Muhammad: Break with the Jewsdanger. The vv. 241f return to the subject of widows, and the v. 244f^65
refers to the Jihad, in which v. 244 seems to be based somewhat on Ezek.
37:1f. The vv. 247f relate a narrative about Saul, Goliath and D^66 avid, in
which the Israelites' request for a king has been combined with the
Muslims' will to fight (since they have been driven from their homes, etc.;
v. 247). The Jewish ark of the covenant is mentioned anachronistically
(v. 249), and the story about Saul has been confused with that^67 of Gideon
(vv. 250f). In v. 254 Jesus is mentioned as having been given "c^68 lear signs"
and as having been strengthened by the Holy Spirit. The v. 255 is an
exhortation to almsgiving, and v. 256 describes God generally. The vv.
257f state that there is no compulsion in religion, and the word "taghut" (for
"idol") appears twice. The narratives about someone [Nimrod^69 ] arguing
with Abraham (v. 260), the man who slept 100 years (v. 261) and th^7071 e
four birds (v. 262) are all used as examples in favor of the Res^72 urrection.
The vv. 263f appear to deal with the subject of alms, and the vv. 266f give
related parables about two types of ground. The vv. 276f forbid usury and
encourage one to give alms, and the vv. 282f give a law about the recording
of debts, whereby provision is made for the illiterate. The v^73. 285 gives a
short creed, in which (among other things) no difference is said to have
been made between God's messengers (cf. Qur'an 17:57), and the
v. 286b is a prayer text. The Qur'anic names for Gabriel and Michael
(v. 92) and Marut (v. 96) appear to have come from the Syriac, whe^74 reas
the Qur'anic names for Saul and Goliath seem to have been corruptions of
their Hebrew names. The Arabic term for baptism (v. 132) pro^75 bably came
from a Palestinian-Christian dialect of Syriac, and the ter^76 ms for the
"(twelve) tribes" (v. 130) and the shekinah (v. 249) may have co^7778 me from
the Hebrew through Syriac. The Qur'anic for the "ark" of the covenant most
probably came from the Ethiopic. This sura contains many ver^79 ses which
are at least remotely similar to passages in the Bible or Talmud.^80
Just as it is obvious that Muhammad learned much from the Jews (Qur'an
16:45; 10:94), it is equally evident that many of his discuss^81 ions with the
Jews cannot have occurred as Islamic traditions relate. Muh^82 ammad's
information about Judaism probably came from Jewish converts to Islam,^83
(indirectly) from the Torah, from questioning the Jews and t^8485 hrough his
passive contact with them. Muhammad is even said to have allo^86 wed the
relating of Jewish traditions. Qur'anic evidence seems to i^87 ndicate that
Muhammad's first disagreement with the Jews was with respect to their
dietary laws. It may well have been the restrictions on came^88 l meat which^89
led Muhammad to reject the Judaic dietary regulations and opt for pagan