Asbab al-nuzul
Encyclopedia
Asbāb al-nuzūl an Arabic
term meaning "occasions/circumstances of revelation", is a secondary genre of Qur'anic exegesis
(tafsir
) directed at establishing the context in which specific verses of the Qur'an
were revealed. Though of some use in reconstructing the Qur'an's historicity, asbāb is by nature an exegetical
rather than a historiographical
genre, and as such usually associates the verses it explicates with general situations rather than specific events.
of the verb root nzl, literally meaning to descend or to send down, and thus (metaphorically) to reveal, referring Allah
sending down a revelation to his prophets. Though technical terms within Qur'anic exegesis often have their origins in the book
itself (e.g. naskh), sabab/asbāb does not: Despite the appearance of the stem sbb over 11 times in the Qur'an (Q.2:166, , Q.18:84, Q.18:85 Q.18:89, Q.22:15, Q.38:10, Q.40:36-37), "none of the verses seem the least bit connected to a statement concerning revelatory procedure".
The observations above do not amount to etymology as it is understood in linguistics, as there is no attempt to connect these words with other Semitic languages or possible external sources.
Within exegetical literature, the use of sabab in a technical sense did not occur until relatively late: the material which would be later culled by asbāb writers used alternate phraseologies to introduce their reports, such as al-āya nazalat fī hādhā- "the verse was revealed about such and such"- or fa-anzala allāh- "so God revealed/sent down". The first sustained use of the word occurs in the tafsir of al-Tabarī
and the naskh work of al-Nahhās (d. 950), where it can be seen solidifying into its later technical sense.
One can find the translation of Asbab al-Nuzul (i.e. the contexts and occasions of the Revelation of the Qur'an)into English by 'Alī ibn Ahmad al-Wāhidī (d. 468/1075), who is considered to be the earliest scholar of the branch of the Qur'anic sciences known as Asbāb al-Nuzūl. Al-Wāhidī and subsequent scholars aimed to collect and systemize information concerning all the known reasons and contexts for the Revelation of particular Qur'anic verses. This translation by Mokrane Guezzou represents the first accurate and reliable English translation of this seminal work.
's 10th Century bibliographical catalog Kitāb al-Fihrist (including one Nuzūl al-Qur'ān attributed to the semi-legendary Ibn 'Abbās as transmitted through 'Ikrima), there is no evidence to believe that most of these works ever existed, or that their ambiguous titles signify texts within the asbāb al-nuzūl genre. In Rippin's detailed examination of pre-18th Century exegetical literature, only the following four works qualify as belonging to the asbāb genre:
Though al-Wāhidī may thus be considered the father of this genre (a view consistent with his rather self-serving depiction of asbāb al-nuzūl as the key to all exegesis), al-Suyūtī made significant contributions to it as well, introducing such refinements as limiting reports to only those contemporaneous with the revelation itself (reports related to events described by the verse were reclassified as akhbār
) and developing a sabab selection criterion different from al-Wāhidī's rather mechanistic one of scanning for a select few "marker" introductory phrases.
It should be noted, though, that sabab-material did not originate with the asbāb al-nuzūl genre. The chief innovation of the genre was organizational (i.e. the collection of asbāb-material within one text) and to a lesser degree methodological, and so while no work prior to al-Wāhidī's Kitāb may be properly called an instance of asbāb al-nuzūl, material of equivalent function exists in the earliest hadith and tafsir. This distinction will be maintained here by the use of the term sabab-material for an occasion of revelation which does not necessarily come from a work of asbāb al-nuzūl, and sabab only for one that does.
The reasons for asbāb 's status as a secondary genre are implicit in this bibliographical overview. Its late emergence (well into the classical period) plus its reliance on earlier tafsir works even for its raw material prevented asbāb al-nuzūl 's emergence as a major, independent approach to Qur'anic interpretation.
, for example, stressed the narratological significance of these types of reports: "The Quranic allusions had to be elaborated into complete stories and the background filled in if the main ideas were to be impressed on the minds of simple men.". Wansbrough
, on the other hand, noted their juridical function, particularly with regard to establishing a chronology of revelation for the purposes of such mechanisms as naskh. Rippin in turn rejected this, arguing that the sababs primary function is in haggadic/qissaic exegesis, and that this in turn hints at its origin:
One thing common to all these theories is the assumption that the sabab is built around the Qur'ānic verse(s) embedded in it. In his extensive survey of early Muslim traditions regarding Muhammad, Rubin
upends this consensus (while preserving Rippin's speculation about the ultimately qassaic/story-teller origins of these reports) by arguing that most asbāb originally started as prophetic biographical material into which Qur'anic verses were only later inserted:
Rubin bases this conclusion partly upon the very stereotyped way in which "linking words" are used to introduce Qur'anic verse into a report. Mostly, though, he relies upon the existence of multiple, parallel non-Qur'anic forms of the narrative for most asbāb. Assuming that a report's link to scripture would not be removed once established, the non-Qur'anic (and thus non-exegetic) version of the report is in fact the original one. Rippin takes issue with this last assumption, though, arguing that the evidence does not preclude the creation of parallel sīra narratives even after the circulation of a supposedly "authoritative" Qur'anic one.
The occasion of revelation's primary function, though, is exegetical, and by enumerating its various uses within Qur'anic interpretation we visit nearly all the problems of concern for classical Muslim exegetes. These problems span the hermeneutical spectrum, from the most basic units of linguistic meaning
to such technical intellectual disciplines as law
and philosophy
and all points in between. A major underlying difficulty encountered at all levels is the Qur'an's lack of structure. This extends beyond the question of temporal ordering to one of basic unity of thought and expression:
The various levels of interpretation along with their typical problems are listed below in order of increasing hermeneutical complexity:
A detailed examination of the function of asbāb at several of these levels follows. Unless otherwise noted examples all come from Rippin's The function of asbāb al-nuzūl in Qur'ānic exegesis (BSOAS 51). Quotations from the Qur'an are taken from the Abdullah Yusuf `Ali translation.
A sabab put forward by both al-Wāhidī (Kitāb 22) and al-Suyūtī (Lubāb 19) claim this verse was revealed about those Jews of Medina
who urged their converted relations to obey Muhammed's example even while they hypocritically refused to do so themselves (such Jewish hypocrisy being a common Qur'ānic polemic
al motif). The sabab thus fixes the meaning of the pronoun "ye", and also provides a gloss
for the word "right conduct" (birr) as the Sunnah
of Muhammed.
boundaries difficult, however. Does one verse continue the unit of meaning begun by preceding verses, or does it initiate a new one? Sabab-material was used to both erect and pull down such boundaries, as their use with respect to verses 2:114-2:115 illustrate:
One report "suggests this verse [Q.2:115] is a continuation of Q.2:114 which concerns the destruction of mosque
s and thus that this verse, 115, intends that the destruction of mosques does not mean that one can no longer face a qibla
". Most sabab-material, however, locate Q.2:115 in the context of prayers not delivered in the direction of the qibla under various extenuating circumstances, thus dividing it from Q.2:114 .
level, where the context given identifies the characters of a story, their motivations, and ambient circumstances which influence their behavior.
An extensive example of this is the sabab attributed to Ibn Ishāq (al-Wāhidī, Kitāb 22) for verses Q.2:258 and Q.2:260, detailing Ibrahim
's encounter with Nimrod
. Because the sabab does not explain why the verses were revealed, only the story within it, though, this report would qualify as an instance of akhbār according to the sabab identification criteria later established by al-Suyūtī.
A much more (in-)famous example of a narratological sabab al-nuzūl is the incident of the so-called Satanic Verses
. In it, verses Q.22:52 and Q.53:19-23 are woven into a single narrative. Muhammad, longing to be reconciled to his people, allows Satan to interpolate several verses into the recitation of Surat al-Najm (53) recognizing the efficacy of the pagan goddesses Allāt
, Manāt
, and al-'Uzzā
. The pagans of Mecca are so pleased by this that they immediately cease their persecution of the Muslims, to the extent that a group of Abyssinian
refugees begins to return home. Yet Muhammad is later sternly chastised by the angel Gabriel
for this concession to Meccan paganism, at which point God reveals Q.22:52 to comfort him as well as the real versions of verses Q.53:19-23 in which the goddesses are belittled:
This sabab appears in Wāhidī (Kitāb, 177-178).
scene (i.e. Arabia's pre-Islamic age of "ignorance") was an important concern, but complicated by their religion's competing claims to be both a stark break with this past as well as a continuation of practices begun by "Islam" in its pre-Qur'anic, ur-religion manifestations, as in worship at the Kaaba.
Many "ethnological" asbāb exist for this purpose, with those put forward for Q.2:158 particularly illustrative of their function at this level of interpretation:
The verse concerns the ritual practice of circumambulating between the hills of Safa and Marwa; the two asbāb cited by al-Wāhidī both describe the controversy regarding this ritual (Q.2:158's occasion of revelation) by reference to the jāhilī
scene. The first sabab states that the pagan
Arabs practiced this (ur-Islamically sanctioned) ritual, but that they so adulterated it with idolatry
that the first Muslims pressed to abandon it until Q.2:158 was revealed. The second sabab provides conflicting ethnological data, stating that the practice was instituted by Muhammed in opposition to the pagans' sacrifices to their idols.
These asbāb have no legal incidence; they function merely to settle a matter of curiosity as well as to contrast the Islamic dispensation with what came before, obviously to the benefit of the former. This imperative, plus the fact that much of the material is contradictory make such asbāb useful only for reconstructing the development of Islamic ideology and identity, rather than the pre-Islamic Arabian past.
. If the ruling contradicts some other one, does it abrogate/mitigate its foil, or is it itself abrogated/mitigated? Note that the foil may not always be a particular verse or pericope, but a principle synthesized from multiple rulings. The second, even more basic, complexity resides in determining which verses have legal content. A seemingly proscriptive verse may be made merely polemical by interpretation, while a seemingly non-proscriptive verse may have actual legal import. Lastly there is the issue of juridical inflation/deflation (the latter termed takhsīs) where the scope/applicability of the ruling may be radically increased or decreased by exegesis.
The asbāb surrounding Q.2:115 have already shown how legal consequences may be injected into a seemingly non-hukmic verse. The asbāb for Q.2:79 demonstrate the opposite:
Here the reports agree the verse is directed against the Jews, and so a proscription with seemingly broad applicability is almost completely deflated into a polemical filip about Jewish alteration of holy scripture (tahrīf
).
Lastly, as an example of juridical inflation, is Q.2:104:
The asbāb put forward by the exegetes cannot establish the meaning of the probably-transliterated word rā'inā, but they generally identify it as some sort of curse or mock which the Jews tricked the Muslims into incorporating into their own greetings. In any case:
As these examples amply demonstrate, supporting exegetical literature (e.g. hadith, sabab-material) are often decisive in fixing the legal meaning of a particular Qur'anic verse/pericope. Appealing to the raw, unmediated text of the Qur'an as proof of consensus within traditional Islamic law for or against some practice is thus almost always a futile exercise.
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
term meaning "occasions/circumstances of revelation", is a secondary genre of Qur'anic exegesis
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
(tafsir
Tafsir
Tafseer is the Arabic word for exegesis or commentary, usually of the Qur'an. Ta'wīl is a subset of tafsir and refers to esoteric or mystical interpretation. An author of tafsir is a mufassir .- Etymology :...
) directed at establishing the context in which specific verses of the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
were revealed. Though of some use in reconstructing the Qur'an's historicity, asbāb is by nature an exegetical
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
rather than a historiographical
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
genre, and as such usually associates the verses it explicates with general situations rather than specific events.
Etymology
Asbāb is the plural of the Arabic word sabab, which means 'cause', 'reason', or 'occasion', and nuzūl is the verbal nounVerbal noun
In linguistics, the verbal noun turns a verb into a noun and corresponds to the infinitive in English language usage. In English the infinitive form of the verb is formed when preceded by to, e.g...
of the verb root nzl, literally meaning to descend or to send down, and thus (metaphorically) to reveal, referring Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
sending down a revelation to his prophets. Though technical terms within Qur'anic exegesis often have their origins in the book
Mushaf
A mus'haf is a codex or collection of sheets . The Qur’an, which Muslims believe to have been revealed at various times and in various ways during the 23-year period at the end of Muhammad's life, was collected into a codex under the third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan..The Islamic term al-Qur’ān...
itself (e.g. naskh), sabab/asbāb does not: Despite the appearance of the stem sbb over 11 times in the Qur'an (Q.2:166, , Q.18:84, Q.18:85 Q.18:89, Q.22:15, Q.38:10, Q.40:36-37), "none of the verses seem the least bit connected to a statement concerning revelatory procedure".
The observations above do not amount to etymology as it is understood in linguistics, as there is no attempt to connect these words with other Semitic languages or possible external sources.
Within exegetical literature, the use of sabab in a technical sense did not occur until relatively late: the material which would be later culled by asbāb writers used alternate phraseologies to introduce their reports, such as al-āya nazalat fī hādhā- "the verse was revealed about such and such"- or fa-anzala allāh- "so God revealed/sent down". The first sustained use of the word occurs in the tafsir of al-Tabarī
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari was a prominent and influential Sunni scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Persia...
and the naskh work of al-Nahhās (d. 950), where it can be seen solidifying into its later technical sense.
One can find the translation of Asbab al-Nuzul (i.e. the contexts and occasions of the Revelation of the Qur'an)into English by 'Alī ibn Ahmad al-Wāhidī (d. 468/1075), who is considered to be the earliest scholar of the branch of the Qur'anic sciences known as Asbāb al-Nuzūl. Al-Wāhidī and subsequent scholars aimed to collect and systemize information concerning all the known reasons and contexts for the Revelation of particular Qur'anic verses. This translation by Mokrane Guezzou represents the first accurate and reliable English translation of this seminal work.
Asbāb Literature
No asbāb works from earlier than the 11th Century are known, and it is unlikely that this genre of exegetical literature existed before then. Though there is a section titled Nuzūl al-Qur'ān in Ibn al-NadīmIbn al-Nadim
Abu'l-Faraj Muhammad bin Is'hāq al-Nadim , whose father was known as al-Warrāq was a Shia Muslim scholar and bibliographer. Some scholars regard him as a Persian, but this is not certain. He is famous as the author of the Kitāb al-Fihrist...
's 10th Century bibliographical catalog Kitāb al-Fihrist (including one Nuzūl al-Qur'ān attributed to the semi-legendary Ibn 'Abbās as transmitted through 'Ikrima), there is no evidence to believe that most of these works ever existed, or that their ambiguous titles signify texts within the asbāb al-nuzūl genre. In Rippin's detailed examination of pre-18th Century exegetical literature, only the following four works qualify as belonging to the asbāb genre:
- Kitāb asbāb al-nuzūl (Book of occasions of revelation) by al-Wāhidī (d. 1075). The first instance of the asbāb genre and still among the most popular. It examines verses from a total of 83 different suraSuraA sura is a division of the Qur'an, often referred to as a chapter. The term chapter is sometimes avoided, as the suras are of unequal length; the shortest sura has only three ayat while the longest contains 286 ayat...
s, with the majority of asbāb as traditional hadithHadithThe term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
reports with isnad chains of transmission.
- Asbāb al-nuzūl wa qisas al-furqāniyya by Muhammad ibn As'ad al-'Irāqī (d. 1171). Contains sabab reports mixed with qisas al-anbiyāAl-AnbiyaSura Al-Anbiya is the 21st sura of the Qur'an with 112 ayat. It is a Meccan sura. Its principal subject matter is prophets of the past, who also preached the same faith as Muhammad...
(stories of the prophets) material. The former seem independent of al-Wāhidī's compilation and are isnad-less. Exists in two manuscripts copies, one at the Chester Beatty LibraryChester Beatty LibraryThe Chester Beatty Library was established in Dublin, Ireland in 1950, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present library, on the grounds of Dublin Castle, opened on February 7, 2000, the 125th anniversary of Sir Alfred's birth and was named European Museum...
(Manuscript 5199).
- A manuscript (Berlin StaatsbibliothekStaatsbibliothekStaatsbibliothek is the German word for state library. Another term often used is Landesbibliothek. Both types of library refer to the general type of regional libraries in tradition of the States of Germany...
, Catalog no. 3578). ascribed to al-Ja'barī, probably pseudepigraphicaly. Consists of sabab and naskh material interspersed, with the former containing very abbreviated isnads where only the first authority is listed. According to its final page this manuscript was written in 1309.
- Lubāb al-nuqūl fīq asbāb al-nuzūl by al-Suyūtī (d. 1505). A re-working of al-Wāhidī's Kitāb asbāb al-nuzūl, covering 102 suras in total. Cites a broad range of hadith, SunnahSunnahThe word literally means a clear, well trodden, busy and plain surfaced road. In the discussion of the sources of religion, Sunnah denotes the practice of Prophet Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar...
, and tafsirTafsirTafseer is the Arabic word for exegesis or commentary, usually of the Qur'an. Ta'wīl is a subset of tafsir and refers to esoteric or mystical interpretation. An author of tafsir is a mufassir .- Etymology :...
material, with isnads containing only the last authority. A very popular instance of the genre, having gone through many printings and currently available within Tafsīr al-JalālaynTafsir al-JalalaynTafsīr al-Jalālayn is a classical Sunni tafsir of the Qur'an, composed first by Jalal ad-Din al-Mahalli in 1459 and then completed by his student Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti in 1505, thus its name. It is recognised as one of the most popular exegeses of the Qur'an today, due to its simple style and...
(Tafsīr of the Two Jalāls) by Jalāl al-Dīn al-SuyūtīAl-SuyutiJalaluddin Al-Suyuti also known as Ibn al-Kutub was an Egyptian writer, religious scholar, juristic expert and teacher whose works deal with a wide variety of subjects in Islamic theology. He was precocious and was already a teacher in 1462. In 1486, he was appointed to a chair in the mosque of...
and Jalāl al-Dīn al-Mahallī.
Though al-Wāhidī may thus be considered the father of this genre (a view consistent with his rather self-serving depiction of asbāb al-nuzūl as the key to all exegesis), al-Suyūtī made significant contributions to it as well, introducing such refinements as limiting reports to only those contemporaneous with the revelation itself (reports related to events described by the verse were reclassified as akhbār
Akhbar
Akhbar is the plural of khabar , meaning news, and occurs in the titles of many Arabic newspapers and other media. It may refer to:-Arab world:*Akhbar el-Yom, an Egyptian weekly newspaper, founded 1944...
) and developing a sabab selection criterion different from al-Wāhidī's rather mechanistic one of scanning for a select few "marker" introductory phrases.
It should be noted, though, that sabab-material did not originate with the asbāb al-nuzūl genre. The chief innovation of the genre was organizational (i.e. the collection of asbāb-material within one text) and to a lesser degree methodological, and so while no work prior to al-Wāhidī's Kitāb may be properly called an instance of asbāb al-nuzūl, material of equivalent function exists in the earliest hadith and tafsir. This distinction will be maintained here by the use of the term sabab-material for an occasion of revelation which does not necessarily come from a work of asbāb al-nuzūl, and sabab only for one that does.
The reasons for asbāb 's status as a secondary genre are implicit in this bibliographical overview. Its late emergence (well into the classical period) plus its reliance on earlier tafsir works even for its raw material prevented asbāb al-nuzūl 's emergence as a major, independent approach to Qur'anic interpretation.
Origin
Modern scholarship has long posited an origin for the sabab al-nuzūl based largely on its function within exegesis. WattWilliam Montgomery Watt
William Montgomery Watt was a Scottish historian, an Emeritus Professor in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh...
, for example, stressed the narratological significance of these types of reports: "The Quranic allusions had to be elaborated into complete stories and the background filled in if the main ideas were to be impressed on the minds of simple men.". Wansbrough
John Wansbrough
John Edward Wansbrough was an American historian who taught at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies . Wansbrough's emphasis was on the critique of traditional accounts of the origins of Islam...
, on the other hand, noted their juridical function, particularly with regard to establishing a chronology of revelation for the purposes of such mechanisms as naskh. Rippin in turn rejected this, arguing that the sababs primary function is in haggadic/qissaic exegesis, and that this in turn hints at its origin:
One thing common to all these theories is the assumption that the sabab is built around the Qur'ānic verse(s) embedded in it. In his extensive survey of early Muslim traditions regarding Muhammad, Rubin
Uri Rubin
Uri Rubin a Professor in the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Tel-Aviv University in Israel. His areas of research are early Islam, with special emphasis on Qur'an, Qur'an Exegesis , and early Islamic tradition .Prof...
upends this consensus (while preserving Rippin's speculation about the ultimately qassaic/story-teller origins of these reports) by arguing that most asbāb originally started as prophetic biographical material into which Qur'anic verses were only later inserted:
Rubin bases this conclusion partly upon the very stereotyped way in which "linking words" are used to introduce Qur'anic verse into a report. Mostly, though, he relies upon the existence of multiple, parallel non-Qur'anic forms of the narrative for most asbāb. Assuming that a report's link to scripture would not be removed once established, the non-Qur'anic (and thus non-exegetic) version of the report is in fact the original one. Rippin takes issue with this last assumption, though, arguing that the evidence does not preclude the creation of parallel sīra narratives even after the circulation of a supposedly "authoritative" Qur'anic one.
Function
One function of the sabab report is theological. As Rippin notes:The occasion of revelation's primary function, though, is exegetical, and by enumerating its various uses within Qur'anic interpretation we visit nearly all the problems of concern for classical Muslim exegetes. These problems span the hermeneutical spectrum, from the most basic units of linguistic meaning
Linguistic meaning
The nature of meaning, its definition, elements, and types, was discussed by philosophers Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas. According to them 'meaning is a relationship between two sorts of things: signs and the kinds of things they mean '. One term in the relationship of meaning necessarily...
to such technical intellectual disciplines as law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
and philosophy
Islamic philosophy
Islamic philosophy is a branch of Islamic studies. It is the continuous search for Hekma in the light of Islamic view of life, universe, ethics, society, and so on...
and all points in between. A major underlying difficulty encountered at all levels is the Qur'an's lack of structure. This extends beyond the question of temporal ordering to one of basic unity of thought and expression:
The various levels of interpretation along with their typical problems are listed below in order of increasing hermeneutical complexity:
- LexicalLexical (semiotics)In the lexicon of a language, lexical words or nouns refer to things. These words fall into three main classes:*proper nouns refer exclusively to the place, object or person named, i.e...
: What is the meaning of a particular word? - Intra-Versal/SententialSentence (linguistics)In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
: Who or what is the referentReferenceReference is derived from Middle English referren, from Middle French rèférer, from Latin referre, "to carry back", formed from the prefix re- and ferre, "to bear"...
of a particular pronoun? - Inter-Versal/PericopalPericopeA pericope in rhetoric is a set of verses that forms one coherent unit or thought, thus forming a short passage suitable for public reading from a text, now usually of sacred scripture....
: What is the relation between verses? Do they constitute a single meaning/unit of thought, or are they distinct? - NarratologicalNarratologyNarratology denotes both the theory and the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. While in principle the word may refer to any systematic study of narrative, in practice its usage is rather more restricted. It is an anglicisation of French...
("Qissaic"): What is the story being told? Why do the characters in it react in the way they do? - Historical/EthnologicalEthnologyEthnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
: What events or personages are being described? What cultural practices are being reported and how do they relate the jāhilīJahiliyyahJahiliyyah is an Islamic concept of "ignorance of divine guidance" or "the state of ignorance of the guidance from God" or "Days of Ignorance" referring to the condition in which Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia, i.e. prior to the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad...
scene? - Legal ("Hukmic"): What are the legal implications of a particular verse and how do these relate to the remaining corpus of Islamic holy lawShariaSharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
? Is the ruling limited in scope to the circumstances or even unique instant in which it was revealed, or does it define a general principle with broad applicability?
A detailed examination of the function of asbāb at several of these levels follows. Unless otherwise noted examples all come from Rippin's The function of asbāb al-nuzūl in Qur'ānic exegesis (BSOAS 51). Quotations from the Qur'an are taken from the Abdullah Yusuf `Ali translation.
Lexical/Sentential
A demonstration of the two lowest-level functions of the sabab may be seen in the exegesis of verse 2:44 :A sabab put forward by both al-Wāhidī (Kitāb 22) and al-Suyūtī (Lubāb 19) claim this verse was revealed about those Jews of Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
who urged their converted relations to obey Muhammed's example even while they hypocritically refused to do so themselves (such Jewish hypocrisy being a common Qur'ānic polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
al motif). The sabab thus fixes the meaning of the pronoun "ye", and also provides a gloss
Gloss
A gloss is a brief notation of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text, or in the reader's language if that is different....
for the word "right conduct" (birr) as the Sunnah
Sunnah
The word literally means a clear, well trodden, busy and plain surfaced road. In the discussion of the sources of religion, Sunnah denotes the practice of Prophet Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar...
of Muhammed.
Pericopal
One theory of Qur'anic verse arrangement proposes a thematic/topical ordering of ayat. This, combined with the Qur'an's allusive literary style (e.g. "the Qur'ānic 'they' which is frequently left ambiguous in the text") makes establishing pericopalPericope
A pericope in rhetoric is a set of verses that forms one coherent unit or thought, thus forming a short passage suitable for public reading from a text, now usually of sacred scripture....
boundaries difficult, however. Does one verse continue the unit of meaning begun by preceding verses, or does it initiate a new one? Sabab-material was used to both erect and pull down such boundaries, as their use with respect to verses 2:114-2:115 illustrate:
One report "suggests this verse [Q.2:115] is a continuation of Q.2:114 which concerns the destruction of mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s and thus that this verse, 115, intends that the destruction of mosques does not mean that one can no longer face a qibla
Qibla
The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...
". Most sabab-material, however, locate Q.2:115 in the context of prayers not delivered in the direction of the qibla under various extenuating circumstances, thus dividing it from Q.2:114 .
Narratological
The function of asbāb is most straightforward at the narratologicalNarratology
Narratology denotes both the theory and the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. While in principle the word may refer to any systematic study of narrative, in practice its usage is rather more restricted. It is an anglicisation of French...
level, where the context given identifies the characters of a story, their motivations, and ambient circumstances which influence their behavior.
An extensive example of this is the sabab attributed to Ibn Ishāq (al-Wāhidī, Kitāb 22) for verses Q.2:258 and Q.2:260, detailing Ibrahim
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
's encounter with Nimrod
Nimrod (king)
Nimrod is, according to the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the son of Cush and great-grandson of Noah and the king of Shinar. He is depicted in the Tanakh as a man of power in the earth, and a mighty hunter. Extra-Biblical traditions associating him with the Tower of Babel led to his...
. Because the sabab does not explain why the verses were revealed, only the story within it, though, this report would qualify as an instance of akhbār according to the sabab identification criteria later established by al-Suyūtī.
A much more (in-)famous example of a narratological sabab al-nuzūl is the incident of the so-called Satanic Verses
Satanic Verses
The Satanic Verses was a purported incident where a small number of apparently pagan verses were temporarily included in the Qur'an by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, only to be later removed...
. In it, verses Q.22:52 and Q.53:19-23 are woven into a single narrative. Muhammad, longing to be reconciled to his people, allows Satan to interpolate several verses into the recitation of Surat al-Najm (53) recognizing the efficacy of the pagan goddesses Allāt
Allat
' or ' was a Pre-Islamic Arabian goddess who was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca. She is mentioned in the Qur'an , which indicates that pre-Islamic Arabs considered her as one of the daughters of Allah along with Manāt and al-‘Uzzá....
, Manāt
Manat
Manat may refer to* Azerbaijani manat, unit of currency in Azerbaijan* Turkmenistani manat, unit of currency in Turkmenistan* The designation of the Soviet ruble in both Azerbaijani and Turkmen* Manāt, the goddess of fate and destiny in pre-Islamic Arabia...
, and al-'Uzzā
Uzza
Al-Uzzá was one of the three chief goddesses of Arabian religion in pre-Islamic times and was worshiped as one of the daughters of Allah by the pre-Islamic arabs along with Allāt and Manāt. Al-‘Uzzá was also worshipped by the Nabataeans, who equated her with the Greek goddess Aphrodite Ourania...
. The pagans of Mecca are so pleased by this that they immediately cease their persecution of the Muslims, to the extent that a group of Abyssinian
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
refugees begins to return home. Yet Muhammad is later sternly chastised by the angel Gabriel
Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an Archangel who typically serves as a messenger to humans from God.He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke Gabriel foretells the births of both John the Baptist and of Jesus...
for this concession to Meccan paganism, at which point God reveals Q.22:52 to comfort him as well as the real versions of verses Q.53:19-23 in which the goddesses are belittled:
This sabab appears in Wāhidī (Kitāb, 177-178).
Historical/Ethnological
For Muslims the definition of the jāhiliyyahJahiliyyah
Jahiliyyah is an Islamic concept of "ignorance of divine guidance" or "the state of ignorance of the guidance from God" or "Days of Ignorance" referring to the condition in which Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia, i.e. prior to the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad...
scene (i.e. Arabia's pre-Islamic age of "ignorance") was an important concern, but complicated by their religion's competing claims to be both a stark break with this past as well as a continuation of practices begun by "Islam" in its pre-Qur'anic, ur-religion manifestations, as in worship at the Kaaba.
Many "ethnological" asbāb exist for this purpose, with those put forward for Q.2:158 particularly illustrative of their function at this level of interpretation:
The verse concerns the ritual practice of circumambulating between the hills of Safa and Marwa; the two asbāb cited by al-Wāhidī both describe the controversy regarding this ritual (Q.2:158's occasion of revelation) by reference to the jāhilī
Jahiliyyah
Jahiliyyah is an Islamic concept of "ignorance of divine guidance" or "the state of ignorance of the guidance from God" or "Days of Ignorance" referring to the condition in which Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia, i.e. prior to the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad...
scene. The first sabab states that the pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
Arabs practiced this (ur-Islamically sanctioned) ritual, but that they so adulterated it with idolatry
Idolatry
Idolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object such as a cult image, as a god, or practices believed to verge on worship, such as giving undue honour and regard to created forms other than God. In all the Abrahamic religions idolatry is strongly forbidden, although...
that the first Muslims pressed to abandon it until Q.2:158 was revealed. The second sabab provides conflicting ethnological data, stating that the practice was instituted by Muhammed in opposition to the pagans' sacrifices to their idols.
These asbāb have no legal incidence; they function merely to settle a matter of curiosity as well as to contrast the Islamic dispensation with what came before, obviously to the benefit of the former. This imperative, plus the fact that much of the material is contradictory make such asbāb useful only for reconstructing the development of Islamic ideology and identity, rather than the pre-Islamic Arabian past.
Legal
Legal exegesis is the most hermeneutically complex level of interpretation for several reasons. One is that every ruling must be considered with respect to the corpus of Islamic holy lawSharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. If the ruling contradicts some other one, does it abrogate/mitigate its foil, or is it itself abrogated/mitigated? Note that the foil may not always be a particular verse or pericope, but a principle synthesized from multiple rulings. The second, even more basic, complexity resides in determining which verses have legal content. A seemingly proscriptive verse may be made merely polemical by interpretation, while a seemingly non-proscriptive verse may have actual legal import. Lastly there is the issue of juridical inflation/deflation (the latter termed takhsīs) where the scope/applicability of the ruling may be radically increased or decreased by exegesis.
The asbāb surrounding Q.2:115 have already shown how legal consequences may be injected into a seemingly non-hukmic verse. The asbāb for Q.2:79 demonstrate the opposite:
Here the reports agree the verse is directed against the Jews, and so a proscription with seemingly broad applicability is almost completely deflated into a polemical filip about Jewish alteration of holy scripture (tahrīf
Tahrif
Taḥrīf is an Arabic term used by Muslims with regard to irreparable alterations Islamic tradition claims Jews and Christians have made to Biblical manuscripts, specifically those that make up the Tawrat , Zabur and Injil .Traditional Muslim scholars, based on Qur'anic and other traditions, maintain...
).
Lastly, as an example of juridical inflation, is Q.2:104:
The asbāb put forward by the exegetes cannot establish the meaning of the probably-transliterated word rā'inā, but they generally identify it as some sort of curse or mock which the Jews tricked the Muslims into incorporating into their own greetings. In any case:
As these examples amply demonstrate, supporting exegetical literature (e.g. hadith, sabab-material) are often decisive in fixing the legal meaning of a particular Qur'anic verse/pericope. Appealing to the raw, unmediated text of the Qur'an as proof of consensus within traditional Islamic law for or against some practice is thus almost always a futile exercise.