Few claims about the Quran are repeated as confidently as this one: Muhammad borrowed from the Talmud. It appears in polemical pamphlets, in internet debates, and in more serious scholarship that should know better than to use so blunt an instrument. The claim usually arrives with a short list of "proofs"—Abraham in the furnace, Cain … Continue reading Did the Quran Borrow from the Talmud?
Hasan al-Basri’s Risala fi al-Qadar: Why Did He Cite the Quran but No Hadith?
Sometime during the latter half of the reign of the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān (685–705 CE / 65–86 AH), ruler of an empire stretching from Central Asia to North Africa, he wrote to a preacher in Basra. The caliph had heard that Hasan al-Basri was teaching something about qadar that no one had … Continue reading Hasan al-Basri’s Risala fi al-Qadar: Why Did He Cite the Quran but No Hadith?
How the Mutazilites Judged the Hadith
Most Muslims today treat the hadith as the second pillar of the religion beside the Quran. The hadith are the thousands of reports attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, describing what he supposedly said, did, and approved, and they are the basis for much of Islamic law and ritual practice. But none of these reports were … Continue reading How the Mutazilites Judged the Hadith
The Hebrew Root of Muhammad’s Name in the Bible: Song of Solomon 5:16 and Haggai 2:7
The name Muhammad comes from the Arabic root ḥ-m-d, which carries the sense of praise. Muhammad literally means either the "praised one" or the "one who praises," and the Quran also records the related name Aḥmad, "most praised." In sura 61, Jesus tells the Children of Israel that he brings good news of a messenger … Continue reading The Hebrew Root of Muhammad’s Name in the Bible: Song of Solomon 5:16 and Haggai 2:7
No One Sees God and Lives
The Tanak, the Hebrew Bible, is the scripture that Christianity inherited and still claims as its own. Christians call it the Old Testament and read it as the first half of a single story that ends with Jesus. The central Christian claim about Jesus, formulated in the creeds of the fourth and fifth centuries, is … Continue reading No One Sees God and Lives
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics in Light of the Quran
Some twenty-three centuries ago, a Greek philosopher sat down to answer a question that will not leave any of us alone: what is a good life, and how do we live one? Aristotle's answer, gathered in a book that takes its name from his son Nicomachus, reads in places like a father handing down to … Continue reading Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics in Light of the Quran
When the Companions Disagreed: A Reference of Recorded Disputes in the Hadith Corpus
The hadith literature is usually presented as a record of what the Companions heard, saw, and practiced in the presence of the Prophet. Yet the same books preserve a large body of material in which Companions contradict, correct, rebuke, or flatly reject one another on questions of law, practice, and belief. These disputes are not … Continue reading When the Companions Disagreed: A Reference of Recorded Disputes in the Hadith Corpus
The Khawarij: How A Group of Quran-Only Muslims Became Heretics
The word Khawarij, meaning "those who went out," is now commonly used as a label for religious extremism. Its origins, however, lie in a political dispute that divided the early Muslim community. Following the assassination of the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, in 35/656, Ali ibn Abi Talib became the fourth caliph. His authority was … Continue reading The Khawarij: How A Group of Quran-Only Muslims Became Heretics
The Muʿtazilites and Divine Attributes: Does God Change?
Every monotheist who reads scripture eventually runs into a puzzle. The Quran calls God knowing, powerful, living, wise, and merciful. These words describe God, but what are they describing? Are they names for separate things God possesses, the way a person possesses a house and a reputation and a skill? Or are they different ways … Continue reading The Muʿtazilites and Divine Attributes: Does God Change?
When Did Sunni Islam Begin?
Roughly nine out of ten Muslims today identify as Sunni. The word comes from ahl al-sunna, "the people of the sunna," meaning those who follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad, and its fuller form is ahl al-sunna wa'l-jamā'a, "the people of the sunna and the community." In most popular accounts, and in a good … Continue reading When Did Sunni Islam Begin?
