Search

Unconcluded Studies: The Fratricide of Cain from a Theological ViewThe story of Cain and Abel as it is told in the Qurʾān (Q 5:27–32), which follows closely that in the Bible (Gen 4:1–16), became the topic of various discussions among early Muslim theologians, especially Abel’s statement when threatened by Cain: “I wish you to take both your sin and my sin and become one of the companions of the Fire.” In the context of civil war, Abel’s pacifism became a paradigm of ideal behavior, and the notion of ridding oneself of sin through victimhood appeared attractive. It was used as a model in stories concerned with battles between Muslims, such as the battle of al-Ḥarra (683 CE), in which many Qurayshi notables and Qurʾān reciters from Medina were killed by the Syrian army. According to advice from the prophet Muḥammad, the correct behavior would have been not to participate in the fighting and, in the face of death, to quote Abel’s words. Whoever acts in this manner attains Paradise. However, some theologians denied the possibility that the burden of somebody’s sin could be transferred to another. The story was thus reinterpreted. In his commentary on the Qurʾān, al-Ṭabarī (d. 923 CE) proposed that Abel’s sentence should be understood differently: “I wish you to take your [previous] sin[s] and the sin against me …”, since he could accept neither that Abel committed a sin, nor the transfer of sin to somebody else.

The article is concerned with the Masāʾil fī aʿmāl al-qulūb wa-l-jawāriḥ (“Questions concerning the acts of the heart and the limbs”) by al-Muḥāsibī (d. 247 AH/853 CE). It contains a translation and a commentary of a part of the work that deals with the meaning of the term shuhra. The word is used in the sense of “to attract attention”. A repeated example is the woolen dress of the ṣūfīs, by which they distinguish themselves from the common people. Other examples are men dressed like women or women dressed like men. As in his other works, al-Muḥāsibī concentrates on the intention of an action, rather than on the action itself. To attract attention is not sinful as such, but when it is driven by a histrionic disorder, it begins to be. The text introduces the reader into a virtual discussion in which different traditional views of the matter are brought forward. According to a liberal attitude, everything which is not explicitly forbidden by Qurʾān and Sunna should be regarded as allowed. But by distinguishing between the customs of different epochs – pre-Islamic times, early Islamic times, the author’s present day – the same action could be considered correct or sinful depending upon when it happened. However, according to another view, the customs of the first Islamic community can never become wrong. With this, the direction of argumentation shifts towards fundamentalism. This view was held by al-Muḥāsibī himself, for whom the ideal of the early Islamic community stands above all.

Abu Bakr al-Asamm’s (d. 200/816 or 201/817) commentary of the Qur’an is one of the oldest of its genre. It originated in Basra but seems to have become a “book” only when, in the middle of the 3rd century H., it was transferred from Baghdad to Eastern Iran. There it was used by a number of authors, Sunni as well as Shii. The greatest number of quotations is found in Maturidi’s (d. 333/944 ?) Ta’wilat. The article deals with the material found in this source, its tendency as well as its relationship to quotations in later authors up to Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1210). The work has not survived, and we can only speculate where and for how long several copies, complete or incomplete survived.