Muhammad, the Qur'an and Islamvarious peoples are destroyed as much for their rejection of the messenger's
person, as for their disbelief in the message, whose content really only
begins to be defined with Muhammad's realization of the importance of
Monotheism. In turn, all of the messengers previous to Muhammad become
apostles of Monotheism in the progressive narratives of the suras 37 - 71 -
44 - 20 - 26 and those which follow (cf. 21:25). Muhammad seems to^295
have had little respect for chronology, and obviously altered many of the
narratives to fit his own circumstances. Thus, with respect to Noah, the
flood was sent because he was accused of lying (54:9f); Noah was a
preacher of forgiveness (71:4, 9), who described rain as a blessing (71:10f),
and is dismayed that his people have rebelled against him (71:21), scheming
not to forsake the (Arabian) gods (71:22f). Moses is thought to have aimed
at driving the Egyptians from the land (20:59, 66; 26:34), while Pharaoh is
depicted as having wanted to drive the children of Israel from Egypt
(17:105). The Egyptians are said to have been destroyed because they
accused Moses and Aaron of lies (23:50), and even Lot was threatened with
being driven away by his people (26:167; 27:57). Again, in k^296 eeping with
Muhammad's ministry, many of the prophets are presented as having
preached obedience to Allah and themselves (cf. 71:3; 26:passim) and as
not having asked for a wage for their services (26:passim).
Based on the amount of text and detail accorded the various narratives,
Muhammad seems to have identified himself best with Noah a^297 t first, and
then later with Moses, whereby the punishments of these nar^298 ratives (a
flood - drowning) and the natural hazards of living in Mecca may have
initially played a significant role in his choice.^299
Although some of the names for the Biblical characters of the Qur'anic
narratives appear to have come from Jewish sources, the vast^300 majority of
them seem to have been of Christian origin. Conversely, the B^301 iblical
prophets who figure in the Qur'anic narratives are, for the most part, from
the Old Testament. The paradox of having narratives of Old T^302 estament
prophets where the prophets have "Christian" names, is not easily resolved.
One Western scholar shows that the Ebionites are not only said to have
accepted Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron and Joshua as prophets, but
they are also said to have neglected "prophets of scripture" such as Isaiah
and Jeremiah. In addition to this possibility is Muhammad'^303 s apparent
interest in "punishment narratives," which are much more abundant in the
Old Testament than in the New.^304