Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Jonah in Quranic Commentaries: A Comparative Study with the Biblical Narratives

Document Type : Original article

Author
Meysam Kohantorabi
Associate Professor at the Department of Jurisprudence and Islamic Law, Faculty of Humanities, Bozorgmehr University of Qaenat, Qaen, Iran.
10.22034/naghdeara.2024.464736.1219
Abstract
In Shia and Sunni interpretations, there are two different narratives about the incident that happened to Prophet Yūnus (Jonah). The meaning and reason of Jonah's anger, the meaning of his suspicion, the true concept of God's power and what Jonah's mistake is are important topics that have led to the presentation of various opinions of commentators. Depending on which report the commentator has preferred, the answer he gives to the aforementioned topics is different. The main elements and to a large extent the sequence of events narrated in the Qurʾān and the Bible are similar to the story of Yunus. Contrary to the famous narration of the story of Yunus in Tafseer, the order of narration in the Qurʾān is similar to what is mentioned in the book of Prophet Yunus in the Old Testament. It seems that due to the summary of the Qurʾān in the narration of the story of Yunus and also the lack of authentic hadiths, the commentators were influenced by the report of the Bible in presenting their interpretations. The swallowing of Jonah in the Old Testament is consistent with the second report and the reason for Jonah's anger is consistent with the first report in the commentaries, while the Qurʾān is silent on these two cases.The present research has done a comparative analysis of Shia and Sunni interpretations with the biblical account of the story of Prophet Yunus.
Keywords
The Old Testament
The New Testament
Qurʾān
Yūnus
Jonah

Subjects

  • The Holy Qur˒ān.
  • Abū Ḥamza al-Thumālī, Thābit b. Dīnār, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, Beirut, Dār al-Mufīd, 1420 AH [Arabic].
  • Abū Ḥayyān, Muḥammad b. Yūsuf, Al-Baḥr al-Muḥīt, Beirut, Dār al-Fikr, 1420 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-ʿAyyāshī, Muḥammad b. Masʿūd, Tafsīr al-˓Ayyāshī, Tehran, Maktabat al-˓Ilmīya al-Islāmīyyah, 1380 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Baghawī, Ḥusayn b. Masʿūd, Maʿālim al-Tanzīl, Beirut, Dār Ihyāʾ al-Turāth al-˓Arabī, 1420 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Bayḍawī, ˓Abdullah b. ˓Umar, Anwār al-Tanzīl, Beirut, Dār ʾIḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-˓Arabī, 1418 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Biqāʿī, Ibrāhīm b. ʿUmar, Naẓm al-Durar fī Tanāsub al-Āyāt wa al-Suwar, Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1427 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad b. Ismā˓īl, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ, Beirut, Dār al-Fikr, 1401 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Ḥaddād, Abū Bakr b. ʿAlī, Al-Tafsīr, Irbid, Dār al-Kitāb al-Thiqāfī, 2008 [Arabic].
  • Al-Khāzin, ˓Alī b. Muḥammad, Lubāb al-Taʾwīl, Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-˓Ilmīyya, 1415 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Māturīdī, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad, Taʾwīlāt ahl al-Sunna, Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1426 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Māwardī, ˓Ali b. Muḥammad, Al-Nukat wa al-˓Uyūn, Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-˓Ilmīyya, 1415 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Maydānī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ḥasan, Maʿārij al-Tafakkur wa Daqāʾiq al-Tadabbur, Damascus, Dār al-Taʿallum, 1361 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Qāsimī, Jamāl al-Dīn b. Muḥammad, Maḥāsin al-Taʿwil, Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1418 AH[Arabic].
  • Al-Qummī al-Mashhadī, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad Riḍā, Kanz al-Daqāʾiq wa Baḥr al-Gharāʾib, Tehran, Shams al-Ḍuḥā, 1368 SAH [Arabic].
  • Al-Qummī, ˓Alī b. Ibrāhīm, Al-Tafsīr, Qom, Dār al-Kītāb, 1363 SAH [Arabic].
  • Al-Qurṭubī, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, Al-Jāmi˓ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, Tehran, Nāṣer Khosrow Publishing House, 1364 SAH [Arabic].
  • Al-Sharīf Al-Murtaḍā, ˓Alī b. Ḥusayn, Al-Tafsīr, Beirut, Al-A˓lamī, 1431 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Shubbar, Sayyid ˓Abdullāh, Al-Tafsīr, Kuwait, Maktaba al-Alfayn, 1407 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr, Al-Durr al-Manthūr fī al-Tafsīr bi-al-Maʾthūr, reprinted in Qom, Mar˓ashī Library, 1404 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān, Beirut, Dār al-Ma˓rifa, 1412 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Ṭabraṣī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan, Majmaʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur˒ān, Tehran, Nāṣer Khosrow Publishing House, 1372 SAH [Arabic].
  • Al-Tha˓ālibī, ˓Abdulraḥmān b. Muḥammad, Al-Tafsir, Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turath al-˓Arabī, 1418 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Thaʿlabī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad, Al-Kashf wa al-Bayān, Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-˓Arabī, 1422 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan, Al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Qur˓ān, Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-˓Arabi [Arabic].
  • Ālūsī, Maḥmūd b. ˓Abdullāh, Rūwḥ al-Ma˓ānī fī Tafsīr al-Qur˒ān al-˓Aẓīm, Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1415 AH [Arabic].
  • Baḥrānī, Ḥāshim b. Sulaymān, Al-Burhān fī Tafsīr al-Qur˒ān, Tehrān, Beʿthat, 1415 AH [Arabic].
  • Bī-Āzār Shīrāzī, ʿAbd al-Karīm, Archaeology and Historical Geography of Quranic Stories, Tehran, Daftar-e Nashr-e Farhang-e Eslāmī, 1380 SH [Persian].
  • Calvin, John, Commentary on Jonah Micah Nahum, Cristian Classics ethereal library, 2009.
  • Cook, David, Tafsīr-e Kārbordī-ye ʿAhd-e Qadīm [Practical Interpretation of the Old Testament], tr. Dāvūd Kāzemīyān, available on the Razgah website[1], retreived at July 2024 [Persian].
  • Faḍlullāh, Muḥammad Husayn, Min Waḥy al-Qur˒ān, Beirut, Dār al-Malāk, 1419 AH [Arabic].
  • Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ˓Umar, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabi, 1420 AH [Arabic].
  • Fleming, Don, 2005, Bridgeway Bible Commentary, Bridgeway Publication, Australia, 2005.
  • Furāt b. Ibrāḥīm al-Kūfī, Al-Tafsīr, Tehran, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, 1410 AH [Arabic].
  • Ḥaqqī, Ismāʿīl b. Muṣṭafā, Rūḥ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur˒ān, Beirūt, Dār al-Fikr, 1405 AH [Arabic].
  • Hawks, James and Nowdharī, Esmāʿīl, Qāmūs-e Ketāb-e Moqaddas [Dictionary of the Holy Bible], Tehran, Asāṭīr 1364 SH [Persian].
  • Ḥoseynī Hamedānī, Moḥammad, Anvār-e Derakhshān dar Tafsīr-e Qor˒ān, Tehran, Loṭfī, 1404 AH [Persian].
  • Ḥuwayzī, ˓Abd ˓Alī b. Jum˓a, Nūr al-Thaqalayn, Qom, Ismā˓īlīyān, 1415 AH [Arabic].
  • Ibn Abī Ḥātim, ˓Abdulrahmān b. Muḥammad, Tafsīr al-Qur˒ān al-˓Aẓīm, Mecca, Maktaba Nizār Musṭafā al-Bāz, 1419 AH [Arabic].
  • Ibn ʿAjībah, Aḥmad, Al-Baḥr al-Madīd, Cairo, Ḥasan ʿAbbās al-Zakī, 1419 AH [Arabic].
  • Ibn al-Anbārī, Muḥammad b. Qāsim, al-Aḍdād, al-Maktabah al-Miṣriyyah, Beirut, 1407 AH [Arabic].
  • Ibn al-Juwzī, ˓Abdulraḥmān b. ʿAlī, Zād al-Masīr fī ˓Ilm al-Tafsīr, Beirut, Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1422 AH [Arabic].
  • Ibn ˓Āshūr, Muḥammad b. Tāhir, Al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr, Beirut, Arabic History Foundation, 1420 AH [Arabic].
  • Ibn ʿAṭīyya, ˓Abd al-Ḥaq b. al-Ghālib, Al-Muḥarar al-Wajīz, Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1422 AH [Arabic].
  • Ibn Bābwayh, Muḥammad b. ˓Alī, ˓Uyūn Akhbār Riḍā, ed. Mahdī Lājvardī, Tehran, Jahān, 1378 SAH [Arabic].
  • Kāshānī, Fatḥullāh b. Shukrullāh, Manhaj al-Ṣādiqīn fī Ilzām al-Mukhālifīn, Tehran, Islamic Library, 1340 SAH [Arabic].
  • MacDonald, William, Believer's Bible Commentary, Second edition, Tomas Nelson, 2016.
  • Makārem Shīrāzī, Nāṣer, Tafsīr-e Nemūne, Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1378 SAH [Persian].
  • Makkī b. Abī Ṭālib al-Qaysī al-Ḥammūsh, Al-Hidāya ilā Bulūq al-Nihāya, Sharjah, University of Sharjah, 1429 AH [Arabic].
  • Meybodī, Aḥmad b. Moḥammad, Kashf al-Asrārwa ˓Udda al-Abrār, Tehran, AmīrKabīr, 1371 SAH [Arabic].
  • Muḥammad Kāẓim, explanatory footnote on Furāt b. Ibrāhīm al-Kūfī'sAl-Tafsīr, Tehran, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, 1410 AH [Arabic].
  • Niẓām al-Dīn al-Nīsābūrī, Ḥasan b. Muḥammad, Gharāʾib al-Qurʾān, Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1416 AH [Arabic].
  • Qushayrī, ʿAbdulkarīm b. Hawāzin, Laṭāʾif al-Ishārāt, Cairo, al-Hayʾa al-Miṣriyya al-ʿĀmma li-al-Kitāb, 2000 [Arabic].
  • Reynolds, Gabriel Said, The Emergence of Islam; Classical Traditions in Contemporary Perspective, Fortress Press, 2023.
  • Samarqandī, Naṣr b. Muḥammad, Baḥr al-˓Ulūm, Beirut, Dār al-Fikr, 1416 AH [Arabic].
  • Sayyid Quṭb, Ibrāhīm Husayn, Fī Ẓilāl al-Qur˒ān, Damascus, Dār al-Shurūq, 1425 AH [Arabic].
  • Schultz, John, Commentary to Jonah, web site of Bible Commentaries[2], retrieved at March 15 2003.
  • Thaqafī Tehrānī, Moḥammad, Ravān-e Jāvīd dar Tafsīr-e Qor˒ān-e Majīd, Tehran, Borhān, 1398 SAH [Persian].
  • Yaḥyā b. Salmām, Al-Tafsīr, Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-˓Ilmīyya, 1425 AH [Arabic].
  • Al-Zamakhsharī, Mahmūd b. ˓Umar, Al-Kashshāf , Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-˓Arabī, 1407 AH [Arabic].

 

[1]. www.razgah.com.

 

Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis
Volume 5, Issue 1 - Serial Number 9
September 2024
Pages 96-128

  • Receive Date 30 June 2024
  • Revise Date 18 September 2024
  • Accept Date 18 September 2024