The Qurʾān’s Detailed Knowledge of the Bible:The Explanatory Inadequacy of the “Conversational” or “Christian Missionaries” Models

The article demonstrates that the Qurʾān has knowledge of a wide scope of fine details of Biblical passages, including the Tanakh in Hebrew and Syriac (Masoretic Text and Peshitta) and the New Testament (Greek and Syriac Peshitta). Additionally, the Qurʾān has extensive knowledge of traditional Biblical intertexts and subtexts. The knowledge of details is too extensive to be explained plausibly by passing or occasional exposure via conversations with traveling Christian missionaries in marketplaces or in inns. Nor will brief and infrequent exposure to simple homilies and/or liturgical readings suffice as an explanatory model. It is not this essay’s task to offer an explanation for how the Qurʾān could have arrived at its scriptural knowledge. The sole task of the present essay is to demonstrate the complexity of the Qurʾān’s Biblical knowledge, which, pace various scholars, is profound rather than cursory or flawed.