The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran by Christoph Luxenberg
Throughout its history the Koran has presented problems of interpretation. Some scholars estimate that at least a quarter of the text is obscure in meaning, not only for Western translators but even native Arabic speakers, who struggle with the archaic vocabulary that is no longer used in modern Arabic.
In this in-depth study of the language of the Koran, scholar Christoph Luxenberg dispels much of the mystery surrounding numerous hitherto unclear passages. The key, as Luxenberg shows exhaustively, is to understand that Aramaic--the language of most Middle Eastern Jews and Christians of the pre-Islamic era--had a pervasive influence on the development of the Arabic text of the Koran. For a thousand years preceding the advent of Islam, Aramaic (or Syriac as it was sometimes called) was the lingua franca of many parts of the Near East. It was the native language of the first Christian evangelists and the main liturgical language of the early Christian churches from Syria to Iran.
Based on this historical context and a profound knowledge of Semitic languages, Luxenberg clarifies many thorny textual puzzles. Perhaps his most interesting argument is that the passage often translated as referring to the "virgins" that are believed to greet the departed faithful in paradise was long ago misunderstood. In fact, knowledge of ancient Christian hymns in Aramaic suggests that the word in question refers to "grapes" that the departed will enjoy in a paradisiacal garden. Luxenberg discusses many other similar fascinating instances where Aramaic vocabulary and concepts influenced the text of the Koran. This highly erudite work makes a significant contribution to the study of the Koran and the history of Islamic origins.
Comments
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What about the original german language version?
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I'm not against german, but potential purchasers (Logos profit) are likely to be english (if available, as here).
The logic for aramaic is odd, given much of aramaic-research works off of arabic-cognate. Almost circular.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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I wish I could offer an answer, but I know next to nothing about the Syriac dialect of Aramaic, and I can't even read the script(s)! 😂 The only familiarity I have with Aramaic is Old Testament Aramaic, and it too is extremely meager as I've only had two Hebrew classes, and they barely touched on Aramaic. I'd still love to read Luxenberg's work to see how plausible his research is. Seems quite fascinating.
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I think it is fair to say that Christoph Luxenberg (a pseudonym) uses some questionable methodology and lacks the usual peer review which makes him an interesting read but unlikely an academic reference. Sometimes scholars such as this provoke useful insights but jolting people out of their ruts.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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Concerning methodology:
It occured to me to read phrases in my mother tongue (German) and instantly understand that somebody used a word-for-word translation of an English or Italian phrase. The foreign-language grammatical pattern was abundantly clear, as the German language constructs completely differently in the cases mentioned. I assume that my contributions to the forum aren't perfectly aligned with correct British or American English and someone knowing German, too, would likely be able to identify the sources of my errors.
Someone proficient in Arabic, Aramaic and other Near East languages could make analogous discoveries regarding the Koran.
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First, remember that I have NOT read these books but am working from knowledge of a third party's criticism, specifically Walid Saleh, professor at the University of Torah who is a major Quranic scholar. The details of questionable methodology IIRC revolve around inconsistent use of his own methodology, cherry picking of results rather than showing his method works across a range of cases, a Christian apologetic bias . . . but it is not my place to build a case against a recommendation. And I am sufficiently curious to look further into the two books. I merely wanted to warn Logos users that while they may well want to read this book, it is not an academic book for referencing in the normal sense of the word. For myself, this limits how much I am willing to pay to satisfy my curiosity. But it is easy enough to find reviews for you to verify if my cautions are valid or simply my personal inclinations.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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There may be some instances out there where someone could tell that English wasn't your first language, but had you not explicitly said that Deutch was your mother tongue, this comment isn't one of them. Your English is extremely good if not on par with most natural speakers.
Your point is well considered, though. I very often identify comments elsewhere where I know the person I am speaking with doesn't speak English natively, and in some instances can tell that if it isn't Spanish, it's some other kind of Romance language, based upon sentence structure and a use of cognate words that a native English speaker would find awkward.0 -
"it is not my place to build a case against a recommendation"
@MJ. Smith, maybe not, but your context is helpful to allow people to make a more informed decision. I still want to read the resource and am willing to pay for it, but maybe someone else isn't if they aren't confident that the linguistic analysis is "inconsistent".
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