The usual beginning:
In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy
Ta Ha.
Many of the surahs in the Quran begin with several letters of the Arabic language, and scholars debate their precise meaning. In this case it may be that “ta ha” is from the Yemeni dialect and means something like “O man!” As Muslim scholars say when something is not quite clear: “God knows best!”
Much of this sura dwells on Moses, portrayed in the Bible as the transmitter of the Jewish Law. Perhaps Muhammad chose to speak about Moses because he saw himself in a similar capacity: he was given the teachings of Islam through the angel Gabriel, like Moses was given the Law on Mt. Sinai. I find it most interesting when Muhammad speaks of people from the Bible. How did he learn these stories? And why do they often have curious variations from the Bible versions?
Moses receiving the Torah (Tawrat) from the angel Gabriel (Jibril). Recall that Muhammad claimed he received the Qur’an from Gabriel as well.
First, it helps to keep in mind that there were variations of these stories being circulated among Jews and Christians. Now that we all have a printed Bible in our home library we tend to think those are “the” stories and all Jews and Christians knew the stories in this form. Widespread literacy is a relatively recent phenomenon and most Jews and Christians in past centuries passed along stories by mouth and learned them by listening. One can easily envision how this led to variations from the original stories. Also, there has been a lot of “fan fiction” in religion over the centuries: stories meant to augment the official teachings or to fill in the gaps (like the back story of Mary as found in The Proto-gospel of James. See post 49, Did Christians Just Make Stuff Up?, or 27: Christmas: The Prequel).
So, I decided to go to the source of all wisdom to find out how Muhammad learned these Bible stories: internet AI. Here is what I found:
Muhammad primarily learned bible stories through oral traditions and interactions with Jewish and Christian individuals in Arabia. His knowledge likely stemmed from conversations with traders, travelers, and residents, including Christians in Syria and Christian/Jewish experts in his hometown. Many stories in the Quran align more closely with apocryphal and Talmudic narratives than the canonical Bible.
Key aspects of how Muhammad acquired this knowledge include:
- Oral Transmission: Stories were passed down orally in an environment where Christians and Jews were actively discussing their traditions.
- Influential Figures: Muhammad’s wife, Khadijah, had a cousin, Waraqah, who was a Christian well-versed in the scriptures.
- Trade Routes: Throughout his time as a merchant, Muhammad travelled along routes that connected him with Christians and Jews.
- Apocryphal Texts: Many stories resemble those found in unhistorical,, or apocryphal works, such as the Gospel of the Infancy and the Coptic History of the Virgin.
- Interactions with Christians: He interacted with Christians on multiple occasions, including a meeting with a Christian monk during his travels and holding discussions with the bishop of Najran.
While the Quran is believed by Muslims to be a divine revelation given to Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel, these historical interactions provided the context for the stories of previous prophets that were known in the region at the time.
Although you have to be careful accepting what internet AI tells you, this sounds like a reasonable explanation of Muhammad’s religious education.
This sura seems to have the same basic message as many others: heed the teachings of the Qur’an as it truly is God’s word, a revelation given to the Prophet (Muhammad). There are great blessings for those who listen and obey, and stern warnings for those who do not. And the story of Moses reinforces this teaching.
For the most part Muhammad follows the Bible story of Moses. His mother sets him adrift on the Nile. When he is found his sister offers to fetch a nursemaid for him, his actual mother. Later he kills a man and has to flee to Midian. Eventually God appears to him in a flame and tells him he will go back to Pharaoh. As confirming signs his staff turns into a snake, and his hand becomes white with leprosy and then is healed. Moses asks for help and God sends his brother along with him.
As in the Bible when they go to Pharaoh his magicians challenge Moses, but Moses’ staff-snake swallows up their snakes. Unlike the Bible, the magicians then want to worship Moses’ God. This angers Pharaoh, who threatens to cut off their hands and feet and crucify them on palm trees! Even so, the magicians refuse to give in, trusting Moses’ God, as Pharaoh can only harm them in this life, not the next.
As in the Bible Moses leads the people through the sea, and Pharaoh and his army are overwhelmed by the sea. God then provides the people manna and quail in the wilderness. When Moses goes to commune with God and receive the Law there are some people called the Samiri that seem to be involved in leading them astray and in building the golden calf. Scholars debate who these “Samiri” are. “God knows best!” I suppose.
In the Bible version it is Moses’ brother Aaron who collects gold and builds a golden calf for people to worship in Moses’ absence. When Moses confronts him he offers the lame excuse, “So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:24) Then Moses sends his loyal men through the camp to kill the idolaters, about 3,000 of them. To emphasize the point: ‘Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.’ (Exodus 32:35) I have always found it odd that while thousands of people were (supposedly) killed for worshipping the golden calf, Aaron, who made the golden calf, gets promoted to be High Priest. A little favoritism at play there?
The Adoration of the Golden Calf
Picture from the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg (12th century),
Muhammad’s version varies slightly. The people plead, ‘We did not break our word to you deliberately. We were burdened with the weight of people’s jewelry, so we threw it [into the fire], and the Samiri did the same,’ but he [used the molten jewelry to] produce an image of a calf which made a lowing sound, and they said, ‘This is your god and Moses’ god, but he has forgotten.’ (20:87,88) Muhammad then portrays Aaron as telling the people the calf was meant as a test but the people chose to disobey him and worship this false idol. So even in Muhammad’s version Aaron gets off easy, although Moses does scold him. As in the Bible Muhammad says Moses had the calf ground to dust, but it was scattered to the sea. In the Bible it says Moses had the people drink the gold dust. (Gold is used as a treatment for arthritis, so maybe he was just getting them ready for their 40 years of wandering in the desert?) For more details about the story of the golden calf read Bible post 17: Moses the Hypocrite, which discusses the possible origin of the story, actually derived from later in Israel’s history.
Muhammad follows this with his usual warning to heed the words of the Quran or else you will suffer terribly when the judgment comes. He says, “We have sent the Quran down in the Arabic tongue and given all kinds of warnings in it, so that they may beware or take heed…” (20:113) It makes me wonder if Muhammad saw this message from God as a universal one for all mankind, or just a special message to the Arabic people. I once had a Muslim tell me that I could not really appreciate the Quran without reading it in the original Arabic. What good is a message from God if only a small minority of people in the world can truly read and understand it? But then it kind of reminds me of Jesus saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24)
Muhammad then invokes the story of Adam to reinforce the point. He again tells us that Iblis/Satan refused to bow down before God’s new creation, Adam. He then proceeded to tempt Adam to disobey God, resulting in his expulsion from the garden.
Angels honor Adam, except Iblis (Satan), who refuses.
Painting from an illustrated subsection containing Bal’ami’s Persian rendition of the Annals.
As with the story of Moses the message is clear: stay faithful to the true God and do not be tempted to disobey and worship false gods. He then encourages Muhammad not to lose heart even though some sinners seem to prosper while the faithful sometimes struggle: “Their time has been set, so [Prophet] be patient with what they say– celebrate the praise of your Lord, before the rising and setting of the sun, celebrate His praise during the night, and at the beginning and end of the day, so that you may find contentment – and do not gaze longingly at what We have given some of them to enjoy, the finery of this present life: We test them through this, but the provision of your Lord is better and more lasting. Order your people to pray, and pray steadfastly yourself. We are not asking you to give Us provision; We provide for you, and the rewards of the Hereafter belong to the devout.” (20:129-132) This is not unlike the message of Jesus: do not trust in worldly things, keep your eyes on the eternal reward, which is so much better. (As in the parable of the selfish rich man, which concludes, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15-21)
The Parable of the Rich Fool by Rembrandt, 1627.
Muhammad concludes the sura with a final encouragement to be patient and faithful: “We are all waiting, so you carry on waiting: you will come to learn who has followed the even path, and been rightly guided.”
So, we have seen again in this sura that Muhammad likes to make use of Bible stories to make his point, even if his version varies somewhat from the one in the Bible. And his message is not unlike that of Jesus: be faithful to God and don’t be led astray by the things of this world. Of course, Christians and Muslims have some disagreements on Jesus and his relationship to God (prophet vs Son of God), but isn’t this something that should be discussed peacefully, rather than at the point of a sword or with the aim of a gun or missile? One can hope, but “peacefully” probably won’t happen anytime soon. Not with Islamic extremists conducting a Holy War (what an oxymoron) against the West, and America currently conducting its own Holy War against the Islamic regime of Iran. Maybe some day…
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