The Islamic Scholarly Tradition: Studies in History, Law, and Thought in Honor of Professor Michael Allan Cook

Abstract

and the Gazelle of the Kaʿba”, Rubin offers a new reading of the Qurʾān CXI and explores the historical account of hostility between Abū Lahab and the Prophet, highlighting the literary origins of the event. “Quraysh and Their Winter and Summer Journey” attempts to provide a different interpretation of Qurʾān CVI. Through an examination of various exegetical and historical sources, Rubin offers a new reading of the chapter, originally understood to be a Medina chapter, re-dating its religious monotheistic message to the Mecca period. The next article, “Morning and Evening Prayers in Early Islam”, examines traditions and reports concerning the prayer times and their significance, also tracing their roots to pagan times. In the last article, “On the Arabian Origins of the Qur’an”, Rubin demonstrates that the word furqān has a purely Arabic origin and stands for the light of the dawn. The article also discusses the exegetical interpretations of the term as “redemption” and as “distinction between truth and falsehood”. This collection of Uri Rubin’s articles is a significant contribution to the study of the life of Muh ̇ ammad, pre-Islamic Arabia and its people’s rituals, and will be of great benefit to scholars interested in Islamic studies, Qurʾānic exegesis and the life of Muh ̇ ammad. While the articles on Muh ̇ ammad and the Qurʾān and the Qurʾānic idea of prophets and prophethood are less analytical, others, such as his review of Lüling’s work and his own “The Shrouded Messenger”, are much more critical and offer concrete textual analyses. By looking at preIslamic and post-Qurʾānic sources and in some cases juxtaposing Islamic and Jewish sources, Rubin offers a new reading of the Islamic material and makes a major contribution to the field of Islamic studies and the biography of Muh ̇ ammad.