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Chapter 7 Pretexts and Intertexts . . . every text is constructed as a mosaic of citations; every text is an absorption and transformation of other texts. —J. Kristeva, Sēmeiōtikē: Recherches pour une sémanalyse, 146 Introduction Verse 37 of Sūrat al-Ahz̆āb is one of the few verses in the Qurān that appears to refer to an event in the life of the Prophet: Muhămmad’s marriage to the former wife of his adopted son Zayd. The circumstances surrounding this marriage would have been familiar to the Prophet’s Companions. During the course of the first and second centuries a.h., Muslims treated Q. 33:37 as referring to an event in Muhămmad’s life, and the historicity of this event has been universally accepted by Muslims down to the present—an attitude shared by most if not all scholars.1 For both Muslims and non-Muslims, v. 37 is a record of an historical incident that took place in the year 5 a.h. Conversely, this incident is the sabab al-nuzūl or occasion that gave rise to the revelation of v. 37. I prefer to read v. 37 as a sacred legend modeled on earlier biblical narratives . The primary function of the new literary composition was to support a key theological doctrine: the Qurānic pronouncement that Muhămmad is the Seal of Prophets (khātam al-nabiyyı̄n). In the Qurānic worldview, prophecy is the exclusive possession of a single family, and the office of prophecy is hereditary . In order to qualify as a prophet, one must be a member of this family . The early Muslim community devoted considerable effort to establishing that Muhămmad was a lineal descendant of Abraham through Ishmael. At the same time, however, the Muslims also asserted that Muhămmad was the last prophet. The validity of this assertion depends on Muhămmad’s sonlessness : If Muhămmad had a son who reached the age of maturity and outlived him, he would not have been the Last Prophet; if Muhămmad was the Last Prophet, he could not have had a son who attained maturity and outlived him. The reciprocal relationship between Muhămmad’s sonlessness and the final- Pretexts and Intertexts 121 ity of prophecy is clearly expressed in v. 40 of Sūrat al-Ahz̆āb, the sole Qurānic witness to the theological doctrine: “Muhămmad is not the father of any of your men, but the messenger of God and the seal of Prophets. God is aware of everything.” The pronouncement that Muhămmad is the Seal of Prophets closes a fiveverse pericope that begins with Q. 33:36. Conceptually, however, v. 40 precedes vv. 36–39. Indeed, one might say that v. 40 is the sabab or cause for the revelation of the four immediately preceding verses. Let us adopt as a major premise the assertion that Muhămmad is the Last Prophet. The validity of this premise is contingent on a minor premise: the Prophet’s sonlessness. The fact that Muhămmad had an adopted son named Zayd was inconsistent with both the major and minor premises. In order to prevent a collision between theology and history, the early Muslim community formulated a plausible, history-like scenario in which Muhămmad could be said to have repudiated Zayd as his son. The solution took the form of a sacred legend which, in its Islamic manifestation, runs as follows: Against her will, a beautiful woman was married to Zayd b. Muhămmad, the Prophet’s adopted son. Subsequently, Muhămmad fell in love with his daughter-in-law. But a marriage between a man and his daughter-in-law was prohibited by sacred law. The legal obstacle to this marriage was removed by a divinely inspired legal reform. After Zayd had divorced his wife, the Prophet took his daughter-in-law and made her his wife—but only after he first had repudiated Zayd by uttering the words, “I am not your father.” The Qurānic account creates a brief narrative interval between Zayd’s divorcing his wife and Muhămmad’s marrying her. It was into this temporal window that the early Muslim community inserted the critical prophetic utterance that was the true sabab or cause of the sacred legend: “I am not your father.” Viewed in this manner, v. 37 is not a record of an event in the life of...

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