Qur'anic Studies 1: Introduction

1.    

INTRODUCTION

          The Qur’ān is the Holy Book of the Muslims. It is in Classical Arabic which is also called اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ ("the eloquent Arabic") or Qur’ānic Arabic which is the standardized literary form used from the 7th century to 9^th century, especially in Umayyad and Abbasid periods. It is also the liturgical language of Islam. Classical Arabic is modernized to become Modern Standard Arabic, also referred to as Literary Arabic, the official language of 26 states.

The Qur’ān is considered the most important miracle of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. and a living one, revealed to him within 23 years, from 610 CE to 632 CE. When he received revelation, he dictated it to his scribes among his companions. They were thirteen of them.

          There are 6236 verses of the Qur’ān in 114 sūrahs (chapters), the shortest one being sūrat al-Kawthar (chapter 108) with 3 verses, and the longest one being sūrat al-Baqarah (chapter 2) with 286 verses. It is the only book read most often, cited in obligatory and recommended prayers, read and memorized by Muslims as devotion to Allah. Muslim children start memorizing short chapters of the Qur’ān, even before they learn reading and writing. Some parrots are even taught to recite some verses of the Qur’ān by its owners. There are also many schools called Qur’ānic schools where children memorize the Qur’ān.

Modern Standard Arabic,[6] also referred to as Literary Arabic, which is modernized Classical Arabic. This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā (اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ[7] "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā (اَلْفُصْحَىٰ). Modern Standard Arabic is an official language of 26 states and 1 disputed territory, the third most after English and French.[8]

 

Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media.[9] Arabic, in its standard form, is the official language of 26 states, as well as the liturgical language of the religion of Islam, since the Quran and the Hadiths were written in Arabic.[10]

          Although in Classical Arabic the Qur’ān is still understood today, although some words and expressions need explanation, as language develops besides the use of some dialects, tribal and foreign languages in it. ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abbās, the Prophet’s cousin who was nicknamed al-Ḥibr (“the Learned Man”), Ḥibr al­Ummah (“the Learned Man of the Community”), Turjumān al-Qur’ān (“the Translator of the Qur’ān”), and Sulṭān al-Mufassirīn (“The Sultan of the Commentators of the Qur’ān”) mentions fifty-one languages and their locations in the verses of the Qur’ān in his book Gharīb al-Qur’ān (Obscure Words of the Qur’ān).  When the Qur’ān talked about Prophet Moses the term it used for “the sea” is al-yamm in Coptic and Nabataean rather than al-baḥr, and al-ṭūr for the mountain in Syriac rather than al-jabal. In Madinah it used the term līnah, the language of the Aws tribe for the nakhlah (palm tree) and the term infaḍḍū, the language of the Khazraj tribe there for dhahabū (“they went”). This is an indication that to understand the Qur’ān properly and comprehensively one needs to master Arabic language including classical Arabic poetry as well as the Prophet’s ḥadīths (tradition) and the explanation and commentary of mufassirīn (commentators of the Qur’ān). Moreover, we must consider its undisputable extreme eloquence.

          Compared to Beowulf the epic poem in West Saxon dialect of Old English by unknown writer(s) consisting of 3128 lines (half the size of the Qur’ān with 6236 verses), dated between 700 CE and 1000 CE, translated into modern English, the Qur’ān remains without edition, let alone translation into modern Arabic, although it was revealed in the early 7th century, much earlier than Beowulf.[i] The opening lines of Beowulf runs as follows:

[1] Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,

 [2] þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,

[3] hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

In the present-day English:

[1] Hail! We have heard tales sung of the Spear-Danes,

 [[2] the glory of their war-kings in days gone by,

 [3] how princely nobles performed heroes’ deeds![ii]

 

          The first revelation of the Qur’ān consists of five short verses as follows:

قْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ. خَلَقَ الْإِنْسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ. اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ.

الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ. عَلَّمَ الْإِنْسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ (العلق: ۱-٥)

Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created

 (all that exists). He has created man from a lot

 (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read!

 And your Lord is the Most Generous. Who

 has taught (the writing) by the pen.

He has taught man that which he

 knew not. (Q. 96:1-5)

          Unlike the open lines of Beowulf the above first revelation of the Qur’ān is understood by present-day Arabic speakers. If the Prophet and his companions were with us today and talked to us, we would still be able to understand them. Had the Qur’ān suddenly disappeared at present it could be still rewritten, as there are many Muslims who memorize the whole Qurān, and are nick-named ḥuffāẓ (lit. guardians, keepers, caretakers; sing. ḥāfiẓ). They usually lead the prayers, especially during the month of Ramaḍān where they cite one of the thirty parts of the Qur’ān called juz’ consisting of nine to ten pages. By the end of the month, they would have cited almost the whole Qur’ān.

          To keep its originality the Qur’ān is written in its old spellings, but added with dots and vowel sounds for easy reading, especially for non-Arabic speakers. The old spelling of al-ṣalāt, i.e.,  الصَّلوة, for example, is written in modern spelling in quotation, namely, الصَّلاة. Similarly, الزَّكَوة becomes الزَّكَاة etc. The spelling of the term jā’ū, namely,جَاءُوا  in the original text is written without alif, namely, جَاءُو. Instead of “correcting” this misspelling by adding letter alif, some mufassirīn (commentators of the Qur’ān) think that this might be because the verses using this term contain lying, cheating, and misbehavior, namely, belying messengers (Q. 3:184), slandering ‘Ā’ishah and failing to bring four witnesses (Q. 24:11 and 13), Yūsuf’s brothers crying and lying to their parents that he was killed by a wolf and bringing his shirt tainted with false blood as evidence (Q. 12:16 and 18), the allegation of the disbelievers that the Prophet had invented the Qur’ān and was assisted in doing it (Q. 25:4), the disbelievers’ denying Allah’s āyāt (proofs, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) (Q. 27:84), and the supplications of the tābi‘īn (the generation after that of the ṣaḥābah, i.e., the companions of the Prophet), among other things, that Allah would not put in their hearts any hatred against the believers (Q. 59:10).[iii]

          In this first volume of the Qur’ānic Studies, six essays dealing with the meanings of terms according to their contexts.

Learning the various meanings of a term in the Qur’ān belongs to one of many sciences of the Qur’ān, called الوُجُوْهُ وَ النَّظَائِرُ فِيْ القُرْآن (lit. “Meanings and Equivalents”) usually translated as “Homonyms and Synonyms in the Qur’ān.”  Al-Zarkashī put it in number four of the 47 branches of the Qur’ānic sciences in his work al-Burhān, whereas al-Suyūṭī (d. 991 AH/1505 CE) put it in number 39 of the 80 branches in his work al-Itqān.

 

These various meanings of terms are based on the interpretations of classical commentators of the Qur’ān. They know more about the Qur’ān because of their being the students of the companions of the Prophet: In Makkah he was the Prophet’s cousin ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abbās who was considered the most knowledgeable scholar of the tafsīr. Among his students were:  Mujāhid ibn Jabr, ‘Ikrimah (his freed slave), ‘Aṭā’ ibn Abī Rabāh, Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr, al-A‘raj, and Ṭāwus ibn Kaysān.  In al-Madīnah he was the companion who was one of the Prophet’s scribes Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, and among his students were: Zayd ibn Aslam, Abū ’i-‘Āliyah, and Muḥammad ibn Ka‘b al-Quraẓī. In Kūfah he was the Prophet’s companion ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd, and among his students were: Qatadah ibn Di‘āmah al-Sadūsī, ‘Alqamah ibn Qays, and al-Sha‘bī. From these scholars we learn much about the meanings of the Qur’ān. Their interpretations are referred to throughout these writings, and despite their difference in interpretation they might be complementary to each other. Moreover, there were also classical Arabic philologists and grammarians …..

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic

 

 

---

[i]Here are some Old English words with translation: to jargogle = to confuse, to twattle = to gossip, to kench = to laugh loudly, malgrugrous = dismal (sad, gloomy), twitter-light = twilight, monsterful = wonderful, overmorrow = the day after tomorrow, and schoolman = a teacher.

[ii]www.drmarkwomack.com/pdfs/beowulf-opening-lines.pdf; www.as.wvu.edu/english/oeoe/english311/228.html

[iii]Another example is the term عَتَوْا (‘they became insolent”) without alif, i.e. عَتَوْ in this verse: ... لَقَدِ اسْتَكْبَرُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَعَتَوْ عُتُوًّا كَبِيرًا (الفرقان:۲۱)  “Indeed they think too highly of themselves and are scornful with great pride” (Q. 25:21). In another verse the term لَمْ تَسْتَطِعْ (lam tastaṭi‘) meaning ”you were unable to” in Q. 18:78) is shortened to become لَمْ تَسْطِعْ  (lam tasṭi‘) in the following verse: (الكهف:۸۲)  ... وَمَا فَعَلْتُهُ عَنْ أَمْرِي ذَلِكَ تَأْوِيلُ مَا لَمْ تَسْطِعْ عَلَيْهِ صَبْرًا...  “… I did them not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of those (things) over which you could not hold patience.” (Q. 18:82). Prophet Moses could not hold patience to see the strange behavior of the wise man called Khiḍr who had received direct knowledge from Allah called عِلْمٌ لَدُنِّي: he scuttled a ship, so that a king would not seize it by force; he killed a boy who would be rebellious to his parents, and Allah wanted to replace him with a righteous son; he set up straight a wall about to collapse, because there was a treasure under it belonging to two orphan boys. This impatience of Prophet Moses is indicatede with the shortening of the term تَسْتَطِعْ to become تَسْطِعْ above.  For further details, see Q. 18:60-82.