Sīra and Exegesis, Qur’ān 30:1-5

Drawing upon the methodology sanad-cum-matn analyses of early source criticism, this study explores and traces the history of the first five āyas of Sūrat al-Rūm ( Q 30:1–5) aiming to recover the historicity of the material, probe a philological enquiry, and discern a possible Ur-matn that was in circulation in the first half of the second/eighth century. These first five verses ( āyas ) posed a number of problems for early Muslim scholars, and have likewise intrigued modern students of Islam. The difficulties originated from a variety of questions pertaining to interlaced issues of dating (chronology), the occasion of its revelation, a “legal-ethical” perspective, and specifying the locality alluded to in the verses, as well as language. For early Muslim scholars these verses offered a juncture for an exercise in finding a link between Qurʾānic exegesis and maghāzī-sīra traditions.