Document Type : Original
Authors
1
PhD Student, Department of Quranic sciences and Ḥadīth, Faculty of Theology and Ahl al-Bayt Studies, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Quranic sciences and Ḥadīth, Faculty of Theology and Ahl al-Bayt Studies, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract
The presence of disbelievers among the People of the Book or Ahl al-Kitāb (Arabic: أهلُ الکِتاب), particularly the Jews, is observed in the context of the causes of revelation (Arabic: اَلْنُّزول, Romanized: al-nuzūl) associated with sūrat al-Kahf (Arabic: الکهف, lit.: the Cave) and some of its narratives, such as the story of the owner of two gardens. Researchers also interpret ‘Ḥizbain (Arabic: حِزْبَین) in verse 12 as referring to the Jews and Christians. Furthermore, references to events such as the Companions of the Cave (Arabic: أَصْحَابُ الکَهْف, Romanized: ʾAṣḥāb al-Kahf) and 7Dhu l-Qarnayn (Arabic: ذوالقَرنَین), which bear the influence of Christianity and Judaism, strengthen the hypothesis of the presence of the People of the Book among the audience of the surah (the chapter). This is while most commentators (Arabic: مُفسّر; plural: Arabic: مفسّرون, romanized: mufassirūn) consider sūrat al-Kahf to be Meccan and do not believe in the presence of the People of the Book in Mecca; thus, they attempt to justify these tafsīrs (Arabic: تفسیر, English: explanation), events, and reasons and causes for revelation. The present study aims to identify the audience of the sūrah with the help of historical reconstruction methods. To this end, it first determines the date of this sūrah by using the implications of the verses, historical accounts, its position in the lists of revelation, and the perspectives of commentators. The result of this dating establishes the revelation of sūrat al-Kahf coinciding with the Prophet’s journey to Aṭ-Ṭāʾif (Arabic: اَلطَّائِفُ, lit.: The circulated or encircled) in the tenth year of his mission (10th year of Biʿtha or the the 10th year of the beginning of Prophet Muhammad’s mission). The audience profiling of this sūrat also indicates the presence of commonalities between the audience of sūrat al-Kahf and the inhabitants of Ṭāʾif, which includes not only polytheists but also Christian and Jewish people. The events of this sūrah, the reasons and causes for revelation, hapax legomenon, borrowed vocabulary, the context of the sūrah, and historical reports support this conclusion.
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