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Moslems believe the Qur'an was dictated verbatim, the substance of the dictation
being the word-for-word contents of the "tablet of heaven." The Moslem doctrine of
inspiration is mechanistic, involving dictation of a divine monologue ironically,
from a god who is, in the minds of most Moslems, unknowable.

Moslems consequently believe that full, divine status applies only to the Arabic text,
as that alone represented the eternal words of Allah.

Moslems insist upon reading and recitation of the Qur'an in Arabic if one wishes to
represent the actual words of heaven, and therefore all translations must be
energetically nuanced and viewed with suspicion.

The Islamic doctrine of inspiration is often understood as extending beyond the
autographa to the early textual unification of the Qur'an and its preservation through
history. Christians, on the other hand, usually limit themselves to expressing belief in
a divine providence that oversees preservation of the scriptures in general.

Though having no desire to offend or alienate Moslems or Islamic communities, this
writer nevertheless concludes that Moslem and Christian ideas about inspiration of holy
writ differ significantly and may entail substantial consequences.

4. IMPLICATIONS OF THIS DOCTRINE FOR THE 21

CENTURY

Andrae Tor once proposed that Mohammad saw an integral connection between

language and religion, the latter of necessity being in one's native tongue if it is to offer
any compelling personal influence. He suggested (1955:95-96) that Mohammad

...knew that the words which they [Christian mystics] muttered in a
foreign tongue came from their holy scriptures, and he believed that the
essential thing about this devotional exercise, its religious efficacy, resided
wholly in the reading of the holy text. So how could he, Mohammed, pray
correctly if he had no holy scripture to read? He could not use the
scriptures of Jews or Christians, because they were written in a foreign
language. It clearly did not occur to Mohammed that they might be
translated. Thus for him and his fellow-countrymen an Arabic Holy
Scripture was necessary above all things.

Without endorsing Tor's psychology of the man altogether, I would suggest that this
close connection he has identified between Arabic language and Islamic religion in
Mohammed's mind is something typical of religious communities in general. It was
surely a potent force behind the historic rise of Islam would underscore the uniqueness
and strength of Islamic cultures today thus distinguish much of their experience from
most (though certainly not all) of historic Christianity. There certainly have been Jewish
and Christian writers who have claimed that Hebrew or Greek will be the language of