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The Qurʾan and Syriac Christianity
Recurring Themes and Motifs
Series: - Texts and Studies on the QurʾÄn, Volume: 28
Volume Editor:
Scholars of Qurʾanic studies have commonly acknowledged the significance of pre-Islamic Syriac Christian literature for the study of the Qurʾan. By offering new evidence, the present volume refines and challenges the arguments of previous studies and unearths hitherto unexplored recurring themes and motifs. It focuses on selected themes related to prophets, military and non-military forms of jihaÌd, concepts of darkness and light, depictions of the Garden and the Fire, Satanâs fall, and bodily purity. The volume also seeks to highlight the importance of Syriac texts to the Qurʾanâs theology relative to comparable Jewish and non-Syriac Christian sources. Moreover, it investigates how Qurʾanic concepts diverge from Syriac Christian parallels and develop a distinct theological message.
Contributors are Daniel Bannoura, Dmitrij F. Bumazhnov, Johanne Louise Christiansen, Ryann Elizabeth Craig, Ana Davitashvili, Mohammad Ghandehari, Mohammad Haghani Fazl, Mark Hoover, Nestor Kavvadas, Jacob M. Kildoo, Christian Lange, Gavin McDowell, MohammadReza Moini, and Lasse Løvlund Toft.
Contributors are Daniel Bannoura, Dmitrij F. Bumazhnov, Johanne Louise Christiansen, Ryann Elizabeth Craig, Ana Davitashvili, Mohammad Ghandehari, Mohammad Haghani Fazl, Mark Hoover, Nestor Kavvadas, Jacob M. Kildoo, Christian Lange, Gavin McDowell, MohammadReza Moini, and Lasse Løvlund Toft.
Ana Davitashvili (PhD, University of Bamberg, 2021) is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tübingen. She has published on the Qurʾan and pre-Islamic Christianity, with particular focus on Syriac Christianity, pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, and early Islamic exegesis, including âSÌ£ibghat AllaÌh in Q 2.138: A New Reading of the Qurʾan in Light of pre-Islamic Christian Literature,â Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 36 (2025).
List of Figures and Tables
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
âAna Davitashvili
1 A Talking New-Born (Q 19:30), Aaronâs Sister (Q 19:28), Mary Who Is Not God (Q 5:116): Qurʾanic Cruces and Their Syriac Intertexts
âNestor Kavvadas
2 âYou Crucified Him and You Killed Him; except That God Raised Himâ: Creedal Patterns and the Qurʾanic Crucifixion
âRyann Elizabeth Craig
3 One Prophet, Two Narratives: Temporal Sequence of Jonahâs Story in Late Antiquity
âMohammad Ghandehari and MohammadReza Moini
4 Mosesâs Mother as a Prophetological Figure: The Qurʾanâs Reception of the Story of the Birth of Moses
âMohammad Haghani Fazl
5 âPerennial Enemiesâ in the Qurʾanâs Prophetology: A Refiguring of Christian Anti-Jewish Motifs?
âJacob M. Kildoo
6 Life as a Spiritual Struggle with the Evil One in Pre-Islamic Syriac Texts: The Theological Background to the Qurʾanic Idea of Spiritual JihÄd?
âChristian Lange
7 Thirst for Killing and Being Killed in the Syriac Eusebius Narrative and the Qurʾan
âDmitrij F. Bumazhnov
8 Unbelief, Protection, and Containers: Dark Metaphors between the Qurʾan and Syriac Writings
âJohanne Louise Christiansen
9 The Garment of Light and Glory in the Qurʾan? Further Notes on libÄs in Q 7:27 in Light of Qurʾanic Verses and Pre-Islamic Syriac Texts
âAna Davitashvili
10 The Recension of Ephremâs Hymns on Paradise in the Qurʾan
âDaniel Bannoura
11 Damned Accusers and Fueled Fires: On the Syriac Reception of Daniel 3 and the AṣḥÄb al-UkhdÅ«d in Q 85:4â11
âLasse Løvlund Toft
12 Bodily Purity in Syrian Christianity and the Qurʾan
âMark Hoover
13 The Cave of Treasures and the Qurʾan: A Reappraisal
âGavin McDowell
Index of Qurʾanic Verses
General Index
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
âAna Davitashvili
Part 1 Prophets and Humans Surrounding Them
1 A Talking New-Born (Q 19:30), Aaronâs Sister (Q 19:28), Mary Who Is Not God (Q 5:116): Qurʾanic Cruces and Their Syriac Intertexts
âNestor Kavvadas
2 âYou Crucified Him and You Killed Him; except That God Raised Himâ: Creedal Patterns and the Qurʾanic Crucifixion
âRyann Elizabeth Craig
3 One Prophet, Two Narratives: Temporal Sequence of Jonahâs Story in Late Antiquity
âMohammad Ghandehari and MohammadReza Moini
4 Mosesâs Mother as a Prophetological Figure: The Qurʾanâs Reception of the Story of the Birth of Moses
âMohammad Haghani Fazl
5 âPerennial Enemiesâ in the Qurʾanâs Prophetology: A Refiguring of Christian Anti-Jewish Motifs?
âJacob M. Kildoo
Part 2 Non-Military and Military JihÄds
6 Life as a Spiritual Struggle with the Evil One in Pre-Islamic Syriac Texts: The Theological Background to the Qurʾanic Idea of Spiritual JihÄd?
âChristian Lange
7 Thirst for Killing and Being Killed in the Syriac Eusebius Narrative and the Qurʾan
âDmitrij F. Bumazhnov
Part 3 Darkness and Light
8 Unbelief, Protection, and Containers: Dark Metaphors between the Qurʾan and Syriac Writings
âJohanne Louise Christiansen
9 The Garment of Light and Glory in the Qurʾan? Further Notes on libÄs in Q 7:27 in Light of Qurʾanic Verses and Pre-Islamic Syriac Texts
âAna Davitashvili
Part 4 Garden and Fire
10 The Recension of Ephremâs Hymns on Paradise in the Qurʾan
âDaniel Bannoura
11 Damned Accusers and Fueled Fires: On the Syriac Reception of Daniel 3 and the AṣḥÄb al-UkhdÅ«d in Q 85:4â11
âLasse Løvlund Toft
Part 5 The Qurʾan an Essential Source for Syriac Christianity and a Syriac Text an Essential Source for the Qurʾan?
12 Bodily Purity in Syrian Christianity and the Qurʾan
âMark Hoover
13 The Cave of Treasures and the Qurʾan: A Reappraisal
âGavin McDowell
Index of Qurʾanic Verses
General Index
Academic institutes and libraries; postgraduate students and specialists in Qurʾanic studies, Islamic studies, Biblical studies, Late Antiquity, Religious studies, and comparative theology.