History, Prophecy, and Revelation in the Qur'an

Scholars have often claimed that the Qur'an presents history as essentially static: a sequence of similar cycles of punishment featuring interchangeable prophets and identical revelations, with the Qur'an as the final instance. This study offers a fundamentally different account. In Goudarzi's reconstruction, the Torah's revelation emerges as a decisive inflection point that marks the end of ancient cycles of destruction and inaugurates a new era centered on the Torah's recipients, the Israelites. The Torah far surpasses previous revelations: it is the first comprehensive scripture and offers extensive historical and legal instruction. The Qur'an envisions the Torah as foundational not only to the ancient Israelites but also to their Jewish and Christian heirs.Crucially, Goudarzi contends that the Torah's prominence and abiding significance shape the Qur'an's self-image and message. The Qur'an presents itself as the Torah's Arabic counterpart: the second comprehensive scripture, extending consummate divine guidance to Muhammad's people, whom it presents as God's chosen and Abraham's children through Ishmael. Moreover, the Qur'an frames its instructions not as superseding those of the Torah but as largely conforming with them, even as it addresses obvious ritual and legal differences between the earliest Muslims and their Jewish contemporaries.Goudarzi's original account is based on systematic analysis of the Qur'an's discourse on history and a redefinition of the central concept of kitāb as "comprehensive scripture," rather than simply "scripture" or "revelation." This argument reconfigures the Qur'anic view of history and illuminates the Prophet Muhammad's preaching, historical context, and the emergence of Islam.