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Saqib Hussain. Wisdom in the Qur'an: Law and morality from the Bible to Late Antiquity. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2026.

Abstract

A detailed study of what the Qur'an means by 'wisdom'. It argues that the Qur'an, when it uses the term, is engaging with biblical wisdom discourse as it had been interpreted and understood in late antiquity. Biblical wisdom texts are a category of books in the Hebrew Bible and Apocrypha, such as Proverbs and Sirach, that emphasize the importance of acquiring wisdom through contemplating the natural world and one's own life experience. The presence of this wisdom genre in the Bible encouraged Hellenistic Jews and early Christians to embrace the Greek philosophical notion of natural law, the idea that what is morally right and wrong is known innately, and confirmed through divine revelation.

Contents

Law and wisdom -- Approaching the Qur'an -- Chapter overview -- Conventions -- Where is wisdom to be found -- Introduction -- Natural law, natural morality -- Hebrew Bible wisdom -- Deuterocanonical wisdom -- Wisdom in early Jewish literature -- New Testament wisdom -- Christian wisdom -- Rabbinic wisdom -- Philosophical wisdom -- Non-biblical Arabian and Aramaic wisdom -- An overview of the Qur'an's ḥikmah and ḥukm verses -- Ḥikmah -- The Qur'an's ḥikmah taxonomy -- Ḥikmah given to previous prophets -- Ḥikmah revealed to the Prophet -- The four primary duties of the Prophet -- Ḥikmah to non-prophets -- Chronological development of Qur'anic ḥikmah -- The difference between ḥukm and ḥikmah -- Ḥukm -- Ḥukm in the Qur'an: a taxonomy -- Ḥakama as “to judge”, and ḥukm as “judging” (verbal noun) -- Ḥukm as “a decree/judgement” (deverbal count noun) -- Ḥukm as “sound judgement” (deverbal non-count noun) -- Ḥukm as “authority”, “rule”, or “government” -- The recipients of ḥukm -- Wisdom and apocalypse (Q 54:1–5) -- Introduction -- The splitting of the moon -- Wisdom and apocalypticism -- 1 Enoch and the Qur'an -- 1 Enoch and the Sūrat al-Qamar wisdom pericope -- Wisdom in 1 Enoch and Sūrat al-Qamar -- Conclusion -- David the wise judge (Q 38:17–26) and the divorce laws (Q 2:228–231) -- The ḥikmah of David -- Implementing God's law with ḥikmah -- The ḥikmah of Jesus (Q 43:57–65) and Abraham (Q 16:121–125) -- Introduction -- Sūrat al-Zukhruf and Sūrat Maryam -- The sūrah-specific context of the Jesus pericope.; 'A servant' and 'God is my Lord and your Lord' -- 'An example to the children of Israel' -- The angelic successors -- Knowledge of the hour -- The bringer of wisdom and the clarifier -- Wisdom and the religion of Abraham -- Wisdom and the Decalogue (Q 17:22-39) -- Introduction -- The Biblical Decalogue and its evolution -- The Biblical Decalogues -- Early Jewish literature -- The Decalogue in the New Testament -- Rabbinic and Patristic Decalogues -- Sinai and merkabah mysticism -- The merkabah and Sinai in Late Antique Judaism -- The merkabah and the Qur'an -- Wisdom in the merkabah ascent and Sūrat al-Isrāʾ -- The Qur'anic Decalogue as ḥikmah -- Luqmān the sage (Q 31:12-19) -- Introduction -- Luqmān in pre-Islamic poetry -- Luqmān and pre-Islamic traditions -- Wisdom and apocalypse -- Philosophy -- Pericope structure and links to other ḥikmah pericopes -- The Luqmān pericope within its sūrah context -- Ḥikmah in Sūrat Luqmān -- Wisdom and the Golden Rule (Q 2:269) -- Introduction -- The Golden Rule from the Bible to the rabbis and church fathers -- The Golden Rule in the Qur'an and its intertexts -- The ulū l-albāb -- Conclusion -- Kitāb and ḥikmah -- The two kitābs -- The Psalms and Gospel as ḥikmah revelations -- The content of the ḥikmah revelations -- The hereafter -- Natural morality -- The Qur'anic synthesis and the role of the Prophet -- Āyāt Allāh and ḥikmah -- Previous interpretations of Qur'anic ḥikmah -- Pre-modern tafsīr works and al-Shāfiʿī -- Modern tafsīr works -- Qur'anic vocabulary and lexicographic works -- Early renunciant (zuhd) works and wisdom anthologies -- Modern Western studies.