Reading
into the 97th Sura (Al-Qadr) was my first attempt to deeply comprehend
and attempt to register the complexity of the interpretation of the Qua’ran. Interpreters
of the are split on whether “qadr” should be translated as “Destiny” or “Power”
as well as whether or not it is definitely a Meccan sura. Discovering the
heated debates around where and when each sura was revealed to Mohammad and
learning a bit about his migration and followers, I tried not to just draw
parallels to the Bible.
The
more I learned about even this piece of the Qua’ran, the more similarities and
differences between what I read and know about how the Bible was conceived
occurred to me. This particular sura was revealed on one of the last nights of
Ramadam, probably the 27th night when the fasting was ending. This is
generally a celebration and reflection on the journey of Ramadam and is also a
night that is a child’s first attempt at fasting. Worshippers may stay up all
night to pray or meditate. The divine and human are close to one another, so Al-Qadr
is one of the most mystical nights.
The
biggest difference in this holy scripture for me, however, came with the
gendered text. The gender dynamic of the Qur’an is found in this sura:
We sent him* down on the
night of destiny.
and what can tell you of
the night of destiny
The Night of Destiny is
better than a thousand months.
The angels come down,
with the spirit upon it by permission of their lord, from every order.
Peace she is until the
rise of dawn.
The
him in the first iyat is supposed to refer to the Qur’an, as it was revealed to
Mohammad. The “her” is the Night; this amazing happening is referred to as
feminine in this very masculine religion. This is personification, and when, at
the center of the sura, the angels come down on “it,” this could be the Spirit,
the Quar’an, or the night being inseminated. The insemination of the night,
Sells, argues, is parallel to Mary being divinely inseminated and becoming
pregnant with Jesus. However, since the personification is not “complete,”
translators do not feel completely sure. I feel much the same way, but it makes
me wonder more about the translation and interpretation of the Bible across
language in a new way.
Islam in particular makes much of the "untranslatability" of the Arabic of the Qur'an, certainly more that Christianity makes of the Greek and Hebrew of the Bible. Fundamental to most Christian belief is the idea that there's a spirit of God behind the particular language the Bible uses, that should be accessible to anybody, regardless of language. Islam however generally holds that the actual words and everything about them that God "chose" to reveal Himself through the Qur'an are essential and meaningful aspects of His message The gendered forms of Arabic words make them ambiguous, and that ambiguity, or even gender-fluidity, is part of their message. But as you correctly point out, in audiences that primarily expect to hear about God in male forms, the ubiquitous sounds of the feminine word forms in the Qur'an are notable and striking.
ReplyDeleteI think what JBK said about Muslims expecting to hear God in the masculine is interesting. Islam does not believe God has a gender because he is our creator and is above and beyond all human conception. But to talk about this creator we need a pronoun to simplify our speech and train of thought, so we use he in English. In my understanding in Arabic God is referred to as Allah and when discussing Allah Allah deserves no shortcuts and thus no masculine pronoun. So I'm not sure if Muslims would necessarily expect to hear God in male forms, but like Matt said you can hear God everywhere in the Quran, when it explicitly says Allah and when describing natural phenomenons like the night, a feminine word. God is everywhere in Arabic.
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