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[proletar] Chr. Heger: A Note on the "Huris" hadjar_wish Tue, 08 May 2007 03:32:38 -0700 A Note on the "Huris" The – in times of worldwide actions of an Islamic terrorism for obvious reasons – most famous example of a new understanding of Koranic passages in Christoph Luxenberg, Die syro-aramäische Lesart des Koran. Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Koransprache [The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran. A Contribution to Decyphering the Language of the Koran], Berlin 12000 and 22004, concerns the "Huris", those ever-virgin playmates who shall be given to the Islamic warriors in Paradise. With Luxenberg they become – again – the "white, jewel-like grapes", we know as fruit of the Paradise from Ephrem Syrus' poem "The Paradise (De Paradiso)". Dr. Andrea Barbara Schmidt, professor of Syriac literature at Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, pointed me to the following interesting detail: The metaphor of refreshing the dead souls in the celestial realm by the old-testament fathers is well-known in the Christian-eastern and Byzantine literature. Numerous places giving evidence for it can be found with Ephrem Syrus, the famous poet and ecclesiastical writer in the Syriac, i.e. the Christian-Aramaic language. But most important of all is a picture that appears in the oldest transmitted Christian prayer for the dead of the 3rd century, which was delivered by the Copts, the Syriacs, Armenians and Greeks. Here they prayed for the admission of the souls in the celestial realm and their refreshing, calming and renewal in the eternal life. A fascinating transformation of this idea into the iconography is shown in a Syrian mural picture, in 1998 uncovered by Dr. Karel Innemée, Leiden, The Netherlands, in the Syrian monastery Deir al-Suryan in the Wadi Natrun in Egypt. Here the three Patriarchs Abraham, Isaak and Jacob are shown holding in their lap the souls of men, which they nourish with white grapes (!). Here exists a quite concrete connection between philology and the picturesque views of the Paradise in late antiquity times, as they now have been established by Christoph Luxenberg also for the Koran. Deir al-Suryan, too, lies in the desert, and cooled grapes must have been considered as the highest of celestial pleasures. For further information I refer to K. Innemée, P. Grossmann, K.D. Jenner, L. van Rompay, New Discoveries in the al-`Adra Church of Dair al-Suryan in the Wadi Natrun, in: Mitteilungen zur christlichen Archäologie 4 (1998), p. 79-103. With regard to the dating of the wall paintings in the Deir al-Suryan monastery Innemée, Grossmann, Jenner and van Rompay cautiously assumed a rather late date: "The theme of the three patriarchs enthroned in paradise occurs in iconography only since the 9th/10th century [foot-note omitted] and this is the first example in Coptic wall-painting known so far. An exact dating for the painting is hard to give, but since it is partially covered by a painting supposed to be from the 13th century and considering its style it might be dated to the 11th century." In a personal communication or March 10th, 2005, however Dr. Innemée kindly shared with me the insights he has conceived in the meantime: "As you know, dating is one of the most tricky and sensitive problems in art historical research. Especially in the case of Deir al-Surian it was an important part of the research, that started with the controversy about the dating of the Annunciation, discovered in 1991. As for now, we have several layers of plaster on which paintings have been made, ranging from the 7th to the 13th century. The layer on which the three patriarchs in Paradise have been painted dates back to 7th century. Since around the year 700 AD several paintings have been made on this layer. The earliest paintings were made in the eastern part of the church and gradually the decoration was continued in the nave (west). The painting of the patriarchs is on the southern wall of the nave, between two – now blocked – windows. These windows were blocked most probably in the 9th century, when the monastery was surrounded by a defensive wall, which was constructed directly against the southern wall of the church. Since the painting has been done carefully between the window frames, this suggests that the windows were not yet blocked when the painting was made. On the other hand, the paintings overlap a Syriac inscription, that according to Luk van Rompay dates back to around 800 AD. This, for the time being, is a reason for me to date the painting to the 9th century." Die Patriarchen Abraham, Isaak und Jakob füttern die Seligen im Paradies mit weißen Weintrauben. Wandbild im Syrerkloster Deir al-Suryan im Wadi Natrun in Ägypten The Patriarchs Abraham, Isaak and Jacob nourish the blessed ones in Paradise with white grapes. Mural picture in the Syrian monastery Deir al-Suryan in the Wadi Natrun in Egypt (Foto/courtesy Andrea Barbara Schmidt, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgien/Belgium) Zurück zu / Back to Christoph Luxenberg Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links * [proletar] Chr. Heger: A Note on the "Huris" hadjar_wish * Kirim email ke --------------- Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif. __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail - a smarter inbox http://uk.mail.yahoo.com Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! 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