Muhammad, the Qur'an and Islam
be found, and v. 52 replies to the accusation that Muhammad was either a
magician or insane. Although 51:57 is similar to later verses in which
Muhammad denies asking for a wage (cf. 52:40; 68:46; 38:86), it is
probably actually related to Ps. 50:12.
The beginning verse of sura 54sura 54sura 54sura 54 mentions the splitting of the moon, and later
Muslim exegetes interpreted this to mean that the moon was miraculously
split in the days of Muhammad (cf. v. 2). However, the first phra^5 se of this
sura ("The hour has drawn nigh...") indicates that the reference to the moon
was as a sign of the coming Judgment (cf. Qur'an 81:1f; 82:1; 84:1), and
not as a miracle of Muhammad. The Qur'an rather openly admits^6 that
Muhammad could perform no miracles (cf. 25:8; 17:61, 92-98; 29:49;
10:21; 6:35-37; 13: 27-32; etc.), thus traditions attributing miracles to
Muhammad were later innovations of Muslim exegetes. In 54:9^7 -17, a
distorted version of Noah's story is related, in which Noah is rejected by his
people after being accused of lying and being possessed. He then cries to
his Lord for help and the flood is sent. It is obvious that Muha^8 mmad
exchanged himself for Noah in this narration in order to make parallels to
his own ministry. It was Muhammad who was accused of being possessed,
and it was he who expected God's judgment against the Meccans. The `Ad
also made the accusation of lying and were punished (vv. 18f). The
Thamud considered the warning to be a lie (v. 23), and the phrase about not
wanting to follow one of their own people who was alone and said to have
received the warning (vv. 24-25), must likewise have been an accusation
leveled against Muhammad by the Meccans. The people of Lot a^9 re also
said to have accused the warning of being a lie (v. 33). Each of these
punishment stories is concluded with a rhetorical question comparing the
Qur'an (as an admonition) with the mentioned warnings (vv. 17, 22, 32 and
40). The house of Pharaoh is said to have been warned, but tha^10 t they
thought all the signs to have been lies (vv. 41-42). In 54:43f M^11 uhammad
concludes the Meccans of his day are no better than the punished peoples of
the past, and in so doing threatens the Meccans with a temporal judgment,
which has been fused together with the Last Judgment (vv. 46f). Thus, the
general warning of the coming of a universal Judgment, as seen so often in
the earlier suras, has been modified to be a warning for the Meccans of a
specific judgment which they would experience for rejecting Muhammad
and his message.