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Title: The Successful Life
Subtitle: Comparing the Opening Chapters of the Psalms and the Qur'an
Author(s): HO, Peter
Journal: Studies in Interreligious Dialogue
Volume: 33    Issue: 2   Date: 2023   
Pages: 203-220
DOI: 10.2143/SID.33.2.3292475

Abstract :
The texts of the Qur’an and the Psalms have long been compared to each other. However, much of these comparisons rest on semantic and conceptual parallels. This paper proposes that the opening chapters of the Psalter have a profound intertextual resonance with the Qur’an that is beyond surface semantics. These parallels are also found in their literary forms. The approach adopted here is to analyse textual forms at strategically located texts, the opening chapters, and not merely on common semantics. We observe at least two dozen parallels relating to distinctive literary forms and the motif of human flourishing in the first few chapters of the Qur’an and the Psalms. The implication of this study is twofold: First, there are more textual parallels between the Qur’an and the Psalter than hereto understood. Second, human flourishing can form the basis of further interfaith dialogue and reflection.

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