ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been a renewed interest in the study of the Qurʾān in light of the Syriac literary tradition. Examples of fine studies are those of Sidney Griffith and Kevin van Bladel dedicated to the “Companions of the Cave” story and to the Dhū l-Qarnayn narrative respectively. 2 In this chapter I follow their lead, with one major difference: I examine a Qurʾānic retelling of a narrative from the Hebrew Bible. Such retellings are often assumed to reflect Jewish traditions, and thus Western scholarship tends to ignore Christian sources. Syriac texts are cited now and then but are not covered systematically in any manner comparable to the way the Jewish texts are trefl 3
