The Quranic Noah and the Making of the Islamic Prophet by Carlos A. Segovia

Author:Carlos A. Segovia
Language: deu
Format: epub
Publisher: de Gruyter
Published: 2015-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Excursus. A Syriac source behind the blessing of Noah in Q 37:78–81?

In his widely discussed essay on what he calls the Syro-Aramaic background to the language of the Qur’ān,47 Christoph Luxenberg (2007: 157–60) proposes to identify a Syriacism in the quranic pericope on the blessing of Noah contained in Sūrat aṣ-Ṣāffāt (Q 37), more precisely in the final word of its second verse (Q 37:79); accordingly, he offers a new, challenging interpretation of vv. 78–80, which constitute but the first three segments of a four- or (if vv. 73–4 and 127–8 are also counted in it, on which see below) six-segment refrain repeatedly if not homogeneously displayed in vv. 78–81 (regarding Noah), 105 and 108–11 (Abraham),119–22 (Moses and Aaron), and 129–32 (Elijah).

In what follows I will review Luxenburg’s philological argument, which clearly needs to be nuanced.48 Nonetheless, I will try to substantiate his overall hermeneutical argument by further examining the whole refrain and the verses preceding it, especially vv. 73–4 (and, more broadly, vv. 11–74). One thing of which Luxenberg seems unaware is that the association of Noah with the eschaton is rather fundamental in the Qur’ān – and recurrent for that matter – an additional argument that could back up his interpretation of vv. 78–80. But before reassessing Luxenberg’s reading, let us first take a closer look at the text:

Q 37:78:

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