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Ibn Warraq: The Judeo-Christian Origins of Islam (Part 10)

Jul 22, 2011 7:43 am By Robert Spencer

The Judeo-Christian Origins of Islam
by Ibn Warraq
Part 10
Part 1 here; part 2 here; part 3 here; part 4 here; part 5 here, part 6 here, part 7 here, part 8 here, part 9 here.

Now here is an analysis by a little known scholar, André Regnier, writing in 1939 in the journal Le Muséon:

Sura 3, v. 96-97: “Lo! the first Sanctuary appointed for mankind was that at Bakka, a blessed place, a guidance to the peoples; Wherein are plain memorials (of Allah’s guidance); the place where Abraham (maqÄm Ibrâhîm)”¦” Then a pilgrimage to this house of worship is recommended. It is acknowledged that Bakka equals Makkah, Mecca. The commentary of the Galâlain, who represents current opinion, gives as the motive for this alteration the symbolic attachment to the root *bakka, to crush, “Because Mecca crushes (or breaks) the neck of the proud”! Some philologists believe Bakka is a dialect pronunciation that confuses the two labials b and m. So be it, but it is strange that the other place where Mecca is mentioned in the Koran (sura 48, v. 24), it takes the form Makka (in a passage concerning the conquest of the city).

It so happens that our Bakka, which one finds a single time in the Koran, in a context relating to the site of worship and pilgrimage, corresponds to a Biblical word Baca, ×‘Ö¸Ö¼×›Ö¸× which one finds a single time in the Bible, in Psalm 84:6-7, precisely in a song of pilgrimage! If we look more closely, we find this: “Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.” Thus the pilgrims arrive in the courts of Zion.

Thus there is a similarity of theme, on the one hand a Koranic hapax and on the other a Biblical hapax, and finally, assonance of these two hapax. Let us add some secondary resemblances. First, the Hebrew berâkâh בְּÖרָכֹ֗ות [Hebrew], some words after bâkâʼ ×‘Ö¸Ö¼×›Ö¸× [Hebrew], echoes the Koranic mubârakan [Arabic] immediately after bakka [Arabic]. Then, the Greek version translated ma Ì’ yân מַעְ×ָ֣ן [Hebrew: spring] as τόπος, [topos] having read מׇעו֗ן [Hebrew] (dwelling); so does the Syriac, and the Vulgate with its “in valle lacrymarum, in loco quem posuit” [in the vale of tears, in the place which he has set]: so precisely does the Koran offer us a few words after bakka [A] (and making the latter more precise) its maqâm Ibrâhîm, venerated site and monument of the sacred enclosure: maqâm reflects τόπος, חעון[H].

Here are a few more observations: the versions translated הבכ×[H] as if it were הבכה[H], moreover found in some manuscripts, “valley of tears”. But in order for בכ×[H] to stick to the Arabic parallel *bk” (to be deprived of milk, water, tears), it would signify on the contrary drought, supposing that baca, ×‘×›× [H] is a poetic and not a geographical term. In any case, someone reading the Hebrew could respect all the originality of this Baca, ×‘Ö¸Ö¼×›Ö¸× [H] and keep its form and pronunciation as for a proper name, without either translating it or interpreting it. And, despite the difference in root, the word bakka [A] resembles it as a proper name with the same assonance.

Some will maintain that all this is pure chance, in which case it must be admitted that chance creates singular coincidences. But since we are on the subject, there is something even more strange that we cannot accept as a product of chance: while ×”Ö·×‘Ö¼Ö¸×›Ö¸× ×‘Ö¼Ö°×¢Öµ×žÖ¶×§ [H] (in valle Baca, in the valley of Bacca) corresponds to bakka [A] for the characteristic element Baca, it happens that in Surah 48, v. 24, it is the other element, to wit בְּעֵמֶק bÉ·”˜ÃªÂ·meq [H: the valley] that corresponds to bibaá¹­ni makka [A] (the valley of Mecca), there where makka [A] receives its normal mim [Arabic letter “m” at the beginning of Mecca]]! But we could also suggest that the two Koranic passages are allied in a certain dependence on the Hebrew verbal complex.

And so we retain the word Baca ×‘Ö¸Ö¼×›Ö¸× [H] as the radiant term of this first example.

This essay will be continued at a later date.

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