Class 4: Meccan Chapters

Question 1

Periodization of Qur’an:
Sells’ characterization of Early Meccan, Later Meccan and Medinan suras

Answer 1

Note: Division in 622 C.E., Hijra (Muslim migration from Mecca to Medina)

Early Meccan: ”existential and personal issues”
Later Meccan: “extended discussions of sacred history and the prophets known in the Biblical tradition”

Medinan: “reflects Muhammad’s new position as a political, economic, social, and military leader, and so address a wider range of societal, historical, and legal issues.”

											(Sells 14)

Question 2

Meccan Chapters:
Characteristics of early Meccan suras
(Sells)

Answer 2

• Hymnic invocations of nature
• Meditations on “the ultimate question”
• Experiential sense of intimacy and awe
• Apocalyptic vignettes

Question 3

Characteristic elements of early Meccan suras:
What is the ‘ultimate question’ Meccan suras ponder upon?

Answer 3

Meditations on “the ultimate question”

• “What will be of value at the end of a human life?” (Sells, 16-17)

i.e. What is the meaning of life?

• Existential questions
• Human condition of nisyan (“forgetfulness” - Qur’an also known as “The Reminder”)

Question 4

Common themes in Early Meccan Suras:
What is the meaning of ‘yawm al-din’? What are other themes of Early Meccan chapters?

Answer 4

The “Day of reckoning” (yawm al-din)

Other common themes in Early Meccan suras include:

• Ethics of social justice and compassion
• Elusive time
• Inversion of the familiar

Question 5

The Arabic language:
What are ‘sound figures’?

Answer 5

Sound figures are the closest comparative to Sells’ concept of sound visions

• one word used with the intention of spurring/inspiring a cloud of association

Other characteristics of the Arabic language include:

• Highly gendered
• Based on roots (e.g. ‘-L-M)
• Polyvalent meanings to each root

Question 6

Literary qualities of Qur’anic Arabic:
What are ‘rhymed endings’?

Answer 6

Rhymed endings is a literary quality of the Qur’an that couples meaning with the listening/reading experience.

• Repetition
• Memory aid
• State of quiet
• Alienation
• Difference in speech, using sound is a ‘divider’ (ex: sura 82, “-at” at first then “-een” in second half)

For instance, sura Maryam ends in a feminine rhyme (“-iyya”). This literary choice gives the chapter a feminine aura.

Other literary qualities of Qur’anic Arabic include:

• Sound figures
• Parallels in sound & meaning
• Ambuguity
• Gender interplay

Question 7

Later Meccan Chapters:
What are some of the characteristics of Later Meccan suras?

Answer 7

Greater in length

Detail stories of Biblical and Arab Prophets

• Ex: Sura 43 - cycles of narratives, not linear
• Begins –> then Moses’ story –> then Jesus’ story

Question 8

Which is the best way to read the Qur’an as literature? :
Discuss the implications of studying the Qur’an chronologically (Meccan/Medinan divisions) rather than sequentially?

Answer 8

Chronological study of the Qur’an: Meccan/Medinan division, reconstructed through ”Occasions of Revelation” traditions and/or Literary Analysis

• You see how things develop, unfolding of ideas and how they grow and evolve (added detail and so on)
• Con: dismantles the chapter as a literary unit (some verses revealed 10 years later, must skip and return to that part later), miss beginning-middle-end experience of the Qur’an as it was meant to be

Question 9

Both Muslims and Non-Muslim Academics agree on…

From class 1: about Meccan and Medinan suras

Answer 9

Mecca: First 10 years, birthplace of the Prophet Muhammed

• Warning
• Signs
• Nature
• Abstract

Medina: Remaining 12-13 years, remaining chapters

• Temporal and spatial differences
• Feel and sound like different chapters, thematic differences
• “First warned, later governed…” (Buck 2017, 30)
• Social realities
• Commandments
• Gender
• Social Justice