The Quran, Hebrew, and the Bible

The Quran, Hebrew, and the Bible 

This project examines the relationship between the Quran and the Hebrew Bible, with an emphasis on Genesis. It argues that the differences between quranic and biblical narrations of a given episode are deliberate, as the Quran explicitly aims to reinterpret and correct the Late Antiquity Jewish understanding(s) of the Bible. This argument is demonstrated and supported via the quranic consonantal wordplays on the Hebrew text of the Hebrew Bible. The Quran creates such wordplays by including in its retellings of biblical narrations Arabic vocabulary that sounds similar to the respective biblical Hebrew text, but has a different meaning. These wordplays are evidence that the Quran is familiar with the literal text of (at least parts) of Genesis (and other sections in the Hebrew Bible) in Hebrew (rather than Syriac, as is the prevalent scholarly view). Moreover, such cases of quranic engagements with biblical narratives also reflect familiarity with the exegetical reception history of the Hebrew Bible. This study therefore contributes towards rethinking the background(s) against which the Quran has emerged
 

• Présentée par Zohar Hadromi-Allouche : Assistant Professor, Religions and Theology, Trinity College Dublin (Irlande)