1. Introduction

Heroisms in Qur’an have so far been studied only marginally, although several aspects lend themselves to closer examination. On the one hand, the Qur’an contains references to the literary ⟶genre of qaṣīda, which served ⟶heroizations in pre- and extra-Qur’anic Arabic literature; on the other hand, the Qur’an discusses and processes pre-Islamic mythological themes from ancient Arabic, Greek, Jewish and Christian literature. Also – and perhaps in contrast to these seemingly unambiguous heroic references – the exhortative character of the Qur’anic message overall, which interprets heroic behaviour as exemplary for the early community of Muḥammad’s followers, can be explored. This reference to the community of Muḥammad’s followers also establishes a connection with non-narrative segments of the Qur’an, in which, for example, the Qur’an reflects on the fight against adversaries, gives instructions on how to behave and promises rewards for compliance. It is precisely this ⟶exhortative aspect that raises the question whether it makes sense to refer to ⟶heroisms at all whenever the Qur’an addresses exemplary and expected behaviour. This area of tension runs throughout any examination of aspects of the heroic in the Qur’an.¹This article is adapted from the 2018 German article ⟶Heroismen im Koran in Compendium heroicum.

2. Narration and heroization

Although the Qur’an explicitly rejects accusations of being a piece poetry which was authored by Muḥammad²Cf. especially Qur’an 36:69; 69:41., the structure of many suras, especially from the Middle and Late Meccan period (ca. 615–622), shows clear parallels to the literary genre of qaṣīda, the common form of pre-Islamic poetry. This extremely formalised genre is characterised by a tripartite structure, the first part of which mourns the loss of the beloved, while the second part describes a journey, a mode of traveling or even the narrator’s mount before then recalling his ⟶heroic deeds. The last part consists of a eulogy that emphasises the ⟶heroic qualities of the narrator or his tribe and belittles their opponents.³Cf. Jacoby, Renate: Studien zur Poetik der altarabischen Qaṣīde. Wiesbaden 1971: Steiner. Contrary to what might have seemed obvious, this structure – in the Qur’anic suras that follow it – is not employed in order to focus on Muhammad as the recipient and herald of the Qur’anic revelation. Rather, the middle section of these suras takes up the motif of the journey as well as the memory of the achievements of a protagonist, which include taking advantage of the right moment to bring about a decisive turn of events.⁴Cf. Neuwirth, Angelika: “Rhetoric and the Qur’ān”. In: McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān. Vol. 4. Leiden 2004: Brill, 472-474. This protagonist is typically a prophetic figure; ⟶heroes of pre-Islamic Arabic literature, on the other hand, do not appear. The story of the prophetic figure often takes the form of a ‘punishment legend’ (straflegende), which is a type of Qur’anic narrative that describes how a prophetic figure proclaims the message of God, the Last Day and life after death to an unbelieving community. When this community then refuses to accept this message, accuses the prophet of lying, threatens or mocks him, they are met with divine punishment. (Cf. Source 1 – Qur’an 11:61-68.) Stories following this pattern appear repeatedly in the Qur’an, often even in a sequential fashion.⁵Cf. Qur’an 7:59-137; 11:25-99; 26:10-191. They refer both to biblical figures such as Noah, Abraham and Moses as well as to the pre-Islamic Arab figures Hūd, Ṣāliḥ and Shuʿayb. The parallels to the situation of Muḥammad and his followers in Mecca are obvious.

In terms of content, these narratives have many characteristics that lend themselves to a heroization of the prophetic figures: An individual, specially chosen, opposes a people who are hostile to him and who appear as a vastly superior opponent. The portrayal is characterised by a binary opposition between good and evil, faith and unbelief, sincerity and tyranny.⁶Cf. Gilliot, Claude: “Narratives”. In: McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān. Vol. 3. Leiden 2003: Brill, 516-528. The protagonist remains steadfast despite all adversity and retains the upper hand in the end. In most cases, however, the Qur’an does not take the opportunity to heroize the prophetic figures. This starts with the fact that it fails to attribute any extraordinary characteristics to the prophets. The portrayal is often brief and stereotypical, naming neither the motives nor the feelings of the central figure. Furthermore, the Qur’an does not describe any reactions to the prophet’s actions or characteristics on the part of others in his social environment.⁷See, for example, Paret, Rudi: “Der Koran als Geschichtsquelle”. In: Der Islam 37 (1961), 36: “…overall, the individualities of the individual messengers of God fade away…” (in the original: “…aufs Ganze gesehen verblassen die Individualitäten der einzelnen Gottesgesandten…”). Due to the episodic nature of the narrative, no arc of suspense is built up and no character development is discernible. Only in few cases – Abraham, Joseph, Moses – does a figure gain a certain heroic dimension.⁸Cf. Neuwirth, Angelika: “Myths and Legends in the Qur’ān”. In: McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān. Vol. 3. Leiden 2003: Brill, 477-497.

The shift in focus away from the heroic is evident even when the central figure is taken from a ⟶heroic narrative, as in the case of Alexander the Great. Qur’an 18:83-98 as part of a Middle Meccan sura, according to Nöldeke’s chronology⁹Cf. Nöldeke, Theodor: History of the Qorāns. Vol. 1. Leipzig 1909: Dieterich, 59-74., which has several long narrative passages tells the story of “the one with the two horns” (dhū l-qarnayn). (Cf. Source 2 – Qur’an 18:83-98.) The story reproduces common themes from late antique narratives about Alexander the Great. It credits its protagonist Dhū l-Qarnayn with having reached both the land of sunrise and sunset and, at the request of an apparently distant people, with having built a huge dam between two mountains to protect them from Gog and Magog. Gog and Magog, who “are ruining this land” (Q 18:94), are mentioned in the Bible (Rev 20:8) and references to them are also found in late antique and mediaeval versions of the Alexander romance.¹⁰Cf. Nagel, Tilman: Alexander der Große in der frühislamischen Volksliteratur. Walldorf 1978: Verl. für Orientkunde.

The Qur’an does not say anything about the identity of Gog and Magog, but it is clear from the use of the plural that they must be tribes or peoples. In the Qur’anic account, the actions of Dhū l-Qarnayn appear to be quite extraordinary, or at least such that the people seeking protection from Gog and Magog could not have carried them out themselves. Dhū l-Qarnayn is also ascribed the power to punish or show leniency. However, none of this is associated with any heroic quality; rather, Dhū l-Qarnayn invokes the power given to him by his Lord (Qur’an 18:95) and describes the protective wall against Gog and Magog as an outflow of God’s mercy (Qur’an 18:98). Dhū l-qarnayn’s concluding promise of the Day of Judgement leads to a passage dedicated to a general warning of the Last Judgement. According to the Qur’an, this is a core element of the disagreement between Muḥammad and the majority of the Meccans. Dhū l-Qarnayn thus appears less as an individual hero and more as the agent of divine omnipotence and the proclaimer of divine truth. However, the allusive nature of the Qur’anic narratives indicates that their first listeners must have been familiar with the underlying stories. Even without explicit attribution, it is therefore conceivable that there was a prior understanding of the heroic nature of certain Qur’anic figures. The Qur’an does not undermine this, but it draws no attention to the agonistic qualities of the protagonists and instead focuses on their trust in God, their truthfulness and steadfastness, which result in God deciding the confrontation with their opponents in their favour. The stories of the prophets in the Qur’an are therefore not primarily designed to heroize their central figures or to (indirectly) heroize Muḥammad as an individual. Rather, they reflect the position of Muḥammad and his followers in Mecca so clearly that an exhortative function can be assumed on several levels. Firstly, and quite obviously, they threaten the noble and high-ranking leaders (al-malaʾ, cf. Qur’an 7:66, 75, 88) of the Meccans who refuse to accept Muḥammad’s message and who accuse him of lying with the same fate that, according to the punishment legends, befell earlier peoples, due to the omnipotence of God. This last aspect also explains the relatively unheroic portrayal of Alexander; characterising this figure as extraordinary would have had less didactic value in the context of the Qur’anic message than the reference to the divine origin of his superhuman deeds, which underlines the omnipotence of God.

However, many of the prophets’ stories reveal yet another aspect: Within a given community, it is often only the most noble or high-ranking members who are hostile to the prophet. This group is opposed by “those who are oppressed” (alladhīna ‘stuḍʿifū, Qur’an 7:75). The latter not only accept the Prophet’s message but also remain steadfast despite hostility. For example, the Pharaoh’s magicians, with whom Moses enters into a contest that he wins, prostrate themselves in worship before him. When the Pharaoh then threatens to mutilate and execute them, they respond by praying to the monotheistic God to grant them steadfastness and let them die in devotion to Him (see Source 3 – Qur’an 7:120-126; and Qur’an 26:46-51). Steadfastness and truthfulness are the qualities most likely to be framed as heroic, and this is not only true for prophets. Their followers – the “oppressed” – share these qualities and thus serve as role models for the entire early Muslim community, with the Qur’an focussing less on their exceptionalism and more on the imitability of their behaviour.

3. Battle and Martyrdom

In the Medinan period (622–632), narrative passages become less frequent. Instead, the Qur’an increasingly deals with the military conflicts between Muḥammad and the Meccans; it contains calls to battle, rebukes for those who did not take part in campaigns and rules for waging war. However, the absence of semantic fields describing valour, bravery and chivalry in the Qur’anic vocabulary is striking. This seems to be related to an increasing distance from the values and ideas of honour of Arab tribal society. Fear of God (taqwā), steadfastness (ṣabr) and the – sometimes militant – struggle on the path of God (al-jihād fī sabīli ’llāh) are virtues of believers that are strongly emphasised.¹¹Cf. Izutsu, Toshihiko: Die Struktur der ethischen Begriffe im Qur’ān. Tokyo 1959:  Keio Inst. of Philological Studies, Kap. VI; Knysh. This also implies the willingness to accept ⟶martyrdom. The topic of martyrdom is addressed many times in the Qur’an, not so much in the places where the term shahīd (“witness”, also “martyr”) is used, but mainly with reference to those who fight for the cause of God and die in the process. They are promised immediate entry into paradise. However, further elaborations of the martyrs’ special status are reserved for the hadiths and exegetical literature.¹²Cf. Raven, Wim: “Martyrs”. In: McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān. Vol. 3. Leiden 2003: Brill, 281-287.

References in the Qur’an to the martyrs’ reward are almost always found in the context of passages that censure those who did not participate in the battle and who, when confronted with the ⟶deaths of fighters, said that these fighters’ lives would not have had to end, had they avoided the battle. (See Source 4 – Qur’an 3:166-171.) In this context, the Qur’anic reference to the reward of martyrs serves to invalidate such arguments: by making the ultimate fate of martyrs appear preferable to a longer life in this world, any reason to avoid combat is invalidated. Once again, this is less about praising individual heroic action and more about an appeal to the entire community. Overall, the Qur’an presents the act of fighting in the path of God, including the willingness to die in this fight (cf. e.g. Qur’an 9:111), as meritorious, but also as an obligation of all able believers. It is thus neither framed as exceptional nor as something that exceeds the limits of expected behaviour.¹³Cf. Crone, Patricia: “War”. In: McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān. Vol. 5. Leiden 2006: Brill 455-459. The Qur’an does not mention individual fighters by name or specify their achievements; this is likewise reserved for the hadiths, the exegetical and historiographical literature.

4. Research perspectives

A comprehensive study of the relationship between the Qur’an and Arabic poetry beyond the structure of the suras has yet to be carried out. In particular, rhetorical strategies and semantic references should be investigated. A look at Muslim exegetical literature on the Qur’an and the genre of the stories of the prophets (qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ), which embellishes and completes the cursory and episodic narratives of the Qur’an, is likely to produce a completely different picture than an examination of the Qur’an itself. Here, too, the question of heroization strategies and the function of heroic narratives has not yet been a focus of research.