A Reflection on Two Qur'anic Words (Iblis and Judi), With Attention to the Theories of A. Mingana‪.‬

The extent to which scholars of Qur'anic studies today are divided is evident from recent publications in the field. One work, Understanding the Qur'an (1999), by Muhammad Abdel Haleem of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, casts off the critical tradition of Western scholarship with hardly a footnote; whereas another work, Christoph Luxenberg's Die Syro-Aramaische Lesart des Koran (2000), casts doubt on the reliability of the entire tradition of Islamic scholarship on the Qur'an. Both publications show that the divisions within Qur'anic studies are marked by presuppositions, methods and conclusions. It is both a comfort and a warning, then, to realize that this state of affairs is nothing new. At the turn of the twentieth century scholars were likewise divided over the Qur'an. J. von Hammer argued that the Qur'an is "as truly Muhammad's word as the Muhammadans hold it to be the word of God." T. Noldeke expressed this sentiment in a different manner, declaring: "der Koran enthalt nur echte Stucke" (1) (although elsewhere he is more skeptical). (2) A second group of scholars found no reason for such confidence in the historical authenticity of the Qur'anic text, among them the English scholars H. Hirschfeld and D. S. Margoliouth and the Belgian scholar H. Lammens. In this latter group as well was Alphonse Mingana, a scholar from the region around Mawsil in Iraq, who made a name for himself in Birmingham, England.