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“Observe the Prayers and the Middle Prayer”: Jewish and Christian Origins of Q. 2:238


Seiten 353 - 372

DOI https://doi.org/10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.168.2.0353




The close and mutually fruitful ties between the Jewish tradition and the Muslim tradition are topics that scholars have been intensely dealing with for the past 200 years. The times of the prayers in Islam were formulated as a result of the textual influence of Judaism and Christianity that penetrated Islamic literature through the Jewish and Christian converts. It is my opinion that Q. 2:238 is a metamorphosis of the Talmudic expression, “One must always be careful of the Minḥa prayer”. In Muslim literature itself, one can find reference to the idea that the extra holiness of the ṣalāt al-ʿaṣr in Islam was influenced by early Jewish and Christian texts. The Muslim tradition portrays the Jews and the Christians as neglecting prayer, so that it is the antithesis of the Muslims who are very strict when it comes to prayer. This tendentious description is for theological and polemic purposes in order to justify the existence of Muslims as part of the newly chosen nation.

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1 G. Libson: Jewish and Islamic Law: A Comparative Study of Customs during the Geonic Period. Cambridge 2003, pp. 1–7; Z. Maghen: After Hardship Cometh Ease: The Jews as a Backdrop for Muslim Moderation. Berlin 2006, pp. 1–7.

2 I. Goldziher: Muslim Studies. Transl. C. R. Barber / S. M. Stern. London 1971, vol. 1, p. 43.

3 D. A. King: In Synchrony with the Heavens: Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation in Medieval Islamic Civilization. Leiden 2004, vol. 1, p. 589. On prayer times in Zoroastrianism see: M. Boyce: A History of Zoroastrianism. Leiden 1975, vol. 1, 259, note 36.

4 U. Rubin: “Morning and Evening Prayers in Early Islam.” In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 10 (1987), pp. 54–56.

5 On Muḫālafa see Maghen 2006, p. 60.

6 Ch. C. Torrey: The Jewish Foundation of Islam. New York 1933, p. 135.

7 Sh. Duran: Keshet ve-Magen. Berlin 1881, p. 14.

8 A. I. Katsh: “Rabbinic Background of the Five Daily Prayers in Islam.” In: Jews in the Arts and Science. Jubilee vol. New York 1954, pp. 83–88.

9 Y. Erder: “Daily Prayer Times in Karaite Halakha in Light of the Times of Islamic Prayers.” In: REJ 153, 1–2 (1994), pp. 5–27.

10 King 2004, vol. 1, p. 598.

11 Ibid. p. 602.

12 Ibid.

13 S. D. GoiteIn: Studies in Islamic History and Institutions. Leiden 1968, pp. 84–85.

14 Muḥammad ibn Ǧarīr al-Ṭabarī: Ǧāmiʿ al-Bayān ʿan Taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān. Cairo 2008, vol. 2, p. 1388. See same idea in: Muqātil ibn Sulaymān: Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān. Beirut 2003, vol. 1, p. 126: “al-ḫams fī mawāqītihā”.

15 Ḥusayn ibn Masʿūd al-Baġawī: Sharḥ al-Sunna li-l-imām al-Baġawī. Beirut 1983, vol. 2, p. 232.

16 On al-Dumyāṭī's biography see the introduction that has been written about him by Magdī Fatḥī al-Sayyid, who revised an edition of his book from the manuscript. ʿAbd al-Mu'min ibn Ḫalaf al-Dumyāṭī: Kashf al-Muġaṭṭā fī Tabyīn al-ṣalah al-wusṭā. Tanta 1989, pp. 5–8.

17 Al-Dumyāṭī 1989, pp. 139–154.

18 Ibid. pp. 136–138.

19 See for example versions of this tradition at: al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, pp. 1393–1395, hadīth number 5403–5418; al-Baġawī 1983, vol. 2, p. 233; al-Qushayrī, Muslim ibn al-Ḥağāğ: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim bi-SharḤ al-Nawawī. Beirut 1990, vol. 5, p. 128. For a full discussion on this tradition, its various versions, transmitters and its validity, see: al-Dumyāṭī 1989, pp. 17–26.

20 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1389, Ḥadīṭ 5369.

21 ʿAlï ibn Muhammad al-Māwardī: Tafsīr al-Māwardī: al-Nakt wa-ʾlʿuyūn. Kuweit 1982, vol. 3, p. 260.

22 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1390, hadīth 5372; Muḥammad ibn Ismā'īl, al-Buḫārī: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Buḫārī. Cairo 1950, vol. 1, p. 131; Mālik ibn: Muwaṭṭa’ al-Imām Mālik. Bombey 1991, vol. 1, p. 597; al-Baġawī 1983, vol. 2, p. 237. For a full list of the various versions of this tradition, its transmitters and validity, see: al-Dumyāṭī 1989, pp. 53–58.

23 Al-Dumyāṭī 1989, pp. 53–58.

24 Ibid. pp. 59–64.

25 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, pp. 1390–1391, ḥadīṭs 5376–5381.

26 Al-Dumyāṭī 1989, p. 88.

27 Ibid. p. 92.

28 Ibid. pp. 94–96.

29 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1392, ḥadīṭ 5420; Aḥmad ibn Ḥusayn al-Bayhaqī: Maʿrifat al-Sunan wa-'l-Athār. Cairo 1991, vol. 2, p. 311.

30 Al-Dumyāṭī 1989, pp. 93–94.

31 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1392, ḥadīṭ 5425. And see also: al-Dumyāṭī 1989, pp. 100–101.

32 U. Rubin: “Morning and Evening Prayers in Early Islam.” In: JSAI 10 (1987), pp. 54–58.

33 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1398, hadīṭ 5434, 5440.

34 Ibid., hadīṯs 5435–5437; al-Baġawī 1983, vol. 2, p. 236; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad Ibn abī Shay ba: Muṣanaf ibn Abī Shayba fī al-Aḥādīth wa-l-Āthār. Beirut 1989, vol. 2, p. 389.

35 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1399, hadīṯ 5439.

36 ʿAlī ibn Ḥabīb al-Māwardī: al-Ḥāwī al-Kabīr. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr 1994, vol. 2, pp. 8–9.

37 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1399, hadīṭ 5441.

38 Ibid., hadīṭ 5443.

39 Ibid., hadīṭ 5442; Ibn abī Shayba 1989, vol. 2, p. 387; al-Māwardī: al-Ḥāwī, pp. 8–9.

40 Al-Māwardī: al-Ḥāwī, vol. 2, p. 9; al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1399, hadīṭ 5454; al-Baġawī 1983, vol. 2, p. 238.

41 Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī: al-Mağmūʿ: Sharḥ al-Muhadhab. Cairo 1966, vol. 3, p. 60; al Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, pp. 1401–1403, hadīṭs 5455–5469.

42 Al-Baġawī 1983, vol. 2, p. 235; al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, pp. 1401–1403, hadīṭ 5462; Muṣanaf ibn Abī Shayba, vol. 2, p. 387.

43 Muḥammad ibn Ismā'īl al-Buḫārī: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Buḫārī. Cairo 1950, vol. 1, p. 138; Muslim ibn al-ḥağāğ-Qushayrī: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim bi-Sharḥ al-Nawawī. Beirut 1990, vol. 5, p. 133; al Bayhaqī 1991, vol. 2, p. 307.

44 Al-Nawawī 1966, vol. 3, p. 60.

45 Al-Dumyāṭī 1989, pp. 111–113.

46 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, pp. 1401–1403, hadīṭ 5458; al-Māwardī: al-Ḥāwī, p. 8.

47 A. J. Wensinck: “Kunūt.” In: EI2.

48 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1403, hadīṯ 5472: “fa-la ṣalah maktūba min al-ṣalawāt al-ḫams fīhā qunūt siwā ṣalāt al-ṣubḥ, wa-ʿallama bi-dhalika annaha hiya duna ġayriha”. See also: al-Māwardī, al-Ḥāwī, p. 8; al-Nawawī 1966, vol. 3, p. 60.

49 al-Nawawī 1966, vol. 3, p. 61: “‘wa-qūmū li-llahi qānitīnʾ mimma yunkiruhu al-muḫalifūn wa-yaqūlūn lā nusallim iṯhbāt alqunūt fī al-ṣubḥ, wa-ʾin salamnā, lā nusallim anna al-murād bi-l-qunūt hadhā al-qunūt al-maʿrūf ʿindakum, bal al-qunūt: alṭāʿah wa-l-ʿibādah.”

50 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1403, hadīṯ 5474.

51 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1403, hadīṯ 5473. See also: al-Nawawī 1966, vol. 3, p. 61: “wa-ʿan baʿduhum ʾinnaha ʾiḥdā al-ṣalawāt al-ḫams mubhama … wa-ʿan baʿduhum ʾinna al-wusṭā ğamīʿ al-ṣalawāt.”

52 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1403, hadīṯ 5475.

53 Al-Ṭabarī 2008, vol. 2, p. 1405.

54 Al-Māwardī, al-Ḥāwī, vol. 2, p. 10. See also: al-Nawawī 1966, vol. 3, p. 61; yaḥyā ibn sharaf al-Nawawī, Rawḍat al-Ṭālibīn. Beirut 1992, vol. 1, pp. 293–294.

55 Muhammad ibn Qudāma al-Muqadasī: al-Kāfī fī Fiqh al-Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. Beirut 2001, vol. 1, p. 176.

56 Ibid., footnote 3.

57 Muhammad ibn Qudāma al-Muqadasī: al-Muġnī. Cairo 2004, vol. 1, p. 474.

58 Al-Dumyāṭī 1989, p. 119.

59 This book is a commentary on the Risalsh of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawānī (d. 996) who was a Mālikī scholar from Kairouan.

60 ʿAlī ibn Ahmad al-ʿAdawī: Ḥāshiyat al-ʿAdawī ʿalā Kifāyat al-ṭālīb al-Rabbānī li'Risālat ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī. Beirut 1997, vol. 1, p. 307.

61 I. Goldziher: “Die Bedeutung der Nachmittagszeit im Islam.” In: Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 9 (1906), pp. 293–302.

62 Ibid.

63 King 2004, vol. 1, pp. 602–603.

64 See G. Scholem: Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. New York 1961, pp. 156–243. I. Tishby: The Wisdom of the Zohar. Oxford 1989, pp. 30–55.

65 On Rabbi Chelbo, see Sh. Frieman: Who's Who in the Talmud. London 1995, pp. 103–104.

66 On Rav Huna, see ibid., pp. 167–169. G. Bader: The Encyclopedia of Talmudic Sages. London 1988, pp. 694–699.

67 B. Lau: Sages. Vol. 4: From Mishnah to Talmud. Tel Aviv 2012, p. 166 [Hebrew].

68 BT Brachot 6:2.

69 BT Brachot 6:2.

70 P. Franke: Begegnung mit Khidr: Quellenstudien zum Imaginären im traditionelen Islam. Beirut 2000, pp. 106–114.

71 Ibid., pp. 145–146.

72 Ibid., pp. 430–431.

73 M. Weinfeld: Normative and Sectarian Judaism in the Second Temple Period. London 2005, pp. 122–125.

74 D. Brofski: Hilkhot Tefilah: Meqorot ve-Iyonim. Jerusalem 2013, pp. 309–312 [Hebrew “Jewish Law of Prayer: Origins and Discussions”].

75 E. Mittwoch: Zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Islamischen Gebets und Kultus. Berlin 1913.

76 Ibn Kaṭir: Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm. Beirut no date, vol. 1, p. 292.

77 Al-Ṭabarï 2008, vol. 2, p. 767.

78 Abd al-Raḥman al-Rāzī: Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm. Mecca 1997, vol. 1, p. 305. Ibn Kaṭīr: Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm. Vol. 1, pp. 213–214.

79 Muhammad ibn Ismā'īl al-Buḫārī 1950.

80 Gospel of Matthew, 20:1–16.

81 Hava Lazarus Yafeh: Intertwined Worlds: Medieval Islam and Bible Criticism. Princeton 1992, pp. 131–136.

82 Maghen 2006, pp. 210–223.

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