Three Polemical Qurʾanic Citations of the Mishnah and Their Historical Significance

It is well known that the Qurʾan draws from the Mishnah in its discussion of value of human life and the severity of killing a person, based on the story of Cain and Abel (Q 5:32; m. Sanhedrin 4:12). Earlier in the same surah (5:18), the Qurʾan alludes to a different Mishnah (Avot 3:14), and a third allusion is found in Q 9:30–31 (drawing on Avot 4:12). These three examples, in two of the latest Medinan sections of the Qurʾan, provide important evidence for the Jewish traditions encountered in seventh-century Arabia. The Qurʾanic data therefore provides a useful reference point for investigation the form and distribution of the Mishnah in this crucial period of »rabbinization« throughout the Middle East.