The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran

Abstract

Christoph Luxenberg’s (a pseudonym) highly controversial book, now available in English, has caused some to see in him an important ally in the war against Osama bin Laden and others to shake his book off as “orientalism.” There has been, in English at least, little substantive reporting on the actual arguments advanced. I will try to present a critical review of the main contentions and types of arguments Luxenberg offers in support. This book has two theses: one brazen and sweeping, the other a collection of specific arguments and analyses. The sweeping thesis is that the Qur’an was originally a lectionary, a collection of texts fromthe Hebrew and Christian Bibles to be read out loud (p. 104). It was set down in Karshuni, a form of Syriac written inArabic characters; however, the Qur’an employed an alphabet more primitive than the one now in use. In particular, diacritical dots were lacking. Given this double bind, so to speak, its first students had great difficulty understanding the text, particularly insofar as they mistakenly took it to be written in Arabic. Hence the large amount of significant misreadings, the individual reinterpretations of which collectively form what I call the book’s second thesis. This is clearly not a book that will convince the faithful. But even if one sets aside one’s personal beliefs, some major problems emerge. For example, who was responsible for establishing the Qur’anic text? A key role is ...