Indian Antiquary Vol 32

SR No.: 032524
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 550
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 263

June, 1903.)
THE ORIGIN OF THE QORAN.
255
THE ORIGIN OF THE QORAN.
BY DR. HUBERT GRIMME. (Translated by G. K. Nariman.)
(Concluded from p. 136.) 2. The Qoran and the Second Epistle of Peter. WHEN the Qorún borrows from the Gospel only distorted figures of speech, knows nothing of the bistory of the Apostles, seems to have been indebted to the Epistles of Panl for no great thought or striking phraseology, in short when it is a stranger to the balk of the New Testament, as it is not a little remarkable that it accords in a series of instances with one of the smallest books of the New Testament, which leads to the conclusion that the latter was made use of by the Prophet. I refer to the Second Epistle of Peter. Since up to now no book has noticed the circumstance, passing over the less striking features, we shall here briefly discuss the principal points of contact between the Epistle and the Qoran,
The borrowing consists in the adoption of peculiarly pregnant thoughts and similitudes, and is to be found only in the Súras or Chapters relating to the "Period of Grace (rahma);" especially in Sutra 22 and in the Mecca episode of Súra 24. It seems to me less probable that Mahammad adopted them directly from the original. For the mode of imitation throughout corresponds to an oral communication, often based on a wrong interpretation of the text, such as would have been impossible even to an indifferent student of the text of the Epistle. It must therefore be assumed that the Prophet owed his acquaintance with the Epistle to oral inistraction emanatióg from & Christian anthority that would appear to have read the Epistle itself, in what tongue cannot be determined. Let ns now follow the points of similarity, chapter by chapter. In the first chapter Peter exhorts the order to be diligent, with faith, in the exercise of virtuous acts and to be mindful of this after his own death. Further, the A postle has heard the Evangel from Christ Himself, who was declared by God the Father and by prophecy as of divine origin. The first-main thonght the Qoran has made its own, and, indeed, first gives expression to it in those Súras or chapters of the Qorán, which were given out in Medina. The ground for this must be that Muhammad could sooner get the heathens of Mecca to perform good works than to believe. Hence he had to emphatically lay down how fatile was work without faith for a proselyte:
Verily, if thou join partners with God (i. e, continue idolatry), thy work is as nothing and thou shalt be counted amongst those who sball perish. (39, 65.)
This is a simile of those who do not acknowledge the Lord. Their works are like anto ashes on which the wind blows violently on a stormy day. They will get nothing out of their works. (14, 21.)
. Besides these thoughts some Biblical expressions seem to have been imitated. In yorse 9 Peter calls those people blind who believe but do not practise virtue, who seem to have forgotten the fact that they were purged from sins and who thus render their cleotion doubtful. The Qorán makes use of this figure of spiritual blindness repeatedly, beginning with Súra 41, and predicates it first of those appealed to in vain to tread the righteous path, who hear the precepts bat either repudiate or forget them. Later on, in Vodina, the epithet is applied to those who are deprived of their light once kindled by God. (Cf. 2, 76.) Farther, in verse 19 Peter institutes a long-drawn out similo between prophetic words and "Light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your
» [f. Heel und Neuen Testament in Goldwiber's Muhammedanische Studien, LL. 882 mg. -T..]