10. THE
USE OF REPETITION IN THE QUR’ĀN (5)
We continue dealing with
some examples of repetition in the Qur’ān in Shaykh Maḥmūd al-Kermānī’s book where he mentions 590 examples, as
follows:
9 (575). كَلَّا سَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ (“Nay! You shall come to know!”)
is repeated twice in sūrat
al-Takāthur (chapter 102) as follows:
أَلْهَاكُمُ التَّكَاثُرُ. حَتَّى زُرْتُمُ الْمَقَابِرَ
(التَّكَاثُرُ: 1-2)
The mutual
rivalry (for piling up of worldly
things)
diverts you, until you visit the graves
(i.e. till
you die) (Q. 102:1-2)
While the Prophet s.a.w. was
citing “The mutual rivalry diverts you…” he said: “The son of Adam
says: ‘My wealth, my wealth.’ But do you get anything (of benefit) from your
wealth except for that which you ate and you finished it, or that which you
clothed yourself with and you wore it out, or that which you gave as charity
and you have spent it?” He also said: “If the Son of Adam had a valley
of gold, he would desire another like it…”
كَلَّا
سَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ. ثُمَّ كَلَّا سَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ (التَّكَاثُرُ: 3-4)
Nay! You shall come to know! Again nay!
You shall come to know!
(Q.
102:3-4)
Al-Kermānī
mentions three different views concerning this repetition “Nay! You shall
come to know!”: (a) repetition is for emphasis; (b) it deals with two
different times and places: the grave and he Resurrection, and therefore, there
is no repetition here; (c) the first one is directed to disbelievers as a threat,
and the second is directed to believers as a promise (according to al-Ḍaḥḥāk).
كَلَّا لَوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عِلْمَ الْيَقِينِ. لَتَرَوُنَّ
الْجَحِيمَ.
ثُمَّ لَتَرَوُنَّهَا عَيْنَ الْيَقِينِ (التَّكَاثُرُ:
5-7)
Nay, if you knew with a sure knowledge (the
end result of piling up, you would not have
been occupied yourselves in worldly things).
Verily, you shall see the blazing Fire (Hell)!
And again you shall see with certainty
of sight! )Q.
102:5-7)
The
term كَلَّا (“nay”) is repeated three times as
prevention and rebuke from piling up worldly things (الردع و الزجر عن التكاثر) according to one opinion, and as an oath
according to another.
There
are three views concerning seeing the blazing Fire: (a) the repetition of
seeing indicates emphasis; (b) seeing before entering the Fire, and the second
seeing is after entering the Fire; (c) seeing with heart, namely, knowing, and
the second one is seeing with one’s eye, namely, witnessing.[1]
Then the chapter
ends with:
ثُمَّ
لَتُسْأَلُنَّ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَنِ النَّعِيمِ (التَّكَاثُرُ: 8)
Then on that Day you
shall be asked about the
delights (you
indulged in, in this world)! (Q. 102:8)
10 (578) وَتَوَاصَوْا (“and
they recommend one another”) is repeated twice in sūrat a-‘Aṣr (chapter
103) as follows:
وَالْعَصْرِ. إِنَّ
الْإِنْسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ. إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا
الصَّالِحَاتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا
بِالصَّبْرِ (الْعَصْر:1-3)
By the time. Verily, man
is in loss, except those who
believe and do righteous deeds, and recommend
one
another to the truth, and recommend one
another
to patience (Q. 103:1-3)
There are
three views about the meaning of al-‘aṣr: (a) “evening time” according
to al-Ḥasan and Qatādah. It is the time when the traders go home and calculate their profit from their trades that
day – but Allah says they all will get lose with some exceptions. ‘Aṣr
prayer is performed in late evening. (b) “a period of time of the day,” according to Ibn Abbās without
specification; (c) “time” in general which is the opinion of Qur’an
commentators in general.
Allah swears
by time that man is in loss (in
disaster, according to al-Akhfash), non-believers in general (including a group
of idolaters, such as: al-Walīd ibn Mughīrah, al-‘Āṣ ibn Wāil, etc.),
except those who believe in Islam, and do good deeds, and recommend one
another to the truth (namely, tawḥīd, the Oneness of Allah according
to Ibn ‘Abbās, the Qur’ān according to
Qatādah, and Allah according to al-Suddī), and recommend one another to
patience (namely, in obeying Allah, and
avoiding what Allah prohibits, according to Qatādah).
. Ubayy ibn Ka‘b said
that he read this surah before the Prophet s.a.w. and asked its
meanings. He said:
“By the Time” is an oath from Allah, your
Lord made an oath by the end of the day.
“Verily, man is in loss” is Abū Jahl. “Except
those who believe”
is Abū Bakr. “And do
good deeds” is
‘Umar. “And recommend
one another
to the truth” is ‘Uthmān,
and recommend
one another
to patience”
is ‘Alī.
This
interpretation was adopted by al-Kermānī. He added that the repetition of “and
they recommend one another” is necessary because each of it deals with
different objects, namely, “the truth” and “the patience.” it is also said so
because each of them has different subject.
11 (589). مِنْ شَرِّ (“from the evil of”) is repeated four
times in sūrat al-Falaq (chapter
109), as follows:
قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ. مِنْ شَرِّ مَا
خَلَقَ. وَمِنْ شَرِّ غَاسِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبَ.
وَمِنْ شَرِّ النَّفَّاثَاتِ فِي الْعُقَدِ. وَمِنْ
شَرِّحَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ (الْفَلَق :1-5)
Say: “I seek refuge with the Lord of the rising
dawn
[الْفَلَقِ , morning,
according to Ibn ‘Abbas, Mujāhid,
al-Ḥasan, Qatādah and others]. From the evil of
what
He has created. And from the evil of the black
darkness
whenever it descends [غَاسِقٍ إِذَا
وَقَبَ ,
the night
whenever the sun sets, according to
to Mujāhid][2].
And from the evil of the
blowers in knots. And from the
evil of
the envier when he
envies. (Q. 113:1-5)
Al-Kermānī
says that the term مِنْ شَرِّ
(“from the evil of”) is repeated five times because it deals with different
kinds of evil.
12 (590). النَّاسِ (“men, people”) is repeated
five times in sūrat al-Nās (chapter 114), as follows:
قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ. مَلِكِ النَّاسِ. إِلَهِ النَّاسِ. مِنْ شَرِّالْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ . الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ.مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ
وَالنَّاسِ (النَّاس:1-6)
I seek refuge with the Lord of men, the King
of men, the God of men, from the evil of the
whisperer who withdraw, who whispers in the
breast of men, of jinn and men (Q. 114:1-6)
Al-Kermānī says that repetition here is used to
indicate: (a) respect for them; (b) each of the verse is separated from the
other, indicated with the absence of conjunction, namely, “and.” (c) the first
“men,” namely, in رَبِّ النَّاسِ are the children, as the
term رَبّ (rabb) translated as “Lord” above originally
means “educator, namely, the one who brings something into being from one
state to another until it reaches its perfection (maturity)”[3]
; therefore, رَبِّ النَّاسِ is in this sense “He is
the One Who raises and educates children”; the second “men,” namely, in مَلِكِ النَّاسِ"
(“King of men”) are the youth, as this
period of time they like to have authority and are difficult to control, and it
is Allah as their King Who would be able
control and have authority on them; the third “men,” namely, in إِلَهِ النَّاسِ (“the God of men”) are old people, as the term ilāh (god) is
associated with worship; the fourth “men,” namely, those who are protected from
the temptation of whisperers in their breasts are pious and devout people; the
fifth “men” are corrupt and bad people who tempt others to do evil.
There is a variant reading for فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ which is فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِي “in the heart of the forgetful”
(from remembering Allah)” where, for the sake of rhyme or easy reading, the
ending ي is
dropped and becomes النَّاسِ. There are many examples in
the Qur’an where letter يis dropped, such as: إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ (الذاريات: 56) , فَهُوَ الْمُهْتَدِ (الكهف:17) ,البقرة: 186) الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ, الْعَاكِفُ فِيهِ وَالْبَاد (الحج:25)
(البادي: أهل البادية) , فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ
وَأَطِيعُونِ (آل عمران:50) (CIVIC, 11 March, 2016)
المكتبة
الشاملة:
تفسير الطبري )ت. 310 هـ (
تفسير القرطبى )ت. 671 هـ (
تفسير ابن كثير )ت. 774 هـ(
الكَرَمَانِي, تَاجُ القُرَّاء مَحْمُوْد بن حَمْزَة.
أَسْرَارُ التَّكْرَارِ فِي الْقُرْآنِ. دراسة و تحقيق عبد القادر أحمد عطا. القاهرة:
دار الإعتصام, 1398\1978.
مفردات ألفاظ القرآن للعلامة الراغب الإصفهاني (ت.425\1132)
Muhammad Asad, The
Message of the Qur’ān. Gibraltar:
Dār al-Andalus Ltd, 1984
http://www.alsh3r.com/encyclopedia/view/115
[1] The Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyyah (661-728/1263-1328) divides yaqīn (certainty) into three levels: (a)
‘ilm al-yaqīn ,عِلْمُ الْيَقِين) knowledge with certainty), for example, we know for certain that fire
burns; (b) ‘ayn al-yaqīn,عيْنُ الْيَقْيْن) seeing with certainty),
namely, seeing is believing, for example, we see fire burning; (c) ḥaqq al-yaqīn , حَقُّ
الْيَقِيْن) absolute truth with certainty), which is the highest
level of certainty, for example, when your
finger is burnt by fire, and you feel the pain.
[2] Other interpretations of غَاسِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبَ are:
(a) the star when it sets, accoding to Abḍ Hurayrah as reported by Abū
‘l-Muhazzim. (b) According to Ibn Zayd the Arabs used to call غَاسِقٍ the
declination of the heavenly body known as the Pleiades (الثًّرَيَّا); whenever it would decline the number of people who were ill
would increase, and when it would rose their number would lessen. (c) the moon
as reported by ‘Ā’ishah r.a. that the Prophet s.a.w. showed her the moon when it
rose and said: “Seek refuge with Allah from the غَاسِقٍ when it becomes dark.
[3] الرب في الأصل: التربية, وهو إنشاء الشيْئ حالا
فحالا إلى حد التمام (أنظر مفردات ألفاظ القرآن للعلامة الراغب الإصفهاني ص 336)
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