Muhammad: The Hijrafavorably. The vv. 79f depict the Judgment, the vv. 81f describe^66 God's
provision, and the vv. 86f speak of the Resurrection and Judgment. The
v. 91 states that a witness from each people "umma" will speak^67 out against
themselves and reiterates that Muhammad was given "the Book." The v.^68
92 shows God as commanding good and forbidding "the shameful, unjust
and wrong," and the vv. 93f speak of keeping God's covenant in a manner
similar to Old Testament passages (e.g. Dt. 29:9, 12). The vv. 98f state that
good works will be rewarded, and the vv. 100f instruct Muhammad in what
to do when reciting the Qur'an. The v. 103 presents the Qur'anic doctrine of
verse abrogation, and v. 104 maintains that the Holy Spirit brought the
Qur'an to Muhammad. The v. 105 reproduces the accusation that^69
Muhammad was taught by others, and the Qur'anic rebuttal - i.e. that
Muhammad's informant spoke another language - does little m^70 ore than
confirm that Muhammad was indeed aided by other humans in the
composition of the Qur'an.^71 Sira traditions, in attempting to explain this
verse, claim that Muhammad's informant was either a Christian slave
named Jabr or a another slave known as Ibn Qammatha. Other sour^7273 ces
maintain that Salman al-Farisi was meant, but this is not very likely. The^74
vv. 108f speak of apostates from Islam, and the vv. 111-125 appear to be
from a later period in Medina. The vv. 126f are thought to be M^75 eccan by
some Western scholars, although many^76 Sira traditions associate this
passage with the prohibition of extreme vengeance for Hamza's death at
Uhud. One peculiarity of sura 16 is that several of its verse^77 s approximate
passages from Ps. 104, and at least one Western scholar of Isla^78 m
maintains that 16:2-36 is a good example of a Qur'an text which was
probably structured on a Christian missionary sermon. Othe^79 r verses of this
sura are also similar to Bible references.^80
Sura 30Sura 30Sura 30Sura 30 begins with mysterious letters. The vv. 1f describe a defeat of Byz-
antines, which specific event cannot be identified for certain, since they
suffered many setbacks in their wars with the Persians. The v^81 v. 6f give a
reply to the disbelief in the Resurrection, and the vv. 8f generally refer to
the judgments against earlier peoples. The vv. 10f present the witness of
Creation as evidence in favor of the Resurrection, and the vv. 16f are
thought to have been Medinan, since the prayer times cited appear to be
Medinan and not Meccan. The vv. 18f speak again of the Resurrec^82 tion,
and v. 29 gives one of the earliest usages of the word āÄ ́n "hanif," which
seems to have come from the Syriac "hanpa" (="heathen"), rather than the
Aramaic "hanef" (="hypocrite"). The v. 30, which speaks of rep^83 entance,
fearing God, performing the prayer and not associating any with God, is