More Light on Muhammad's Pre-existence Qur'ānic and post- qur'ānic Perspectives

This article has shown the main window through which the idea of Muhammad's pre-existence found its way into the Qur'ān, namely, the tafsīr of the taqallub verse (Q 26:219). When read within the internal Qur'ānic context, this verse seems to describe Muhammad's prayer in communion with his contemporary believers who are called al-sājidūn. But when subjected to the notion of Muhammad's pre-existence, the sājidūn have become prophets of past generations, who - in accordance with the Qur'ānic status of Muhammad as the "Seal of the Prophets" - are perceived as having carried the same preexistent prophetic spirit which Muhammad has finally made manifest among his own generation. A similar outlook can be observed in the image of the Christian Jesus. Further Islamic interpretations of the taqallub verse carry Muhammad's image further away from his Qur'ānic image, providing him with a noble Arabian descent. The prophets as the sājidūn have become links in the successive biological chain of forefathers who carried Muhammad's preexistent essence in their loins. This genetic course has served to uphold the status of Muhammad's Arabian descent vis-à-vis the Israelite descent of the previous prophets. Within the internal Islamic context, the genetic course marks the core of the Shī'ī tafsīr of the Qur'ānic taqallub verse, which indicates their special concern for the nobility of Muhammad's descent, as well as for that of the imams, his offspring. But the first glimpses of the Shī'ī preoccupation with Muhammad's noble descent are noticed in a political context, in verses of the poet al-Kumayt praising the clan of Hāshim. Nevertheless, the genetic course of the journey of Muhammad's pre-existent essence also emerges in the Sūfī interpretations of the taqallub verse, as well as in Sunnī writings at large. The Sunnīs, as well as the Shī'īs, supported the dogma of Muhammad's 'isma i.e. immunity from jāhilī corruption, therefore all of them could subscribe to the tafsīr of the taqallub verse according to the idea of genetic pre-existence.