Stages of Communal Formation in Medina

Abstract

This chapter presents the final stage of “communal formation” reflected in the Qur’an, which occurred during the Medinan period. During this period, through processes involving the insertion of texts within existing proclamations from the Meccan period, concepts such as the “discovery of God’s wrath” and the “discovery of ambiguity in the divine scripture” come to the fore. Furthermore, Mecca again becomes the focus of communal ritual, after that focus had strayed toward Jerusalem. Finally, in this chapter the Qur’anic conception of martyrdom is discussed in relation to its monotheistic precedents.