Ascetic and Nonascetic Layers in the Qurʾan: A Case Study

Abstract Using the methods of redaction criticism, this article analyzes two Qurʾanic parallel passages, Q 23:1–11 and Q 70:22–35, and the chronology of their redaction. Relying on discernable traces of editorial work, it argues that these texts of instruction, which initially exhorted their audience to live a pious and ascetic life, have known a process of rewriting, which substantially softened the ascetic injunction of continence present in the earliest versions. This analysis might shed light on the background and development of the Qurʾan and early Islamic piety.