Quran and Muslim Exegesis as a Source for the Bible and Ancient History r 27inscription attests to a rock being consecrated to Ba ̔alshamin by a female
afkal [’fklt] named Bahani.^14
Additional terms found in ancient and late antique inscriptions dem-
onstrate the existence of other figures engaged in activities and having a
standing not unlike that associated with prophets in the Quran and early
Islamic exegesis. The rbnwt of several Palmyrene inscriptions appears
to designate an office of administration and custodianship sometimes
associated with sanctuaries.^15 An Old Aramaic inscription from Nerab
southeast of Aleppo identifies the bas-relief of Sin-zir-ban, the kamar of
Shahar in Nerab [kmr Šhr bnrb] as resting on a “throne” or “couch” [’rst]
often related to kings. A group or perhaps a class of individuals holding
the status of kamar is recorded as erecting a statue in the earliest dated
Palmyrene inscription (44 bce ) and another group is credited with the
dedication of a temple and its implements to the gods Bel, Yarhibol, and
Aglibol in a Palmyrene inscription from the temple of Bel dated to 45 ce.
The term ptwr also appears in a Nabataean inscription from Madā’in Sālih
to label an office of an individual responsible for cultic activities such as
the dedication of a tomb, and the term is also used to refer to altars in
Hatra.^16
Muslim exegetes highlight a number of terms used in the Quran that
relate the establishment and government of sanctuaries or sacred loca-
tions to prophetic activities. The most common terms are permutations
of hrm and msjd, which occur more than a dozen times together in the
phrase al-masjid al-harām (Q 2:144, 149, 150, 191, 196, 217, 5:2, 8:34, 9:7,
19, 28, 17:1, 22:25, 48:25, 27), linked with the cultic site of Mecca and a
series of prophets. On the authority of Ibn Ishāq and al-Suddī, Ibn Kathīr
explains that the true custodians of the Meccan sanctuary, mentioned in
Q 8:34, are the prophet Muhammad and his followers.^17 The exegesis of
other verses, such as Q 5:97 and 9:17–18, specifies the cultic responsibili-
ties of the prophets at the sanctuary, and other sources testify to the wider
use of these terms in relation to cultic activities. Thamudic inscriptions
attest to the use of the root hrm as a verb to describe the “consecration”
of a rock, a location, or a person [nšwn], and the term is associated with
the consecration of food to the temple of Wadd in a Minaean inscrip-
tion. An inscription from Palmyra appears to commemorate the dedica-
tion of consecrated objects. A Nabataean inscription from Pozzuoli near
Naples in Italy refers to the restoration of a sanctuary [mhrmt’]. Two other