Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī (died 745) was a popular preacher and
Qurʾān
The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God (''Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides i ...
ic exegete in
Kūfa
Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000.
Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya and Najaf, ...
. His nickname ''al-Suddī'' comes from his habit of sitting on the threshold (''sudd'') of the
Great Mosque of Kūfa. His status as a
traditionist is unclear, since his presence in ''
isnād''s is often inauthentic and he was sometimes accused of fabrication. He criticized
Abū Bakr and
ʿUmar
Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muh ...
and was accused of having
Shīʿī tendencies (''tashayyuʿ''). His reputation rests on his
exegesis
Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...
, which was considered inconsequential by
al-Shaʿbī and merely "popular" by
Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿr, but was cited extensively in
al-Ṭabarī
Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present-day ...
's ''Tafsīr''.
Al-Suddī relied on
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
and
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
traditions. His accounts "are to a large extent essentially rewritten Qurʾan, reminiscent of the ''
qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ''", the stories about the prophets. He is probably responsible for an account of the episode of the
Satanic verses
The Satanic Verses are words of "satanic suggestion" which the Islamic prophet Muhammad is alleged to have mistaken for divine revelation. The first use of the expression in English is attributed to Sir William Muir in 1858.
The words praise the ...
which depicts
Muḥammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
, unaware of what he has uttered, being carried through the city of
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
on the shoulders of his cheering companions before being corrected by
Gabriel
In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...
.
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*{{cite journal , first=Joseph , last=Witzum , title=Deaf Hishām and Esau's Death , journal=Jewish Quarterly Review , volume=112 , issue=3 , year=2022 , pages=378–405 , doi=10.1353/jqr.2022.0022
745 deaths
Quranic exegesis scholars