Copyright 2020. Peter C. W. Ho. Evangelical Theological Society Annual Conference November 2020 The Successful Life: Comparing the Opening Chapters of the Psalms and the Qur’an Peter C. W. Ho Singapore Bible College cwho@sbc.edu.sg Summary of Paper Parallels of Literary Form 1. Both scriptures referred to itself as a “book.” 2. The opening chapters of both scriptures cite a significant “document.” 3. The first chapter of both texts are short with only 6/7 verses. 4. The first sura and psalm function as the summary and preface of the respective books. 5. The title of one text is mentioned in the second verse of the other text. 6. Both are texts for “recitation” and are highly oral in nature. 7. These recitations or meditations are reckoned as prayers (cf. Q 2:3; 4:1–4). 8. The 150 psalms and 114 suras are self-contained units with little narrative sequence that bind them together. 9. Both scriptures are used in public liturgies and private prayers. 10. Both individual psalms/sura were thought to have originated in different Sitz im Leben. 11. Both contain phonological parallels (the Qur’an possibly contained Sajʿ [rhymed prose]). 12. Both usually have incipits (or superscripts) at the start of each psalm/sura. 13. Scholars of both texts debate the origins of these incipits. 14. Meanings of some incipits are not preserved (e.g., miktham, gittith; Pss 8, 16; or the fawātiḥ [detached letters] in the Qur’an). 15. Interpretations of these mysterious incipits abound. 16. Several psalms can be grouped together by common superscriptions (e.g., Davidic superscriptions), several suras with the fawātiḥ (detached letters) are often clustered together. 17. Some psalms/suras omit the opening formula. 18. Such omissions, in both texts, were related to debated combination/separation of psalm/sura. 19. The presence (or absence) of Psalms superscriptions, like the fawātiḥ and the basmala, have been argued to be the work of subsequent editorial hands. 20. Both texts have a formulaic beatitude (“blessed is the one”) located strategically at the beginning or the end of a psalm/sura. 21. Both texts have a formulaic declaration of praise found at the beginning of a psalm/sura (cf. Q 57, 59, 61, 62, 64; Pss 106:1; 111:1; 112:1; 113:1; 117:1; 135:1). 22. The first sura and psalm are concentric in shape. A central unit pivots the entire text from one half to the other.