17. THE AMAZING QUR’ᾹN (3)
Allah revealed to the Prophet s.a.w. the following verse:
حم.
تَنْزِيلُ الْكِتَابِ مِنَ اللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ. غَافِرِ الذَّنْبِ وَقَابِلِ
التَّوْبِ
شَدِيدِ الْعِقَابِ ذِي الطَّوْلِ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا
هُوَ إِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ (غافر:1-3)
Hā.Mīn [These letters are
one of the miracles of the Qur’an and
none
but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings].
The revelation of the
Book (this Qur’an) is from Allah, the Almighty, the All Knower. The
forgiver of
sin, the Acceptor of repentance, the Severe in punishment,
the Bestower (of
favours). None has the right to be worshipped
but He, to Him is the final return
(Q. 40:1-3)
This verse contains good
news for sinners among Muslims as Allah is Forgiver of sin. But this verse is
also a threat for sinners who do not repent, for Allah is the Severe in
punishment. In addition, the revelation of the Qur’an is to urge people to
believe in the tawḥīd (Oneness of
Allah), the Judgment day, and sincerity in their action, and to devote
themselves to Him. There is here balance between expecting Allah’s mercy and
fearing His punishment which is found in many Qur’anic verses, such as follows:
نَبِّئْ عِبَادِي أَنِّي أَنَا الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ. وَأَنَّ
عَذَابِي هُوَ الْعَذَابُ الْأَلِيمُ. (الحجر:49-50)
declare (O Muhammad) My slaves, that truly I am the
Oft-Forgiving,
the Most Merciful. And that My torment
is
indeed the most painful torment. (Q.
15:49-50)
When ‘Umar
r.a. missed a man from Syria he was told that he was a heavy drinker. ‘Umar
r.a. told to his secretary to write a letter to him, containing the
verse mentioned above. He asked the courier not to hand him his letter until he
became sober, and asked people with him to pray for him.
When the man received the letter he wept
and kept saying, “Allah has promised me to forgive me, and has warned me
against His punishment.” He repented and stopped drinking. When ‘Umar heard the
news he said, “This is what you should do if you see anyone one of you is
committing sin, try to stop him and pray for him, and do not become the devils’
helpers against him.”
While
the Prophet s.a.w. was citing the above verse in his prayer in the
Mosque, al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, one of the leaders of the Quraysh tribe, was
near him listening to his recitation. When the Prophet noticed that he was
listening to him he repeated the verses to him. Then al-Walīd came to the court
of his people Banī Makhzῡm, saying:
I have heard from Muhammad a while ago a speech
which is neither of human beings nor of the jinn.
Verily,
there is beauty and elegance in it; its upward is very
fruitful, and is downward is abundant. And verily,
it is very elevated ,and nothing excels it.
The Quraysh people said that al-Walīd had become a Sabean, namely, he
had abandoned their religion, and that they would follow him to become Sabeans.
Abῡ Jahl told them that he would deal with him. Then he came to al-Walīd,
sitting beside him sadly.
“You look sad, my nephew!,” said al-Walīd.
“What makes me sad is that the Quraysh people want to help
you for your basic necessity of your life and for your old age, and yet they
think that you have appreciated the speech of Muhammad and have visited Abū
Kabshah [al-Ḥārith ibn al-‘Uzzā, the husband of Ḥalīmah
al-Sa‘diyyah, who breastfed the Prophet breastfed in his babyhood] and Abῡ Quḥāfah [Abu Bakr’s father], to be fed by them,” said Abῡ
Jahl.
Al-Walīd became angry and said, “Do not the Quraysh people know that I have the most wealth and
children, more than what they have?”
Then he went to the court of his people with Abῡ Jahl. He
asked them: “You think Muhammad is mad,
then have you seen him throttle?” When they said “No,” he asked: “You think
Muhammad is a fortune-teller, then have you seen him telling fortune?” When
they said, “No,” he asked them, “You think Muhammad is a poet, then have you
seen him citing poetry?” When they said, “No,” he asked them: “You think
Muhammad is a liar, then have you seen him lying?” When they said, “No,” they
asked him, “Then what is he?”
Then
al-Walīd thought to himself, then frowned and said, “He is no more than a
magician; don’t you see him separating man from his family, his servants and
children? He is then a magician.”
To
this, Allah informed the Prophet s.a.w. with the following verses:
إِنَّهُ فَكَّرَ وَقَدَّرَ. فَقُتِلَ كَيْفَ قَدَّرَ.ثُمَّ
قُتِلَ كَيْفَ قَدَّرَ. ثُمَّ نَظَرَ. ثُمَّ عَبَسَ وَبَسَرَ. ثُمَّ أَدْبَرَ
وَاسْتَكْبَرَ . فَقَالَ إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّا سِحْرٌ
يُؤْثَرُ. إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّا قَوْلُ الْبَشَرِ (المدثر"18-25)
Verily, he thought and plotted [meaning: he
thought
about the Prophet and the Qur’an, and plotted
what he could
say about him and the Qur’an]. So let him be
cursed, how he
plotted! Then he hought. Then he frowned and he
looked
in a bad tempered way. Then he turned back, and
was
proud. Then he said: “This is nothing but the
word
of a human being!” (Q. 74:18-25)
In another tradition from ‘Ikrimah, he
said that al-Walīd came to the Prophet s.a.w. who cited to him some
verses of the Qur’an which softened his heart. When Abῡ Jahl heard about it, he
asked him to tell his people that he rejected and hated what the Prophet had
cited. He did and said that nobody knew poetry, its rajaz meter, its qaṣīdah
[ancient poems], not even the poems of jinn more than himself, and
yet, he admired what he heard from the Prophet.
The
Arabs before Islam were proud of the beauty of their language. Every year poets
cited their poetry in the ‘Ukāz market, and the best of which was hung on the
wall of the Ka‘bah. Among the best poets at that time were: ‘Antarah ibn
Shaddād (d. 22bH/6010), the fierce warrior, al-Nābighah al-Dhubiyānī (d. ca.
18 bH/605), the eulogist who spent most of his time at the courts of Ḥirah
and Ghassān, and whose poems consist largely of eulogies and satires, and
’Imru’ al-Qays, who died as an exile in Ancyra (modern Ankara, d. ca. 550).
The philologists of the Basrah school regarded him
the greatest of the poets of the Muʿallaqāt as well as the inventor of
the form of the classical ode, or qaṣīdah.
Like any other poetry, Arabic
poetry has also meters, which are ordinarily reckoned to be sixteen in number.
Khalīl ibn Aḥmad (d. 170/786) in the 8th century codified the
normally used metres, and since then have little change. Some examples of the
commonly used metres of the classical and modern poetry with some verses of the
Qur’an are as follows:
1. In the “long meter” البَحْرُ
اْلطَّوِيْل, namely,
فَعُوْلُنْ مَفَاعِيْلُن فَعُوْلُنْ مَفَاعِلُن [the “.” is short, and the “-”
is stressed and long] (.-- .--- .-- .-..) in the poetry of ’Imru’ al-Qays, as follows:
قِفَا نَبْكِ مِنْ ذِكْرَى حَبِيْبٍ وَ مَنْزِلٍ
Halt, you two companions,
and let us weep
for the memory of a beloved
and an abode…
This poetry was one of the
seven Mu‘allaqāt.
The example from the Qur’an is
as follows:
وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ (الأنعام: 151، الإسراء:33)
And do not kill
the soul which has been
prohibited by Allah (Q. 6:151 and 17:33)
2. In the “complete meter, الْبَحْرُ الْكَامِل , namely, مُتَفَاعِلُنْ مُتَفَاعِلُنْ مُتَفَاعِلُنْ (..-.- ..-.- ..-.-)
in the poetry of ‘Antarah ibn Shaddād as follows:
هَلْ غَادَرَ
الشُّعَرَاءُ مِنْ مُتَرَدَّمٍ
Have the poets left in the garment a place
for a patch to be patched by me
This poetry was also one of the seven Mu‘allaqāt.
The example in the Qur’an
is as follows:
صَلُّوا
عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا (الأحزاب:56)
Ask Allah’s blessing on him
and greet
him with salutation (Q. 33:56)
3. In the rajaz meter الْبَحْرُ الرَّجَز, namely, مُسْتَفْعِلُن مُسْتَفْعِلُن مُسْتَفْعِلُن (--.-
--.- --.-) in poetry of the Egyptian poet Aḥmad Shawqī
(d. 1932) who was nicknamed أَمِيْرُ الشُّعَرَاء (“the Prince of the Poets”) praising the
town of Zahle (الزَّحْلَة) in Lebanon
as the neighbour of the valley, as follows:
يَاجَرَة الْوَادِي طَرِبْتُ وَ عَادَنِي * مَا
يُشْبِهُ الأَحْلاَمَ مِنْ ذِكْرَاكِ
O neighbour of the valley, I am deliriously happy
and what has come to me is portrayed like
a dream of your memories
The example from the Qur’an is as follows:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اصْبِرُوا ...
(آل عمران:200)
O you who believe! Endure… (Q. 3:200)
4.
In the “fast meter” الْبَحْرُ
السَّرِيْع, namely,مُسْتَفْعِلُن مُسْتَفْعِلُن فَاعِلُن (--.- --.- -.-) in the poetry of the Persian poet Omar
Khayyam (d. 1131) as follows:
سَمِعْتُ صَوْتًا هَاتِفًا فِي السَّحَر
I heard a voice calling at dawn
The example in the Qur’an is as
follows:
ذَلِكَ
تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ (96)
Such is the
measuring of the All-Mighty,
the All-Knowing (Q. 6:96)
5. In
the “abundant meter” الْبَحْر الْوَافِر, namely, مُفَاعَلَتُنْ مُفَاعَلَتُنْ فَعُوْلُنْ (.-..- .-..- .--) as in the poem of an unidentified poet as
follows:
وَكُنْ رَجُلًا
عَلىَ اْلأَهْوَالِ جَلْدًا ** وَشِيْمَتُكَ السَّمَاحَةُ وَاْلوَفَاءُ
Be a steadfast man in facing
terror, and make
tolerance and loyalty your innate quality
The example in the Qur’an is as follows:
أَلَا بُعْدًا
لِعَادٍ قَوْمِ هُودٍ (هود:60)
So away with ‘Ᾱd, the
people of Hῡd (Q. 11:60)
This verse is about the
people of ‘Ᾱd who disbelieved in Allah and disobeyed their Prophet Hῡd a.s. They
lived in Southern Arabia, the area al-Aḥqāf in the present Ḥaḍramawt.
6. In
the “song meter” الْبَحْرُ الْهَزَج, namely, مَفَاعِيْلُن مَفَاعِيْلُن (.--- .---)
as in the following
poetry:
ومَنْ يَدْعُـو
إلـى رَبٍّ ** كَـزُهَّـادٍ وعُـبَّــادِ
… and who
prays to a Lord,
like ascetic and a pious
people
The example in the
Qur’an is the following verse:
كَأَنْ لَمْ تَغْنَ بِالْأَمْسِ
(يونس:24)
… as if it had not flourished
yesterday!
This verse is about the
crops that have just flourished, but were destroyed by Allah for the growers’ arrogance
ignoring His power over everything, including their crops. It is a moral lesson
for us that everything is belongs to Him.
7. In
the “consecutive meter” الْبَحْرُالْمُتَقَارِب , namely, فَعُوْلُنْ فَعُوْلُنْ فَعُوْلُنْ فَعُوْلُنْ (.-- .-- .-- .--),
as in the poem
تَظَلُّ حَبِيْسَ اْلهَوَى
وَاْلمَعَاصِـي **
فَأَيْنَ النَّجَـاةُ
وَأَيْنَ اْلفِرَار
You persists to be
controlled by passion and disobedience,
where is, then,
salvation and escape?
The example in the Qur’an is the
following verse:
أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا
الزَّكَاةَ (البقرة:83، 110. النساء:77. النور:56. المزمل:20)
… perform prayer and give zakat (Q. 2:83,110; 4:77; 24:56; 73:20)
8. In
the “uprooted meter” الْبَحْرُالْمُجْتَثُّ , namely, مُسْتَفْعِلُن
فَاعِلاَتُنْ (--.- -.--)
as in the poem of the “poet of the Nile river,” Ḥafiẓ
Ibrāhīm (d. 1932) as follows:
لَيْلايَ مَا أنَا حَيٌّ *** يُرْجَى
وَلاَ أنَا مَيْتُ
O my Layla, I am not
alive with hope, nor am I dead
The poet expressed his frustration in
life, but he was still alive. He had not done his duty to his country for being
helpless. This reminds us of the Indonesian expression Hidup segan mati tak
mau (“He is reluctant to live, but he does not want to die either”)
The example in the Qur’an is the following verse:
...وَاللَّهُ
خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى (طه:73)
… and Allah is better and more lasting (Q.
20:73)
This was the statement of the magicians who believed in
Allah and Prophet Moses a.s. after their magic had been defeated by Prophet
Moses’s staff which turned into a real snake and swallowed their ropes which
looked like snakes. They said, “Allah is better [as regards reward in comparison to your (Fir‘awn – Pharaoh)
reward], and more lasting (as regards punishment in comparison to your
punishment.”
9.
In the ramal
meter الْبَحْرُ الرَّمَل, namely, فَاعِلآتُنْ فاَعِلآتُنْ فَاعِلُنْ (-.--
-.--
-.-), as in the poem of “the emir of poets” Aḥmad Shawqī, as
follows
عَلَّمُوْهُ كَيْفَ يَجْفُو فَجَفَا *** ظَالِمٌ لَاقِيْتُ مِنْهُ مَا كَفَي
They taught him how to turn away, so he turned
away
I have found enough mistreatment from him
The example in the Qur’an is the
following verse:
وَالَّذِي أَطْمَعُ
أَنْ يَغْفِرَ لِي ...
(الشعراء:82)
And Who I hope will
forgive me (Q. 26:82)
This was the statement of Prophet Ibrāhīm (Abraham) a.s. to
his father and his people who worshiped idols in calling them to worship Allah,
the Creator, and the Guide to the right path.
10.
The last example of the 16 poetical
meters in Arabic poetry is the “simple meter” الْبَحْرُ الْبَسِيْط, namely, مُسْتَفْعِلُن فَعِلُن مُسْتَفْعِلُن فَاعِلُن
(--.- -.- --.- ..-), as in the Qaṣīdat al-Burdah. The burdah
is the mantle of the Prophet. This poetry was composed by al-Imām Sharaf al-Dīn
Muḥammad al-Bῡṣīrī in praising the Prophet. He was born in Egypt in 608/1212
and died in 695/1296 at the age of 84. He composed this qaṣīdah after
suffering from a stroke caused him partially paralysed. He prayed to Allah to
cure him. He dreamed that he cited the qaṣīdah to the Prophet. The Prophet touched the paralysed part of his body
and threw his mantle (burdah) over him. Upon awakening he found out that
he h ad been cured of his paralysis.
The qaṣīdah was
originally entitled الْكَوَاكِبُ الدُّرِّيَّة فِيْ مَدْحِ خَيْرِ الْبَرِيَّة (“The
Resplendent Stars in the Praise of the Best of Creation”), later called Qaṣīdat
al-Burdah in ten parts consisting of more than 160 verses, all ending with
letter mīm (م). They are read, memorized, and cited in many Islamic schools
all over the Muslim world. The qaṣīdah has been translated into many
languages, such as Persian, Urdu, Punjabi, French, and German. Here are some
verses of the qaṣīdah:
34 . مُحَمَّدٌ سَيِّدُ
الْكَوْنَيْنِ وَالثَّقَلَــيــــ *** ـــنِ وَ الْفَرِيْقَيْنِ مِنْ عُرْبٍ وَ مِنْ
عَجَمِ
34. Muhammad – Master of the Two Worlds, and the Two
Dense
Kinds [human and jinn], and of the Two
Groups, Arabs and non-Arabs.
163. يَا رَبِّ بِالْمُصْطَفَى
بَلِّغْ مَقَاصِدَنَا * وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا مَا مَضَى يَا وَاسِعَ
الْكَرَمِ
163. O my Lord! With the Elect One (namely, Prophet
Muhammad s.a.w.] make us attain our goals, and
forgive
us for what has passed, O Most Munificent One!
The example of this “simple” meter in the Qur’an is as
follows:
فَأَصْبَحُوا لَا يُرَى
إِلَّا مَسَاكِنُهُمْ (الأحقاف:25)
…so,
they became such that nothing could be
seen except their
dwellings (Q. 46:25)
This verse was about
Allah’s punishment on the ‘Ᾱd people who did not want to listen to their
Prophet Hῡd to worship Allah. Then strong wind destroyed everything except
their houses.
Dr. Ṭāhā Ḥusayn (d. 1973) of Egypt nicknamed “the foremost
representative of Arabic literature” (عَمِيْدُ الأدَبِ الْعَرَبِي) was reported to have said that Arabic literature is divided
into three kinds: prose, poetry, and the Qur’ān. As the Qur’ān is not poetry,
but the very words of Allah, we treat it with full respect, and read it with
its own rules, called عِلمُ التَّجْوِيْد (“The
art of reciting the Qur’ān”), i.e., the Qur’ān reciting according to the
established rules on pronunciation and intonation. (CIVIC, 04.04.14)
المصادر:
المكتبة
الشاملة
تفسير الطبري
تفسير القرطبي
http://ejabat.google.com/ejabat/thread?tid=4e9c1cedd15ca3e8
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/401277/al-Nabighah-al-Dhubyani
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/284295/Imru-al-Qayshttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/401277/al-Nabighah-al-Dhubyani
http://pulpit.alwatanvoice.com/articles/2009/12/29/184413.html
http://islamport.com/w/lqh/Web/2621/1.htm
ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/ع
www.awzan.com/bu7oor/bu7oor1.htm
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