Sources of Quran

Christoph Luxenberg (a pseudonym) has argued that “In its origin the Quran is a Syro-Aramaic liturgical book, with hymns and extracts from Scriptures which might have been used in sacred Christian services.”  Philip Jenkins summarizes some of the evidence: “The very name Quran, he thinks, derives from the root qr’ , ‘to read,’ and it is equivalent to the Syriac qeryana , the church lectionary used to proclaim the gospel in public readings.  In his view, ‘the Quran intended itself first of all to be understood as nothing more than a liturgical book with selected texts from the Scriptures (the Old and New Testament) and not at all as a substitute.”

Luxenberg’s retranslations of some of the suras are, as Jenkins says, “jaw-dropping.”  One is normally translated as “Nay! obey him not, and make obeisance and draw nigh [to Allah].”  Luxenberg translates, “You ought not to heed him at all, perform instead your divine service, and take part in the liturgy of the Eucharist.”  Syriac Christians believed that in paradise they would eat white raisins, hur : “when Syriac texts were absorbed into the Quran, translators made many errors, and believers were now promised not raisins but houris , virgins.”

There is an interview with Luxenberg here: http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/7025?eng=y