سورة الضحى وتاريخية القرآن في الأدبيات الاستشراقية

sūraẗ al-ḍuḥa and the historicity of the Qur’an in Orientalist literature

Abstract

Orientalists’ researches on the history of the Qur’an were based on claims that it was written in separate periods, the multiplicity of its authors, and the influence of Jewish and Christian beliefs and legislation on its development. Because the short and naive Meccan suras were completely excluded from the circle of their studies on the history and development of Prophet characteristics, as a crude primary product, sūraẗ al-ḍuḥa became a fertile ground for Orientalists’ interpretations that do not pay attention to traditional commentaries or occasions for revelation (āsbāb al-nuzūl). Although sūraẗ al-ḍuḥa refers to the unidentified person using the pronoun of the addressee, the orientalist translators of the Qur’an - such as Rodwell, Richard Bell, and Arthur Arberry – were compelled to link this pronoun to the Prophet peace be upon Him, based on classical exegesis. inadvertently uniting their peers interested in the development of the Messenger and the message, who ruled out that the pronoun belongs to the Messenger. From this hidden confrontation, contradictions arose about the adoption of the causes of revelation by some orientalists concerned with history, such as David Samuel Margolioth, Montgomery Watt, and other authors of controversial philosophical theories on the historicity of the Qur’an, such as John Edward Wansbrough, the author of the theory of historical crystallisation of the Qur’an. This paper is concerned with explaining the dependence of the reasons for the revelation by some orientalists, after which they considered it a natural entrance to the interpretation of the verses, the difference between the interpreters themselves about the reason for the approved revelation, and the interpretation of Surat Al-Duha between the interpreters of the Qur’an and the orientalists, and the approaches they adopted in interpretation. The approach adopted in this paper is the descriptive and analytical approach by going back to the Orientalist sources and books of interpretation to reach a clear presentation of the Orientalist vision criticize it scientifically and uncover the fallacies and contradictions that surrounded their viewpoints.