Appendix DIn any event, neither Muslims nor Western scholars are sure where the
"valley of Tuwa" is (cf. Horovitz, Untersuchungen, p. 125), and it is quite
likely that Muhammad confused it with some other well-known Biblical
place.
37:81f 37:81f 37:81f 37:81f Abraham rebukes his father and Abraham rebukes his father and Abraham rebukes his father and Abraham rebukes his father and
people for idolatry, and is to be people for idolatry, and is to be people for idolatry, and is to be people for idolatry, and is to be
thrown into a furnace of fire. thrown into a furnace of fire. thrown into a furnace of fire. thrown into a furnace of fire.Geiger, WMJA, pp. 121 f, gives Midrash Rabbah Genesis, parag. 17 as the
source for this narration.
37:101f Abraham attempts to sacrifice son. 37:101f Abraham attempts to sacrifice son. 37:101f Abraham attempts to sacrifice son. 37:101f Abraham attempts to sacrifice son.Speyer in Erzählungen, p. 164 shows that the narration of Pirke Rabbi
Eliezer, 31 portrays Abraham as having received the commandment via a
dream. Speyer also believes the son's willingness comes from Jewish
sources (Midrash Tanhuma wayyera), which information was later used by
Christians (I Clement 31, ed. Lightfoot). Cf. Gen. 22:2f. See also the
comments on 37:112.
37:112 37:112 37:112 37:112 Isaac is Abraham's son. Isaac is Abraham's son. Isaac is Abraham's son. Isaac is Abraham's son.Although the Qur'anic word for Isaac appears to have entered Arabic before
Muhammad's time from the Christian-Palestinian dialect of Syriac
(Horovitz, Untersuchungen, p. 90); it has been suggested that Muhammad
got this information from Christian sources; see Ahrens, "Christliches,"
ZDMG, vol. 84, p. 176. The idea expressed by some, e.g. Speyer,
Erzählungen, p. 164, that Ishmael must have been meant by Muhammad in
37:110f, since Isaac is first mentioned in v. 112, is doubtful, not only
because the name Ishmael first appears later in the sura orderings (of
Nöldeke), but also because Muhammad obviously did not know that
Ishmael was Abraham's son until much later (cf. 19:50f; 11:72f; 29:26;
6:84f). This question was disputed among early Islamic authorities; see
Tabari, History, vol. 2, pp. 82-90.