The Qibla

An Allusion to the Shema'

Authors

  • Abdulla Galadari Al-Maktoum College, Dundee

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/cis.v9i2.20101

Keywords:

Jerusalem, Mizraḥ, Prayer, Qiblah, Mecca, Shemaʿ

Abstract

In this article it is argued that the Qiblah passages in the Qur’an, which are commonly understood as referring to the direction of the prayer, are directly engaging with and interpreting the Shema passages in Deuteronomy and their Talmudic commentaries. By defining and applying the method of intertextual polysemy, nine points of intertextuality are identified between the various Qur’anic, Biblical, and Talmudic passages. Against this background, the article implies that narrations from traditional Qur’anic commentaries are lacking in their interpretation of these passages, since they do not employ any extra-Quranic contexts to explain their meaning. Through the method of intertextual polysemy, the alternative thesis propounded here is that the historical reference for the Qiblah passages is the Shema.

References

Al-Baqi, M. F., ed. n.d. Sahih Muslim. Beirut: Dar Ihya' al-Turath al-'Arabi.

Al-Fayruzabadi. 2005. Al-Qamus al-muhit. Beirut: Mu'assasat al-Risalah lil-Tiba'ah wal-Nashr.

Al-Qurtubi. 1964. al-Jami' li-ahkam al-Qur'an Edited by A. al-Barduni and I. Atfish. Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya.

Al-Nasir, M. Z. N., ed. 2002. Sahih al-Bukhari. Dar Tawq al-Najah.

Al-Razi. 2000. Mafatih al-ghayb: al-tafsir al-kabir. Beirut: Dar Ihya' al-Turath al- 'Arabi.

Al-Sabki. 1993. Tabaqit al-shafi'iyyah al-kubra. Edited by M. M. Al-Tinahi and A. M. Al-Hilu. Hajr lil-Tiba'ah wal-Nashr.

Al-Tabari. 2000. Jami' al-bayan fi ta'wil al-Qur'an. Mu'assassat al-Risalah.

Al-Tabrisi. n.d. Majma' al-Bayan fi Tafsir al-Qur'an. Al-Mujamma' al-'Alami li-Ahl al-Bayt.

Al-Tusi. n.d. Al-Tibyan fi tafsir al-Qur'an. Al-Jami'ah al-Islamiyya.

Al-Zabidi. n.d. Taj al-'arus. Dar al-Hidayah.

Appel, Gersion. 1989. The Concise Code of Jewish Law. New York : KTAV Publishing House.

Basri, Moshe. 1994. Narratives of the Talmud: A Collection of Aggadot in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds and the Tosefta. Translated by Edward Levin. Jerusalem: Haktab Institute.

Bell, Richard. 1968 [1925]. The Origin of Islam in Its Christian Environment. Abingdon: Routledge.

Berkovits, Avraham, Trans. 2008. Pearls of the Rambam: Maimonides’ Commentary on the Torah. Jerusalem: Mosad Harav Kook.

Didascalia Apostolorum, XII. Publishing details.

Finkel, Avraham Y. Trans. Fundamentals of the Rambam: Ethical and Inspirational Laws and Writings of Maimonides. Scranton, PA: Yeshivath Bais Moshe.

Firestone, Reuven. 1989. “Abraham’s Son as the Intended Sacrifice (Al-Dhabih, Qur'an 37:99–113): Issues in Quranic Exegesis.” Journal of Semitic Studies 34(1): 95–131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jss/XXXIV.1.95

———. 2004. “The Qur'an and the Bible: Some Modern Studies of Their Relationship.” In Bible and Qur'an: Essays in Scriptural Intertextuality, edited by John C. Reeves, 1–22. Leiden: Brill. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jss/ XXXIV.1.95

Fishbane, Michael. 1988. Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/0198266995.001.0001

Galadari, Abdulla. 2013. “The Role of Intertextual Polysemy in Qur'anic Exegesis.” Quranica: International Journal on Quranic Research 3(4): 35–56.

Garsiel, Bat-Sheva. 2006. Bible, Midrash and Qur'an: An Intertextual Study of Common Narrative Materials. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad. (Hebrew)

Geiger, Abraham. 1833. Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judentume aufgenommen. Bonn.

Gurevich, Eliyahu, Trans. 2010. Tosefta Berachot. Las Vegas, NV: Gurevich.

Husam-ul-din b. Musa Muhammad b. 'Afaneh. 2004. n.d. Ittiba' la ibtida': Qawa'id wa usus fil-sunnah wal-bid'ah. Jerusalem: unknown publisher.

Ibn 'Arabi, Tafsir al-Qur'an. http://www.altafsir.com/

Ibn Kathir. 1999. Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'azim. Edited by M. H. Shams-ul-Din. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah.

Ibn Manzur. 1994. Lisan al-'Arab. Beirut: Dar Sadir.

Ibn Paquda, B. 1999. Duties of the Heart. New York: Feldheim Publishers.

Ibn Sa'd. 1990. Al-Tabaqat al-kubra. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah.

Kaye, A. S. 2007. “Arabic Morphology.” In Morphologies of Asia and Africa, 211–247. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.

Knohl, Israel. 1996. “Between Voice and Silence: The Relationship between Prayer and Temple Cult.” Journal of Biblical Literature 115(1): 17–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3266816

Lamm, Norman. 1998, The Shema': Spirituality and Law in Judaism. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.

Lassner, Jacob. 1990. “The Covenant of the Prophets: Muslim Texts, Jewish Subtexts,” AJS Review 15: 207–238. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0364009400002956

Levin, Meir. 2002. All Your Heart: The Shema' in Jewish Worship, Practice, and Life. Southfield, MI: Targum Press.

Makki ibn Abi Talib. Tafsir al-Hidayah ila Bulugh al-Nihayah. http://www.altafsir.com/

Mårtensson, Ulrika. 2005. “Discourse and Historical Analysis: The Case of Al- Tabari’s History of the Messengers and the Kings.” Journal of Islamic Studies 16(3): 287–331. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jis/eti152

Mazuz, Hagai. 2014. The Religious and Spiritual Life of the Jews of Medina. Leiden: Brill. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004266094

Neusner, Jacob, trans. 1988. The Mishnah: A New Translation. Rensselaer, NY: Hamilton Printing.

———. 2008. The Jerusalem Talmud: A Translation and Commentary. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.

Neusner, Jacob. 2011. The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers

Newby, Gordon. 1988. A History of the Jews of Arabia: From Ancient Times to Their Eclipse under Islam. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.

O’Neill, John C. 1993.“The Kingdom of God.” Novum Testamentum 35(2): 130–141.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156853693X00095

Osborne, Robert D. 1876. Islam under the Arabs. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.

Prunet, J-F. 2006. “External Evidence and the Semitic Root.” Morphology, 16(1): 41–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11525-006-0003-5

Rahman, Fazlur. 1976. “Pre-Foundations of the Muslim Community in Mecca.” Studia Islamica 43: 5–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1595277

Reynolds, Gabriel S. 2010. The Qur'an and Its Biblical Subtext. Abingdon: Routledge.

Rippin, Andrew. 1983. “The Qur'an as Literature: Perils, Pitfalls and Prospects.” Bulletin of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies 10(1): 38–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13530198308705361

———., ed. 1988. Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur'an. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Rodkinson, Michael L. 1918. Trans. The Babylonian Talmud. Boston, MA: Boston New Talmud Publishing Co.

Rubin, Uri. 1990. “Hanifiyya and Ka'ba: An Inquiry into the Arabian pre-Islamic Background of Din Ibrahim.” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 13: 71–107.

Schechter, Solomon. 1896. “Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology. VI. The Torah in Its Aspect of Law.” The Jewish Quarterly Review 8(3): 363–380. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1450071

Soloveitchik, Joseph B. 2003. Worship of the Heart: Essays on Jewish Prayer. Edited by Shalom Carmy. New York: Toras HoRav Foundation.

Spero, Shubert. 2003. “Turning to Jerusalem in Prayer.” Jewish Bible Quarterly 31: 97–100.

Tisdall, William St. Clair. 1905. The Original Sources of the Qur'an: Its Origin in Pagan Legends and Mythology. Unknown publisher.

Torrey, Charles.1967. The Jewish Foundation of Islam. Brooklyn, NY: Ktav Publishing House.

Waldman, Marilyn R. 1985. “New Approaches to ‘Biblical’ Materials in the Qur'an.” The Muslim World 75(1): 1–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.1985.tb03459.x

Wansbrough, John E. 1977. Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

———. 1978. The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition of Islamic Salvation History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wasserstrom, Steven M. 2014. Between Muslim and Jew: The Problem of Symbiosis under Early Islam. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Zellentin, Holger. 2013. The Qur'an’s Legal Culture: The Didascalia Apostolorum as a Point of Departure. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.

Zwemer, Samuel M. 1937. “The Return to the Old Qibla.” The Muslim World 27(1): 13–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.1937.tb00325.x

Published

2016-09-27

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Galadari, A. (2016). The Qibla: An Allusion to the Shema’. Comparative Islamic Studies, 9(2), 165-194. https://doi.org/10.1558/cis.v9i2.20101