The Qur'ān's Rereading of Mary's Preparation for the Conception of Jesus
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
Harrak, Amir
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
University of Toronto (Canada)
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
424
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Body granting the degree
University of Toronto (Canada)
Text preceding or following the note
2019
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
The qur'ānic portrayals of the nativity, found primarily in Sūrat Maryam (Q 19.15-32) and Sūrat Āl-'Imrān (Q 3.42-47), differ in cardinal ways from the accounts of the canonical Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Scholars long ago demonstrated that the uniqueness of qur'ānic depictions of the nativity stems from the fact that they draw upon other sources besides the canonical Gospels. The last decades have witnessed a renewed interest in this theme through the publications of Suleiman Mourad, Cornelia Horn, Gabriel Reynolds, Stephen Shoemaker and others. These studies shed light on different angles of the interaction between the nativity accounts found in the Qur'ān and those presented in the Gospel of Luke and certain apocryphal Gospels, particularly the Protoevangelium of James (henceforth Prot. Jas.) Nevertheless, innovative and significant as they are, these studies remain limited to the congruence between the qur'ānic nativity and these Gospel traditions. This study explores the Qur'ān's portrayal of Mary's preparation for the conception of Jesus in Sūrat Maryam and Sūrat Āl-'Imrān. It illustrates new points of congruence between the qur'ānic accounts and the Prot. Jas. It also demonstrates that the Qur'ān retells the story of the nativity through a process of interpretive negotiation with yet unexamined traditions. These include pre-Islamic Arabian beliefs, Jewish Enochic literature, Syriac traditions based on the writings of Ephrem the Syrian, and works of Jewish-Christian communities.