The Convergence of Judaism and Islam. Religious, Scientific, and Cultural Dimensions

Quran and Muslim Exegesis as a Source for the Bible and Ancient History r 25

The following pages examine the Muslim exegetical concept of the
Arab prophets as it relates to the Quran, the Bible, and other literary and
documentary evidence from the ancient Mediterranean and Near East.
Part one considers the literary and documentary evidence outside of the
Quran for the Muslim image of prophethood. Part two introduces a wide
range of sources evincing the existence of an ancient model of prophet-
hood consistent with what is defined by Muslim exegesis on the Quran.
This evidence shows how Muslim exegetes identify a model of prophet-
hood linked with a territorial sanctuary that allows them to highlight and
synthesize evidence from pre-Islamic sources to typify a Quranic model
of prophethood. This model allows them to conceptualize and argue for
the Arab provenance of prophecy, that the prophethood of Muhammad
is a continuation and culmination of the ancient history of prophethood.

Arab Prophets and Prophecy among the Arabs

Muslim historians and exegetes mention a number of prophets who
might be considered Arab prophets. These include otherwise unknown
figures such as Khālid b. Sinān b. ̔Ayth al- ̔Absī, who, according to al-
Mas ̔ūdī and others, lived in the period between Jesus and Muhammad.
Ibn Hishām mentions the prophets Satīh and Shiqq, who foretold the
coming of the prophet Muhammad to the South Arabian king. Other
Arab prophets are identified in local contexts, such as the prophet Radwā
in al-Jabal al-Akhdar near Muscat, the prophet ̔Umrān in Salālah, and
the prophets Aila and Zurayq in the Baqa ̔ Valley of Lebanon. Some of
these prophets might be related to the development of saint shrines and
other local traditions regarding the importance of the burial sites of cer-
tain people. Others appear to be a continuation of older traditions associ-
ated with prophetic, priestly, and other cultic activities found throughout
the ancient and late antique Near East.
Inscriptional and other documentary evidence from the ancient Near
East and the Arabian Peninsula in particular attests to a number of func-
tionaries and activities that appear to be consistent with the conception of
prophecy in the Quran and early Islamic exegesis. The common Quranic
terms “prophet” [nb’] and “apostle” [rsl] are not found frequently among
the Semitic inscriptions of the northern Arabian Peninsula and Fertile
Crescent but are linked with terms found in Southern Arabic inscrip-
tions and in Ethiopic.^6 The Quran contains other terms associated with