Qoran Shenakht

Christoph Luxenberg's Syro-Aramaic reading theory of the Qur'an represents one of the most contentious projects in contemporary historical Qur'anic scholarship. It seeks to resolve lexical, syntactic, and exegetical difficulties by positing a Syro-Aramaic substrate beneath the Arabic text, frequently setting aside the established reading in favor of Syriac-based reinterpretations. The present article offers a scientific and methodological defense of the authenticity, integrity, and hermeneutical self-sufficiency of the Qur'anic text. It critically examines the epistemological foundations of Luxenberg's project through an analytical approach informed by the philosophy of language, philosophical hermeneutics, textual theory, and the philosophy of science. The findings reveal that Luxenberg's move from "exegetical difficulty" to "hypothesis of foreign linguistic origin" lacks logical necessity and often entails a methodological circularity: the Qur'an's intra-textual coherence is simultaneously used to challenge the adequacy of the received text and to identify presumed scribal errors. In response, the paper proposes two criteria for evaluating textual reconstruction claims—the "principle of evidential independence" and the "test of asymmetrical emendation"—and demonstrates that a model based on the Qur'an's internal coherence, in line with the principle of parsimony, explains a wider range of linguistic and exegetical data with fewer assumptions and more independent evidence. The study concludes that Luxenberg's project has not advanced from the "mere possibility of an alternative reading" to the "methodological necessity of replacing the received one." The authenticity of the Qur'anic text thus remains the justified starting point for all historically responsible Qur'anic research.