A Very Concerned Reader: Syriac in the Qur'an and deciphering the strange Surat al-Kawthar

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), May 10, 2021 at 06:33

This is from an old post of mine about Surat al-Kawthar

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Next? Well let us read Q108

انا اعطيناك الكوثر فصلي لربك وانحر ان شانءك هو الابتر

Or and truly we gave you the kawthar (notice that I did not translate this word becuase it does not have a clear meaning) therefore pray to your Lord and SLAUGHTER truly he who is your hater is STERILE (read this as he cannot have babies)

It just does not make any sense

Luxenberg reads the strange word al-Kawthar as the Syriac word ܟܘܬܪܐ or Kuttara or persistence also constancy and steadfastness

He reads the second strange word in the sura or انحر Inhar or SLAUGHTER as Syriac ܢܓܪ or Ngar which means to wait or to hold out or to persist and this is what the Arabic word انجر means

The third strange word or Shani'ak was read correctely as you hater and in Syriac it is ܣܢܐܟ or Sanak or your hater or enemy

The last strange word is al-Abtar or he who cannot have babies he reads it as a metathesis of the Syriac word ܬܒܪ or Tbar or be destroyed

And this would be his Arabic reading of the verse

انا اعطينك الكوثر فصل لربك وانجر ان سانيك هو الابتر

Or

We have given you the (virtue of) constancy

So pray to your Lord and persevere (in prayer)

Your adversary (the devil) is (then) the loser

Now the meaning is very clear

Luxenberg reminds the readers that this is Peshitta the First Epistle General of Peter Chapter 5 verses 8-9:

"Wake up brothers and be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfast in the faith."

As was pointed out by Wansbrough: The author of the Qur'an assumed that those reading the Qur'an must be familiar with the Bible and what is in it and that the author of the Qur'an must have been referring to the verses in Peter 5:8-9

But those reading and explaining what the Qur'an is saying in the 3rd century in distant Mesopotamia were Persians and not Arabs

Indeed Islam must be the product of a sectarian milieu
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Here is a link to the whole post

http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/218274

PS: google "what is Metathesis" which is a very common literary phenomenon when Arabizing Aramaic/Syriac words

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