Chronological Order of the Qur'an: Difference between revisions

{{QualityScore|Lead=3|Structure=3|Content=2|Language=4|References=3}}The [[Qur'an]] is not in chronological order, but arranged roughly longest [[surah]] (chapter) to the shortest. The table in this article provides the traditional chronological order as set out by medieval Islamic scholars, ostensibly reported from the Companion, Ibn 'Abbas, though such traditions date to the early 8th century CE according to Neal Robinson, which he says "would make them roughly contemporary with the early discussions about [[Naskh (Abrogation)|abrogation]] and the [[Sirat Rasul Allah|''sῑra-maghāzī'']] literature", leading him to suspect that they are merely the opinions of the scholars of the time rather than authentic oral traditions from Companions.<ref name="Robinson2003">Neal Robinson, "Discovering the Qurʼan: A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled Text", Georgetown University Press, 2003, pp. 62-74. ISBN 1589010248</ref> It is furthermore well known by Islamic scholars that the traditional reports of [[Asbab al-Nuzul (Revelational Circumstances of the Quran)|Asbab al-Nuzul (revelational circumstances of the Quran)]] are often contradictory, and are treated with considerable caution by academic scholars.<ref name="Robinson2003" />

The traditional chronological order has been passed down in slightly varying versions. The version shown here is reported in a fifteenth century work by 'Abd al-Kafi<ref name="Robinson2003" />, and is commonly reproduced on websites today.<ref>https://tanzil.net/docs/revelation_order</ref><ref>http://www.qran.org/q-chrono.htm</ref> It is also the main source (along with the other slightly different versions) drawn upon for the very similar ordering included in the 1925 Standard Egyptian Quran.<ref name="Robinson2003" /> In the case of many of the Meccan surahs some specific verses are traditionally attributed to the Medinan phase.

The Qur'an begins to directly criticize key doctrines of the Jews and Christians.

{{Quote|Sinai, Nicolai. Qur'an: A Historical-Critical Introduction (The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys) (pp. 196-197). Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.|...they betray an explicit demarcation of the Qur’anic community from Judaism and Christianity and harshly criticise Jewish and Christian beliefs (for example, Q 5: 12–19, 5: 41–86, and 5: 116–118).³⁸ This forms a contrast to surahs that do not allude to the Medinan constellation. To be sure, non-Medinan texts do occasionally feature critical references to disunity among the post-Mosaic Israelites and to schisms among the followers of Jesus,³⁹ casually accuse some of them of ‘wrongdoing’ (Q 29: 46), and insist that Jesus is not God’s ‘child’ but only His ‘servant’ (Q 19: 34–40 and 43: 57–65).⁴⁰ Nonetheless, texts lacking references to the Medinan constellation are generally devoid of explicit, targeted, and sustained anti-Jewish and anti-Christian polemics. Instead, their polemical attention is squarely focused on the pagan Associators, against whom the ‘Israelites’ or earlier recipients of ‘the Scripture’ are occasionally invoked as witnesses who would confirm the truth of Muhammad’s revelations (for example, Q 6: 20.114, 10: 94, 17: 101, and 26: 197). Indeed, it is only in surahs that form core texts of the Medinan subcorpus (Q 2–5, 9, and 22) that we even come across the Qur’anic expressions for ‘Christians’ (al-naārā, ‘Nazoraeans’) and ‘Jews’ (alladhīna hādū, al-yahūd).⁴¹}}

==References==