The excellences of the Qur'an: textual sacrality and the organization of early Islamic society.

• Author: Afsaruddin, Asma
• Position: Fada'il al-Qur'an genre

INTRODUCTION: GENESIS AND EVOLUTION OF THE [FADA.sup.[contains]]IL AL-[QUR.sup.[contains]]AN GENRE

THERE IS A VOLUMINOUS LITERATURE in Islam called [fada.sup.[contains]]il or manaqib ("virtues" or "excellences") that praises the merits of reciting the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an, of the Companions of the Prophet, the performance of religious duties such as hajj and jihad, and of sacred cities such as Makka, Madina, and Jerusalem. (1) Initially, [fada.sup.[contains]]il traditions were part of hadith compilations. Several of the sub-categories, such as [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-sahaba and [fada.sup.[contains]]i1 al-buldan, have been studied in some depth; (2) but the [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an literature has not received similar attention.

The [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an traditions found in common in the so-called canonical and non-canonical hadith compilations have to do largely with the memorization of the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an, its compilation and being written down, its best reciters, and the excellences of certain chapters and verses. The Sahih of al-Bukhari (d. 256/870) has a separate chapter entitled [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an, but the Sahih of Muslim b. al-Hajjaj (d. 261/875) has only a section 50 titled embedded in his chapter (kitab, lit. "book") on "The Prayer of the Traveler and its Truncation" (Kitab salat al-musafirin wa-qasriha); [Qur.sup.[contains]]an recitation is of course an important part of the ritual prayers. The Sunan works of al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Maja and Abu [Da.sup.[contains]]ud also contain [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an traditions, although these traditions are not necessarily grouped as such under a separate rubric in the existing compilations. The one exc eption is the Sunan of al-[Nasa.sup.[contains]]i, which lacks such traditions, but al-[Nasa.sup.[contains]]i has a separate [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an work to his credit (see below).

In the early part of the third/ninth century, separate works on [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an began to emerge. According to many, Muhammad b. Idris al [Shafi.sup.[subset]]i (d. 204/820) was the first to compose such an independent treatise on the excellences of the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an, called [Manafi.sup.[subset]] al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an (lit. "Benefits of the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an"). (3) This work appears not to be extant. However, Agha Buzurgh al-Tihrani states that the Companion Ubayy b. [Ka.sup.[subset]]b was the first to compose a treatise on [fada.sup.[contains]]il a1-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an, basing his statement on a reference to this work by Ibn al-Nadim (d. ca. 380/990) in his (now lost?) Fawz [al-.sup.[subset]]ulum. (4) Al-Tihrani also lists a work called [Manafi.sup.[subset]] al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an attributed to [Ja.sup.[subset]]far a1-Sadiq (d. 148/763), part of which is extant; (5) this would make it the oldest [Shi.sup.[subset]]i composition in the [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an genre. The titles [Manafi.sup.[subset]] al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an, (6) and less frequently, thawab al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an ("Reward[s] of the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an"), are alternative titles for collections of [fada.sup.[contains]]i1 al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an traditions. (7) This suggests that by the mid-second/eighth century, the term [fada.sup.[contains]]il had also begun to acquire the connotations of "benefits" and "merits" in addition to the basic and earlier meaning of "[positive] characteristics." Rudolf Sellheim's blanket statement to the effect that the [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an traditions were generated "to win back to the study of the incomparable holy book those Muslims who had occupied themselves all too exclusivel with profane science ..." (8) would apply only to specific traditions in the later material that list the exaggerated merits of many suras with the presumed intention of exhorting people to focus on the study of the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an. Selheim's statement cannot be generalized to cover an earlier layer of traditions, which, as this article will show, it is possible to detect. In fact, this survey indicates that the term [fada.sup.[contains]]il underwent a semantic evolution similar to that which Charles Pellat posits for the term manaqib. (9)

The third/ninth and fourth/tenth centuries were the floruit for the [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an genre. A few examples of the authors of such works follow. (10) From the third/ninth century we have the philologist Aba [Ubayd.sup.[subset]] al-Qasim b. Sailfim al-Baghd~dI (d. 224/837),11 whose [Fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an is extant and, to my knowledge, is the oldest work now available in published form. The Andalusian scholar Yahya b. Zakariya b. Ibrahim b. Muzayn (d. 259/873), (12) and Muhammad Ibn al-Durays (d. 294/906) also composed [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an works. (13) The muhaddith Ahmad b. [Shu.sup.[subset]]ayb al-[Nasa.sup.[contains]]i (d. 303/915), compiler of one of the canonical hadith compilations, composed a [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an work, which is available today in published form. A Kufan [Shi.sup.[subset]]i scholar, [Ali.sup.[subset]] b. al-Hasan b. Faddal (d. ca. 290/902), wrote a [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an work, one of the earliest by a [Shi.sup.[subset]]i author. (14) Two prominent [Shi.sup.[subset]]i scholars of the fourth/tenth century, the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an exegete [Ali.sup.[subset]] b. Ibrahim al-Qummi (d. after 307/9l9) (15) and Abu [Ja.sup.[subset]]far Muhammad al-Kulayni (d. 329/941), are credited with similar works.

From later centuries we have the [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an of the well-known [Qur.sup.[contains]]an commentator Abu 'l-Hasan [Ali.sup.[subset]] b. Muhammad al-Wahidi (d. 468/1075) (16) Two other works are worthy of mention: Kitab [Fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an wa-tilawatuhu wa-[khasa.sup.[contains]]is tulatihi wa-hamalatih of [Abd.sup.[subset]] al-Rahman b. Ahmad al-Razi (d.454/1062); (17) and al-Tadhkar fi fadl al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an, by the exegete Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Ansari al-Qurtubi (d.671/1272). (18)From the eighth/fourteenth century, we have the [Fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an work of another well-known exegete, Abu 'l-[Fida.sup.[contains]] [Isma.sup.[subset]]il Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1371). (19)

It is the premise of this study that a closer examination of the contents of the [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an literature yields valuable insights into the central role of the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an, both as an oral and written text, and of its "people" or its "advocates," the so-called ahl al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an, in the early Muslim community. The ahl al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an are a "problematic" group who have eluded easy identification and definition. A survey of the [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an literature allows us, however, to develop a more comprehensive portrait of them and to link them primarily to another "problematic" group of people, the [qurra.sup.[contains]], [Qur.sup.[contains]]an "reciters" or "readers." In connection with his depiction of the rivalry between the early grammarians and the [qurra.sup.[contains]], C. H. M. Versteegh has commented that "we have no direct witnesses for the opinions of the [[Qur.sup.[contains]]an]readers." (20) This has com pelled scholars to reconstruct the debate between these two groups from the accounts of the grammarians alone. Although none of the [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an works in this survey was written by a reader/reciter, individual reports listed in these works emanate from the readers/reciters themselves. Taken as a whole, these reports provide additional information about the fluctuating social position of the readers/reciters and their attitudes towards, particularly, grammarians and scholars of other stripes. These [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an works are therefore a valuable source for the reconstruction of this important debate.

It should be emphasized that this study does not claim to be an exhaustive survey of the [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an genre. Rather, it looks selectively at [fada.sup.[contains]] il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]] an sections in certain hadith compilations and a number of individual works on the subject in order to trace a continuum and evolution in the kind of issues with which this literature deals. [Mawdu.sup.[subset]]at comilations (works that list "forged" traditons) are also an important part of the discussion, since many [fada.sup.[contains]]il reports, including [fada.sup.[contains]]il al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an reports, may be found in these compilations. Complementary works on [Qur.sup.[contains]]an texts (masahif) and [Qur.sup.[contains]]anic sciences ([ulum.sup.[subset]] al-[Qur.sup.[contains]]an) are also consulted, since they have a direct bearing on the present subject. This preliminary survey allows us to state that, for some people, the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an as the central sacred text of Islam came to s tand for the pristine, idealized Muslim polity. How certain groups chose to define their relation to the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an (as its reciters, bearers, advocates, teachers, and explicators of its grammar and language) and what aspect of the [Qur.sup.[contains]]an they chose to emphasize (oral vs. written) might then be regarded as a hallmark of their piety and fidelity to the memory of the earliest community under the Prophet and his rightly guided caliphs. Such an endeavor assumed particular relevance in the merit-conscious society first established by [Umar.sup.[subset]], the second Rashidun caliph (d. 24/644), in which people were ranked in terms of their moral excellences...