There are
many indications that the Qur’an is not based on an eternal tablet/book, and
instead, is a work that has its complete origin in the 7th century,
such as its dependence on post-New Testament works such as the Gnostic gospels.
On topic discussed in the Qur’an that evidences its purely 7th
century origin is that of its discussion of monks and monasticism. Commenting
on this topic, Dr. Bran C. Bradford wrote:
Monks in the Qur’an
The Qur’an contains a few references to monks
that reflect the relationship and attitude between Muhammad and these Christian
men of the desert. The first verses that mentioned monks is 57:27:
“And as for monasticism, they innovated it—we
did not prescribe it to them—only to seek God’s pleasure, but they did not
observe it with its due observance, so we gave to those of them who believed
their reward and most of them are transgressors.” (This verse emphasizes that
monasticism is not prescribed in the Qur’an. Christians are believed to have
invented the institution of monasticism to seek only God’s divine pleasure.
Muslims, therefore, were instructed to avoid practicing monasticism because it
led to the amassing of wealth and interrupted moral pursuits in their life).
However, there must have been some event that
changed Muhammad’s opinion of monks, for the tone of Surah 5:82 is much
different: “You will certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who
believe [Muslims] to be those who say we are Christians; this is because there
are priests and monks among them and because they do not behave proudly.”
That the views changed is shown by other
verses that view Christian monks negatively and rebukes them. For example Surah
9:31 states, “They [Christians] have taken their doctors of laws and their
monks for lords besides God,” while 9:34 declares, “O you who believe! Most
surely many of the doctors of law and the monks eat away the property of men
falsely, and turn them from God’s way” (Most Muslim commentators agree that
this does not mean that Christians took scribes and monks actually for gods;
the meaning is that some Christians followed them blindly and attached to them
a divine dignity which is only reserved for God. Also, the acquisition of
wealth is not disallowed, but only the amassing of wealth for any use besides
that which is for the welfare of humanity. See Maulana Muhammad Ali, The Holy Qur’an with English Translation and
Commentary [Plain City, OH: Lahore Inc., 2002], 405, 407) . . . These Qur’anic
verses offer varying attitudes towards Christian monks. One commended the
ascetics and even considered monks as the nearest friends of Muslims, while the
other verses condemned the monks as inventors of monasticism. These verses also
suggest the changeable associations Muhammad had with monks and how his
interaction with these groups may have influenced his revelations and his
spiritual direction (Monks and hermits continued to play an important role in
the formation of Muslim law because they remained at the center of the doctrine
of Jihad. Certain Hadith of the tenth
and eleventh centuries clearly instructed to leave monks and hermits in peace,
while other interpretations included them among the groups to be killed; see
Rudolph Peters, Jihad in Classical and
Modern Islam [Princeton: Markus Weiner Publishers, 1996], 31-34. According
to Muqatil ibn Sulayman [d. 767], an early biographer of Muhammad, these monks
verses referred to forty monks who maintained the original uncorrupted religion
of Jesus. They lived during Muhammad’s life and thirty-two lived in Ethiopia
and the other eight in Syria. The monk Bahira, who mentioned in this study, was
named by Ibn Sulayman as having resided in Syria. For this account, see Gabriel
Said Reynolds, A Muslim Theologian in the
Sectarian Milieu: Abd al-Jabbar and the Critique of Christian Origins [Leiden:
Brill, 2004], 89).
According to the Life of Muhammad, ascetic pursuits were not uncommon among pagans
of pre-Muslim Mecca. The Life records
that Mount Hira, which overlooked Mecca, was home to Zaid ibn Amr, a type of
monotheist who spent his life searching for the correct expression of the
Abrahamic religion. He was not a Christian or a Jew and was banished from Mecca
for his anti-pagan, pro-monotheistic views and eventually retreated to Mount
Hira for prayer and reflection. Zayd was one of four initial Hanifs that sought
to break from the traditional pagan practices of Mecca (Waraqa ibn Naufal
became a learned Christian scholar; Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh left being Muslim and
became a Christian when he migrated to Abyssinia; Uthman ibn al-Huwayrith went
to work for the Byzantine court; Zayd ibn Amr accepted neither Judaism nor
Christianity; Life of Muhammad, Four Men
Who Broke with Polytheism, 143-44, Guillaume, 99).
In this travels Zaid spent time asking
Christian monks and Jewish rabbis about Hanifiya
(This term applies to Abraham in the Qur’an as an hanif, or one inclined to follow the true faith. It also translates
as “friend,” in the sense that one who follows Allah is a faithful friend. For
these verses see Qur’an 2:135-6, 3:67, 3:95, 4:125, 6:161, 10:105, 16:120, 123,
22:32, 30:30 and 98:5), and the practice and belief of true monotheists. Zaid
found a monk in Syria who assured him that Muhammad was to come and bring the
proper form of monotheistic religion; however, Zaid died on his return journey
and never lived to witness the Muslim movement under Muhammad (In the Qur’an
the term hanif was used to describe
Abraham and reassure that he was not a
polytheist). This, however, is another example of a hagiographical tale that has
to be measured against similar literature of this genre.
In a Muslim context, Muhammad used the term hanif to link himself to Abraham, who
was neither Jew nor Christian, but the first true monotheist (Surah 4:125). The
Jews had had Moses, the Christians had Jesus, and now the Arabs had Muhammad,
who linked himself to Abraham and established himself as the Seal of the Prophets (Surah 33:40). (Brian
C. Bradford, Muhammad’s Jesus: A Study of
Qur’anic Parallels with Non-Biblical Texts [2015], 64-67)
