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Last week we introduced the overall structure of Sūrah al-Baqarah and delved into the details of Section [A]. This week we will look at how Section [B] - Criticism of the Israelites is organized. As a reminder, the entire sūrah may be organized as so:
Integrative Coherence Between Sections [A] and [B]
The history of the Children of Israel that is presented in Section [B] offers a historical study of the themes introduced in Section [A], such as guidance, God-consciousness, faith in Allah’s revelations and messengers, remembrance of Allah’s favors, disbelief, punishment, and even resurrection. However, there are also more subtle connections between the two sections:
From these parallels, which are only a few among many, it should be clear that Section [B] builds on and is closely connected to Section [A].
Symmetry of Section [B]
Structurally, Section [B] - Criticism of the Israelites is arranged into a mirror composition and a ring composition:
Mirror Structure of Āyāt 40-103
Ring Structure of Āyāt 104-121
Keep in mind how, throughout the sūrah, the centers of the rings repeatedly emphasize the themes of faith in and submission to Allah ﷻ.
والله أعلم - And Allah knows best
Sources
Ali Khan, Nouman and Sharif Randhawa. Divine Speech: Exploring the Quran as Literature. Bayyinah Institute, 2016
Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī, Tadabbur-e-Qur’ān: Pondering Over the Qur’ānm Volume 1: Tafsīr of Sūrah al-Fātiḥah and Sūrah al-Baqarah, trans. Mohammad Saleem Kayani (Kual Lampur: Islamic Book Trust, 2006), 526-527
Mustansir Mir, “The Sūra as a Unity: A Twentieth Century Development in Qur’an Exegesis” in Approaches to the Qur’an, eds. G. R. Hawting and Abdul-Kader A. Shareef, eds. (London: Routledge, 1993), 211-224
Robinson, Discovering the Qur’an, 201-223
A. H. Mathias Zahniser, “Major Transitions and Thematic Borders in Two Long Sūras: al-Baqara and al-Nisā’” in Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur’an, ed. Issa J. Boulatta (RichmondL Curzon, 2000)
Raymond Farrin, “Surat al-Baqara: A Structural Analysis,” Muslim World 100.1 (2010): 17-32
Nevin Rida El-Tehry, Textual Integrity and Coherence in the Qur’an: Repetition and Narrative Structure in Surat al-Baqara (PhD diss., University of Toronto, Toronto, 2010)
Farrin, Structure and Qur’anic Interpretation, 9-21
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Exploring the Divine Structure and Coherence of the Quran. Join us as we dismantle the myth of the "disjointed" and "random" organization of Islam's Revealed Text.