The Repetition of Narratives in the Quran and the Hypothesis of Multiple Traditions

Document Type : Original

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

2 Master's Student, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

Abstract

The phenomenon of repetitive narration in the Quran, particularly within its stories, has prompted inquiries into its rationale. Do these repetitions and variations indicate textual incoherence and the existence of multiple traditions, or do they serve as evidence for a significantly later compilation and human intervention in the Quran's composition? Furthermore, is this phenomenon contrary to the conventions of the revelation era, or is it akin to ancient Semitic literature and pre-Islamic poetry? One prominent theory is Wansbrough's hypothesis of multiple traditions, which posits a later compilation of the Quran. This theory has been subject to extensive critique and analysis by scholars. This study first examines the views of Islamic thinkers on repetition in the Quran. It then critiques Wansbrough's theory by referencing counter-arguments from other scholars. Evidence such as the Qur'an's oral nature, the existence of repetition in ancient texts and pre-Islamic poetry, the intra-textual relationship and function of repeated stories across different contexts, and their evaluation within the macro-structure of the surahs is presented to refute Wansbrough's justification for these repetitions. Ultimately, the research demonstrates that the repetitions in the Quran are not only justifiable but are also consistent with its literary and historical characteristics.

Keywords

References

  1. Holy Quran. [In Arabic]

    1. Muqaddam, Sayyid ʿAlī. (1993). Dar qalamraw-i balāghat [In the Realm of Rhetoric]. Mashhad: Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī Printing and Publishing Institute. [In Persian]
    2. Al-ʿAskarī, Abū Hilāl al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sahl. (1998). Al-Ṣināʿatayn: al-kitābah wa al-shiʿr [The Two Arts: Writing and Poetry]. (Eds. ʿAlī Muḥammad al-Bajāwī & Muḥammad Abū al-Faḍl Ibrāhīm). Beirut: Al-Maktabah al-ʿAṣrīyah. [In Arabic]
    3. Bakhshī, Muḥsin. (2019). Shikastan-i marz-hāyi riwāyatī dar riwāyāt-i qurʾānī [Breaking the Narrative Boundaries in Quranic Narrations]. Taʿlīmāt-i Qurʾānī, 16(30), 107-130. [In Persian]
    4. Bannister, Andrew G. (2014). An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur’an. Lanham: Lexington Books.
    5. Al-Bāqillānī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭayyib. (2001). Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān [The Inimitability of the Quran]. Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm. [In Arabic]
    6. Bateson, Mary Catherine. (1970). Structural Continuity in Poetry: A Linguistic Study of Five Pre-Islamic Arabic Odes. Paris: Mouton.
    7. Berman, Joshua. (2017). Inconsistency in the Torah: Ancient Literary Convention and the Limits of Source Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press.
    8. Coogan, Michael D. & Smith, Mark S. (2012). Stories from Ancient Canaan. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
    9. DeConick, April D. (2005). Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas: A History of the Gospel and its Growth. London: T&T Clark.
    10. Al-Dīnawarī, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Qays. (2002). Taʾwīl mushkil al-Qurʾān [Interpreting the Problematic Aspects of the Quran]. (Ed. Ibrāhīm Shams al-Dīn). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyah. [In Arabic]
    11. Donner, Fred M. (2008). The Qurʾān in Recent Scholarship: Challenges and Desiderata. In G.S. Reynolds (Ed.), The Qurʾān in its Historical Context (pp. 29-50). Abingdon: Routledge.
    12. Graves, Michael. (2016). "Form Criticism or a Rolling Corpus: The Methodology of John Wansbrough through the Lens of Biblical Studies." Journal of the International Qurʾanic Studies Association, 1(1), 47-92. https://doi.org/10.5913/jiqsa.1.2017.a005
    13. Al-Ḥakīm, Muḥammad Bāqir. (1995). Al-Qaṣaṣ al-qurʾānī [Quranic Stories]. Qom: Al-Markaz al-ʿĀlamī li-l-Dirāsāt al-Islāmīyah. [In Arabic]
    14. Ibn al-Jawzī, Abū al-Faraj ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAlī. (1987). Zād al-masīr fī ʿilm al-tafsīr [Provisions for the Journey in the Science of Exegesis]. (Ed. Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd Allāh). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
    15. Al-Kirmānī, Maḥmūd ibn Ḥamzah. (1985). Asrār al-tikrār fī al-Qurʾān [The Secrets of Repetition in the Quran]. Cairo: Dār al-Faḍīlah. [In Arabic]
    16. Maʿrefat, Muḥammad Hādī. (2011). Al-Tafsīr al-atharī al-jāmiʿ [The Comprehensive Tradition-Based Exegesis]. (Trans. Jawād Irāwānī). Qom: Al-Tamhīd. [In Persian]
    17. Muḥsinī, Muḥammad Āṣif. (2017). Ufuq-i ʿālā [High Horizon]. Kabul: Nashr-i Risālat. [In Persian]
    18. Montgomery, James E. (1997). The Vagaries of the Qaṣīdah: The Tradition and Practice of Early Arabic Poetry. Cambridge: Gibb Memorial Trust.
    19. Moqbel, Tareq. (2022). Revisiting Wansbrough’s Perspective on the Qurʾān’s Synoptic Problem. Al-Bayān – Journal of Qurʾān and Ḥadīth Studies, 20(3), 329-349. https://doi.org/10.1163/22321969-12340118
    20. Motzki, Harald. (2006). Dating the So-Called Tafsīr Ibn ʿAbbās: Some Additional Remarks. Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 31, 147-163.
    21. Mūsawī Muqaddam, Sayyid Muḥammad & Najārzādagān, Fatemeh. (2010). Naqd-i nigarish-i Jān Vānsbru dar bāra-yi rivāyāt-i Qurʾān [An Evaluation of John Wansbrough's View on the Traditions of the Quran]. Mut̤āliʿāt-i Qurʾānī-i Mustashriqān, 15(29), 203-232. [In Persian]
    22. Mughnīyah, Muḥammad Jawād. (1981). Al-Tafsīr al-kāshif [The Revealing Exegesis]. Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm li-l-Malāʾīn. [In Arabic]
    23. Najārzādagān, Fatemeh & Riḍāʾī Haftadar, Ḥusayn. (2010). Arzyābī-i didgāh-i Vānsbru dar masʾala-yi dalāʾil-i nubuwwat dar kitāb-i Qurʾanic Studies [An Evaluation of Wansbrough’s View on Signs of Prophethood in the Book Quranic Studies]. Jostārhā-yi Kalāmī, 7(13), 161-182. [In Persian]
    24. Najārzādagān, Fatemeh & Mahdawīrad, Muḥammad ʿAlī. (2011). Naqd-i didgāh-i Vānsbru dar bāra-yi akhbār-i nubūwwī dar kitāb-i Qurʾanic Studies [An Evaluation of Wensbrough’s View on Prophetic Statements in the Book Quranic Studies]. Pazhūhish-hā-yi ʿUlūm-i Qurʾān wa Ḥadīth, 53(1), 217-238. [In Persian]
    25. Najārzādagān, Fatemeh & Riḍāʾī Haftadar, Ḥusayn & Mahdawīrad, Muḥammad ʿAlī. (2011). Naqd-i didgāh-i Vānsbru dar bābiyyat-i nubūwwat dar kitāb-i Qurʾanic Studies [An Evaluation of Vansbrough's View on the Category of Prophecy in the Book Quranic Studies]. Andīsha-yi Dīnī-i Muʿāṣir, 17(67), 139-156. [In Persian]
    26. Neuwirth, Angelika. (2001). Qurʾān, Crisis and Memory: The Qurʾanic Path Towards Canonization as Reflected in the Anthropogonic Accounts. In A. Neuwirth & A. Pflitsch (Eds.), Crisis and Memory in Islamic Societies (pp. 113-152). Beirut: Ergon Verlag.
    27. Niditch, Susan. (1996). Oral World and Written Word: Ancient Israelite Literature. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
    28. Nīlsāz, Nuṣrat. (2008). Didgāh-i Vānsbru dar bāra-yi qānūnī shudan-i Qurʾān: Barrasī-i intiqādī [Wansbrough's Viewpoint Concerning the Canonization of the Quran: A Critical Survey]. Maqālāt wa Barrasī-hā, 88, 115-132. [In Persian]
    29. Nīlsāz, Nuṣrat & Mahdawīrad, Muḥammad ʿAlī. (2006). Tārīkhguzārī-i tafsīr-i mansūb bi Ibn ʿAbbās; Naqd-i rawish-i taḥlīl-i adabī-i Vānsbru wa Rippin [Dating the Commentary Attributed to Ibn Abbas; Criticism of the Literary Analysis Method of Wansbrough and Rippin]. Pazhūhish-hā-yi ʿUlūm-i Qurʾān wa Ḥadīth, 3(6), 27-64. [In Persian]
    30. Qurashī, ʿAlī Akbar. (2012). Tafsīr-i aḥsan al-ḥadīth [The Best Narration Exegesis]. Qom: Nashr-i Nawīd-i Islām. [In Persian]
    31. Shoemaker, Stephen J. (2012). The Death of a Prophet: The End of Muhammad’s Life and the Beginnings of Islam. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
    32. Sinai, Nicolai. (2017). The Qurʾan: A Historical-Critical Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
    33. Sinai, Nicolai. (2017). Two Types of Inner-Qurʾanic Interpretation. In G. Tamer et al. (Eds.), Exegetical Crossroads: Understanding Scripture in Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Pre-Modern Orient (pp. 197-212). Berlin: De Gruyter.
    34. Al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn. (1987). Muʿtarak al-aqrān fī iʿjāz al-Qurʾān [The Confluence of Peers on the Inimitability of the Quran]. (Ed. ʿAlī Muḥammad al-Bajāwī). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyah. [In Arabic]
    35. Al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn. (1995). Al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān [Mastery in the Sciences of the Quran]. (Ed. Sayyid al-Mandūb). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
    36. Stewart, Devin. (2016). Wansbrough, Bultmann, and the Theory of Variant Traditions in the Qurʾān. In A. Neuwirth & M. Sells (Eds.), Qurʾanic Studies Today (pp. 17-51). London: Routledge.
    37. Al-Ṭabarānī, Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad. (2008). Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr: tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm [The Great Exegesis]. Jordan: Dār al-Kitāb al-Thaqāfī. [In Arabic]
    38. Al-Ṭūfī al-Sarsarī, Sirāj al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī. (1998). Al-Intiṣārāt al-Islāmīyah fī kashf shubuhāt al-Naṣārā [Islamic Victories in Unveiling Christian Doubts]. Riyadh: Maktabat al-ʿUbaykān. [In Arabic]
    39. Al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. (1988). Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [Clarification in Qur'anic Interpretation]. (Ed. Aḥmad Ḥabīb Qaṣṣīr al-ʿĀmilī). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    40. Warādī Iṣfahānī, Muḥammad Jawād & Gharawī Nāʾinī, Nāṣir & Nīlsāz, Nuṣrat & Paktachī, Akbar. (2022). Rivāyāt-i mukhtalif dar Qurʾān; Barrasī-i taḥlīl-i Vānsbru az qiṣṣa-yi Shuʿayb dar Qurʾān wa arzyābī-i gilayāt-i ān [Different Traditions in the Quran; A Study of Wansbrough's Analysis of the Story of Shu'ayb in the Quran and An Assessment of Its Implications]. Pazhūhish-hā-yi Qurʾān wa Ḥadīth, 55(2), 529-552. https://doi.org/10.22059/jqst.2022.344635.670018 [In Persian]
    41. Wansbrough, John E. (1977). Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    42. Wansbrough, John E. (1978). The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition of Islamic Salvation History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    43. Whybray, R. Norman. (1987). The Making of the Pentateuch: A Methodological Study. Sheffield: JSOT Press.
    44. Witztum, Joseph. (2015). Variant Traditions, Relative Chronology, and the Study of Intra-Quranic Parallels. In B. Sadeghi et al. (Eds.), Islamic Cultures, Islamic Contexts: Essays in Honor of Professor Patricia Crone (pp. 1-50). Leiden: Brill.
    45. Al-Yaʿqūbī, Aḥmad ibn Abī Yaʿqūb. (n.d.). Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī [The History of al-Yaʿqūbī]. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
    46. Al-Zarkashī, Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh. (1956). Al-Burhān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān [The Proof in the Sciences of the Quran]. (Ed. Muḥammad Abū al-Faḍl Ibrāhīm). Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah. [In Arabic]
    47. Zwettler, Michael. (1978). The Oral Tradition of Classical Arabic Poetry: Its Character and Implications. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
Quranic Doctrines
Volume 22, Issue 42 - Serial Number 42
December 2025
Pages 295-322

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 31 May 2025
  • Revise Date: 16 July 2025
  • Accept Date: 27 October 2025
  • Publish Date: 22 December 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics