著者

大川(黒宮) 玲子

出版者

The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, no.1, pp.142-158, 2002

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There are various kinds of <i>kitab</i> ("what is written", or "book") in Islamic thought. In the Qur'an are to be found the Heavenly Tablet, the Record Book and some Scriptures such as <i>Zabur</i> (the Psalms), <i>Tawrah</i> (the Torah), <i>Injil</i> (the Gospel) and the Qur'an. The two former parts are what we can call 'invisible <i>kitab</i>' because it is thought that the Heavenly Tablet is located near Allah in Heaven, and that the Record Book is usually kept by angels. On the other hand, we can call the Qur'an as a 'visible <i>kitab</i>' because it is a scripture sent down from Heaven to Earth. In this paper, it is pointed out that these <i>kitabs</i> are closely linked to the concept of predestination in Islamic thought.<br>Firstly, the relationship between the Heavenly Tablet and the Record Book will be focused on. It is thought that every decree of every creature, which will occur until the Last Day, i. e. predestination (<i>qadar</i>), was written on the Heavenly Tablet with a pen according to God's order. In the Record Book, all human deeds are written by angels, and will be used to judge the person to decide whether they should go to heaven or hell on the Last Day. The content of the Record Book is included in the Heavenly Tablet with the same words. Therefore, we could say that not only the Heavenly Tablet but also the Record Book exist within range of predestination by God.<br>As for the Qur'an, we can discover the linkage to the concept of predestination in the theory of sending down of the Qur'an (<i>inzal</i>), which is the revelation theory in Islamic thought. It is thought that the Qur'an was sent down in full from the Heavenly Tablet to the lowest heaven on the Night of <i>Qadr</i>, and then from the lowest heaven to the earth piece by piece, depending on situations which occurred in Muhammad's community. However, there is another opinion which says that the Qur'an was sent down to the lowest heaven on the Night of the Middle of the Month of <i>Sha'ban</i>. Both nights are considered to have a relationship to the concept of predestination because for each of the nights there are traditions which indicate that decrees for the following year are decided. Besides, the term '<i>qadr</i>', which means power, is very close to the term '<i>qadar</i>', predestination, and there is a verse in the Qur'an which suggests that the Qur'an was sent down on the Night of <i>Qadr</i> (Q. 97: 1), so it came to be believed as true that on this night the Qur'an was sent down. On the other hand, the Night of the Middle of the Month of <i>Sha'ban</i> also has reason to be regarded as the night when the Qur'an was sent down; there are traditions that on this night Allah comes down to the lowest heaven and forgives human beings, giving merciful gifts such as the Qur'an and so on. This image is very close to the theory of the sending down of the Qur'an to the lowest heaven, however this is not accepted as a correct theory. Through both of these illustrations, we can say that in both theories, there is deep linkage to the concept of predestination.<br>So far, it is clear that the concepts of 'predestination' and '<i>kitab</i>' exist side by side in Islamic thought and closely match one another.