ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses a particular topos in scenarios: the influence of “heretical” Christianity – by which he mean non-Chalcedonian Christianity – on the Prophet. He argues that the historical context which the Islamic sources present for the Qur’an’s origins is unreliable. The author suggests that a careful reading of the Qur’an will show that the Qur’an is more than a historical record. The Qur’an, Tor Andrae explains, teaches that upon death the soul falls into a state of unconsciousness and remains therein until it is reunited with the body on the Day of Resurrection. The correspondence between the dates of Babai’s life and the traditional dates of the Qur’an’s proclamation suggests to Andrae that Qur’anic eschatology was either influenced by or borrowed from East Syrian Christians who shared Babai’s ideas. The idea that the Qur’an shows the influence of Christian heresies has long held a particular attraction to Western scholars.
