Muhammad, the Qur'an and Islam
Sura 50Sura 50Sura 50Sura 50 begins with a mysterious letter, and the vv. 2f deal with the
apparently Meccan rejection of the Resurrection. The following verses (vv.
6f) describe the wonder of God's creation and include an agricultural
parable which is used to support the Qur'anic doctrine of Resurrection. The
vv. 12f briefly refer to the punishment narratives of the people of Noah,
those of al-Rass, the Thamud, the Ad, Pharaoh, the brothers (?^42 ) of Lot, those of the Thicket and the people of Tubba. The Judgment i^4344 s spoken
of in vv. 16f, in which the sin of polytheism is mentioned (v. 25). The v. 37
alludes to the six-day creation and the day of rest, for which it was thought
by some to have been revealed in Medina. The two prayer time^45 s are
referred to in vv. 38f, and it appears that the night vigils were slowly
becoming an additional prayer time. The themes of the Judgm^46 ent and
Resurrection are returned to in vv. 40f, and v. 44 again shows that
Muhammad's message was being opposed by the Meccans. Qur'an 50:2 is
remotely related to Dt. 18:15; and 50:29 is similar to Prov. 30:15f.^47
In some of the Sira traditions, Umar is said to have become a Muslim after reading a page of the first 14 or so verses of Qur'an 20. Accor^48 dingly, this does not mean thatUmar would have been converted when this sura was
revealed, but that this sura would have already been committed to writing at
the time. Apparently, because of traditions connecting sur^49 a 19 to the
emigration to Abyssinia, which event must have preceded `Umar's
conversion, most Islamic sura orderings position Qur'an 20 after Qur'an
19.^50
Sura 20Sura 20Sura 20Sura 20 begins with mysterious letters and the first verse^51 indicates that
Muhammad may have been suffering financially from Meccan opposition
(cf. v. 132). The v. 7 is a statement of Monotheism, followed by th^52 e story
of Moses, which Muhammad received (vv. 8f). The Qur'an seems to^53 have
the incident at the burning bush take place at night (vv. 9f), and the valley^54
of Tuwa is mentioned again (v. 12). Moses is said to have been t^55 old by
God to perform the (ritual) prayer (v. 14), and is told of the coming "hour"
(v. 15) in which everyone will be rewarded according to his works (v. 16).^56
None of these items are mentioned in the Biblical account, ye^57 t all of these
are familiar to Muhammad and the Qur'an. Verse 26 is also simi^58 lar to
Qur'an 94:1. In v. 30, it is Moses who asks for a "wazir" (in this sense
"helper"), and in the canonical hadith Muhammad is reported to have said
that `Ali was to him as Aaron was to Moses. In v. 39 Moses' baske^59 t
(tabut) is said to have washed ashore, contrary to the Biblica^60 l witness and
Jewish lore. Moses refers to a book previous to his time (v. 5^61 4), and some