The Persian Keys of the Quranic Paradise

Abstract

The descriptions of paradise are numerous and precise in the Qur’ān: in relation to their total coherence with one another, they surely come from a unique source. Furthermore, they reflect a social model present in many regions of the seventh-century Near East: the Persian banquet, as enjoyed in the Sasanian Empire. Not only the vocabulary, but the objects, the people, the physical or mental attitudes, the food, and the beverages are all taken from the imagery of the banquets at the Persian court. Hence the quranic paradise is clearly not of religious, but of profane origin. And this offers evidence that one should consider not only Palestine, but also Mesopotamia, as a source of inspiration for the authors of the Qur’ān – and as a site of excavation for the original quranic milieu.