r/AcademicQuran

Did early muslims forbid woman from working and going to school? And how was it practiced in islamic history?

By intertextuality I don’t mean presenting a Biblical story with maybe some small details altered, but taking ideas of some sort and reworking them in a major way so they fit in the Quran.

I’ve heard that the story of the Great Flood in the Bible and Quran were taken from stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh, is that true? Is there any writings or evidence to back this up?

Could someone please explain to me the first revelation of the angel Jibril?

Why in the Bible does the angel Jibril—and often other angels too—greet the listener and even say "do not fear," but the angel Jibril doesn't do the same with the Prophet on Mount Hira?

Excerpt from a Jumʿah khutbah on Muhammad, Ibrahim, and prophetic continuity.

A recent khutbah prompted a question I’ve been considering historically: when the Qurʾan instructs Muhammad to follow the millat of Ibrahim, what kind of continuity is being asserted across different communities, laws, and historical settings?

I’m interested in whether this should be understood only doctrinally, or whether memory, sacred orientation, social identity, and geography also belong to the interpretive problem.

The khutbah excerpt is attached. I wrote a longer reflection here:
https://dantemuhammad.substack.com/p/muhammad-and-the-way-of-ibrahim-a?r=k1tt3&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

I’d especially welcome textual or historical approaches to Qurʾan 16:123 and related uses of millat Ibrahim.

I hope this question doesn’t bother anyone, since I understand it’s asked quite frequently. As far as I understand, Joshua Little is often cited as an example in discussions on this topic, but what I don’t quite understand is whether he concluded that all hadiths are false, or whether he simply argued that they should be approached with skepticism.

From “Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants.—Part V” by Edward Gibbon, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume V (1788):

> “From all sides the roving Arabs were allured to the standard of religion and plunder: the apostle sanctified the license of embracing the female captives as their wives or concubines, and the enjoyment of wealth and beauty was a feeble type of the joys of paradise prepared for the valiant martyrs of the faith. “The sword,” says Mahomet, “is the key of heaven and of hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting or prayer: whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven: at the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion, and odoriferous as musk; and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim.” The intrepid souls of the Arabs were fired with enthusiasm: the picture of the invisible world was strongly painted on their imagination; and the death which they had always despised became an object of hope and desire.”

This quote is also found, citing Gibbon, in “The Rise, Progress, Establishment, and Decline of the Mahometan Power of Antichrist” by Henry Kitt, in History: The Interpreter of Prophecy, Volume II (1799), pp. 262-263:

> “The sword,” said he, “is the key of heaven and of hell: a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail, than two months of fasting or prayer: whoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven; at the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion, and as odoriferous as musk: and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and of cherubim.”

Hi! I’m raised with a Christian background (now non religious) and I’m curious about Islam and its history! I have looked online a bit and a lot of the content I can find on the subject seems to have a heavy right leaning bias to it. I was wondering if I could get any good academic recommendations (preferably introductory but if there is anything you find particularly interesting or helpful lmk!)

To expand on the title; I am curious on how The Quran has a version of a sinful afterlife similar to The Bible, when the hell in Christianity was adopted from Dante's own works- despite Dante's Inferno being written long after the split of Christianity from Islam.

I am sorry if this question is inappropriate, I am just very curious and love to study religion.

Keep in mind first that i'm not an expert.

I used to be a Muslim, when i was a child, me and my friends used to hanged out in a local library. We read the prophet's story, and the religious book, etc.

One day, one of my friend showed me a story about a king trying to solve a story on two mothers disputing over custody of a baby, claiming to be hers. The king, eventually choose to try to cut, or pull the baby, can't remember exactly.

One of the mother then stopped the king, and gave the custody to the other mother, which in turn prompt the king to decide that the kind mother is the real mother and gave the custody to her.

We were like "wow, why is this story so familiar with Prophet Sulaiman's story?", but the book is clearly Hindus/Buddhist, which was pretty crazy for us at the time.

What is the scholary consensus on the origin of the story? Is it originally Jewish or Hindu/Buddhist? Not sure whether to ask this in here or r/academicbiblical.

Did Early Muslims drink Alcohol?

Please answer this because it has been giving me doubts about my faith ever since I heard about it..

So appearantly the Quran portrays mary as part of the trinity when it has always consisted of god, the prophet issa and the holy spirit, so assosiating mary with that instead of the holy spirit seems like such an obvious mistake..

This makes me really doubt islam and I honestly don't know what to do about it