Muhammad, the Qur'an and Islam
[58] Similar but more general schemes are given in Watt and Bell,
Introduction, p. 116; Watt, Muhammad, pp. 23 f; Guillaume, Islam, p. 29.
[59] This characteristic is discussed in Nöldeke and Schwally, GQ, vol. 1,
pp. 75 f; Watt and Bell, Introduction, pp. 79, 110, 154. In the Bible God
does not swear by created things, but only by Himself. Swearing is
generally forbidden Christians (Mt. 5:33-37).
[60] See the apparently unique testimony to the alleged effectiveness of
incantations given in the saj` style, as found in the Ibn Ishaq recension of
Yunus b. Bukayr; Guillaume, New Light, p. 15.
[61] See Andrae, Mohammed, p. 30. For examples of the oaths of pagan
soothsayers in the style of saj`, see the replies of Satih and Shiqq to the king
of Yemen in Ibn Hisham (Guillaume, Muhammad, pp. 5 f). The relative
strength of oaths and their alleged power in persuading one to believe are
alluded to in Qur'an 89:4 and 56:75.
[62] Muslims in Iraq and Damascus apparently disputed this verse. Ibn
Masud is said to have read: "by the male and the female" rather than: "by that which created the male and female" (Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, pp. 393 f. Although the Qur'an codices ofAli and Ibn Abbas seem to have agreed with Ibn Masud's (Jeffery, Materials, pp. 109, 192, 208), it is the reading
of the Syrians which prevails even today.
[63] Cf. 90:10 with Mt. 7:13f; 90:12f with Is. 58:6f; 90:18 with Mt. 25:34
(see also the Testament of Ephraem in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,
vol. 13, p. 134); cf. 90:20 with Mt. 25:41. See Appendix F, p. 409.
[64] The phrases "those who believe" (90:17) or "believer" are often used
by Christians and sects which broke off from Christianity, rather than
Jewish or pagan groups. Cf. Ahrens, "Christliches," ZDMG, 84 (1930), pp.
37 f; Horovitz, Untersuchungen, pp. 55 f.
[65] See p. 25, above.
[66] Cf. Qur'an 64:4; 67:13; 28:69; etc.
[67] See pp. 25 f, above.