Analyzing and Criticizing Reynolds's Views regarding the Idea of "Fate and Immediate Retribution of Martyrs in the Quran" and its Biblical Subtext

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Nasrin Vejdani ¹
• Soheila Jalalikondori ²

¹ Ph.D. Student, Department of Quranic Studies and Hadith, Faculty of Theology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

² Associate Professor, Department of Quranic Studies and Hadith, Faculty of Theology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

10.22067/jquran.2023.83968.1583

Abstract

Gabriel Said Reynolds developed his idea on the "Immediate retribution of Martyrs after Death" based on his interpretation of some Quranic verses and narrations and the opinions presented in Tabari's commentary. He believed that martyrs immediately ascend to eternal heaven without experiencing the intermediate state Barzakh (purgatory). Reynolds credited the Church Fathers, particularly the Syriac Fathers and selected verses from the Bible as inspiration for this idea.This study examined Reynolds' viewpoint and supporting documents using descriptive and analytical methods. This hypothesis was initially criticized based on Quranic and narrative evidence. It has been subsequently demonstrated that Reynolds has misunderstood Tabari's interpretation. Moreover, the claim that this doctrine, in addition to the Syriac Fathers, can also be found among church fathers in the West, such as Tertullian, who has been called the father of Latin Christianity and the founder of Western theology, was deemed a misinterpretation. Based on research on Tertullian's views about this idea, early scholars' reading of Tertullian's views revealed that martyrs, like other souls, remain in the place of deceased souls (Hades) until the Day of Resurrection.
Furthermore, analyzing the context and revising some of the terms in the Bible verses cited by Reynolds suggested that martyrs do experience the Barzakh period Barzakh (purgatory) according to the Bible's teaching. If this idea is proven, the commonality of this concept in Christian-Jewish theology and Islamic theology can be explained by the belief in the unique origin of divine revelation.

Keywords

• Bible
• Purgatory
• Heaven
• Immediate retribution
• Reynolds
• Martyr
• Quran

Main Subjects

• Quran and Hadith Studies

---

References

Akhawānmuqadam, Zuhrih, Naʿīmih Taqavī Fardūd. “Naqd-i Rivāyat “Ṭāʾir” dar Madkhal-i “Shahīd” Dāʾira al-Maʻārif Qurān Leiden”. Ḥadīth Ḥawzah. no. 16 (spring and summer  2019/1397): 39-57.

Ālūsī, Maḥmūd  ibn ʿAbd Allāh. Rūḥ al-Maʿānī fī Tafsīr al-Qurān al-ʿAẓīm wa al-Sabʿ al-Mathānī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyya, 1994/1415.

Harvey, Van Austin. Farhang Ilāhīyāt Masīḥī. translated by Javād Ṭāhirī. Tehran: Pazhūhishgāh-i ʿUlūm-i Insānī va Muṭāliʿāt-i Farhangī, Chāp-i Awwal,  2012/1390.

Ibn Durayd, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Jamhara al-Lugha. Beirut: Dār al-ʻIlm li-l-Malāyīn. Chāp-i Awwal, 1987/1407.

Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad ibn Fāris. Muʿjam  Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Qum: Maktab al-Aʻlām al-Islāmī, Markaz al-Nash, Chāp-i Awwal,  1984/1404.

Ibn Sīdah, ʻAlī ibn Ismāʻīl. al-Muḥkam wa al-Muḥīṭ al-Aʻẓam. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub-i al-ʻIlmīyya, Chāp-i Awwal, 2000/1421.

ʿIdālatnizhād, Saʿīd. “Guzārish va Muʿarifī “Kitāb “Qurān va Kitāb  Muqaddas: Matn va Tafsīr”. Muntashir Shudih dar Sāyt: https://atharebartar.com/?p=15028

Jawharī, Ismāʻīl  ibn Ḥammād. al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Beirut: Dār al-ʻIlm li-l-Malāyīn, Chāp-i Siwum, 1984/1404.

Kitāb  Muqaddas.

Kulīnī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1987/1407.

Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Taqī. Biḥār al-Anwār al-Jāmiʻa li-Durar Akhbār Aʾimma al-Aṭhār. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī, 1983/1403.

Muṭaharī, Murtażā. Maʿād, Tehran: Ṣadrā, s.d.

Pākatchī, Aḥmad. “Barzakh”. dar Dāʾira al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg Islāmī. Tehran: Markaz Dāʾira al-Maʿārif Buzurg Islāmī, 2003/1381.

Qumī, ʻAlī  ibn Ibrāhīm. Tafsīr al-Qumī. Qum: Dār al-Kitāb. 1985/1363.

Qurān-i Karīm.

Rāghib Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn  ibn Muḥammad. Mufradāt Alfāẓ al-Qurān. Beirut:  Dār al-Qalam, Chāp-i Awwal,  s.d.

Raven, Wim. “Shahīd”. Encyclopaedia of the Quran. translated by Sayyidah Zahrā Mubaligh. Tehran: Ḥikmat, 2012/1390.

Shafīʿī, Saʿīd. “Shahādat” dar Dānishnāmih-yi Jahān-i Islām, zīr nażar Ghulām ʻAlī Ḥadād ʿĀdil et al.  Tehran: Bunyād-i Dāʾira al-Maʿārf-i Islāmī, 1997/1375.

Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. Jāmiʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, 1992/1412.

Ṭabāṭabāyī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Qum: Daftar Intishārāt-i Islāmī. 1996/1417.

Tājī, Īmān. “Bāzkhānī Matn Qurān bar Asās Sunat Bāybilī, Murūry bar Kitāb “Qurān va zīr Matn Bāybilī ān” Athar Gabriel Said Reynolds”. Majalih-yi Intirnitī Durnamā, Muṭāliʿāt Taṭbīqī Qurān. Faṣl 3, Qismat 8.