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SUMMARIES 51*

and adapted to the Samaritan Hebrew Pentateuch. The transmission of this
version in MS London BL OR7562 continued after the early Samaritan
Arabic translation of the Pentateuch and perhaps also its later revision had
already been created, since many of their translations were preserved in
MS BL OR7562, mixed with its Saadyan basic text. As MS London BL
OR7562 also contains numerous words and phrases paralleled only in
Christian Arabic translations of the Pentateuch and in Saadyan adaptations,
mainly related to the Peshitta tradition, it is reasonable to assume that these
were the sources of this Samaritan Saadyan version and possibly also of
the other Samaritan Arabic translations. The Samaritan version of Saadya’s
translation of the Pentateuch also reveals some parallels to tenth- and
eleventh-century Karaite translations and it contains prominent Aramaic
and Islamic vocabulary, unfamiliar in other versions of Saadya’s tafsīr.

Qirqisani’s commentary on the story
of the Tower of Babylon, and the debate
over the origin of Language

Arye Zoref

This article deals with Qirqisani’s commentary on the biblical story of the
Tower of Babylon, and its links to the debate about the origin of language in
Muslim literature. Although Qirqisani was mainly influenced by Mu’tazili
theology, he believed that language was created by God, while most of the
Mu’tazili scholars of his time believed that language was created by human
beings through mutual understanding. After examining the story of the
Tower of Babylon, Qirqisani reached the conclusion that not only was the
original language (Hebrew) created by God, but that all other languages
were also given by God to the human race by way of the prophets. In many
respects, Qirqisani’s understanding of the origin of language is close to that
of the Muslim scholar Ibn Faris.