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A CRITICAL APPROACH TO ORIENTALISTS' ASSESSMENTS ON THE ORIGIN OF
KURRA
Hayrettin Ozturk, PhD, Associate Professor Samsun University (Turkey, Samsun)
DOI: 10.24412/2500-1000-2022-8-2-69-77
Abstract. Orientalists made serious commentary and analysis in the field of Qur'an history and the science of recitation, and then brought these studies to the agenda with works and articles. One of these studies is evaluations about the origin of the Qurra. M. Shaban, Juynboll, Norman Calder and Martin Hinds, who have written articles on the Qurra, are among them. These orientalists, who started the concept of Qurra especially with the Ridda wars, tried to present the Qurra not as people who devoted themselves to religion among Muslims and set an example for the society with their lives, but as people of low classes who were both devotees and ascetics, and took part in political and military activities pursuing self-interest. At the same time, they claimed that those who died in the Ridda wars were not real Qurra, but ahl al-qurra (villagers) from the surrounding villages, but they were called ahl al-qurra in Islamic historical sources.
In this article, the views of Shaban, Juynboll, Calder and Martin Hinds on the origin, identity, and role of the Qur'an in wars and their approaches to interpreting the information in Islamic sources have been critically evaluated.
Keywords: Qiraat, Qurra, the origin of Qurra, Ehlu'l-Qurra, Orientalist, Ehlu'l-Qura.
The Qurra were those who read the Qur'an with a beautiful voice during the Prophet's time scribes of the revelations (Buhari, "ilim", 42, al-Askalani, 1996, 10:26-27), ascetics, literate and who memorized the verses revealed to the Prophet (al-Cevheri, 1990, 1:65; Halil b. Ahmed, 1988, 1: 204-205; Ibn Khaldun, 1986, 2:484) For this purpose, Dar al-Arkam (al-Isfahani, 1988, 1: 40) in Mecca and Suffa in Medina became a center where the Qur'an was taught. (Muhammad b. Sa'd, 1414/1993, 3:75-76).
The identities of this group, which is called Qurra in Islamic sources, have been the subject of intense debate by orientalists such as Shaban, Juynboll, Calder and Hinds, and these debates have been discussed on the thesis that many readers (Qurra) were killed due to the violent clashes that took place in Reci' (4/625), Bi'rimaune (4/625), Ridda(11/633), Yamama (12/634), Jamel (35/656) and Siffin (36/657). Readers of the Qur'an, who participated in these wars and were killed on the battlefield, were named ehlu'l-qura (villager) by the aforementioned orientalists, and this formed the basis of the distinction between ehlu'l-qura and ehlu'l-qurra (Juynboll, 1973,
114-117; Calder, 1991, 297-307; Hinds, 1971, 347, 363; Shaban, 1971, 68-71).
In this article, the views of Shaban, Juyn-boll, Norman Calder and Martin Hinds on the origin of the Qurra, which came to the fore with their studies on the concept of Qurra, were critically evaluated and the article concludes with the conclusion part.
SHABAN, JUYNBOLL, CALDER, AND MARTIN HINDS' COMMENTS ON THE ORIGIN OF QURAN
Many orientalists expressed ideas about the concept of Qurra. M. A. Shaban, G. H.A. Juynboll, N. Calder, G.M. Hinds, R. Brunnow, L. Caetani, J. Wellhausen, Noldeke and F. Schwally are some of them. In this study, instead of taking and evaluating all orientalists one by one, we will include the views of only four orientalists. The reason why we chose them is that they were the first to put forward the idea of ehlu'l-qura on the subject of Qurra and being the pioneers in this regard. For example, Shaban was one of the first to use the ehlu'l-qura thesis. Others have based their views on his ehlu'l-qura thesis.
1. Muhammad Shaban
Muhammad Shaban, in his work, mainly dealt with the role of the Qur'a in the Ridda wars, Yamama, Siffin and the Kharijite movement, and argued that those who died in the wars were not Qur'a and that these groups, which were described as ehlu'l-eyyam (Shaban, 1976, 23,45,50), fought on behalf of the Islamic state. He claimed that they were loyal tribesmen (Shaban, 1976, 50; Shah, 2005, 2) and based this misunderstanding on the etymological similarity between the words eh-lu'l-qurra and ehlu'l-qura (Shaban, 1976, 23,50).
Shaban built his thesis on the fact that the Qurra is ehlu'l-qura, and described the readers of the Qur'an who participated in the Ridda and later wars as ehlu'l-qura and claimed that they were unsympathetic, self-seeking people. This is a reductionist approach. Sha-ban confused them by putting forward a thesis that they would argue for a long time. Mahmud Ayyub criticized his way of interpreting Islamic sources and said that this led to a theory that had neither historical nor linguistic basis for Qurra (Eyyub, 2003, 79-80).
The statement that Islamic historians neglect the etymological distinction between ehlu'l-qura and ehlu'l-qurra means to look at the issue from above (es-Sicistani, 1985, 1213) that it is unlikely that historians made such a simple mistake. Such interpretations should not lead to dismiss the narrations in Islamic sources as simply regarding them as fabrications, as stated by Albrecht Noth and Kennedy (Noth, 1994, xi; Kennedy, 2001, 36).
At the beginning of Shaban's claims is the questioning of the identity of the Qurra who died in the battles of Yamama, Siffin and Jamel. According to Shaban, those who participated in these wars were none other than ehlu'l-qura, who gathered from the surrounding villages and spent their nights praying and reading the Qur'an. According to him, not many Qurra died in these wars. This forms the core of Shaban's argument.
The Battle of Yamama was the most important of the Ridda battles. Musaylima, who declared himself a Prophet, prepared a serious army and defeated the vanguard forces sent to him. For this reason, Omar said that the Companions of Badr would participate in this
war, and Abu Bakr sent Muslims from the Muhajir and Ansar to Khalid's army upon the request of experienced soldiers (d. 21/642), at-Tabari, undated 3:282). Balazuri reported that honorable people and the Qurra were martyred in this war (Belazuri, trz., 121).
Contrary to Shaban's claims, many senior Companions were martyred in Yamama (Ibn Hajar, 1988, 1: 143, 195; 2: 6-8, 12, 98, 110112, 138, 298, 489-499; 3: 449-450, 652, 655; 4: 42, 160; Ibn Sa'd, 1414/1993, 3: 366-367, 377, 486, 551-552, 557-558, 567-568, 591, 595). It is stated in the sources that five or seven hundred Qurra were martyred in this war (Shahristani, 1989. 1:114; al-Hamavi, 1906, 5:442).
The news that many Qurra were martyred in the Battle of Yamama is also reported by Tabari and Ibn al-Athir (Ibnu'l-Esir, 1965, 2:221). In addition, although many Muslim scholars such as Caliph ibn Hayyat (d: 240) (Ibn Hayyat, 1995, 55-60), Belazuri (d: 279) (Belazuri, 1978, 102), Tabari (d: 310) ( et-Taberi, 1990, 2:283), ibnu'l-Esir (d: 630) (ibnu'l-Esir, 1965, 2:223), Kurtubi (d: 671) (al-Kurtubi, ts., 1 : 50), Ibn Kathir (d: 774) (Ibn Kathir, ts., 34), Ibn Hajar (d: 852) (Ibn Hajar, 1988, 9:9), Kastalani (d: 923) (al-Kastalani, ts., 163), Suyuti (d. 1505) (Suyuti, ts., 1:722-723) gave different numbers about the Qurra and the companions who participated in this war and became martyrs, all sources agreed that a large number of Qurra died. During the war, it is reported that Huzeyfe (d. 12/633) said, "O people of the Qur'an! Decorate your affairs with the Qur'an" and Salim (d. 12/633), "O Muslim community! You are the community of Allah, and they are the community of the devil" which motivated the soldier by this way (Taberi, 1990, 3:288-291).
As a result, the martyrdom of many Qurra in this war caused the Qur'an to be collected during the reign of Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr, with the suggestion of Omar, asked Zayd b. Thab-it, "The Qurra suffered heavy casualties in the battle of Yamama, and I'm afraid there are casualties among the Qurra in other places as well, and much of the Qurra may be lost. For this reason, I want you to collect the Qur'an in one mushaf. ..." (al-Bukhari, al-Jamiu's-Sahih, 4/1907, (hadith no: 4701; an-Nesa'i, es-Sunu'l-Kubra, 5, 7, (no. 7995; et-Tirmidhi,
Sunen, 5/283, (no:3103). What was that made Abu Bakr and Omar so alarmed? There is only one reason for this, and it is that a large number of Qurra were martyred in the battle of Yamama.
This is also the case in the event of Jamel. Ibn Sa'd, informs us that 70 people in Aisha' side (d. 58/678), all of whom were hafiz, were martyred (Ibn Sa'd, 1993, 4:288). It is stated in the sources that some of the companions who participated in the Jamel case had the Qur'an in their hands (al-Mas'udi, 1973, 3:370).
Muawiya (d. 60/680) and Ali (d. 40/661) faced each other and many Qurras from both sides were martyred. In this war Ali, placed Malik b. Ashtar at the head of the Qurra and it is reported that the most casualties were in this group (Mas'udi, 1973, 3:392). Tabari also records this information (Tabari, trz. 4:575). A group of Qurra from the people of Damascus who fought on the side of Muawiyah turned to Ali's side and the course of the war changed. Muawiya, on Amr b. al-As' suggestion (d. 43/664), applied to the arbitration (Ahmed b. Hanbel, Musnad, 3:486; 1:86).
Shaban's idea of ehlu'l-qura was not supported by some orientalists. For example, Red Donner felt inclined to use the traditional meaning of the Qurra (Shah, 2005, 16), and historians such as Michael Morony stated that most of Osman's opponents were from the Qurra (Quran readers) class (Morony, 1984, 468-506). Hugh Kennedy reached similar conclusions (Kennedy, 2001, 9, 11, 40). Again, Wilfred Madelung accepted the Qurra as "Quran readers" and he said that they were the supporters of Ali ( Madelung, 1997, 219, 232, 238, 241). John Wansbrough proposed the idea that Qurra, who participated in the battles of Bi'rimaune and Siffin, could be "the bearers of the Qur'an" in the literal sense of the word (Wansbrough, 1978, 69,119).
The group that Shaban describes as the peasants were probably the vanguard, which began with the battles of Ridda and continued with the conquest of Iraq. They were named as qurra because they lived a life of asceticism, and because they came from the desert, they could not fully adapt to the city etiquette. It consisted of tribes of Bedouin origin residing in cities such as Kufa, Basra and Medain,
who carried the freedom and brutality of the desert on themselves, emerged as a power in Iraq, blamed the caliph, gave importance to reading the Qur'an and worship but did not understand or misinterpreted what they read (Ibn. Hacer, 1988, 12:283-284). These people, who had problems with the governors appointed by Osman, rebelled against the administration. (al-Kufi, 1986, 1-2: 383-384; ibn §ebbe, 1973, 3:1141). We understand from a narration in Ahmet b. Hanbal's Musnad that "They read the Qur'an, but the Qur'an they read does not go down their throats, they come out of religion like an arrow comes out of a bow." (Hanbal, Musnad, 3:486). Ali defines them as a community involved in corruption. (al-Himyeri, 1983, 10:150) Their ignorance is also evident from their interpretation of the verse "The judgment belongs only to Allah" (En'am, 6/57; Yusuf, 12/40) in a way that serves a wrong purpose.
They appear as a group that thinks about their interests and political well-being (Taberi, undated, 3: 31).
2. Gautier Juynboll
In several articles on the concept of Qurra, he started the discussion with a group called "museyyerun = exiles". They consisted of a group of twelve people who were exiled by Said with the consent of Osman because they opposed the governor of Kufa, Said b As, appointed by Osman (Belazuri, 1936, 5: 41-45. For the names of these people, see Ayar, 2005, 52). They are headed by Malik al-Ashtar. With the advice of Osman, Said sent them to Muaviye to be persuaded, and they had a serious argument with Muaviye (et-Tamimi, 1391/1972, 36-39; ibn §ebbe, 1973, 3: 1141).
Juynboll also mentions why ehlu'l-qura is confused with ehlu'l-qurra, and shows those who died in Bi'rimaune (4/626) (Juynboll, 1973, 125-128) as an example. Juynboll said that those who joined Bi'rimune were not Qur'an readers but villagers of Medina, none of those who participated in this trip were mentioned as having knowledge of the Qur'an in the tabakat books, most of them became Muslims after the Hijra and because they had just entered Islam, they did not read the
Qur'an. They state that they cannot have memorized it (Juynboll, 1973, 125-128).
Juynboll, also considers Omar's decision to collect the Qur'an after Yamama as an uninformed and wrong decision (Juynboll, 1974, 21).
Our criticisms of Shaban's views on ehlu'l-qura also apply to Juynboll. In addition, we can say the following about Juynboll's claims: Some people from the Qurra, against the Umayyad oppression and cruelty, supported Malik b. Ashter and Abdurrahman b. Ashas. It is not correct to describe all the Qurra who support Malik and Ibn al-Ash'as as people who pursue self-interest because they take part in military and political organizations. The Qurra's support for these people is due to the wrong policies of the current government and the political pressures of the Umayyads.
Juynboll claimed that those who participated in Raji and Bi'rimaune were from the ehlu'l qura. The Raji incident consisted of a group of six people who were sent to explain Islam to the Adal and Kare tribes after the Battle of Uhud. In addition to Asim b. Thabit (d. 3/624) (Bukhari, Kitabu'l-Megazi, 5: 40), the other members of this group were Mersed b. Ebi Mersed (d. 3/624), Halid b. al-Bukayr (d. 3/624), Hubeyb b. Adiyy (d. 4/625), Zayd b. Desne (d. 4/625), Abdullah b. Tariq (d. 4/625) (Ibn Abdi'l-Barr, 1412, 3: 1384; et-Taberi, 1990, 2: 540). In all Islamic sources, it is stated that these people were Qurra and were from the Companions of Suffa, and they constantly recited the Qur'an at night (Bukha-ri, Kitabu'l-Cihad, 4: 35; Ahmed b. Hanbel, Musnad, 1992, 3: 270).
Bi'rimauna took place in the 4th year of Hijri. As Amir b. Malik wanted a team to be sent to guide his tribe, The Prophet sent a group of 40 or 70 people to that region under the command of Munzir b. Amr (d. 4/625). These were called Qurra by them. Vakidi stated that these people sent by the Prophet were reciters (Qurra) from Ansar (al-Waqidi, 1966, 1: 350-351).
Those who were martyred in Raji and Bi'rimauna are called Qurra in all Islamic sources. It was reported that these people read the Qur'an and prayed until the morning, discussed the Qur'an, and were a group of the Companions of the Suffa and were among the
pioneers of Muhajir and the first of the Ansar, and were participated in the Battle of Badr such as Amir b. Fuheyre (d. 4/625), Nafi' b. Budeyl (d. 4/625), Asim b. Thabit (d. 3/624), Haris b. Simme (d. 4/625), Munzir b. Amr (d. 4/625) and Khalid b. Bukayr (d. 4/625) (al-Maqdisi', 1903, 4: 211; al-Askalani, 1988, 3: 244-245,460; 1: 281, 319, 402; 2: 74). Seventy of them were martyred in Bi'rimaune. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was deeply saddened by these Qur'an memorizers, who were ambushed and martyred treacherously, and while he was praying for them in the morning prayers, He cursed the tribes of Ra'l, Zekvan and Usayya, who treacherously ambushed them within a month, (Buhari, Kitabu'l-Vitr, 2: 14; Muslim, Sahih, Kitabu'l-Mesacid, 1992, 1: 469; 1966, 1: 350; al-Maqdisi, 1903, 4: 212). Juynboll claimed that accepting these murdered people as members of the Qurra would be a forced interpretation added to the original narrative (Juynboll, 1973, 125, 128). In response to this claim, it can be said that first of all, they are a group of the Companions (Makdisi, 1903, 4: 211; Kastalani, undated, 6: 319) and their relations with the Qur'an are registered. In this group, Amir b. Fuhayra was one of those who converted to Islam before Daru'l-Arkam in Mecca (Ibn Sa'd, 1414/1993, 3: 230-231.). Nafi' b. Budeyl, Asim b. Sabit, Haris b. Simme, Munzir b. Amr and Halid b. Bukayr were from the Ansar and among first Muslims (Ibn Sa'd, 1414/1993, 3:509,555,618.). All the rest participated in Badr and Uhud (Ibn Sa'd, 1414/1993, 3: 514-516). It is stated in the sources that those who participated in this wars were a group of Qurra who set out to teach the Qur'an to the tribes outside of Medina, not to fight, and that they were members of the community of the Companions, which had a long history with Islam (Ibn Sa'd, 1414/1993, 3: 514-516). Among them, there were warriors like Asim b. Thabit as well as physically disabled people like Ka'b. b. Zayd (al-Maqdisi, 1903, 4: 210). It is reported that Haram b. Milhan said at the time of the raid; "I am the messenger sent to you by the Messenger of Allah and I invite you to Islam" (Ibn Hajar, undated, 7: 310). While the sources unanimously refer to them as Qumarurra, Juynboll' argument that they are villager is
both a baseless claim and a clear falsification of the narratives.
It is a mistake to accuse Omar of ignorance about Yamama and to say, "He was unaware of what happened in Yamama". Because both son and brother of Omar participated in this war. Umar said to his son Abdullah, "How can you return as a veteran from a place where your uncle Zayd b. Khattab was martyred?" (Taberi, undated, 3: 292).
Juynboll accepts Malik al-Ashter, Hucr b. 'Adi and Yazid b. Kays as the pioneers of eh-lu'l-qura in Iraq but doesn't not mention their biographies; doesn't give information about the status and characteristics of the other members of the ehlu'l-qura and suggests that ehlu'l-qura has a derogatory meaning for nomadic life. All these views and his theses he put forward cannot be considered as sufficient evidence to prove that there is no reader class.
3. Norman Calder
Calder argues that in early Islam, the Qurra meant temporary or seasonal soldiers, not full-time soldiers, whose military status was misinterpreted, as in the case of the Qurra at Bi'rimaune, and they were transformed into a group of loyal and dedicated missionaries, given a spiritual appearance. (Calder, 1991, 305).
Calder's main claim was that the Qur'an comes from the root k-r-y, is used to mean seasonal soldiers, and the word is of foreign origin. There is no the slightest information in the famous dictionary books and Islamic sources that this word is of foreign origin. This word is used in the dictionaries with the following meanings.
Ibn Manzur said that this word is from the root k-r-e and means reading the Qur'an (Ibn Manzur, 1300, 1: 128-130), Halil b. Ahmed also described the Qur'an readers as "respectable people who memorize the Qur'an and practice what they have memorized" (Khalil b. Ahmed, 2001, 776).
Raghib al-Isfehani used the word kara-e as "gathered it"; the word al-kiraetu as "to add letters and words together during tertil" (al-Isfahani, 2010, 1201-1203); the word "kara'tuhu" as "read or taught the Qur'an by teaching each other (al-Isfahani, 2010, 12041205).
Ehlu'l qura, which means peasants, comes from the root k-r-y and is used in the Qur'an in a negative sense, which is not related to the Qur'an and takes place in political organizations (Taberi, 1990, 2: 637; Ibnu'l-Cevzi, 1412). /1992, 6: 211-249,318; 7: 7-10) and is used for humans. However, no one interpreted the concept of Qurra as Calder's expression of seasonal soldiers. In addition, the examples given by Calder regarding the meaning of the term 'Qurra' are not strong enough to prove his thesis.
4. Martin Hinds
Martin Hinds examines in his research the role of the Qur'an on the political parties in Kufa in the 7th century, and he, like his predecessors, does not question the past of the ehlu'l-qura and ehlu'l qurra (Hinds, 1971, 347-367). Hinds describes the emergence of a class of readers as the caliph Omar's decision to establish an annual scholarship of 2000 dirhams for those who learn the Qur'an (Hinds, 1971, 358).
Hinds stated that the Qurra posed a threat in Kufa with its financial gains, that they were involved in the murder of Osman, that they helped organize the opposition movement that led to the siege of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, that they took part in the Kharijite and Shiite movements and that they were quite numerous (Hinds, 1971, 347-363; Sha-ban, 1976, 68-71; Shah, 2005, 15).
The refences to the term Qurra in Hinds' study are referred in the context of Iraq. It gives a limited meaning to the term in terms of reading tradition. However, this tradition doesn't just depend on Kufe-Basra axis; its root is more diverse and sophisticated. Qurra, who devoted their lifes to religion, used to dominate the cities outside of Iraq such as Mekke, Medine and Damascus. It is stated in the sources that readers from Kufe and Basra were taught by the Qurra from Hijaz (ibn Mucahid, 1400/1980; Shah, 2004, 72-102).
While Hinds says that the term Qurra was started to be used with Said b. As's dismissal, Montgomery Watt claimed that it emerged in Bi'rimaune and defined the participants here as missionaries calling to Islam. While John Wansbrough agrees with the idea that those who join the Bi'rimaune and Siffin might be hafiz of the Qur'an, Watt did not count those
in the Suffa as Qurra. Jan Retso described the Qurra as peasants, while Nagel defined them as a political organization. While saying that Shaban's views are possible as long as they are applicable, Red Donner felt inclined to use the traditional meaning of Qurra (Shah, 2005, 1-35). As it is seen, even orientalists do not have a unity among themselves on the issue of Qurra.
Hinds claimed that the Qurra was involved in the murder of Osman and that they surrounded the Medina Mosque and interpreted these claims to cover the whole Qurr'a. However, contrary to the claim of Hinds, the Qur-ra followed different strategies during the Osman period. A minority group, while expressing their dissatisfaction with Osman's policies and criticizing his practices (Baladhuri, 1936, 5: 85,91; Ibn Sa'd, 1414/1993, 3: 31), the other group, although they were not satisfied with Osman's policies, they did not resort to violence and followed a policy that condemned those who killed Osman (Nayif Ma'ruf, 1981, 29-30). Some of them did not participate in these wars and tried to prevent them, but they were not successful (ed-Dineveri, 1960, 165). Among these, a group of over 400, led by Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, remained neutral and did not take part in the Battle of Siffin (ed-Dineveri, 1960, 165). There is also a very influential group that forced Ali to arbitrate (Ibn Sa'd, 1414/1993, 4: 255-256; Dineveri, 1960, 190) that tried to establish their own power or resorted to any means to get their will. It is a group of bid'atists that appear from the Qurra. These were first that accused Osman of leaving the book and the sunnah. They rebelled, accusing Ali of accepting arbitration, and then joined the Kharijites (Taberi, undated, 6: 31). This group, which joined the Kharijites, is from the Arabs of Basra and Kufa (Ma'ruf, 1981, 33).
Although this is the strategy of the Qurra regarding the war, when it comes to the Qur-ra, which supported the rebellion against the Umayyad sultanate, even if it was a minority, they also have their own reasons. Among them, the martyrdom of Husayn in Karbala, the destruction of Mecca and Abdullah b. Zubayr's bitter end, the policy of the Umay-yad administration based on deep Arab na-
tionalism, the lack of a share of the spoils to non-Arabs, and the understanding of contempt for the mawali can be listed as important reasons that left deep traces in the life of society.
CONCLUSION
The fact that the orientalists started the discussions on the origin and religious identity of the Qurra after the Ridda wars can be considered as an antithesis developed by the orientalists against the understanding that the tradition of reading the Qur'an in Islamic historical sources began much earlier.
It is an imaginary interpretation that Sha-ban, Juynboll, Calder, Hinds et al. call those who died in Reci, Bi'rimaune, Yemame, Cemel and Siffin as ehlu'l-qura (peasants) and the concept of Qurra as periodical soldiers. The evidence they use to support their claims cannot be considered as sufficient evidence to prove their thesis.
The military and political events that took place in the Iraq region, which included Basra, Kufa and Damascus, caused the deep-rooted reading tradition that started in the Hi-jaz to be interpreted in a different way. A rich and sophisticated tradition of Qur'anic recitations developed in the garrison towns of the Islamic state, but it drew its influence from the samples and the legacy of common views identified by the early generation of readers. Later events were influenced by political events. For this reason, the Qurra in Siffin should not be put in the same category as the Qurra in previous wars. Its relation to externals requires us to consider them in a different category. The attitude of the orientalists to pre-Siffin and their ignorance of Islamic literature, their attitude in Siffin and their excessive interest in the material that tells the subject, is noteworthy in terms of how biased and arbitrary they were and testing their sincerity by taking these attitudes into account.
Orientalists have approached Islamic sources cautiously, considering that Islamic scholars lack scientific thought and methodical logic, which are fed by three main sources such as critical mentality, historical perspective and rational point of view. When they were not satisfied with the data in Islamic sources, they applied to the dictionaries and while choosing the materials that worked for
them in the dictionaries, they acted selectively scientific paradigm, the most valid one in by making generalizations. Calder's evalua- terms of scientific paradigms today is the hotion of the Qur'an as military service by re- listic approach. In the study of social issues, ducing it to just time, out of tens of dictionar- many factors need to be addressed, not the ies, is a clear example of this. only reason. The approaches of Shaban,
Indeed, the positivist method, which is the Juynboll, Calder and Hinds, which we have cornerstone of Western science has contribut- discussed in this article, deserve criticism in ed to the development of the modern world terms of the holistic paradigm, which is con-and helped control extreme emotions. How- sidered more valid. Because, when we divide ever, accepting that the scientific method, the ways of reading the Qur'an into two cate-which is a human product, may result in its gories as literal-cultural, it is seen that these idolatry. Here, we share the idea that scien- writers we criticize excessively use the literal tific method and impartiality are necessary in reading style but neglect the cultural reading studies related to the Qur'an. However, we dimension almost completely. In reality, the also think that a study on the Qur'an should be literal dimension of the Qur'an does not ex-studied according to the principles and stand- clude its cultural dimension, there is a com-ards of Islam. Certainly, this does not mean plementary relationship between the two. that we will constantly voice classic ideas. Failure to see this principle of oneness causes But just because we will become Western- erroneous interpretations about the Qur'an ized, it does not mean that we will adopt the (Eyupoglu, 2008, 175-213; 2014, 97-130). wrong ideas that modernity imposes on us. The mistakes of the four writers who were
Even if the positivist methods of Shaban, criticized can be counted as the common Juynboll, Calder and Hinds are accepted as a points of almost all orientalists.
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КРИТИЧЕСКИЙ ПОДХОД К ОЦЕНКАМ ВОСТОКОВЕДОВ О ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИИ КУРРА
Хайреттин Озтюрк, доктор PhD, доцент Самсунский университет (Турция, г. Самсун)
Аннотация. Востоковеды сделали серьезные толкования и анализ в области истории Корана и науки о аятах Корана, а затем вынесли эти исследования на повестку дня своими работами и статьями. Одними из таких исследований являются оценки происхождения Курра (Чтецы). М. Шабан, Джунболл, Колдер и Мартин Хайндс это одни из таких востоковедов, которые написали статьи о Читецах. Эти востоковеды, которые проанализировали концепцию Курры, особенно с войн Ридда, пытались представить Курра (Чтецов) не как людей, посвятивших себя религии среди мусульман и подавших пример обществу своей жизнью, а как людей низших классов, которые были одновременно преданными религии и аскетами, а также принимали участие в политической и военной деятельности, преследуя собственные интересы. В то же время они утверждали, что погибшие в войнах Ридда были не настоящими читецами, а ахл аль-курра - жители из окрестных деревень. Примечательно, что и в исламских исторических источниках они именовались как ахл аль-курра.
В данной статье критически оцениваются взгляды Шабана, Джунболла, Колдера и Мартина Хиндса о происхождении, идентичности и роли Чтецов в войнах и их подходы к интерпретации информации, взятых из исламских источников.
Ключевые слова: Кираат, Курра, происхождение чтецов, ахл аль-курра, востоковед.
