Corrections on the words of Quran

by Letters Editor · July 23, 2015

From Fr Christopher Clohessy, Cape Town

Just some tiny corrections to John Lee�s letter about the Quran (July 8). Mr Lee is right about the lack of reciprocity in Christian-Muslim dialogue. But a marvel of the Gospel is the lack of demand for reciprocity. We love, whether or not we are loved in return. Dialogue�s heart and soul is to live prayerfully, lovingly before Islam, never asking or anticipating any return. This is the theology of Charles de Foucauld, of the Trappists of Algeria, and of so many others.

Pope Benedict XVI is seen without shoes as he visits the Blue Mosque in Istanbul in this Nov. 30, 2006, file photo. (CNS photo/Patrick Hertzog, Reuters)

The word �Nazarenes� is not the Arabic word for Christians. The proper Islamic word for Christians is �nas�r�. It sounds like �Nazarene�, but derives from the Arabic for �helpers� (ans�r), a reference to Jesus� disciples.

The word �Christ� in Arabic is �al-mas�h�, and Christian Arabs call themselves �mas�h�. While Arab Christians use Yas�� for Jesus, the Quran uses ��s� (meaning, like Esau, �red-haired�), which is a rearrangement of the letters so that in Arabic it is �Yas�� backwards. Hard to know why!

In Jesus� conception there is no hint of sexuality between Maryam and the angel Jibr�l, whose name we translate as Gabriel. Quranic scholars would find it an offence against her purity to suggest a sexual conception.

The Quran never calls Gabriel �the Holy Spirit�. This is a bad translation by some of the Arabic which reads �spirit of holiness�. �Holy Spirit� and �spirit of holiness� are not the same thing.

There were Christians, including monks, living in and around Mecca in Muhammad�s time. We are not certain whether these could be called �orthodox� Christians. Historically, the word �orthodox� has to do with holding to all the articles of the Creed. We are uncertain about the Christians of Muhammad�s time: their belief in Jesus and in the Trinity may have been suspect, a factor recognisable in the Quran.

When the Quran reflects the Trinity as God, Jesus and Mary, or Jesus as a third of three, it may be reflecting how Christians of the time were speaking about their faith. These Christians were not reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Few of them would have been able to read the gospels that were floating about, and would rely upon the clergy for this.

But the gospels they were hearing were others gospels: the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of James, the gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and other apocryphal gospels. These had been rejected by the Church, and did not find a place in the Canon, as opposed to the four canonical gospels we know. Nonetheless, we ourselves keep certain elements taken from these gospels, for example, the names of Mary�s parents (Joachim and Anna).

In Islamic theology, for Jesus (��s�) to be murdered would have meant the triumph of his executioners over a prophet of God. The Quran asserts that they failed. The Arabic text says �they did not crucify him� but that �it appeared so unto them�. Various traditions tell of him hiding, or of God substituting someone else (like Judas), or ��s� asking one of his disciples to voluntarily take on his likeness. The idea of substitution, found in docetic and gnostic writings, has been adopted by many Muslim writers.

But the Quran nowhere says that a substitute was made so that someone else suffered and died in his place. This is only one of many interpretations.

And finally, historical error in a text doesn�t negate the text. There is historical error in John�s gospel, for example, but this makes little difference to us in our reading of the text.