14. THE RHETORICAL EXPRESSIONS
OF THE QUR’ĀN (1)
The Qur’ān
was revealed when the Arabs were at the pinnacle of their poetry and prose, and
yet, they could not even produce the smallest chapter similar to it. The
smallest chapter in the Quran is chapter 108 (al-Kawthar) consisting of
only 3 verses.
The British Orientalist and translator, Forster
Fitzgerald Arbuthnot (1833-1901), said “that though several attempts have
been made to produce a work equal to it as far as elegant writing is concerned,
none has as yet succeeded.” The famous German writer, Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe (1749-1832), said about the Qur’ān
“[…] soon attracts, astounds, and in the end enforces our reverence
[…] Its style, in accordance with its contents and aim is stern, grand – ever
and always, truly sublime – So, this book will go on exercising through all
ages a most potent influence.”
Allah says in the Qur’ān as follows:
وَمَا كَانَ هَذَا الْقُرْآنُ أَنْ يُفْتَرَى
مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَلَكِنْ تَصْدِيقَ الَّذِي بَيْنَ
يَدَيْهِ وَتَفْصِيلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا رَيْبَ
فِيهِ مِنْ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ
قُلْ فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِثْلِهِ وَادْعُوا مَنِ
اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ
إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ (يونس:37-38)
And this Qur’ān is not
such as could ever be
produced by
other than Allah (Lord of the heavens
and the earth),
but it is a confirmation of (the
Revelation)
which was before it [i.e. the Torah and
the Gospel],
and a full explanation of the Book
(i.e. the laws
decreed for mankind)—wherein
there is no doubt—from the Lord of the worlds.
Or do they say: He (Muhammad) has forged it?”
Say: “Bring
then a surah (chapter) like it, and
call upon
whomsoever you can besides Allah,
if you are
truthful.” (Q. 10:376-38)
One of the miraculous natures of the
Qur’ān is its unique literary form. It is different from normal literary forms
of Arabic poetry and prose, as mentioned by Dr. Taha Husayn, that it is neither
pure poetry, nor pure prose, but between. The verses of the Qur’ān are full of
rhetoric, namely, among other things in Western terminology are: alliteration,
analogy, antiphrasis, antithesis, asyndeton, assonance, cadence, chiasmus, epizeuxis, equivoque, homonymy, hyperbole, isocolon, metaphor, palindrome parenthesis, polyptoton, rhetorical questions, and synecdoche.
The frequent use of these rhetorical features excels any other Arabic rhymed
prose. Here are some of their definitions and examples:
1.
الْجِنَاس, assonance,
pun, paronomasia[1]. It is
divided into three categories: (a) complete, (b) incomplete, and (c) simple.
a.
Complete jinās (الْجِنَاسُ التَّام) is when two or more words are exactly the same, but
have different meanings. This can be said to belong to the category of homonym.
For example:
وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ يُقْسِمُ الْمُجْرِمُونَ
مَا لَبِثُوا غَيْرَ
سَاعَةٍ كَذَلِكَ كَانُوا يُؤْفَكُونَ (الروم:55)
And on the Day that the Hour will be established,
the criminals
will swear that they stayed not but
an hour—thus were they evfer deluded [away
from the truth
in this life of the world].(Q. 30:55)
Here the first sā‘ah means “the Day
of the Hour”, whereas the second sā‘ah means “an hour.”
يَكَادُ سَنَا بَرْقِهِ يَذْهَبُ بِالْأَبْصَارِ.
يُقَلِّبُ اللَّهُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ
إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَعِبْرَةً لِأُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ (النور:43-44)
The vivid flash of
its (clouds) lightning nearly
blinds the sight. Allah causes the night and
the
day to succeed ech other. Truly, in this is
indeed a lesson for
those who have
insight (Q. 24:33-34)
The first abṣār is
the plural form of baṣar meaning “eye-sight.” Although it is plural, it
is translated in singular form, because “sights” in plural means something
else, namely, something remarkable, such as “Grand Canyon is one of the sights
of the world.” The second abṣār is the plural form of baṣar meaning
“insight” which is knowledge. It is also translated in singular form, although
it is in plural form, as “insights” in English is usually used to indicate
examples of insight or sudden insight.
The above examples
are of the comolete jinās of nouns. The jinās between
prepositions are so many in the Qur’ān, such as follows:
(37النور:) وَيُنَزِّلُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مِنْ جِبَالٍ فِيهَا مِنْ
بَرَدٍ
He
sends down from the sky some
mountains of hail in them (Q.
24:37)
This is the literal translation of the above verse to indicate that the
preposition min (مِنْ) is mentioned three times each with different
meanings: “from the sky” indicates where the hail cames from; “some mountains”
indicates that “it is not one, but many” (من للتبعيض); “of hail”
indicates the kind of the mountains, not of pebbles, a different ones.
As the word “mountains” in this verse has more than one meaning or
sense, it is ambiguous, and is called equivoque.
(b) Incomplete jinās الْجِنَاسُ غَيْرُ التَّام))
Incoplete jinās ithat it misses one of
the following conditions: (1) vowel signs, called muḥarraf; (2)
letters, called muṣaḥḥaf (3)
number of letters (4) sequence of letters)
(1) Al-jinās al-Muḥarrafالْجِنَاسُ اْلمُحَرَّف) ) occurs if two or more words have different vowels
only, such as:
وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا فِيهِمْ مُنْذِرِينَ.
فَانْظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ
عَاقِبَةُ الْمُنْذَرِينَ (الصافات:72-73)
And indeed We sent among
them warners
(Messengers); Then see
what was the end of
those who were warned (Q. 37:72-73)
those who were warned (Q. 37:72-73)
Ther term mundhirīn
means “warners”, mundharīn means “those who are warned.” The
difference is only in the two vowels, “i” and “a”.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَى مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُمْ بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ
يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَيَقْتُلُونَ
وَيُقْتَلُونَ ... (التوبة:111)
Verily, Allah has purchased
of the believers
their lives and their properties for (the
price)
that their shall be Paradise. They fight in
Allah’s Cause, so they
kill (others) and
are killed… (Q. 9:111)
The example from the sayings of
the Prophet is as follows:
اللّهُمَّ كَمَا حَسَّنْتَ خَلْقِي فَحَسِّنْ خُلُقِي
O Allah, as You have beautified the creation
of me, beautify then my character.
The term khalqī
means “my creation,” whereas khuluqī means “my
character." The difference is between the
vowels “a” and “u…u.”
(2) Al-Jinās al-Muṣaḥḥaf(الْجِنَاسُ اْلمُصَحَّف)
which is also called
Jinās al-Khaṭṭ (جِنَاسُ اْلخَطِّ). It occurs in words when they have the same khaṭṭ, namely, consonantal
sekeleton, but different in meanings, such as:
قُلْ هَلْ نُنَبِّئُكُمْ
بِالْأَخْسَرِينَ أَعْمَالًا. الَّذِينَ ضَلَّ
سَعْيُهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ
يَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ
يُحْسِنُونَ
صُنْعًا (الكهف:103-104)
Say (O Muhammad): “Shall We tell you the
greatest losers in respect of
(their) deeds? Those
whose efforts have been wased in
this life while
they thought that they were
acquiring good
by their deeds.” (Q. 18:103-104)
The term yaḥsabūna means “they think”, whereas yuḥsinūna
means “they do good.” They are different in meaning, but the same in their
consonantal skeleton,
namely, يحسنون and يحسبون are the same if we ignore the dots in
them.
Another example is what Prophet Abraham a.s. says as
mentioned in the Qur’ān as follows:
وَالَّذِي هُوَ يُطْعِمُنِي وَيَسْقِينِ.
وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ
فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ (الشعراء:79-80)
“And it is He Who feeds me abnd gives
me to drink. And when I am ill, it is
He
Who cures me (Q. 26:79-80).
The term yasqīni means “He gives me to drink”,
whereas yashfīni means “He cures me.” Both are different in meaning, but
have the same consonantal skeleton, namely, يسقين and يشفين if we ignore the dots in them.
The example from the sayings of the
Prophet to a young man as follows:
يَا ابْنَ أَخِي! ارْفَعْ ثَوْبَكَ، فَإِنَّهُ
أَنْقَى لِثَوْبِكَ وَأَتْقَى لِرَبِّكَ
(رواه
البخاري و البيهقي و ابن حبان)
O my nephew! Lift up your
dress, for it is
cleaner for your dress and more pious to your
Lord
(Reported
by Bukhārī, Bayhaqī and Ibn Ḥibbān)
The term anqā means “cleaner”,
whereas atqā means “more pious”. They are different in meaning, but have
the same consonantal skeleton, namely أنقى and أتقى if we ignore the dots in them.
The
example from the sayings of the ṣaḥābah (companions of the Prophet), is
what ‘Umar r.a. said:
لَوْ
كُنْتُ تَاجِرًا مَا اخْتَرْتُ غَيْرَ الْعِطْرِ شَيْئًا ,
إِنْ فَاتَنِي رِبْحُهُ مَا فَاتَنِي رِيحُهُ
If I were a a trader, I would not have chosen other
than perfume; if I lost its profit, I would not lose it scent.
The term ribḥuhu means “its profit”, whereas rīḥuhu
means “its scent.” Both are different in meaning, but have the same
consonantal skeleton, namely, ربحه and ريحه if we ignore the dots in
them. (to be continued)
(CIVIC,
13 May, 2016)
المراجع:
المكتبة الشاملة
https://islamwich.com/2013/04/03/quranic-challenge/
http://www.hamzatzortzis.com/essays-articles/exploring-the-quran/the-inim
http://forums.roro44.net/545849.html
[1]Pun or paronomasia is the use of words with similar
sounds but different in meaning, such as: “tun a gitar” and “tuna guitar”,
“prophet” and “profit.” In Malay and Indonesian language we have the word beruang
which has two meanings: “bear” and “to have money.” So, if we say “beruang
beruang” it means “the bear has money.” The example in modern Arabic poetry is
that of Ismā‘īl Ṣabrī Pasha (1854-1923) who had a sister called Asmā, as
follows:
(البحر الوافر: مفاعلتن مفاعلتن
فعولن)
طَرَقْتُ اْلبَابَ حَتَّى كَلَّ مَتْنِىْ * فَلَمَّــــا كَلَّ مَتْنِىْ كَلَّمَتْنِــــي
فَقَالَتْ يَا إسْمَاعِيـْـــــلُ صَبْرًا * فَقًلْتُ يَا اْسمَا]ء[
عِيْـــلَ صَبْرِي
I knocked at the door until I got tired [of knocking]
When I got tired she talked to me
She said, “O Isma’il, be patient!”
Then I said, “O Asmā, I have lost my patience.”
كَلَّ+ مَتْنِىْ = my arm has become tired
= she talked to meكَلَّمَتْ +نِــــي
يَا+ إسْمَاعِيـْـــــلُ+
صَبْرًا = O
Isma ‘īl, be patient
يَا +اْسمَاء +
عْيـْـــلَ+ صَبْرِي = O Asmā’, my patience has almost gone
This
is called invented (fabricated) jinās (الجناس الملفّق) that may confuse the
listeners.
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