Rahmah as God's Universal Attribute: Qur'anic Negotiation with Abrahamic Traditions for Urban Interfaith Communities

Studies of the relationship between the Qur’an and earlier religious traditions have often interpreted textual similarities through the paradigm of borrowing and textual dependency, overlooking the dialogical dynamics of Late Antiquity. This article examines the diachronic development of rahmah (divine mercy) in the Qur’an and its relationship with ḥesed and raḥamim in the Hebrew Bible and raḥmē in the Syriac Christian tradition. Drawing on Angelika Neuwirth’s approach to Qur’anic intertextuality, this qualitative library-based study combines diachronic reading and microstructural analysis with a comparative examination of selected Jewish and Christian textual traditions. The findings identify four broad phases in the development of rahmah: personal consolation in the early Meccan period, the emergence of al-Raḥmān as a divine name in the middle Meccan period, the articulation of mercy as a divine commitment encompassing creation in the late Meccan period, and its integration with covenant, law, and communal obligations in the Medinan period. The comparison reveals shared linguistic and theological horizons alongside distinct theological emphases. The Qur’an reconfigures this shared heritage by articulating mercy as universal in its existential scope, while its salvific implications remain differentiated. The study thus argues that Qur’anic intertextuality is better understood as dialogical engagement and theological negotiation than as evidence of one-directional textual dependence. These findings provide a conceptual basis for reflecting on divine mercy in contemporary urban interfaith communities, particularly among Muslims in Indonesia who live alongside other Abrahamic traditions, while their practical implications and social effects remain to be examined through further empirical research.