Unit 8

English 203: Literature of the NonWestern World

Explication:
Reading: Koran (The Recitation), 868-88.

This unit & the next two focus on the culture & writing of the Mideast (Arabia & Persia [Iran]).  The photo at the top is of the Ka'ba in Mecca, which is the focal point of much Muslim ritual.  It is the object that Muslims face when they pray & it is the object that Muslims circumambulate in the haj or pilgrimage.  It contains an ancient meteorite that predates Muhammad by many centuries.  A Roman historian (Diodorus Siculus) mentioned it in 60 bce.  Muslims believe that the stone fell from the heavens in the days of Adam & Eve.  They also believe that Abraham built the stone building that you see in the picture (it is covered with black silk) & that he embedded the Black Stone in it.

Since we are talking about Abraham (or Ibraham), let's continue.  Abraham is the model of faith for all three "religions of the Book": Judaism, Christianity, & Islam.  I am sure that many of you know about Abraham from Genesis.  Abraham asks El Shaddai, "Is a child to be born to a man 100 years old, & will Sarah have a child at the age of ninety?" (Gn17:17).  In the previous chapter of Genesis Sarah scoffs at her husband when he tells her that he is destined to have children: "Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no child, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar" (Gn 16:1).  She tells her husband to have a child with Hagar, which Abraham does: "Hagar bore Abram a son, & Abram gave to the son that Hagar bore the name Ishmael" (Gn 16:15).  Some years later Sarah also has Abraham's child, Isaac.  When she sees the 2 boys playing together, she becomes concerned that the older boy, Ismail (Ishmael), will inherit from Abraham.  So she tells him: "Drive away that slave girl [Hagar] & her son [Ishmael] . . . this slave girl's son is not to share the inheritance with my son Isaac" (Gn 21:10).  Abraham is distressed at the prospect of abandoning his son, "but God said to him . . . the slave girl's son I will also make into a nation, for he is your child too" (Gn 21:13).  God also consoles Hagar, telling her "I will make him [Ismail] into a great nation" 21:18.  Genesis is no longer concerned with Ishmael, saying only that "God was with the boy" & that he married an Egyptian like his mother (Gn 21:20-21).

The Koran talks about Abraham, for example, clarifying that:
S3:67    Abraham was not a Jew
             Nor yet a Christian;
             But he was true in Faith,
             & bowed his will to God's
             (Which is Islam [Islam means submission to the will of God]).

The Koran also explains that Abraham built the Ka'ba (The House of God):
S2:125  We [i.e., God] covenanted
            With Abraham & Isma'il,
            That they should sanctify
            My House for those who
            Compass it round, or use it.

During the haj, Muslim pilgrims "compass" round Ka'ba 7 times in huge wheels or circles.  The Koran does not explicitly tell much more of the story of Abraham & Isma'il.  There is enough in the Koran & the Old Testament for Arab tradition to "fill in the blanks" & assume that Abraham brought Hagar & Isma'il to Mecca.  Finding the Ka'ba that Adam originally built in disrepair, Abraham rebuilt it & in a sense illustrated the haj or the pilgrimage by circumambulating the Black Stone.  Abraham went back to Sarah & Isaac.  The Arab people are not only the descendants of Abraham through Isma'il, they are also his spiritual descendants who emulate his total submission to God, illustrated by his willingness to sacrifice his son.  Like Abraham, Muslims hope to totally submit to God's will.

We will return to The Koran to learn some of the other things that it says, but first let's consider it's origin.  The author of The Koran is not Muhammad.  The Koran means "the recitation."  The angel Gabriel recited it to Muhammad, who then recited it to his followers.  The Koran is not a profession of faith (kerygma), as many theologians understand the New Testament to be.  Muslims believe that The Koran is the very thought of God.  It is miraculous.  Not a world of it is the result of human invention.  Because it is entirely divine, it cannot be adequately translated.  It only "works" in Arabic.  Before modern times, & it is still the case in many parts of the world, when children went to Muslim school, they memorized suras or passages of The Koran in Arabic.  If they didn't know Arabic, as was the case in Indonesia, e.g., it made no difference.  This may sound strange to us, but as a Catholic altar boy I similarly memorized & chanted long prayers in Latin that meant almost nothing to me.

Muhammad was a prophet of God.  Abraham, Moses, Jesus & others were also prophets of God.  Because they were authentic prophets, they all reported the same thing.  The problem is that with the best of intentions people add to the program.  Did Jesus of Nazareth preach anything about the doctrine of the Trinity, original sin, monasticism, or Mary as the "Mother of God"?  Islam believes that such notions are not authentic.  Luckily, God periodically sent new prophets to clarify His message.  Thus Muhammad is not better or more authentic than Jesus or Moses, he is simply the most recent of the prophets & Muslims believe that his message (The Koran) has not been corrupted by his followers the way Christian institutions corrupted the message of Jesus or the way that Jewish institutions corrupted the prophecy offered by Moses.  For example, the Koran says:
S57:27    Monasticism
              Which they invented
              For themselves,  We [i.e., God] did not
              Prescribe for them.
              . . . Many of them [Christians] are
              Rebellious transgressors.

The Koran has Jesus himself command his followers:
S4:171    Say not "Trinity"; desist:
              It will be better for you:
              For God is One God:
              Glory be to Him.

For Christians, The Koran has very surprising things to say about the prophet Jesus, who The Koran invariably identifies as "the son of Mary" to clarify that He is not the son of God  The "Son of God" epitthet offends Muslims because it faintly implies that God has sexual desires.  They also wish to perfectly clarify that Jesus was human & consequently cannot save himself, much less anyone else.  In fact, The Koran says the Atonement through the crucifixion never really happened!
S4:157    they [the Jews] said (in boast)
              "We killed Christ Jesus
              The son of Mary,
              The Apostle of God";--
              But they killed him not,
              Nor crucified him,
              But so it was made
              To appear to them,
              . . . For of a surety
              They killed him not:--
S4:158    Nay, God raised him up
              Unto Himself . . . .
S4:159    & there is none
              Of the People of the Book
              But must believe in him
              Before his death;
              & on the Day of Judgment
              He will be a witness
              Against them.

So, Jesus did not die on the cross.  He was magically whisked away into heaven where He is still alive.  He is destined to return to earth in order to clarify that He is a Muslim, i.e., that He is a human being who submits to the one & only God.  He will then make the haj & die like every other human being.  At the Last Judgment, every human being will be revived & judged.
S16:119    & behold!  God will say:
                "O Jesus the son of Mary!
                Didst thou say unto men,
                Worship me & my mother
                As gods in derogation of God?"
                He [Jesus] will say:  "Glory to Thee!
                Never could I say
                What I had no right
                (To say).  Had I said
                Such a thing, Thou wouldst
                Indeed have known it.
                Thou knowest what is
                In my heart, though I
                Know not what is
                In thine.
S16:120    "Never said I to them [i.e., to Christians]
                Aught except what Thou
                Didst command me
                To say, to wit, 'Worship
                God, my Lord & your Lord' . . . .
S16:121    "If Thou dost punish them,
                They are Thy servants:
                If Thou dost forgive them,
                Thou art the Exalted in power,
                The Wise."

The last point is that we are God's creatures & Jesus can do nothing for us Himself.  Jesus was a prophet exactly like Moses & Muhammad.  It was His well intended followers who added too much to His prophecy to thereby corrupt it.  A footnote in the copy of The Koran that I have been quoting (The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation & Commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, published by the Islamic Education Centre in Jeddha, Saudi Arabia) says (S16:120): "Jesus disclaims here any knowledge of the sort of things that are attributed to him by those who take his name."

Sometimes we forget that the present Christian doctrine of various denominations was produced through historical battles & arguments.  Marcion was one of the early Christian theologians who contributed to the process by suggesting that the image of God in Old Testament was of a "legalistic & merciless deity" who bore no resembles to Abba (Father) that Jesus of Nazareth talked about.  He therefore suggested that Christians should ignore the Old Testament entirely.  He went even further, saying that Paul was the only authentic apostle (from John Noss.  A History of the World's Religions, 9th ed.: 521).  As we know, many other thinkers & writers contributed to various forms of Christian doctrine: Augustine, Origen, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and many others.  The Koran did not suggest that the Old & New Testaments were without value.  Like the New Testament, which corrects what it perceives as wrong in the Old Testament (e.g., Jewish Law in the Gospel of Paul), The Koran corrects what it perceives as corrupt in the New Testament as well as in Christian tradition (e.g. monasticism, the idea of the Trinity, etc.).

Obviously Christians are not going to accept this as "right" or authoritative, but remember our purpose.  This is a literature class that studies nonWestern literature.  Obviously I am not proselytizing on behalf of Islam any more than I was proselytizing for Buddhism in examining Basho's poetry or for Daoism in reading T'ao Ch'ien's great poetry.  Islam & The Koran present special problems for us because they make claims about figures & ideas that are familiar to us Westerners; claims that shock many of us & about which we are likely to object because we already have ideas about the material.  Very few of us find anything in Daoism or Buddhism objectionable precisely because we are likely to be reading the literature (Basho or T'ao Ch'ien) that expresses alien ideas for the first time.

Before analyzing the passages from The Koran that are in our book, I will call your attention to 2 or 3 points in the introduction (p. 868).  Our text says that "like God, it [The Koran] was not created but exists for all eternity."  Muslims call this "The Mother of the Book":
S13:39      With Him is
                The Mother of the Book.
The footnote in my edition says this means "the original foundation of all revelation; the Essence of God's Will & Law."

Rather than split more theological hairs about how close this comes to the Christian notion of the Trinity, I will be content to stress the point that our text makes, viz., that for Muslims The Koran is salvific in something of the way Christ is salvific for Christians.  Our text says "it [The Koran] stands to Muslims as Christ does to Christians."  Christians sometimes call Christ "the Word of God."  John's Gospel begins:
Jn:1.1    In the beginning was the Word:
             the Word was with God
             & the Word was God.
Jn:1.14  The Word was made flesh,
             he lived among us
Muslims could subscribe to the first part, thinking that the passage is describing The Koran.  Naturally they would not subscribe to the second part.  In any case, you understand that the symmetry between Islam & Christianity pairs the person of Christ to The Koran; & The New Testament to Muhammad.  For Christians, the Bible cannot save anyone.  It announces "the Good News," which is the person of Christ.  For Muslims, Muhammad cannot save anyone.  He simply conveyed God's message, The Recitation, which alone has the power to save one from being condemned to hell at the Last Judgment.

Our text says, "The Koran is a work to be heard & recited, an oral work with a music & rhythm of its own that does not appear to best advantage on the printed page" (p. 868).  Muslims are forbidden to make images of the divine, lest they fall into "the error" of Christians, thinking that the divine can be associated with an object or person in our fallen world.  But art is universal among people.  Muslim culture is known for its great architecture (such as the Taj Mahal that I used in the banner for lesson 05 that was built as a mausoleum for Shah Jehan's favorite wife, Mumtaz).  Muslims also turn passages of The Koran into calligraphic art.  Especially during Ramadan, Muslims recite passages of The Koran.  When I taught in Malaysia I remember wandering around the streets of Kuala Lumpur after sundown to eat some of the great food that was offered at street stalls.  Many of the vendors kept an eye on their TV's that carried a kind of competition among young people who recited memorized passages of The Koran in different styles.

By the way, Ramadan is another thing that most Westerners get wrong.  They may know that Muslims fast during this month & if they know nothing more they are likely to assume that it must be similar to Lent.  It is not. Ramadan commemorates the gift of The Koran.  So it is somewhat comparable to Christmas.  The idea is that this is a holy time, the time that salvation was offered through The Recitation.  Muslims are suppose to be especially reverent & grateful during this time, which is most directly indicated by consuming nothing from sunrise to sunset, not even a drink of water.  After the sun goes down, there is a festive air in Muslim countries during the month of Ramadan with special food & hospitality that may remind Westerners of Christmas.  Ramadan also serves as a rite of passage for adolescents eager to demonstrate that they are adults by keeping the fast.

1: The Exordium
        King of the Last Judgement!
        You alone we worship, & to You alone
        we pray for help
        Guide us to the straight path.

We see 3 often repeated Muslim themes here.  In many ways The Koran can be described as a warning about The Last Judgment, which it repeatedly talks about.  Secondly, we notice tawid, which means the unity or oneness of God.  "You alone" is repeated twice to suggest that God & only God has the power to save us; not Jesus, Mary or anyone else.  Thirdly we notice the distinctive & simple path to salvation: moral behavior preached by The Koran & assessed at The Last Judgment.  There is not easy forgiveness in The Koran; no prodigal son who is forgiven everything; no good thief on Golgotha whose criminal past is forgotten.

4. Women
        Fear God . . . . God is ever watching over you.
Not only watching, but recording.  You will have to explain your behavior on Judgment Day, from which there is no escape or evasion.  Therefore, this passage argues, cheat no one.  Women are comparatively easy victims in primitive Arab society, unless they are defended by their fathers & brothers.  This passage exhorts:
    Do not . . . cheat them of their possessions; for this would surely be a great sin.  If you fear that you
    cannot treat orphans with fairness, then you may marry other women who seem good to you: 2, 3, or 4 of them.

Before we get to 4 wives, let us complete the thought we were tracking.  The point is that men can easily cheat women & children in this world, but God is watching & will call you to account at the Last Judgment.  The Koran does not exactly say, "what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his soul" -- but the idea here is the same.

4 Wives!!  This was the 7th century in a fierce desert populated by warring tribals.  On the other hand, because The Koran is divine & perfect, Muslims cannot dismiss such passages as historic relics.  They must be respected at the cost of losing your eternal soul.  So do Muslim men have 4 wives?  A few, but only a few.  The footnote on this passage (by Yusuf Ali) argues first that this was historically progressive at the time!  He then erodes the blunt force of the passages by stipulating that one would have to treat all 4 women with exactly the same love.  Since no one can do that, you can't have 4 wives.  Besides, Ali suggests, how can you afford 4 wives?  "The unrestricted number of wives of the 'Times of Ignorance' [before The Koran was known] was now strictly limited to a maximum of 4, provided you could treat them with perfect equality, in material things as well as in affection & immaterial things.  As this condition is most difficult to fulfil[l], I understand the recommendation to be towards monogamy" (n.509).

This passage illustrates the power of Sunna, which means the Islamic way of doing things.  Sunna has 2 definitions.  After Muhammad moved to Medina (the hijra of 632 ce), he had the power to fully illustrate the Islamic way of life for the last 10 years of his life.  In addition, his followers asked specific questions about what they could & could not do.  Muhammad's answers, as well as many of his habit, were recorded in the 2nd most authoritative book in Islam, after The Koran.  It is called the Hadith.  There are several editions that contain minor differences.  One of the interesting Hadiths concerns birth control.  A Muslim asked if it was acceptable to practice birth control.  Muhammad slept on the question & then answered that it was permissible because God has some number in mind for all the people who will be born before the end of the world & this number can not be changed by any human action. Sunna also has a weaker or secondary meaning that refers to Islamic custom.  The Koran clearly says a Muslim man may have 4 wives & it does not clearly stipulate anything about the conditions that Yusuf Ali "understands."  Ali's interpretation here is the common one.  Every Muslim I have talked with (in Malaysia & Turkey where I have taught, as well as with Muslim students in the U.S.) echoes Ali's points.  The orthodox view is that The Koran & it alone is authoritative for specifying how God wants his people to act.  In practice, however, most people follow tradition or Sunna rather than make a meticulous study of The Book, which our text told us is "to be heard & recited" rather than used as a reference book or manual.  Finally, notice how this "understanding" of a passage in The Koran illustrates interpretation that "corrupts" the message.  Islam charges that Christianity & Judaism were corrupted in just this way, but of course does not recognize that it may doing the same thing.

The message is clear: act with justice & morality or suffer in hell:
p.872    Let them fear God & speak for justice.
            Those that devour the property of orphans unjustly, swallow fire into their bellies;
            they shall burn in a mighty conflagration.
            Such are the bounds set by God.  He that obeys God & His apostle shall dwell for
            ever in gardens watered by running streams.  That is the supreme triumph.  But he
            that defies God & His apostle & transgresses His bounds, shall be cast into a fire
            wherein he will abide for ever.

Moral standards continue to be revealed:
            If any of your women commit fornicating, call in 4 witnesses from among yourselves
            against them; if they testify to their guilt confine them to their houses till death overtakes
            them or till God finds another way for them.
"Till God finds another way for them" -- wow, does that open some doors for diverse views!

Homosexuality?
            If 2 men among you commit indecency punish them both.  If they repent & mend their ways,
            let them be.  God is forgiving & merciful.

The Koran offers something like revivalism that is so prominent in American Protestantism, going back to Jonathan Edwards & The Great Awakening of colonial times in the 17th c.
            God forgives those who commit evil in ignorance & then quickly turn to Him in repentance.
            God will pardon them.  god is wise & all-knowing.  But He will not forgive those who do evil
            &, when death come to them, say: "Now we repent!"  Nor those who die unbelievers: for them
            We have prepared a woeful scourge.

Even if we are not believers, compare the rights of women in the West in the 7th c. with the standards that Muhammad reveals:
p.873    Believers, it is unlawful for you to . . . bar them [widows] from re-marrying [because you want
            their money to stay in your family].
            Treat them with kindness; for even if you dislike them, it may well be that you may dislike a thing
            which God has meant for your own abundant good.
            If you wish to (replace a wife with) another [i.e., divorce], do not take from her the dowry you have
            given her even if it be a talent of gold.  That would be improper & grossly unjust; for how can you
            take it back when you have lain with each other & entered into a firm contract?

Notice in these passages that the appeal is not to compassion but to justice.  Justice & morality are not identical.  Morality is largely subjective; how you feel about yourself.  Justice is public.  One may feel guilty or innocent, but a legal conviction on a felony charge is a far different designation.  The appeal in the Koran is not to embarrass one for treating a spouse without the love & compassion that you once vowed.  Even in the sexual relationship, the key word is "contract."  You trusted each other unconditionally & now you plan to defraud this person?  The standard is justice, which invites & even necessitates a public view -- the judgment of both your neighbors & of God.  In contrast, the standard for morality (instead of justice) is more slippery.  In fact Islam is much more tolerant of private beliefs than most Christian denominations.  Its only requirement for faith is that one profess in the living God (tawid) & believe that Muhammad is the apostle of God (implying that The Koran is the most authoritative message from God).   Instead of arguing tenants of belief, Muslims are content to judge only behavior.  If you conform to the Muslim way of life (where the standard is justice), what you believe is between you & God.  God is "The Compassionate, the Merciful," but the standard in this life is justice.

Believers are forbidden to marry near relatives:
        All women other than these are lawful to you, provided you seek 
        them with your wealth in modest conduct, not in fornication.
        Give them their dowry for the enjoyment you have had of them as a duty.
Yusuf Ali explains the dowry:  "As the woman in marriage surrenders her person, so the man also must surrender (besides some part of his independence) at least some of his property."

Especially relevant in this section that specifies rules of sexual conduct, The Koran declares:
        God wishes to lighten your burdens, for man was created weak.
        Do not destroy yourselves.  God is merciful to you . . . .

Hopefully I have made parts of this sura from The Koran convincing to you.  But I am sure that you found the end of this sura (on p.874) objectionable; the part about beating disobedient women!  Notice how different Yusuf Ali's translation is:
S4:34    Men are the protectors
            & maintainers of women [i.e., financial support]
            Because God has given
            The one more (strength)
            Than the other . . . .
            Therefore the righteous women
            Are devoutly obedient, & guard
            In (the husband's) absence
            What god would have them guard.
Ali's gloss explains: "the good wife is obedient & harmonious in her husband's presence, & in his absence guards his reputation & property & her own virtue, as ordained by God" (n.546).

But what about beating!
            As to those women
            on whose part ye fear
            Disloyalty & ill-conduct,
            Admonish them (first)
            (Next), refuse to share their beds,
            (& last) beat them (lightly);
            But if they return to obedience,
            Seek not against them
            Means (of annoyance):
            For God is Most High
            Great (above you all).

Ali cites one of the 4 architects of Shari'a or Muslim law: "Imam Shafi'i considers this (physical violence) inadvisable, though permissible, & all authorities are unanimous in deprecating any sort of cruelty, even of the nagging kind, as mentioned in the next clause; if all this fails, a family council is recommended in 4.35."  The problem is that contemporary Westerners are as likely to be offended by the well intentioned gloss or explanation as they are by the more stark translation in our book: "send them to beds apart & beat them" (874).  The problem with the gloss here & elsewhere is that women are clearly treated as children.  Even when the intent is to love & cherish them, the clear disparity in power & dignity offends our contemporary sense of equality.  Moreover, such attempts to reconcile 7th c. Arabia with 21st c. America can only go so far, because of the orthodox Muslim insistence that The Koran is perfect.  When discrepancies between The Book & contemporary fashion or values occur, the choice is simple.  The Book is right.  Perhaps the most influential scholar in Islam, Al-Ash'ari, said, believers "must believe what they are told bi-la kayf, "without conceiving how" it may be so" (Noss 611).  The task is not Greek: to make sense out of experience.  The task is Islamic: to submit unconditionally to the authority of God.  The Book expresses God's will.  Obey or be punished.  What you think is irrelevant:
p.874    Serve God & associate none with Him.
            God does not love arrogant & boastful men . . . .

Finally, notice that our text identifies the passage we studied (sura 4: "Women") as originating in the time when Muhammad ruled in Medina.  Since most, if not all of us, are not Muslim, we can speculate that the voice in the passage is used to giving orders.  That is, Muhammad is used to giving orders.  Notice how different the voice in the next selection is.  Sura 12: "Joseph" is identified as from the Mecca period when Muhammad literally feared for his life from his many enemies.  Instead of resounding commands, the sura begins with a tacit claim for authority.  The claim is that the Jews were given a book of guidance that offered salvation (the Torah) & that the Christians were also given a book (the New Testament), but that the Arabs were lost in ignorance & idolatry until The Koran was revealed:
S12:1    These are the verses of the Glorious Book.  We [i.e., God] have revealed the Koran in the
            Arabic tongue so that you may grow in understanding.
            In revealing this Koran We will recount to you the best of narratives, though before it you 
            were heedless.

Again Ali's translation makes a different point: not that we knew the lesson of this story but chose to be heedless, but -- consistent with the framing passage in the first line -- that we were entirely ignorant of God's presence & power:
            We have sent it down
            As an Arabic Qur-an
            In order that ye may
            Learn wisdom.
            We do relate unto thee
            The most beautiful of stories,
            In that We reveal to thee
            This portion of the) Qur-an:
            Before this, thou too
            Was among those
            Who knew it not.

Genesis tells the story of Joseph in chapters 37-50.  Abraham left Mesopotamia (Iraq) sometime in 1,800 bce.  The Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which is also the site of the second holiest shrine in Islam, the Dome of the Rock, is supposedly the site where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son.  This one piece of ground has 3 layered meanings.  Besides Abraham, it was the site of Solomon's great temple destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar & the Babylonians in 586 bce.  The Koran also has something to say about this real estate:
S17:1   Glory to (God)
            Who did take His Servant [Muhammad]
            For a Journey by night
            From the Sacred Mosque [in Mecca]
            To the Farthest Mosque [the Temple of Solomon]
            Whose precincts We [I.e., God} did
            Bless,--in order that We
            Might show him some
            Of our Signs: for He [Muhammad]
            Is the One Who heareth
            & seeth (all things).

Muslim's call this the Prophet's Night Journey to paradise.  Muhammad was whisked away by Gabriel to Jerusalem & then taken through 7 heavens to meet Adam, John the Baptist, Jesus, Joseph, Enoch, Aaron, Moses, & Abraham.

In any case, let us go back to our geography lesson.  Abraham moved to Jerusalem.  Joseph moved the Hebrews to Egypt where they apparently helped Ramses 2 build some of the splendors of Egypt before Moses led them off into the Sinai.  Genesis reports the Pharaoh's invitation:
Gn 45:17    Pharaoh told Joseph, "Say to your brothers, 'Do this: load your beasts & go off to
                 the land of Canaan.  Fetch your father & families, & come back to me.  I will give you
                 the best the land of Egypt offers, & you shall feed on the fat of the land."  And you, for
                 your part, give them this command: 'Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt, for
                 your little ones & your wives.  Get your father & come.  Never mind about your property,
                 for the best that the land of Egypt offers is yours.'"

The story of Joseph in The Koran naturally emphasizes tenants of Islamic faith:
p. 876       We will serve no idols besides God.
                Judgement rests only with God.  He has commanded you to worship none but Him.
                That is the true faith: yet most men do not know it.

The Old Testament is very much a history.  The Koran does not offer a history; nor does it offer many narratives.  The book of Joseph is an exception.  Most often The Koran offers exhortation.  Notice that the book of Joseph threatens the Last Judgment with its hell fire & damnation only at the end; & that punishment is largely directed at nonbelievers:
p.880        Are they confident that God's scourge will not fall upon them, or that the Hour of Doom
                will not overtake them unawares, without warning?
                Say: "This is my path.  With sure knowledge I call on you to have faith in God, I & all my
                followers.  Glory be to God!  I am no idolater."

The last sentence is naive in its sense of reality as well as culturally self-congratulatory -- echoing the "Thank God I'm no idolater" above:
                This is no invented tale, but a confirmation of previous scriptures, an explanation of all things,
                a guide & a blessing to true believers.
Ali's gloss on this implicitly compares the account in Genesis with the account given in The Koran:  "A story like that of Joseph is not a purely imaginary fable.  The People of the Book have it in their sacred literature.  It is confirmed here in its man outline, but here there is a detailed spiritual exposition that will be found nowhere in earlier literature."  Ali identifies a fundamental problem with what we are doing in this course & in courses like "The Bible as Literature."  Literature & philosophy have their own ideas about what is real.  Above all, determining what is real is not simple or elemental or self-evident.  Bertrand Russell defined science as an attack against what seems to be self-evident & obvious.  Here Ali implies that historic events are somehow more real than literary accounts that attempt to make sense of our experience, apparently forgetting that The Koran is much more literary than historic.  He then makes the implied claim that revelation ("People of the Book") offers the clearest picture of reality.  Ironically, Ali's commentary is longer than The Koran itself!  Obviously the reality that The Koran expresses is not so clear or simple.

The story of Mary (sura 19) implicitly corrects or argues against the "Mother of God" theme in the New Testament, which became very prominent in medieval culture & remains prominent among many Catholics.  The present Pope is inclined to recognize Mary as the co-Redemptress, the exclusive dispenser of Christ's grace.  In any case, we are not offered a familiar Christmas scene but a miracle:
p.881    Carrying the child, she came to her people [i.e., her family], who said to her:
             ". . . your father was never a whore-monger, nor was your mother a harlot."
            She made a sign to them, pointing to the child.  But they replied: "How can we
            speak with a babe in the cradle?"
            Whereupon he spoke & said: "I am the servant of God.  He has given me the Book
            & ordained me a prophet."
            Such was Jesus, the son of Mary.  That is the whole truth, which they [i.e., Christians]
            still doubt.  God forbid that He Himself should beget a son!

Here Mary is a pawn, unable to explain her pregnancy.  She can only point to the infant, who miraculously speaks to explain his Islamic mission.  The Koran then claims that this "is the whole truth" about Jesus, which Christians either do not understand or perversely choose not to understand.  Ali's translation better explains the point about begetting a son:
S19:35    It is not befitting
              To (the majesty of) God
              That He should beget
              A son.  Glory be to Him!
              When He determines
              A matter, He only says
              To it, "Be," & it is.
Ali's gloss explains: "Begetting a son is a physical act depending on the needs of men's animal nature.  God Most High is independent of all needs, & it is derogatory to Him to attribute such an act to Him [i.e., sexual needs or feelings].  It is merely a relic of pagan & anthropomorphic materialist superstitions" (n.2487).

Even in the 7th c., Muhammad knows that:
            The [Christian] Sects are divided concerning [the status & meaning of] Jesus.
            But when the fateful day arrives [Judgment Day], woe to the unbelievers!
            [unbelievers here means Christians!]  Their sight & being shall be sharpened
            on the day when they appear before Us.  Truly, the unbelievers are in the grossest error.

The Book argues that God has sent a clear message through the prophecy of Abraham, Moses, & Ishmael:
p.883    These are the men to whom God has been gracious: the prophets from among the
            descendants of Adam & of those whom We carried in the Ark with Noah; the descendants
            of Abraham, of Israel, & of those whom We have guided & chosen.  For when the revelations
            of the Merciful were recited to them they fell down on their knees in tears & adoration.
            But the generations who succeeded them neglected their prayers & succumbed to their desires.
            These shall assuredly be lost.
The argument is that from Adam through Abraham & Moses, prophecy was the same & people recognized it as divine, falling "down on their knees in tears & adoration" when they heard it.  The next most prominent prophet would be Jesus, who is not mentioned.  Chief among "the generations who succeeded" the old prophets must be Christians, who succumb to their own perverse desires about how Christ is unique; about how He is much more than any human prophet, He is the Son of God.  The Koran directly condemns such Christian belief:
p.884    Those who say: "The Lord of Mercy has begotten a son," preach a monstrous falsehood.
             They have chosen other gods to help them [viz., Christ & in some cases Mary].  But in the end
             they will renounce their worship & turn against them.
             Know that We send down to the unbelievers devils who incite them to evil.
             None has power to intercede for them save him who has received the sanction of the Merciful.

Here is Ali's translation of these passages:
S19:87  None shall have the power
            Of intercession, but such a one
            As has received permission (or promise)
            From (God) Most Gracious.
S19:88  They say: "(God) Most Gracious
            Has begotten a son!"
S19:89  Indeed ye have put forth
            A thing most monstrous!

Here is Ali's gloss: "The belief in God begetting a son . . . is a stupendous blasphemy against God.  It lowers God to the level of an animal.  If combined with the doctrine of vicarious atonement [meaning, as Paul says, salvation is through faith in Christ's grace instead of through the accumulation of one's own good works], it amounts to a negation of God's justice & man's personal responsibility.  It [Christian doctrine] is destructive of all moral & spiritual order, & is condemned in the strongest possible terms" (n.2529).

It is little wonder that Christianity & Islam have been at war with each other since the 7th c.  Jerusalem fell to the Arabs in 638.  Among the many factors that accounted for the stupendous success of Islam are these.  Much of the Christian near East professed in Nestorian Christology.  In the 4th & 5th c. there were 3 rival claims about the meaning of Christ.  Was Christ: (1) a perfect human being; (2) entirely divine (like a Hindu avatar); or (3) some mixture of the two?  Without going into the details of church history, Nestorian Christians took the position that emphasized Jesus of Nazareth was a perfect human being.  Nestorius incited riots when he preached sermons against the notion that "Mary was the mother of God."  Mary bore a human child, not God.  Both this & Nestorian Christian iconoclasm (meaning that they opposed the practice of making statues & pictures of the divine) were almost indistinguishable from Islamic positions.  So there was almost nothing to fight about between near East Nestorian Christians & Muslims.  In fact the Muslims seemed to be closer in belief to Nestorian Christianity than the Latin or Catholic church, which was busy elaborating more and more abstruse theology.

Oh, yes.  One more thing.  Muslim soldiers were promised direct entry into paradise if they died in the effort to spread the faith; & if they lived, they could keep 80% of everything they stole (Noss 602).

Let us close our lesson with less contentious elements.  You know that:
p.884    He [God] created man from potter's clay
You probably did not know that angels were made from light & jinn (like the genii in the bottle) were made from fire.  The fallen angels were too proud to abase themselves to mere creatures of mud, i.e., us human beings, being proud of their incorporeal essence of light & forgetful that they are also no more than God's creatures.
 

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