ABSTRACT
Even the most cursory reading of the Qur'an discloses its multiple affinities with the Bible and with biblical lore, a fact that scholars have long discussed. In spite of the numerous references to scripture and to writing to be found in the Qur'an, its interface with the Bible was nevertheless not a textual phenomenon. Rather, the vocabulary of memory that is so conspicuous a feature of scriptural recall in the Qur'an, together with the absence of any actual quotation from any biblical or parabiblical text in the telling of biblical stories in the Islamic scripture, bespeaks oral transmission as the vehicle of their currency in the Qur'an's immediate ambience. Recollections of biblical traditions occur most frequently in the Qur'an in connection with accounts of the experiences of the Bible's patriarchs and prophets, who are presented as predecessors of Muhammad in his role as God's latest and final messenger and prophet.
