An Evaluation of the Identity of Sāmirī in the Qurʾān

Year 2018, Volume: 9 Issue: 1, 113 - 148, 13.06.2018

Tolga Savaş Altınel

https://doi.org/10.12730/13091719.2018.91.175

Abstract

According to the classical Orientalist view, the Qurʾān copies biblical stories and, not infrequently, does so in an incorrect way. The Qurʾānic story of the Golden Calf, with the Sāmirī (Samaritan) character as the protagonist, is given to be an explicit example of this incorrect copying. This paper, however, considers the possibility that the incidents depicted in the story might have happened in a different way from what is described in the Bible. Thus it aims to examine the Biblical version of the story with reference to the Qurʾānic version, but unlike the classical Orientalist view, adopts an unbiased attitude. In this way, an explanation is offered of the etymology of the word “Sāmirī” indicating its possible relation to the concept of “firstborn” as well as to the genealogy of Joseph.

Keywords

Firstborn, Golden Calf, ʿijl al-Sāmirī, Samaritan, Joseph, Aaron, Beloved Son, Sāmirī

References

• Aberbach, Moses, and Leivy Smolar. “Aaron, Jeroboam, and the Golden Calves.” Journal of Biblical Literature 86, no. 2 (1967): 129-140. https://doi.org/10.2307/3263268.
• Abu l-Fatḥ. The Kitāb al-Tārīkh of Abu l-Fatḥ. Translated with notes by Paul Stenhouse. Sydney: Mandelbaum Trust, University of Sydney, 1985.
• ʿAlī, ʿAbdullah Yūsuf. The Meaning of The Holy Qurʾān, new Edition with revised translation, commentary and newly compiled comprehensive index. Beltsville, Maryland: Amana Publications, 2004.
• Allen, James P. “Heliopolis.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. 3 vols. Edited by Donald B. Redford, Edward Bleiberg, John L. Foster, Rita E. Freed, Gerald E. Kadish, Ronald J. Leprohon, and David P. Silverman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, II, 88-89.
• Arslantaş, Nuh. İslâm Dünyasında Sâmirîler: Osmanlı Dönemine Kadar. Istanbul: İz Yayıncılık, 2008.
• Asad, Muḥammad, trans. The Message of the Qur’ān: Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad. Gibraltar: Dār al-Andalus, 1997.
• Assmann, Jan. Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.
• al-Bīrūnī, Abū l-Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. al-Āthār al-bāqiyah ʿan al-qurūn al-khāliyah [Chronologie Orientalischer Völker]. Translated by C. Eduard Sachau. Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 1923.
• Blachman, Esther. The Transformation of Tamar (Genesis 38) in the History of Jewish Interpretation. Leuven: Peeters, 2013.
• Budda, Ömer Hilmi. “Sami Dinlerde Kurbanın Mahiyet ve Faaliyeti - IV: İlk Mahsulat Kurbanı.” Darülfünun İlahiyat Fakültesi Mecmuası 4, no. 17, (1930): 57-71.
• Budge, Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis. Egyptian Magic. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1901.
• Budge, Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary: with an Index of English Words, King List and Geographical List with Indexes, List of Hieroglyphic Characters, Coptic and Semitic Alphabets, etc.. London: John Murray, 1920.
• Budge, Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis. From Fetish to God in Ancient Egypt. London: Oxford University Press, 1934.
• Bunson, Margaret R. “Heliopolis.” In Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. 3rd ed. New York: Facts On File, 2012, 180-181.
• Coogan, Michael David. A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Crown, Alan D., Reinhard Pummer, and Abraham Tal, eds. A Companion to Samaritan Studies. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1993.
• Demirci, Kürşad and Tolga Savaş Altınel. “Erken Dönem İsrailoğulları Tarihinde Rahipliğin Gelişim Sürecine Alternatif Bir Bakış.” Ankara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi (AÜİFD) 58, no. 2 (2017): 31-61. https://doi.org/10.1501/Ilhfak_0000001471.
• Friedman, Richard Elliot. Who Wrote the Bible? San Francisco, CA: Harper San Francisco, 1997.
• Gardiner, Alan H. “The Egyptian Origin of Some English Personal Names.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 56, no. 2 (1936): 189-197. https://doi.org/10.2307/594666.
• Geiger, Abraham. Judaism and Islám - A Prize Essay. Translated by F. M. Young. Vepery: M. D. C. S. P. C. K. Press, 1898.
• Geller, Stephen A. “Priest and Levites in Hebrew Bible.” In The Wiley-Blackwell History of Jews and Judaism, edited by Alan T. Levenson. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, 35-52. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118232897.ch3.
• Greenstein, Ed. “The Incident of Nadav and Avihu: A Mysterious Transgression or a Mysterious Deity?” https://thetorah.com/nadav-and-avihu-mysterious-transgression-or-deity/. Accessed April 28, 2017.
• Gürkan, Salime Leyla. “İbrahim’den Ezra’ya İsrailoğulları Tarihi.” Unpublished manuscript, January 10, 2018. Microsoft Word file (in preparation).
• Haran, Menahem. Temples and Temple-service in Ancient Israel. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1985.
• Harman, Ömer Faruk. “Hz. İbrahim, Hz. İsmail ve Kurban.” In 1. Hz. İbrahim Sempozyumu Bildirileri, edited by Ali Bakkal, 149-158. Şanlıurfa: n.p., 2007.
• Harman, Ömer Faruk. “Firavun.” In Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA), XIII, 118-121.
• Hart, George. The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. 2nd ed. London & New York: Routledge, 2005.
• Heller, Bernard. “al-Sāmirī,” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, edited by C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs, and G. Lecomte. New ed. Leiden: E .J. Brill, 1991, VIII, 1046.
• Heller, Bernard.“Sāmirī.” Amended by A. Ateş. In İslam Ansiklopedisi. Istanbul: Milli Eğitim Basımevi, 1988, X, 147-148.
• Hirsch, Emil G. “High Priest.” In Jewish Encylopedia, VI, 389-393.
• Hoffmeier, James K. Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
• The Holy Bible: New International Version. Michigan: Zondervan, 2011.
• Hunt, Alice. Missing Priests: The Zadokites in Tradition and History. London: T & T Clark, 2006.
• Islamic Awareness. “‘The Samaritan’ Error in The Qurʾān?.” http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Contrad/External/samaritan.html. Accessed November 4, 2015.
• Jeffery, Arthur. The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’ān. Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1938.
• Josephus, Flavius. Against Apion. In Josephus Complete Works. Translated by William Whiston. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1970.
• Josephus, Flavius. The Antiquities of the Jews. In Josephus Complete Works. Translated by William Whiston. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1970.
• Jacobs, Joseph. “Tribes, Lost Ten.” In Encylopaedia Judaica, XII, 249-253.
• Kadari, Tamar. “Dinah: Midrash and Aggadah.” In Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/dinah-midrash-and-aggadah. Accessed November 5, 2015.
• Katsh, Abraham I. Judaism in Islam. Albany: State University of New York, 1954.
• Kuzgun, Şaban. “Hâmân.” In Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA), XXXV, 437.
• Montgomery, James Allan. The Samaritans, The Earliest Jewish Sect: Their History, Theology and Literature. Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Co., 1907.
• Pummer, Reinhard. The Samaritans. Leiden: Brill, 1987.
• Rabbi Epstein, ed. The Babylonian Talmud. London: The Soncino Press, 1978.
• al-Rāzī, Abū Muḥammad Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar. Tafsīr al-Fakhr al-Rāzī al-mushtahir bi-l-Tafsīr al-kabīr wa-Mafātīḥ al-ghayb. 32 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1981.
• Redford, Donald B., ed. “Heliopolis.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, 2001, 88.
• Rothkoff, Aaron. “Korah (In the Aggadah).” In Encyclopaedia Judaica, edited by Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007, XII, 298-299.
• Örs, Hayrullah. Musa ve Yahudilik. 4th ed. Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi, 2000.
• Salihoğlu, Mahmut. “Sâmirî.” In Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA), XXXVI, 78-79.
• Sassoni, Shomron, and Osher Sassoni. The Samaritan-Israelites and Their Religion: Educational Guide, volume 1. Holon, Israel: n.p., 2004. Available at http://shomron0.tripod.com/educationalguide.pdf. Accessed May 25, 2018.
• Schley, Donald G. Shiloh: A Biblical City in Tradition and History. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1989.
• Schreiber, Monika. Comfort of Kin: Samaritan Community, Kinship, and Marriage. Leiden: Brill, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004274259_010.
• Schur, Nathan. History of the Samaritans. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1989.
• Sinanoğlu, Mustafa. “Eski Ahid ve Kur’ân-ı Kerîm’de Sîna Vahyi.” İslâm Araştırmaları Dergisi 2 (1998): 3-7.
• Soulen, Richard N., and R. Kendall Soulen. “Martin Noth.” In Handbook of Biblical Criticism. 3rd ed. Revised and expanded. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, 123.
• al-Ṭabarī, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd. Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī al-musammá Jāmīʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān. 14 vols. Edited by ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-Turkī. Cairo: Dār Hijr, 2001.
• Theophile, James Meek. “Moses and the Levites.” The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 56, no. 2 (1939): 113-120. https://doi.org/10.1086/370531.
• Tisdall, William St. Clair. The Original Sources of the Qur’ân. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge & New York: E. S. Gorham, 1905.
• Tsedaka, Benyamim. Understanding the Israelite Samaritans from Ancient to Modern: An Introductory Atlas. Jerusalem: Carta Jerusalem, 2017.
• Ünal, Halit. “Atîre.” In Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA), IV, 79.
• Wellhausen, Julius. Prolegomena to the History of Israel. Translated by J. Sutherland Black and Allan Menzies. Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1885.
• al-Zamakhsharī, Abū l-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad al-Khwārazmī. al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl wa-ʿuyūn al-aqāwīl fī wujūh al-taʾwīl. 6 vols. Edited by ʿĀdil Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Mawjūd and ʿAlī Muḥammad Muʿawwaḍ. Riyadh: Maktabat al-ʿUbaykān, 1998.