Gabriel S. Reynolds, “Theodicy and Hellfire in Surah 3” скачать в хорошем качестве

Gabriel S. Reynolds, “Theodicy and Hellfire in Surah 3”

This paper was presented at the conference 'The “Seven Long Ones” (al-Sabʿ al-Ṭiwāl): Approaches to Surahs 2–7 and 9', held at Pembroke College, Oxford (24-25 March 2025). The event was organized as part of the project 'Qur’anic Commentary: An Integrative Paradigm', which is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 771047). The last 25 verses of Surah 3 include interwoven references to both the good fortune of unbelievers or opponents of the Prophet (vv. 178, 196–97) and the hardships faced by believers (v. 186). The Qur’an addresses these circumstances by insisting that the unbelievers will be humiliated and punished in hell (vv. 176–78, 180, 181–82, 188, 197), while the believers will be rewarded in paradise (vv. 179, 185, 195, 198, 199). This section also includes the direct speech of “those who remember God,” who offer a prayer expressing these same themes (vv. 191–94). The prayer is followed by God’s direct response, promising them a reward in paradise (v. 195). This passage exemplifies the Qur’an as a work of exhortation or argument (maw‘iẓah). It is best appreciated not as a document recording events as they historically happened (say, in Medina), but rather as a thoughtful composition designed to convince the Qur’an’s audience not to be discouraged by the apparent good fortune of their opponents, assuring them that God will ultimately punish and humiliate the unbelievers. This section can therefore be fruitfully studied in the light of late antique homiletics.