The Quran, Epic and Apocalypse

Todd Lawson

• Publisher: Oneworld Academic
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781786072283
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

How do people understand the Quran to be divine revelation? What is it about the text that inspires such devotion and commitment in the reader/believer? Todd Lawson explores how the timeless literary genres of epic and apocalypse bear religious meaning in the Quran, communicating the sense of divine presence, urgency and truth. Grounding his approach in the universal power of story and myth, he embarks upon a fascinating inquiry into the unique power of one of the most loved, widely read and recited books in the world.

Chapter 1

The Quran as Epic

Contrary to the apparent meaning of many of the earliest more explicitly apocalyptic suras and verses of the Quran, the world did not end, time did not end, the mountains had not been turned into tufts of wool: the Hour had not come. Rather, the followers of Muhammad had become triumphant in the ‘sectarian milieu’ and life had gone on. A new religious community had acquired more or less permanent features. The epic voice of the Quran explains these features, gives them content and a rationale in the context of an otherwise chaotic welter of religious identities. This is the power and function of the epic. The epic voice of the Quran is sometimes more fully expressed and sometimes less. And though this is not the only voice heard or read in the Quran, it may be one of the more significant. Where the epic feature appears vestigial and undeveloped, it is always the case that it has been taken up in extra-Quranic literature to be fleshed out and made more fully epic, say, in the Sira of Ibn Hisham.1 Of course, both the apocalyptical and epical personalities of the Quran also intertwine, creating something of a literary fugue. In some cases, the Quranic apocalypse is rendered more epic than other apocalypses, and in some instances the Quranic epic is rendered more apocalyptical than other epics. This is a unique and characteristic feature of the Quran and its recognition will help scholars and readers come to terms with its otherwise sui generis character.

The epic form and mode has come to us from before antiquity – it is a distinct cultural bestowal, crystallising, for example, with Gilgamesh in the Ancient Near East and Homer in the Ancient ‘West’ (to name only two of the most influential for Western literature). That it has contributed to the formation and composition of the Bible is well accepted. Indeed, ancient Hebrew epics may have simultaneously contributed to and been influenced by the evolution and development of the form.2 The history and development of the Persian epic tradition has long been a topic of great interest.3 Indian culture also esteems an ancient epic tradition.4 Then, there is of course the Arabic oral ‘folk’ epic itself, much-studied from a number of angles.5 It is therefore quite understandable that elements and vestiges of the epic are traceable in the Quran, some more prominent than others. This has not been brought out into the open sufficiently, the question possibly getting ‘confused’ or conflated with some understanding of ‘religion’ as distinct from or even opposed to ‘literature’ as such. But, if the epic is a metonymy of culture and that culture is also deeply imprinted with what we are fond of calling religion, then it seems sensible to try to account for some of that religiosity through its metonym.6

Pursuing the Quranic epic voice is in the service of saying something quintessentially true about both the Quran itself and Islamicate culture in general, something that seems to have especially eluded scholarship on the Quran. If we can rely on electronic searches, there are, for example, only eighteen occurrences of the word ‘epic’ in the six volumes of the magisterial Encyclopaedia of the Quran. And these fleeting instances pertain not to the Quran itself, but frequently to various literatures that are perceived to be in conversation with the Quran – indigenous, cultural epics with which the Quran entered into conversation as a result of the expansion of the dar al-Islam.7 The recent penetrating analysis of the vernacular Quran in the Balkans represents the kind of brilliant and illuminating work on the relationship between orality, textuality, folk epic and ‘Quranic epic’ that can be done.8 The earlier study of the role of epic in conversion in Central Asia is equally suggestive.9 More explicit concern with epic in an Islamic setting, especially Central Asia, has reasonably enough centred on poetry and performance, and frequently the relationship between orality and narrative. The great Persian national epic of Firdawsi has generated its own library of excellent scholarship.10 However, in all of this scholarship there is virtually no recognition of the epic Quran.

In the most recent scholarship on epic, there is sometimes a reference to the ‘standard handbook definition’ of the genre. This, of course, implies that current scholarship on the epic has gradually moved away from the traditional definition. And, in fact, this is the case. Such divergence or, if you like, progress, in epic scholarship is guided by the insight that epic had for too long been the emblem of successful, triumphant societies and civilizations. The erroneous assumption was that it is these cultures that produce and own epics, while the ones that were defeated do not. Such a fallacy has been exploded in, for example, the brilliant Introduction to Epic Traditions in the Contemporary World, which clearly dissolves this and several other ‘clouds of glory’ clinging to the notion of epic.11 Here, we wish to make a first step by reading the Quran, studying it, with reference to precisely the standard or traditional definition, especially since the culture for which the Quran was and is an emblem and metonym was also remarkably triumphant. This is by way of opening up the question.

It is the article by Revard and Newman in The New Princeton Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics12 that is frequently referred to as the standard definition of the genre. The opening paragraph of that article succinctly encapsulates the breadth, depth and scope of the genre as it had generally come to be understood by the time of writing this classic description:

An epic is a long narrative poem that treats a single heroic figure or a group of such figures and concerns an historical event, such as a war or conquest, or [a] heroic quest or some other significant mythic or legendary achievement that is central to the traditions and belief of its culture. Epic usually develops in the oral culture of a society at a period when the nation is taking stock of its historical, cultural, and religious heritage. Epic often focuses on a hero, sometimes semi-divine, who performs difficult and virtuous deeds; it frequently involves the interaction between human beings and gods. The events of the poem, however, affect the lives of ordinary human beings and often change the course of the nation. Typically long and elaborate in its narrative design, episodic in sequence, and elevated in language, the epic usually begins ‘in the midst of things’ (in medias res) and employs a range of poetic techniques, often opening with a formal invocation to a muse or some other divine figure, and frequently employing elaborate formulaic figures, extended similes (usually termed epic or Homeric similes), and other stylized descriptive devices such as catalogues of warriors, detailed descriptions of arms and armor and descriptions of sacrifices and other rituals. Recurrent narrative features include formal combat between warriors, prefaced by an exchange of boasts; accounts of epic games or tournaments; and fabulous adventures, sometimes with supernatural overtones and often involving display of superior strength or cunning. Epic incorporates within it not only the methods of narrative poetry but also of lyric and dramatic poetry. It includes and expands upon panegyric and lament. With its extended speeches and its well-crafted scenic structure, it is often dramatic and is perhaps with the choral ode the true ancestor of ancient drama.

The epic is thus understood as containing or displaying a number of predictable features or conventions. They may be listed as follows:

1. Epic is frequently the first or oldest literary work (whether oral or textual) in the culture, and is usually very long

2. Opens in medias res

3. The setting is vast, covering many nations, the world, or cosmos

4. Begins with an invocation to a muse

5. Starts with a statement of theme: praepositio

6. Makes use of epithet

7. Makes use of epic similes and figures

8. Contains long lists: enumeratio

9. Features long and formal speeches

10. Shows divine intervention in human affairs

11. Features ‘star’ heroes who embody the values of the civilisation

12. Is performed before an audience.

The above list will serve as a point form guide for the preliminary and necessarily brief discussion that follows. Though it is not mentioned in Revard and Newman, one might add a thirteenth factor, namely that the epic frequently generates numerous commentaries and/or types of performance. As such, it may also be considered an ‘open’ work, as per Eco’s widely influential discussion.13 Doubtless, one of the reasons for a disinclination to see the Quran in its epic dimension is because of the notoriously daunting narrative discontinuity of the text. Recently, however, there have appeared numerous studies elucidating the mechanics, rhetoric and poetics of Quranic coherence, especially with regard to ring composition/chiasmus.14 The role of ring composition and chiasmus in oral composition was first brought to scholarly attention in studies of The Odyssey. So, we come full circle: to the degree that the mysterious narrative structure of the Quran has been unappreciated, so has its epic dimension. We can now appreciate more acutely why, though the narrative flow and continuity ‘on the page’ of the Quran may be problematic at the ‘molecular’ level, the overall coherence and identity – its ‘centre of narrative gravity’ – is never really in question. It is argued below in Chapter 3 that it is precisely the recurring figure of duality that helps to establish the Quran’s continuity in the face of such apparent discontinuity.15 Here, we observe that another guarantor of this same continuity is the epic vision of the Quran: the relentless and compelling epic energy suffusing the text exemplifies a concern with the journey, spiritual heroism, the affirmation of a distinct code of moral values, the assertion of community identity, and other traditional epic problems and topics. The Quran’s epic role and function is also unmistakable in its status as the first book in Arabic and, furthermore, in its being a long composition that rhymes from beginning to end – something the uninitiated may be forgiven for mistaking as poetry.16 This fulfils the requirement that the epic be in elevated, not to say ‘liturgical’ or artistic language. As such, it offers a cognate to other seminal, culturally foundational texts such as the poems of Homer, ‘Gilgamesh’, and The Aeneid, to name only three. One should not fail to mention here the culturally foundational role of this elevated, ‘exalted’ Quranic Arabic excerpted, as it were, from the Quranic text/context. The Fatiha – the first sura of the Quran – as the opening (perhaps better, ‘overture’) for the mushaf does triple duty as the (first) invocation to ‘the muse’, in demonstrating the distinctively Quranic instance of an epic beginning in medias res, and in stating the introductory theme. We will look at each of these three Quranic versions of standard epic conventions in turn.

Before embarking on this, it might first be useful to reacquaint ourselves briefly with the meaning of the term ‘muse’. Today the word stands for an agent of inspiration and is frequently used figuratively in a variety of contexts, often having nothing to do with classical Greek mythology, in which the muses were nine goddesses, daughters of Zeus, who were the sources of knowledge of all the arts and sciences, and whose aid was traditionally petitioned before beginning a given work, in this case epic poetry, whose muse was Calliope.17 The typical petitioning of a muse in the traditional epic is thus more directly concerned with the poet asking for inspiration. It is obvious that the Quran’s the Merciful, the Compassionate (al-rahman al-rahim) or Lord of the worlds (rabb al-alamin), is much more than a mere muse, and that the anthropomorphism and polytheism of the Greek tradition could not be more repellent to Islamic religiosity, piety and spirit. However, the two traditions do agree on one extremely important factor: the role of inspiration. In both cases the ‘literary phenomenon’ is identical, but the actual source of the inspiration is also decisive, as was shown conclusively by Zwettler.18

Here in the Quran we have the distinctive and familiar invocation, the basmala. If this is not an explicit request, such may be thought implied: In the name of God the Merciful the Compassionate is thus a comparatively indeterminate prayer that can mean ‘with the help of God’, ‘on the authority of God’, or ‘By God’, as in an oath. The mood is continued with the opening words of the next verse, known as the hamdala: Praise be to God (al-hamdu’li-lláh). The prayer and petition here seem obvious. Since God is the author of the Quran, why would there be any more explicit request for ‘poetic’ help? Such a point is made most explicit at Q17:16 when the prophet is instructed to not move your tongue. The basmala’s ubiquity throughout the Quran tends to argue for its role as an invocation, naturally not to a muse but to the one and only ‘God of Islam’. Its doubling with the hamdala at the opening of the mushaf emphasises the specifically monotheistic and epic character of the Quran: the Quran is using the epic convention of the invocation, but it doubles as an invocation to God. As such, it is a rewriting or recasting – a critique – of the traditional epic. In musical terms, it may be thought a transposition into the ‘key of monotheism’. Part of the point of this critique is, again, to universalise the epic and simultaneously personalise it. This will become clearer below where the subject of the epic hero and the Quran is addressed.

With the Fatiha as the beginning, the mushaf also begins in medias res. The persistent and variously evoked imagery of the road or the path in the Quran is first introduced here with the mention of the sirat al-mustaqim (the right path). The exact wording is: ihdina al-sirat al-mustaqim (Guide us to (or on) the straight path). Regardless of which preposition one chooses, the idea of a path suggests being in the middle of the action, the process or progress – from a beginning to an end. Such a structure also depends upon the frequent use of flashbacks so common in the epic form, such as the kind we find immediately following the Fatiha in Q2:30ff and passim throughout the Quran. The path, no matter how it is construed, is between two poles: the Day of the Covenant me...

Table of contents

• Cover
• About the Author
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. The Quran as Epic
• 2. The Quran as Apocalypse
• 3. An Apocalypse of Reunion: The Epic of Joseph
• 4. Duality and Opposition: The Apocalyptic Substrate
• 5. Water and the Poetics of Apocalypse
• 6. Chaotic Cosmos and the Symmetry of Truth
• 7. Joycean Modernism in Quran and Tafsir
• Conclusion: Epic and the Domestication of Apocalypse
• Abbreviations
• Glossary
• Acknowledgements
• Notes
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index