Early Muslims resorted to Jewish lore so heavily that they produced a genre of literature: the Isra'iliyat, loosely translated as the Judaic traditions. When some Arabs challenged Muhammad's claim to be a prophet based on his mortality, he suggested that they consult Jewish scholars about history. One verse suggests that his contemporaries accused him of having a Jewish teacher. Įvidence of Muhammad's familiarity with Judaism is present in the Qur'an.
A typical example is in the verse that was only partially cited by Muslims commenting on news programs in the wake of the 9-11 terror attacks: "Whoever has killed a single human without just cause, it is as if he has killed the entire humankind." In fact, the full verse is: "And for this reason, we ordained for the children of Israel that whoever has killed a single human without just cause, it is as if he has killed the entire humankind." Significantly, the complete verse refers to a divine edict not found in the Torah, but rather in the Mishnah, part of the Jewish oral tradition.
Indeed, the Qur'an presupposes familiarity with Judeo-Christian ideas to the extent that it often does not give the full version of a narrative there is no need to identify what is supposed to be common knowledge. No serious researcher denies that Muhammad came to a milieu that was highly influenced by Judeo-Christian ideas.
Since translators seek to convey not only text but also meaning, many rely on the interpretation ( tafsir) of medieval scholars in order to conform to an "orthodox" reading. Others adopt sectarian biases, and those that are funded by Saudi Arabia often insert political annotation. So how accurate are the Qur'an's renderings into English? The record is mixed.
Since fewer than 20 percent of Muslims speak Arabic, this means that most Muslims study the text only in translation. Because the Qur'an stresses its Arabic nature, Muslim scholars believe that any translation cannot be more than an approximate interpretation, intended only as a tool for the study and understanding of the original Arabic text. Muslims view the Qur'an as God's direct words revealed in Arabic to the Prophet Muhammad (d. Because of the growing Muslim communities in English-speaking countries, as well as greater academic interest in Islam, there has been a blossoming in recent years of English translations. Multiple English translations of the Qur'an, Islam's scripture, line shelves at book stores.