Literature and History – Episode 119: The Qur'an, Part 3: Origins

Host: Doug Metzger
Release Date: October 22, 2025
Theme: Exploring the Origins of the Quran: Its Arabian, Jewish, and Christian Roots

Episode Overview

This episode—the third in the podcast’s Quran series—completes Doug Metzger’s deep dive on the Quran by exploring its historical, theological, and cultural roots. The episode’s mission is not just to summarize the Quran, but to provide listeners with a nuanced understanding of the cultural and religious ferment that produced the Quran, and its synthesis of pre-Islamic Arabian religion with the longstanding presences of Judaism and Christianity in the region. Metzger draws from archaeology, poetry, biblical scholarship, Islamic historiography, and the Quran itself to demonstrate that Islam’s holy book emerged from a “hyper-religious” world that was far from isolated, contrary to many Western misconceptions.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Religious Landscape of Pre-Islamic Arabia

00:10–27:30

• Mecca and Medina as Melting Pots:
  By Muhammad’s birth (c. 570 CE), Mecca and the Hijaz were cosmopolitan centers full of not only pagan Arab polytheists, but also several centuries’ worth of settled Jewish and Christian populations.
• Diaspora and Migration:
  Jews had settled throughout Arabia after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE), while Christians arrived fleeing Roman and Sasanian persecution.
• Religious Syncretism:
  The region was saturated with different forms of monotheism and polytheism, creating, as Sydney Griffith called it, a “non-denominational Abrahamic monotheism.”
• Paganism Intermingles with Abrahamic Traditions:
  Pagan cults and reverence for figures like Abraham, Noah, Jesus, and Mary coexisted in popular folklore—“paganism and Abrahamic religion were not oil and water” [07:44].

2. Indigenous Arabian Roots and Polytheism in the Quran

27:30–52:08

• Archaeological Evidence of Arabian Polytheism:
  Pre-Islamic tombs, cairns, and especially poetry show ancient Arabs believed in an afterlife and revered numerous local deities, with offerings made for protection and fertility.
• Allah and His Daughters:
  • Allah (“God”) was recognized as a supreme deity even among pagans.
  • Allah had three daughters—Al-Lat, Manat, and Al-Uzza—echoing similar configurations from ancient Levantine religions.
  • Stories and shrines of these goddesses are recounted in the 9th-century “Book of Idols” by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi, which, while condemnatory, preserves details of pre-Islamic cults.
• Monotheization Process:
  Henotheism was common, with a supreme god gradually subsuming others due to centuries of contact with Jews and Christians.

  “The pre-Islamic Arabian deity Allah had daughters and…they were by the year 600 CE important deities in the Hijaz…” [50:00]

3. The Quran’s Attitude to Polytheists (Mushrikun)

52:09–1:08:00

• Mushrikun as “Associators,” Not Just Idolaters:
  The Quran uses the term mushrikun to refer to those who associate others with Allah, not just idolaters in the narrow sense.

  “In the Quran’s original Arabic, mushrikun...literally means ‘associators’ or, in one scholar’s words, ‘impartnerers.’” [56:15]

• Nuance in Quranic Critique:
  While the Quran criticizes idol worship, it recognizes that many “associators” did, in fact, acknowledge Allah as Supreme Creator—just not exclusively.
• God’s Many Names as a Theological Solution:
  The Quran offers a single deity whose “myriad of epithets…subsume the dominions and attributes of previous deities,” rendering polytheism theologically unnecessary [01:05:10].

4. Jinn: Arabian Spirits in the Quran

1:08:01–1:26:05

• Origins and Roles:
  Jinn, legendary desert spirits, are a unique element in Islamic tradition—seen as invisible beings, sometimes benevolent or mischievous.
• Integration into Quranic Monotheism:
  The Quran elevates jinn to created beings alongside angels and humans, incorporating regional folklore into Abrahamic cosmology.
• Iblis and the Problem of Evil:
  Iblis, a jinn, becomes the Quranic analogue to Satan—a rebellious creature who refuses to bow to Adam, drawing from Gnostic, Christian, and Jewish traditions.

5. The Quran’s Abrahamic Roots: Jewish and Christian Narratives

1:26:06–2:25:15

• Biblical Familiarity in the Hijaz:
  The Quran assumes its listeners know biblical stories, though there’s no evidence of an Arabic Bible at the time; figures like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and more were “archetypes” in oral culture.
• Retelling and Adapting Stories:
  • Adam and Eve:
    The Quran adopts the post-biblical Christian story of the fall, but rejects original sin, instead positing humanity’s “primordial nature” as innately good and inclined to monotheism.

    “The Quran teaches that humanity has an inbuilt moral compass pointed toward God.” [1:36:20]

  • Noah:
    Seen as a prophet warning his people—distinct from the more ambiguous Genesis Noah.
  • Abraham:
    The Quran depicts Abraham as a “Hanif”—a primordial monotheist predating Judaism and Christianity, integrating both biblical and extra-biblical traditions.
  • Moses:
    Moses is the Quran’s most frequently referenced prophet, principally as a confrontational lawgiver. The pharaoh episode and golden calf episode receive particular emphasis.
  • Job and Jonah:
    Both appear in simplified or folkloric versions, with Job’s sufferings being attributed directly to Satan—a moral “tidying up” of the Book of Job.

6. The Quran’s Treatment of New Testament Figures

2:25:16–end

• Jesus, Mary, and John the Baptist:
  The Quran honors Mary (far more than the Bible does) and upholds Jesus as a prophet born of a virgin—yet strictly denies his divinity and the Trinity.

  “God is only one God. He is far above having a son.” [2:38:52]

• Rejection of Crucifixion:
  The Quran asserts that Jesus was not crucified—a doctrine that, Metzger notes, aligns closely with Gnostic and Docetic Christian beliefs of late antiquity.

  “They killed him not, nor did they crucify him, but so it was made to appear to them.” [2:40:30]

• Jesus as a Prophet Among Many:
  The Quran places Jesus—along with Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, and other prophets—as one in a long line of reminders sent by God to recalibrate human monotheism.
• Ecumenism and Reform:
  Rather than a radical break, the Quran is presented as a “capstone” text, summarizing and simplifying centuries of religious debate and complexity.

7. The Quranic Voice and Personal Reflections

2:50:00–end

• A Unique Scripture with Recurrent Positivity:
  Metzger emphasizes the Quran’s consistent, ministerial, forgiving voice, and its immense optimism compared to the cynical or pessimistic tone sometimes found in the Bible.

  “The magic of the Quran has always been that it is an optimistic, inspirational scripture with copious awareness of its own theological prehistory, and one that sees itself as a capstone to all of that prehistory.” [2:57:40]

• Personal Anecdote on Reading the Quran:
  Metzger vividly describes reading the Quran for the first time as dawn breaks in a cold car, moved by the beauty of a passage from Surah al-Baqarah about the signs of God in nature.

  “I read that and I smiled and looked at the light from the winter daybreak falling on the soft brown and faintly ochre coat of my dog. And I had about the closest thing to a spiritual experience that a hardcore academic...can have.” [2:52:35]

8. The Quran as Product and Synthesis of Late Antiquity

End

• Precedence and Innovation:
  The Quran is shown as both revolutionary and evolutionary—a culmination of centuries of oral, folkloric, and theological developments in West Arabia.
• A World Without Rigid Canon:
  Metzger highlights the diversity and fluidity of religious knowledge in pre-Islamic Arabia, noting that there was “no apocrypha because there was no canon.”
• Scholarly Context and Further Reading:
  Recommended translations and scholarly editions are listed, encouraging listeners to read the Quran for themselves, after reading the Torah and Gospels.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Meccan Diversity:

  “Mecca and Medina were not isolated places as of the year of Muhammad's birth in roughly 570… The Hijaz...was the great geographical, commercial and theological axis of late antiquity.” [05:46]

• On Pre-Islamic Worship:

  “Among Mecca's pagan deities were a pair named Ysaf and Na'ila... Illicit sex in a sacred place...also leads to their deification by the Meccans.” [36:25]

• On Mushrikun:

  “In the original Arabic, the Quranic word shirk...literally means associating or associating partners with.” [56:15]

• On the Nature of God:

  “The Quran then constructs a God who is inscribed by his own complementary qualities but seems to transcend them, a God who is fully other but also seems paradoxically open to meaningful analogies with created things.” [01:05:36]

• On Jinn:

  “Jinn— invisible creatures, neither evil nor good, that were created alongside humanity and share the world with us to this day.” [1:09:15]

• On Prophetic Tradition:

  “The Quran teaches that humanity has an inbuilt moral compass pointed toward God, and that prophets arrive at certain junctures of sacred history to remind us…” [1:36:20]

• On Jesus in the Quran:

  “God is only one God. He is far above having a son. Everything in the heavens and earth belongs to him and he is the best one to trust.” [2:38:53]

• On the Quran’s Optimism:

  “The magic of the Quran has always been that it is an optimistic, inspirational scripture with copious awareness of its own theological prehistory, and one that sees itself as the capstone to all of that prehistory.” [2:57:40]

• Personal Reflection:

  “I read that and I smiled and looked at the light from the winter daybreak falling on the soft brown and faintly ochre coat of my dog. And I had about the closest thing to a spiritual experience that a whole hardcore academic raised in a non religious household can have.” [2:52:35]

Important Segment Timestamps

• Introduction to Pre-Islamic Meccan Religion: 00:10
• Polytheism and the shift toward Monotheism: 27:30
• The Quran’s language on idolaters and associators: 52:09
• On jinn, Iblis, and the Quran’s cosmology: 1:08:01
• Quranic retellings of biblical patriarchs (Adam, Noah, Abraham): 1:26:06
• Moses, Job, and Jonah in the Quran: 1:55:00
• Mary, Jesus, and New Testament figures in the Quran: 2:25:16
• Denial of the crucifixion: 2:40:30
• Personal anecdote about reading the Quran: 2:52:35
• Closing reflections on the Quran’s message and synthesis: 2:57:40

Final Takeaways

• The Quran is a product of centuries-long syncretism in the religiously diverse Hijaz.
• Its teachings respond directly to the polytheist-monotheist transitions of the region, not simply as negation but as reform and synthesis.
• Jinn, biblical figures, and Christian and Jewish traditions are all incorporated in original and adaptive ways, as the Quran positions itself as both fulfillment and correction of previous revelations.
• The Quran is ultimately marked by an optimism about the human condition and the world—a book whose “magic” is its vision of a world vibrating with signs for those who “use their minds.”
• Metzger ends by urging listeners: regardless of background, read the Quran—or at least its opening surahs—next to the Torah and the Gospels, to better understand the richness of Abrahamic tradition and world literature.

For a rich, cross-cultural, and historical reading experience, Metzger recommends:

• The Oxford “Mas Abdel Halim” translation (for readability)
• The “Penguin Tarif Khalidi” translation (prose & verse)
• The Harper One “Study Quran” (deep annotation & scholarship)

What’s Next on the Podcast: The next episode will launch into the story of the Rashidun Caliphate and the seismic changes wrought by Muhammad’s successors.

[End of Summary]