

6. Give not, thinking to gain greater

7. and be patient unto thy Lord.

8. For when the Trump is sounded

9. that day will be a harsh day,

10. for the unbelievers not easy.

11. Leave Me with him whom I created alone,

12. and appointed for him ample wealth

13. and sons standing before him,

14. and made all things smooth for him;

15. then he is eager that I should do more.

16. Nay! He is forward unto Our signs;

17. and I shall constrain him to a hard ascent.

18. Lo! He reflected, and determined—

19. death seize him, how he determined!

20. Again, death seize him, how he determined!

21. Then he beheld,

22. then he frowned, and scowled,

23. then he retreated, and waxed proud.

24. He said, “This is naught but a trumped-up sorcery;

25. this is nothing but mortal speech.”

26. I shall surely roast him in Sakar;

27. and what will teach thee what is Sakar?

28. It spares not, neither leaves alone

29. scorching the flesh;

30. over it are nineteen.

31. We have appointed only angels to be masters of the Fire, and their number We have appointed only as a trial for the unbelievers; that those who were given the Book may have certainty, and that those who believe may increase in belief, and that those who were given the Book and those who believe may not be in doubt; and that those in whose hearts there is sickness, and the unbelievers, may say, “What did God intend by this as a similitude?” So God leads astray whomsoever He will, and He guides whomsoever He will; and none knows the hosts of thy Lord but He. And it is naught but a Reminder to mortals.

32. Nay! By the moon

33. and the night when it retreats

34. and the dawn when it is white,

35. surely it is one of the greatest things

36. as a warner to mortals,

37. to whoever of you desires to go forward or lag behind.

38. Every soul shall be pledged for what it has earned,

39. save the Companions of the Right;

40. in Gardens they will question

41. concerning the sinners,