Repetition and the Portrayal of Time in the Story of Mūsā and Hārūn in the Qur’ān

Abstract

Abstract This chapter focuses on the portrayal of time in the Qur’ānic story of Mūsā and Hārūn in particular and uses a narratological and rhetorical lens to analyze a few iterations of the story. This chapter focuses on repetition on the scale of the scene. The chapter discusses the purpose that time leaps serve for the audience, that they are reflected in the storytelling, are not just didactic, and are performative. The narrator of the Qur’ān uses the narrative to shape the reader’s perceptions about time and space and to thereby reinforce theological beliefs that the Qur’ān expresses in its metanarrative. These beliefs are that God fulfills His promises, God does as God wills, and God shapes the narrative, time, and space in order to show that God does as God wills.