2004
Volume 77, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2542-6583
  • E-ISSN: 2590-3268

Abstract

Abstract

The 14th-century Turkish author al-Rabghūzī complains in the introduction to his collection of about the many faulty, repetitious, and unsound stories that go around. Surprisingly, he utilizes himself not only Islamic stories, but also folk narratives, which he artfully transforms into a full-fledged Islamic narrative. As an example and as an incentive for further research, this Research Note studies the way al-Rabghūzī transforms the folk story “the girl without hands” into a pious story about the niece of the Biblical Job. Historical and philological research into this highly important collection of stories about Biblical figures has been surprisingly scant. The theological relevance of stories such as these have hardly been assessed at all. Theological interreligious reflection on Islam has mainly been limited to the Qur’ān, although stories such as these contain extensive Islamic theological issues. In our case, it appears that the story about “a female Job” consciously avoids to challenge God’s justice vis-à-vis the human plight, a fact which deserves further theological reflection.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/NTT2023.1.002.POOR
2023-04-01
2024-11-09
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Baskin, Judith. Pharao’s Councellors: Job, Jethro and Balaam in Rabbinic and Patristic Tradition. Chico: Brown Judaic Studies, 1983.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Boeschoten, Hendrik. “Iskandar – DuhlQarnain in den Qiṣaṣ-I Rabġuzi.” In De Turcicis Aliisque Rebus. Festschrift Henry Franciscus Hofman, edited by MarcVandamme, 39-57. Instituut voor Oosterse Talen en Culturen: Utrecht, 1992.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bolte, Johannes, and GeorgPolívka. Anmerkungen zu den Kinder-und Hausmärchen. Leipzig: Dieterich’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1856.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Burton, Richard, transl. The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. London: Kama Shastra Society, 1885-1888.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Dorleijn, Margreet. “De verhalen van Ilyas en Hizir door Rabghuzi.” Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Utrecht University, 1986.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Hagen, Gottfried. “From Haggadic Exegesis to Myth: Popular Stories of the Prophets in Islam.” In Sacred Tropes: Tanakh, New Testament, and Qur’an as Literature and Culture, edited by RobertaSterman Sabbath, 313-314. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Landman, Nico. “De islamitische Abraham- en Lotverhalen: een 14e eeuws voorbeeld.” In Wanneer alteriteit realiteit wordt. Christendom in Bijbel en Koran, edited by MarianneMoyaert and PaulKevers, 81-100. Leuven: Acco, 2008.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Marzolph, Ulrich, and Richardvan Leeuwen. The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia. Vol 1. Santa Barabara: ABC Clio, 2004.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Nagel, Tilman. Die Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiya’. Ein Beitrag zur Arabischen Literaturgeschichte. Bonn: 1967.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Parmentier, Martien. “Job the Rebel: From the Rabbis to the Church Fathers.” In Saints and Role Models in Judaism and Christianity, edited by MarcelPoorthuis and JoshuaSchwartz, 227-242. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Poorthuis, Marcel. “Abraham / Ibrahim, oergestalte van de oecumene.” In Abraham / Ibrahim. De spiritualiteit van gastvrijheid, edited by Juliëttevan Deursen, LeoMock and MarcelPoorthuis, 62-87. Amsterdam: Pardes2015.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Poorthuis, Marcel. “Ayūb / Job in Islamic Perspective.”Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae (forthcoming).
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Rabghūzī. Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyā’ (Tales of the Prophets). Translated and edited by H.E.Boeschoten, J.O’Kane and M.Vandamme. Leiden: Brill, 1995.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Stanesko, Michel, and MichelZink. Histoire européenne du roman médiéval: Esquisses et perspectives. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1992.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Utley, Francis Lee. “Rabghuzi-Fourteenth-century Turkish Folklorist. A Contribution to Biblical-Koranic Apocrypha and to the Bible of the Folk.” In Volksüberlieferung: Festschrift für Kurt Ranke zur Vollendung des 60. Lebensjahres, edited by FritzHarkort and KurtRanke, 373-400. Göttingen: Otto Schwartz, 1968.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Vandamme, Marc. “Rabghuzi’s Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyā₼, Reconsidered in the Light of Western Medieval Studies: narrationes vel exempla.” In De Turcicis Aliisque Rebus. Festschrift Henry Franciscus Hofman, edited by MarcVandamme, 7-37. Instituut voor Oosterse Talen en Culturen: Utrecht, 1992.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.5117/NTT2023.1.002.POOR
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error