A Very Concerned Reader: Medinan or Meccan verse?

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Apr 9, 2021 at 17:00

Very good questions. So let me explain to you a few facts:

1. The Qur'an is a very heterogenous text! al-Mufasereen "invented" the "Mecca period" and "Medina period" where you have "spiritual verses" v "jihad and war verses." And what is best than selecting a year and the year happened to be 622 AD. The tradition tells us that it is the year of the emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina! However, we do not read about this "Hijra" until the 'Abbasids period starting in 750 AD. And if you read al-Tabari you will realize that when he was writing his Tafsir, the names of the Suras were still being invented by al-Mufasereen (examples: He calls Q105: Surat alam Tara and now it is called Surat al-Feel) And if you examine todays Cairo Qur'an you will find the name of the chapter and if the chapter is Meccan or Medinan. However, you will not find names of chapters of if they are Meccan or Medinan in the early fragments of the Qur'an.

2. So how did al-Mufasereen decide that a chapter or a verse is from Mecca or Medina? They check for specific words and if they find them then they assign the chapter or the verses to the period. Here check this link and it explains it very well. Yes it is in Arabic and you can use googletranslate or iphone translate app and it explains it very well

https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/24862/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%83%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%86%D9%87%D9%85%D8%A7

3. So what really happened in 622 AD? The only major event in 622 AD is that the Persians suffered major defeats in the war with the Greeks in Upper Mesopotamia and it was downhill from that point on and their total defeat and expulsion back to Iran in 627 AD. However, this very long war (614 AD to 627 AD) made both empires, the Greeks and the Persians, weak and that led to a take over by the Arab polity in Mesopotamia and the Levant and the rise of what to becomes the Arabs and Islam. If we turn to Syriac sources that witnessed the Arab invasions, the year 622 AD is called "The year of the Arab kings" and no mention of Hijra or a Muhammad or Mecca or Medina.

4. Now, what is most interesting is that al-Mufasereen as would be expected do not seem to agree on anything. Case in point: Check Tafsir al-Qurtubi of Surat al-'Adiyat (check the link below) tells us that the Chapter is either Medinan or Meccan. They just do not know. However, if he would have understood the Syriac and Hebrew layers of the Chapter and that it is a Syro-Arabic Hymn he would have assigned it to the Meccan period. And with the horses and the fires etc... (Jihad!) it can also be a Medina verse. Do you get it now?

https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/qortobi/sura100-aya1.html

Again, use googletranslate or iphone translate app

Now, Q74 I have posted about it in the past. Sorry, but google search engine is now really bad and I have not been able to find it yet. So until I find the post, the "wrapped in a cloak" and "rise" are really about Jesus. The Arabic as well as the Syriac word for "resurrection" is Qum or ܩܘܡ in Syriac and قوم in Arabic means: Rise and resurrection. Now, go back and read the first 4 verses. This is a Syriac/Arabic text and a hymn

https://quran.com/74

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