History of the Quran
The history of the Qur'anic text arises from a scientific point of view is more nuanced than the common today among Muslims, smoothed published version. The historical science is how the Muslims also, mostly of an authoritative edition of the Koran Uthman ibn Affan under Caliph from.
- 3.1 Syro - Aramaic reading of the Koran
The emergence of the individual parts of the Koran
Early and late parts of the Koran
Arranged early as the eighth century Muslim scholars Koranic verses to certain events in the life of Muhammad as a revelation occasions ( asbab to - nuzul ). Based on these mappings and linguistic considerations, several scholars developed a chronology that divided the suras in " Meccan " and " Medinan " and brought into order. Roughly speaking, this chronology can be summarized in such a way that the earliest suras of the Koran at the end, while many of the standing at the beginning of the suras of the later times of prophetic activity Muḥammad come. Accordingly, one must if one wants to come close to the historical order of the suras, read it from back to front.
Even the Muslim scholars of the pre-modern era knew, however, that the suras are not all of a piece. So the chronological classification applies only to the main portion of the sura, while individual passages may represent inserts from earlier or later time.
Noeldeke chronology
Building on the acquired by the Muslim scholars material and preparatory work of Gustav Weil, Theodor Nöldeke developed in 1860 in his "History of the Qorāns " a comprehensive chronology of the parts of the Koran. After 24 suras ( 2, 98, 64, 62, 8, 47, 3, 61, 57, 4, 65, 59, 33, 63, 24, 58, 22, 48, 66, 60, 110, 49, 9, 5) medinisch, the rest is Makkan. In the Meccan Suras he introduced a refinement by means of stylistic and thematic features three consecutive periods ( frühmekkanisch, mittelmekkanisch, spätmekkanisch ) differed. The suras of the early Meccan period, therefore, are characterized by their strong poetic form with bold pictures and short, rhythmic rhymes and by the succession of oaths at its beginning. In the middle Meccan period the verses gradually increase in length to, and the divine name al-Rahman is common. In the late Meccan verses time will be even longer, the style is prosaic and thus similar to the Medinan period. Noeldeke chronology of the Meccan suras sees total as follows:
Noeldeke chronology of the Qur'an is widely accepted as reliable in the western Islamic studies today. On this basis, other literary peculiarities of the individual Koran periods were worked out. It has been shown, for example, Angelika Neuwirth, that new homiletic elements occur in the middle Meccan period with parables and parables, which are then discussed in spätmekkanischer time under the name Mathal in the Koran itself.
Further subdivisions of the early Meccan period
As part of the corpus Coranicum Noeldeke chronology was also further refined with respect to the early Meccan suras. So Nicolai Sinai divided by the parameter of the " structural complexity " the suras into three groups. The Suras of group I ( 93-95, 97, 99-102, 104-108, 111) contain 4 to 11 verses, and have a strong internal coherence to content. The Suras of group II (73, 81-82, 84-96 ) are longer ( 15-25 verses ) and can already be divided into various thematic units. The suras of the group III finally are up to 40 verses long and divided into a larger number of thematic units. The group III is further subdivided into group IIIa (53, 74, 75, 77, 78, 79), with a number of syllables per verse, which is similarly low as in groups I and II, and Group IIIb (51, 52 55, 56, 68, 69, 70 ) in which the length of each verses is considerably higher. Sinai considers these groups as chronologically successive stages of the Qur'anic text.
Group I is further subdivided by Sinai in various thematic and formal text cluster: a) the Meccan related acids 105 and 106, b) the suras 95, 102, 103, 104 and 107 with announcements of the Last Judgment, c) the suras 99, 100, 101, 111 with short eschatological images, d) the consolation suras 93, 94 and 108, and e) Sura 97, which deals with the force of revelation. Sinai makes it clear that he also sees this division as a chronological.
The collection of the Koran
The Muslim traditions of a Koran Collection ( dscham'u 'l- quran - ǧam ʿ u ʾ l - qur ʾ ān ) already under Caliph Abu Bakr ( 573-634 ) appear to reports of a first collection under Umar ibn al - Khattab ( ʿ Umar b. Al - Hattab to contradict 592-644 ). This contradiction is due to the content of different and often tendentious colored reports of the Islamic tradition being, could not be definitively resolved by the historical science today. A copy of the Koran Hafsa (around 604 to 663), a daughter of Umar is considered by both the historical science as well as from most of the Muslim scholars as central. The problem appears only that it was a daughter of Umar, who apparently inherited the Quran copy, and not the Caliph Uthman, which is remarkable in such an important document.
Besides the official copy which Uthman by Zaid b. Thabit was create with his side asked people prevail doubt about their identity in historical science, there were, according to Muslim tradition at least four more divergent copies, of which the most important is ūd of ʿ Abd Allāh ibn Mas ʿ. Also the copy of Ubayy ibn Ka ʿ b gain wider appeal. In addition, there were copies of Abu Musa Abdallah Qais al-' Ashari and Miqdad b. 'Amr.
About the copy of ' Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud reported the Muslim tradition that it had the suras 1, 113 and 114 are not included. In addition, there are two different, non-identical Muslim traditions of a highly divergent arrangement of the suras, neither of which correspond to the arrangement in the authoritative copy of Uthman. Contrary to the Muslim view, there are certainly indications that this copy was not destroyed but still long circulated copies.
About the Ubayy ibn Ka ʿ copy of b reported the Muslim tradition that it had included two additional suras which are even handed, the first textual evidence, however, late in the 16th century, date. These acids are known under the name of Surat al - Khal ' and Surat al - Hafd or both together under the title of Sura al ' l- Qunoot. Also for this Quran copy there is a Muslim tradition about a distinctly different arrangement of the suras. In the 9th century, the use of Koran readings, which were based on the collection Ubayys prohibited.
The two copies located in Istanbul and Tashkent in the Topkapi Museum are considered from the historical science in any case than those obtained to date copies of the edition of Uthman. But it has been found in 1972 in the main mosque of Sana'a fragments of old codices on vellum that are created around 710. They not only orthographic variations in Rasm, but also have a different arrangement of the suras. This confirms the accuracy of information provided in the literature, especially in the Kitab al - Fihrist of Ibn al - Nadim ( 987-988 ). Without a doubt, the oldest fragments are those that have been recorded in the so-called hidschazischen mâ'il font. Fragments of these codices are in San'a, a 176 leaves strong fragment is in the British Library under No. Or.2165.
Most of today's copies of the Koran to go back to an edition of Al -Azhar University in the year 1923/24, which has thus made a certain consonantal text and a single reading virtually for binding, although the older Muslim tradition entire encyclopedias on deviant, yet recognized readings knows. The handwritten basics of this issue are unknown.
There is not a critical edition of the Quran to this day. The creation of a textus Receptus using available manuscripts of the Koran from the early days with the distortion of the sense variants in a critical apparatus is strictly rejected by the Islamic world. Approaches to this have been made in the 1920s and 1930s by Gotthelf Bergsträsser, Arthur Jeffery and Otto Pretzl, but was never completed due to the death of Bergsträsser and Pretzl.
At the Berlin- Brandenburg Academy of Sciences a text- critical commentary is currently in preparation ( Corpus Coranicum ).
Heterodox research
Günter Lüling developed a theory that emanates from a Christian Urkoran in verse poetry.
John Wansbrough believes that the Qur'an was created in a longer process and early evidence only " Quranic material " includes, but is not pointing to the existence of the Koran at this time.
The finds of ancient Quran fragments in part from the first Muslim century in Sanaa have much of what was long considered secured, again called into question (see Gerd -Rüdiger Puin ).
The idea that the Quran was compiled into a prolonged process of writings from different backgrounds, sharing, among others Ibn Warraq, Karl -Heinz Ohlig and Yehuda Nevo. From professional scientific consensus differing theories also a writing under the pseudonym Christoph Luxenberg Islam Researchers at the Saarbrücken Institute " Inârah " has published.
A layman's overview of the heterodox research in Saarbrücken Koran scientists to Karl -Heinz Ohlig - to establish the historical-critical method in the Islamic Studies - provides tangible book publishing also under a pseudonym author Norbert G. Pressburg: Good Bye Mohammed.
Syro - Aramaic reading of the Koran
The published Christoph Luxenberg (but controversial in the research ) The Syro- Aramaic factory reading of the Koran (2002), explores the origins of the Qur'anic text. He studied the Qur'an linguistic and came to the conclusion that the Koran bein think many Christian and Syrian elements. He justifies this with the conclusion that the Aramaic language was widespread in the Middle East as the Arab.