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Quranic Law and Its ‘Biblical’ Intertexts

  • Joseph E. Lowry EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: November 5, 2024
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Abstract

This article examines intertextual relationships between quranic and biblical law. It focuses primarily on three instances (fasting, torts, and dietary regulations) in which the Quran grounds its substantive legislation through references to biblical law. The Quran’s invocations of the Bible, even if those invocations mark intertexts that implicate texts of biblical literature more broadly, represent a quranic strategy of self-positioning and theological elaboration. Vague references may aim simply to enhance the Quran’s authority as a text that belongs generally to biblical literature and tradition or to integrate the quranic community into biblical history. Specific references can function polemically in regard to discrete topics, privilege the Quran as a fresh biblical dispensation on a given matter, or give biblical sanction of various kinds to specific legislation. Some specific biblical references also highlight instances of legal repeal, a significant component in the Quran’s distinctive theology. As with the Quran’s retelling of biblical narratives, its references to biblical law serve to mark the quranic community as a biblical community. As a methodological matter, the Quran’s selection, interpretation, deployment, and juxtaposition of biblical materials must always be assumed to be valid. In the service of its own theology, the Quran is fully autonomous and has complete interpretive agency.


Corresponding author: Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania – Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 847 Williams Hall, 255 South 36th Street, 19104-6243 Philadelphia, PA, USA, E-mail:

Appendix: Biblical Law Passages in the Quran

The following table lists the passages discussed above that constitute the Quran’s presentation of biblical law. It is possible that some references remain undetected, so the following list should be understood as provisional, not definitive.

Table 9:

Legal passages in the Quran that reference biblical materials.

Sura:Verse Legal topic Named biblical community Biblical text mentioned ‘Biblical’ intertext(s) Legislative rhetoric
2:83 commandment list mīṯāq (vv. 83, 84)

ʿahd (v. 80 2x)
Decalogue
2:183 fasting allaḏīna min qabli-kum kutiba ʿalà
2:187 fasting (rule applies to the quranic community) Mishnah Ber 1:2
3:23 adjudication allaḏīna ūtū naṣīban min al-kitāb
3:49–50 diet (?) banū Isrāʾīl

(rules repealed for followers of Jesus)
Torah li-uḥilla, ḥurrima
3:75 loan repayment (failure to make) ahl al-kitāb
3:93A diet (punitive) banū Isrāʾīl Torah ḥill
3:93B diet Isrāʾīl (=Jacob) Torah ḥarrama

(Jacob is verbal sbj.)
4:36 commandment list Decalogue
4:131 allaḏīna ūtū al-kitāb min qablikum waṣṣà
4:160 diet (?) (punitive) allaḏīna hādū ḥarramnā
5:3 diet (rule applies to the quranic community) Acts 15:20, 29

Didascalia

Clementine Homilies
5:5 commensality, intermarriage allaḏīna ūtū al-kitāb

(rule applies to the quranic community)
uḥilla, ḥill
5:32 torts banū Isrāʾīl Mishnah Sanh 4:5 katabnā ʿalà
5:43–44 adjudication allaḏīna hādū Torah
5:45 torts allaḏīna hādū

(rules may apply to the quranic community)
Torah Ex 21:23–25

Lev 24:18–20
5:46 torts and adjudication Torah, Gospel(s) mawʿiẓa
5:47 adjudication ahl al-Inǧīl Gospel(s)
5:68 adjudication (?) ahl al-kitāb Torah, Gospel(s)
6:146 diet allaḏīna hādū ḥarramnā
6:151–152 commandment list ʿahd (v. 152) Decalogue
7:145 unspecified Moses’s tablets katabnā ʿalà,

mawʿiẓa
16:118 diet (?) (punitive) allaḏīna hādū ḥarramnā
17:22-39 commandment list ʿahd (v. 34 2x) Decalogue
60:12 commandment list Decalogue

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Received: 2023-06-16
Accepted: 2024-02-12
Published Online: 2024-11-05
Published in Print: 2024-11-26

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