The “Para-narrative” Aims of Qurʾānic Narrating : An Examination of the Story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba in the Qurʾān and Bible

Qurʾānic narratives are “an indispensable dimension of the Qurʾānic text [and] it is often overlooked that the Qurʾān is par excellence a storybook, and that it teaches through its stories” (Johns 1993, 41–42). In view of the fact that they have been constructed for the transmission of moral or theologically-driven messages, these narratives continue to serve as “powerful teaching devices for the community of the faithful” (Stowasser 1994, 3–4) in terms of ʿibra (lessons) and ḥikma (wisdom) (Q 12:3, 12:111). However, the idea that Qurʾānic narratives merely provide aesthetic appeal or are simply vehicles for transmitting moral, ethical, and even theological messages has been challenged in recent scholarship. According to Neuwirth for example, unlike biblical narratives which have a “meticulous shaping of personages [and] sophisticated coding and de-coding of motives” (Neuwirth 2006, 106), which are presented in a “roughly chronological sequence of events” (Neuwirth 2006, 97), Qurʾānic narration “pursues complex ‘para-narrative’ aims”. These shape and influence their telling in various ways: the frequency with which they are (re)visited; their content; what is told and what is left untold; as well as the depth and detail in which these stories are related. Accordingly, some stories are depicted as being deliberately explored whilst others are intentionally left out (Q 40:78, 4:164, 20:99, 11:100). Some stories have been narrated in full and others only partially (Q 40:78, 4:164) (Campbell 2009, 11). Those that have been narrated are concise and direct (Albayrak 2000, 15) and devoid of detail, reflecting the highly contextualized nature of Qurʾānic narratives. The Joseph narrative remains the only fully coherent narrative of the Qurʾān; all others tend to be related in a fragmentary manner. They are told either alongside others in a listing form or at times, shorter narrative excerpts are embedded in larger stretches of narrative.

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Published in: Behind the Story: Ethical Readings of Qurʾānic Narratives
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
See chapter on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004683167_007