The Motif of the Angel(s) of Death in Islamic Foundational Sources as an Element of Cultural Diffusion

The article harks back to the publication entitled “The Motif of the Angel(s) of Death in Islamic Foundational Sources” (VV 38/2 [2020]), which was devoted to the analysis of the eponymous theme in the foundational sources of Islam: the Quran and the sunna of the Prophet Muhammad. The purpose of thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Prochwicz-Studnicka, Bożena (Author) ; Mrozek, Andrzej (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: [publisher not identified] 2021
In: Verbum vitae
Year: 2021, Volume: 39, Issue: 4, Pages: 1233-1261
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Sunna / Angel / Death / Intertextuality / Koran / Talmud / Apocrypha
IxTheo Classification:BJ Islam
NBB Doctrine of Revelation
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Summary:The article harks back to the publication entitled “The Motif of the Angel(s) of Death in Islamic Foundational Sources” (VV 38/2 [2020]), which was devoted to the analysis of the eponymous theme in the foundational sources of Islam: the Quran and the sunna of the Prophet Muhammad. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the motif of angel(s) may have been borrowed from two monotheistic traditions that came before. The verification of the thesis that the motif of the angel(s) of death underwent diffusion was carried out in several steps. First, the motif was identified in the textual traditions of Judaism and early Christianity (i.e. sets of texts that were known and, in all likelihood, widespread in the Middle East during the formative period of Islam). As a result of the analysis, most of the themes recognised in the foundational texts of Islam were found. The next step was to identify possible routes of their transmission and percolation into the Islamic tradition and to determine the “ideological demand” for the motif of the angel(s) of death in the burgeoning Islam. Although Jewish and Christian imagery and beliefs about angels are an important (if not the primary) source of influence on Muslim angelology, there was most likely a two-way interaction between the monotheistic traditions, albeit to a limited extent.
ISSN:2451-280X
Contains:Enthalten in: Verbum vitae
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.31743/vv.12704