Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur'ān

By Gordon Nickel

The Muslim accusation of the corruption or deliberate falsification of pre-Qur'ānic scriptures has been a major component of interfaith polemic for a millenium or more. The accusation has frequently sought attestation from a series of "tampering" verses in the Qur'ān. Investigation of the interpretation of these verses in the earliest commentaries on the Qur'ān, however, reveals a discrepancy between the confident polemical accusation and the tentative understandings of the first Muslims. Of greater interest to early commentators was a story of deception and obstinacy by the "People of the Book" in response to the truth claims of Islam. Focusing on the eighth-century commentary of Muqātil ibn Sulaymān and the great exegetical compendium of al-Ṭabarī (d. 923), this book sketches the outlines of the earliest Muslim approach to pre-Qur'ānic scriptures. The resulting discoveries provide a rare opportunity to peek behind the curtain of doctrinaire claim and polemical debate.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9004192387
• ISBN13: 9789004192386
• Release Date: December 2010
• Publisher: Brill
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.6" x 9.6"