Sources of the Values of the Noble Qur’an According to Orientalists: Value`s Sources of Knowledge as a Model

Abstract

Qur'an in mainstream of oriental studies is studied as a historical text created through many cultural sources. This understanding included even Qur'anic values and ethics, and it means that Qur'an is not revealed book. Franz Rosenthal, the German orientalist has given such hypothesis in his study of knowledge in Qur'an. He has supposed that Gnostic doctrines were the cultural source of Knowledge conception in Qur'an. Gnostic doctrines were either but their Christian or Jewish or Mandean or even Arab Paganism of Pre-Islam era. This paper negates these hypotheses by observing structure of these sources through historical methodology. Obviously, there are either tenuous evidence or nothing about historical existence of these sources in Pre-Islamic Arabia or at least Hijaz area where Islam spread from to all around. As a result, this paper approve that Qur'anic conception of Knowledge does not belong to any external source. Importance of this study is due to lack of studies of Orientalists studies of Qur'anic ethics and values.