The Qur'an and Hadith (week 4) Flashcards
What is the Qur’an?
It is the most important source of knowledge in Islam, having a divine origin.
What is the second in importance?
The Sunna (custom) of the Prophet, which is recoded as Hadiths - ‘reports’ of his Sunna (i.e., deeds and sayings)
Hadith Literature comprises a vast array of the reports of the Prophet’s Sunna.
What is the literal meaning of the Qur’an
‘recitation’
it is of oral nature and is God’s words as revealed to Muhammad. it is only in Arabic recitation and translations are only interpretations.
What is the notion of the ‘book’ (kitab)
scripture or revelation
Was the Qur’an revealed all at once
no - it did not exist as a written book form from the beginning - oral transmission and memorisation at first.
What did his followers do
Whenever Muhammad received revelations his followers would listen to them. was unable to read and write texts - so people tried to memorise them - many people were illiterate.
Was it ever written down during the Prophet’s lifetime?
it was also written down on natural objects for record during the start of the Prophet’s lifetime
- The prophet did not encourage people to write everything down though.
what was the compilation like?
it was compiled in a unified, standard book form during the rule of Uthman (r.644-656), the third successor to Muhammad in ruling the Muslim umma.
what was the compilation triggered by
it was triggered by the death of many memorisers of the Qur’an in wars
What was the arabic language like?
described as a ‘defective script’ with dots to distinguish some of the letters such as b and t.
writing was only used as a memory aid otherwise it was rooted in oral culture
What was the language of the Qur’an like?
rhymed prose - no metre but rhymed - was not poetry
it was the only miracle given to Muhammad - of oral nature - a literary miracle: the Qur’an seems to have been ‘imprinted on his heart’ by Garbriel
What were the reactions of Arabs towards Muhammads recitations of the Qur’an?
initially the reactions were shocked - ‘he invented it’ ‘he is a poet’
- they tried to disregard him by labelling him as a ‘soothsayer or possessed’
What did they mean by a possessed person
someone possessed by the Jin - a mad person.
A Jin is believed to be made out of fire - something that appears when you burn. we are made out of clay - jin came out of fire - can be unidentifiable or visible. The idea of sins and devils are connected with this concept of Jins
How did God respond to these false accusations?
told them that they had ‘not taught him poetry’ and that he was not a soothsayer nor possessed.
what is the structure of the Qur’an like?
suras - chapters - of which there are 114.
aya - verse - ‘sign’
how do chapters open
suras open with ‘in the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful’ - except Sura 9
and generally longer suras are placed towards the begging of the Qur’an
Describe the chronology of the Suras
Meccan (610-622)
- generally shorter suras, warnings, afterlife
Medinan (622 - 632)
- generally longer suras, detailed and practical
What is the content of the Qur’an?
message of monotheism - sent by the only God to humanity through various prophets throughout the human history, with Muhammad bearing the final message.
What else does the Qur’an present itself as?
a confirmation: ‘confirmation and clarification of the religion of monotheism, the religion of Abraham, which Jews call Judaism and Christians call Christianity but which is really a single tradition’ (Sonn, p. 7).
What is the study of the Qur’an called?
tafsir - commentary on the Qur’an
it is the roots of all knowledge - everything comes back to the Qur’an - all religious sciences - laws, ethics, theology etc
What is the Hadith
it is a report of the Prophet’s Sunna
What are the two different types
oly (qudsi; divine sayings) and ‘prophetic’ hadiths - Muhammad’s sayings
How was it passed down
Memorised and orally transmitted at first
Later written down and compiled - much later than the Qur’an
How can it differ?
Various collections, different for Sunnis and Shiites but much overlap in content
