Sinless, Sonless and Seal of Prophets: Muḥammad and Kor 33, 36-40, Revisited.

In his article, "Between History and Exegesis: the Origins and Transformation of the Story of Muḥammad and Zaynab bt Ǧaḥš," published in Arabica , 65/1-2 (2018), p. 31-63, Andreas Görke argues that the reference in Kor 33, 37 to Muḥammad's marriage to the former wife of a man named Zayd "seems to re...

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Published in:Arabica Vol. 67; no. 4; pp. 333 - 409
Main Author: Powers, David Stephan
Format: Article
Published: Brill Academic Publishers 2020
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Sinless, Sonless and Seal of Prophets: Muḥammad and Kor 33, 36-40, Revisited.
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        au: Powers, David Stephan
        affil: Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
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        Bathsheba
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        Seal of Prophecy
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        sonlessness
        sunnat Allāh
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        Zaynab bt Ǧaḥš
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        Jean Damascène
        Légende du dernier empereur
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        Sceau de la prophétie
        sourate al-Aḥzāb
      ab: In his article, "Between History and Exegesis: the Origins and Transformation of the Story of Muḥammad and Zaynab bt Ǧaḥš," published in Arabica , 65/1-2 (2018), p. 31-63, Andreas Görke argues that the reference in Kor 33, 37 to Muḥammad's marriage to the former wife of a man named Zayd "seems to refer to an historical event" and that later exegetical expansions of the episode are based on an "historical kernel." He adds that these exegetical expansions were modeled on the encounter between David and Bathsheba in II Samuel 11-12 and that the connection between the Islamic and biblical episodes stands at the beginning of the Muslim "preoccupation" with v. 37. Building upon Görke's scholarship, I show how the early Muslim community created a plausible Sitz im Leben for the episode; establish with greater precision the starting point of the Muslim "preoccupation" with the connection between Muḥammad's marriage to Zayd's former wife and David's marriage to the wife of Uriah the Hittite; and suggest that the qurʾānic treatment of the episode contains a seed of what would become the doctrine of ʿiṣma or the impeccability of prophets. Finally, I propose that the important question for historians is not the event to which the episode purportedly refers but rather the larger geo-political context for the emergence of the qurʾānic proclamation that Muḥammad is ḫātam al-nabiyyīn or the Seal of Prophets. To this end, I seek to shift the scholarly gaze from a domestic crisis in the household of Muḥammad in Medina ca AH 5 to early Christian polemics against Islam and its Prophet and to Byzantine imperial ideology. Résumé: Dans son article « Between History and Exegesis: the Origins and Transformation of the Story of Muḥammad and Zaynab bt Ǧaḥš » publié dans Arabica , 65/1-2 (2018), p. 31-63, Andreas Görke soutient que, dans le verset coranique 37 de la sourate al-Aḥzāb (33), la référence au mariage de Muḥammad avec l'ancienne épouse d'un homme nommé Zayd « semble renvoyer à un événement historique » et que les développements exégétiques postérieurs de l'épisode reposent sur « un noyau historique ». Il ajoute que ces développements exégétiques prirent pour modèle la rencontre entre David et Bethsabée dans II Sam 11-12 et que le lien entre les épisodes islamiques et bibliques se retrouve dès les débuts des débats de la tradition musulmane sur le verset Kor 33, 37. Dans le prolongement de l'étude d'Andreas Görke, j'entends montrer comment la première communauté musulmane forma un Sitz im Leben plausible pour cet épisode, établir avec plus de précision le point de départ des « débats » musulmans concernant le lien entre le mariage de Muḥammad avec l'ancienne épouse de Zayd et le mariage de David avec la femme d'Urie le Hittite et suggérer que le traitement coranique de l'épisode contient les germes de ce qui deviendrait la doctrine de la ʿiṣma ou l'impeccabilité des prophètes. Enfin, je soutiens que la question importante pour les historiens n'est pas l'événement historique auquel l'épisode est supposé renvoyer, mais plutôt le contexte historique et géopolitique plus large conduisant à l'émergence de l'affirmation coranique que Muḥammad est le Sceau des Prophètes (ḫātam al-nabiyyīn). À cette fin, je propose de déplacer le regard des chercheurs de la crise domestique du foyer de Muḥammad à Médine vers l'an 5 de l'hégire aux premières polémiques chrétiennes contre l'islam et son prophète et à l'idéologie impériale byzantine.
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