A Critical Analysis of James Bellami’s View on Verse 88 of Surah Zukhruf

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Quranic and Hadith (Tradition). Sciences Faculty of Theology. Farabi University of Tehran. Qom. Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Theology faculty, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran;

Abstract

James Bellamy, one of the revisionist orientalists, believes that mistakes have occurred in the text of the Quran, which is the result of the mistakes of the writers of revelation. In his articles based on the “textual criticism” method, he has examined and corrected these written errors. Citing the existence of a difference in the reading of “Wa Qilihi” in verse 88 of Surah Zukhruf and the unsuccessful attempt of commentators to determine its syntactic role, he claims that its correct form is “wa qiblahu”. According to him, the writer or editor realized the replacement of this verse with the previous verse and by adding this phrase and noting the correct order of these two verses. In the current study, Bellami’s point of view is investigated with the analytical-critical method and it is proved that not only for all the reported readings, but there is also a correct syntactic combination; rather, the application of his hypothesis the context of the verses of this surah will be damaged. Also, by tracing the sources of readings and manuscript differences and examining the possibility of additions to the text of the Quran and the spread of errors in copying, it is shown that his proposal does not have the necessary stability and mastery

Keywords

References

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Studies of Quran Reading
Volume 10, Issue 19 - Serial Number 19
February 2023
Pages 118-147

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History

  • Receive Date: 24 November 2022
  • Revise Date: 04 January 2023
  • Accept Date: 21 January 2023

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