Saleem M. et al.; Saudi J. Humanities Soc. Sci.

; Vol-1, Iss-1(Jan-Mar, 2016):32-35

Saudi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences ISSN 2415-6256 (Print)

Scholars Middle East Publishers ISSN 2415-6248 (Online)
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Linguistic Analysis: the distinctiveness Text of the Qur’an

Muhammad Saleem1, Dr. Karim Dad2
1
M.Phil Scholar, Department of Humanities, Air University Islamabad, Pakistan
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Studies, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Pakistan

*Corresponding Author:
Muhammad Saleem
Email: [email protected]

Abstract: The study investigates the literary form of the Holy book—The Qur‘an. The book is explaining the principles
of Islam— a religion of Muslim Umah. In the era and since the Prophet Muhammad‘s time, it was questioned that it is a
book written by a poet. It has been under the keen study to know the language used in the Holy Qur‘an. The study
explains the language of the Holy Qur‘an. The Qur‘an is not prose and that it is not verse either. It is rather Qur‘an, and it
cannot be called by any other name. The Holy Quran is the reference book for more than 1.6 billion of Muslims all
around the world. Extracting information and knowledge from the Holy Quran is of high benefit for both specialized
people in Islamic studies as well as none specialized people. The word Qur‘an has never been used for any other book
since long in the history of the universe. It has its unique form[1]. This study helps to introduce the reader to the language
of the Holy Qur‘an.
Keywords: Qur‘an, Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), Arabic‘s Literature

INTRODUCTION Qur'an and History with the title a Disputed

Islam is the religion of peace, equality and Relationship Some Reflections on Qur'anic History and
moderation. It teaches the way of life. First words History in the Qur'an. He examines the history and the
―Read in the Name of your Lord‖ (Qur‘an Chap. Holy Quran. In 2008 Daoud Mohammad Nassimi
96:1).These words of the Holy Qur‘an revealed to the researched the book with angle of –a thematic
Prophet Muhammad over fourteen hundred and thirty comparative review of some English translations of the
seven years ago. The Prophet Muhammad –known to qur'an. In which he found the mistakes i.e.
have been in retreat and meditation in a cave outside morphological, syntactical and semantically. The more
Makkah, City of Saudi Arabia. Arabic literature had recent work in 2010, Dr.Muhammad Sultan Shah
been influenced by the language and revelation of the analyzed critically the Study of Abdel Haleem‘s New
Holy Qur‘an[2]. It was neither a piece of poetry nor a Translation of the Holy Qur‘an. In order to get deep into
prose but had used for the matters of believes, Islamic the language of the Holy qur‘an. Qur‘an has no extra
law, spiritual awareness and economic management. In requirement for the perfection it is perfect. In 2010
was entirely in new literary form (Ibid). The Holy Angelika Neuwirth, Nicolai Sinai and Michael Marx
Qur‘an is pointed to be the perfect book. It is as though very interesting work ―The Qurʾān in Context Historical
Muhammad (May Peace and Blessing be Upon Him) and Literary Investigations into the Qurʾānic Milieu.
had created an entirely new literary for –Without this These kinds of research and publication have helped a
experience of the Qur‘an- it is extremely unlikely that lot in the modern ear for the religion Islam.
Islam would have taken root.
―Never have you read a book before this, nor
―Western people find the Koran a difficult have you ever transcribed one with your right
book and this is largely a problem of hand. Had you done either of these, the
translation. Arabic is particularly difficult to unbelievers might have doubted. But to those
translate: even ordinary literature and the who understanding the Qur‘an are endowed
mundane utterances of politicians frequently with knowledge it is an undoubted sign. Only
sound stilted and alien when translated into the wrongdoers deny Our signs‖ (Qur‘an
English, for example, and this is doubly true of 29:48)
the Koran, which is written in dense and highly
allusive, elliptical speech‖[3]. The Quran has had an extraordinary impact
on the social, political and legal systems of the
This unique literary form was the cause of the various Muslim societies throughout the history, which
dramatic intellectual revival of desert Arabs. Angelika continues into the present times. The constitutions of
Neuwirth, a writer has worked upon the religious book several Muslim majority states canonize Islamic law

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Saleem M. et al.; Saudi J. Humanities Soc. Sci.; Vol-1, Iss-1(Jan-Mar, 2016):32-35
and thus the Quran forms the basis of legal precepts in transcending features of saj‘ and Using literary and
those countries. This is by no means a recent linguistic devices that render it stylistically distinct.
development. As Iqbal said in 2013, the Quran formed
the foundation of the legal codes in the earliest Arabic’s Literature
Muslim empires and was extensively utilized by the The Muslims and Non-Muslims
jurists in court proceedings. scholarships—the Qur‘an cannot be described as any of
the known forms of Arabic speech; namely poetry and
The Qur’an’s Uniqueness prose. The form of the Qur‘an is something different
The word qur‘an lexically means ‗reading‘ and than any other text. You know that the Qur‘an is not
came to refer to ‗the text which is read‘. The Muslim prose and that it is not verse either. It is rather Qur‘an,
scripture often calls itself ‗kitab‘: lexically this means and it cannot be called by any other name but this. It is
‗writing‘ and came to refer to ‗the written book‘. Thus not verse, and that is clear; for it does not bind itself to
the significance of uttering and writing the revealed the bonds of verse. It is not prose, for it is bound by
scripture is emphasized from the very beginning of bonds peculiar to itself, not found elsewhere; some of
Islam, and is locked in the very nouns that designate the the binds are related to the endings of its verses and
Qur‘an[4]. The human would like to start being writing some to that musical sound which is all its own. It is
about the different qualities of Qur‘an; the Day of therefore neither verse nor prose. It is –a Book whose
Judgment would come but they will not be able to finish verses have been perfected the expounded, from One
the uniqueness of Holy book, The Qur‘an. The unique Who is Wise; All-Aware. We cannot therefore say its
literary form forms the backdrop to the doctrine of I‘jaz prose, and its text itself is not verse. It has been one of a
al-Qur‘an, the inimitability of the Qur‘an. It lies at the kind, and nothing like it has ever preceded or followed
heart of the Qur‘an‘s claim to being of divine origin. If it[6]. Every expression of the Arabic language falls into
you are in doubt of what We have revealed to Our the literary forms of Prose and Poetry. There are other
messenger, then produce one chapter like it. Call upon sub-forms that fall into the above categories such as
all your helpers, besides Allah, if you are truthful. Kahin; a sub-form of rhymed prose. However all
(Chap. 2:23). The further evidence and explanation are literary forms can be categorized as prose or poetry.
exemplified with this –Or do they say he fabricated the
message? Nay, they have no faith. Let them produce a Arabic’s Poetry
recital like it, if they speak the truth (Chap.52:33-34) According to English Writer—poetry is the
spontaneous over flow of powerful feelings- said by
These verses issue a challenge to produce a William Words worth. Arabic poetry is a form of
chapter (surah) that imitates the Qur‘an‘s unique literary metrical speech with a rhyme. The rhyme (qafiyah) in
form. The tools needed to meet this challenge are the Arabic poetry is achieved by every line of the poem
finite grammatical rules and the twenty eight letters that ending upon a specific letter[7].The poem moves
make-up the Arabic language; these are independent according to its rhythm, just like the waves in the sea.
and objective measures available to all. The fact that it
has not been matched since it emerged to this day does Arabic’s Prose
not surprise most scholars familiar with the Arabic Arabic Prose can be described as non-metrical
language and that of the Qur‘an. The human beings had speech, meaning it does not have a consistent
shown inability to produce anything like the Holy Book rhythmical pattern like poetry mentioned above. Arabic
–the Qur‘an. Its unique literary form is the essence of prose can be further divided into two categories; saj‘
the Qur‘anic miracle—events which lie outside the which is rhymed prose and Mursal which is straight
productive capacity of nature. The unique literary form prose or what some may call ‗normal speech‘[8].
is beyond the scope of the productive nature any author;
hence a supernatural entity –Allah–is the only sufficient Saj is a literary form with some emphasis on
comprehensive explanation[5]. The book itself, as rhythm and rhyme. It distinct from poetry; Saj‘ is not
printed today, covers less than 500 small pages. It was really assophisticated as poetry, but has been employed
revealed over twenty-three years, which means a rough by Arab poets, and is the best known of the pre-Islamic
average of less than twenty-five pages a year, or two Arabprosodies. It is distinct from poetry in its lack of
pages a month. metre, i.e. it has not consistent rhythmical pattern, and it
shares with poetry the element of rhyme, though in
―And We inspired to Moses, ‗Throw your many cases somewhat irregularly employed.
staff,‘ and at once it devoured what they were
falsifying. So the truth was established, and The Qur’an’s Literary Form
abolished was what they were doing‖ (Qur‘an The Qur‘an has its own unique form. It cannot
7:117-118) be described as any of the known literary forms. The
similarities between saj‘ and early Makki chapters,
It achieves this unique literary form. The some Western Scholars describe the Qur‘an‘s literary
Intermingling metrical and non-metrical speech, form as saj‘. Angelika Neuwrith states,

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Saleem M. et al.; Saudi J. Humanities Soc. Sci.; Vol-1, Iss-1(Jan-Mar, 2016):32-35
―Saj‘ is given up completely in the later suras where the poetic form because the totality of each chapter (surah)
rhyme makes use of a simple –un/-in – scheme to mark does not conform to any of the al-Bihar and in many
the end of rather long and syntactically complex places exhibits inexact and irregular rhyme. Surah al-
verse—saj‘ style is thus exclusively characteristic of the Kawthar (The Abundance).The syllables do not
early suras[9]. The scholars have acknowledged correspond to any pattern similar to the al-Bihar of
uniqueness of the Holy Book, The Qur‘an. Its external Arabic poetry (Andreas). The Readers familiar with
features—the style of the Qur‘an is modeled upon saj‘, Arabic poetry realize that it has long been distinguished
or rhymed prose; but with such freedom that it may by its wazn, bahr, ‗arud and qafiya – exact measures of
fairly be described as original. Those passages from the syllabic sounds and rhymes, which have to be strictly
Qur‘an that approach saj‘ still elude all procrustean adhered to even at the expense of grammar and shade of
efforts to reduce them to an alternative form of saj[10]‘. meaning at times. All this is categorically different from
This shows the undefined form of the Holy Qur‘an— Qur‘anic literary style (khalifa, Colin). The repetition of
book reveled on Prophet Muhammad (May Peace and the word ―anzala‖ is to confirm therevelation of the
Blessing be Upon Him). Thereupon narrates with three Criterion and that it is indeed a divine scripture while
parts. the placement of the word ―alfurqana‖ at the end of the
sentence is to confirm that the Criterion is the last and
a. Metrical and Non Metrical Speech final scripture i.e.66 Ayat refers to examples like these
The Qur‘an achieves this unique literary form by as 'the chemical composition of the Qur'an' which
fusing metrical and non-Metrical speech. This fusion of indicate the delicate and balanced stylistic variation in
metrical and non-metrical composition is present the Qur'an[12]
throughout the whole of the Qur‘an and cannot be found
in any Arabic text, past or present and no possibility in Morphological - Lexicon
the future it is for sure. We divided the lexicon of the Qur'an into three
classes:
b. Qur’anic’s Saj’ i. Closed-class words (including
The Qur‘an shares similar features with saj‘, prepositions, pronouns, particles,
specifically in the early Makki Chapters, but it conjunctions, adverbials, etc.)
completely transcends many aspects of what defines ii. Nominal bases
saj‘. Hence western scholars describing the Qur‘anic iii. Verbal bases[13]
form as ‗Qur‘anicsaj‘. What makes the Qur‘an unique
in this context are: Conclusion
 Greater tendency to mono-rhyme The Qur‘an is a unique form of Arabic speech.
 Inexact rhyme, The form of its language cannot be described as prose
 Greater range of saj‘ phrases or poetry. Qur‘an critics often claim that the Qur‘anic
 Higher frequency of rhetorical features[11] challenge is subjective and is based upon aesthetic
criteria. This is a false accusation. The Qur‘an can
c. Qur’an’s stylistic variations either be described as prose, poetry or unique. Literary
The Arab Linguists such as al-Ash‘ari, al-Rummani forms are not based upon aesthetic criteria; they are
and al-Baqillani held that the Qur‘an does not contain based upon the structural features of a text. It can be
saj‘ and is unique to all types of saj‘. Their reasoning is clearly seen above that literary forms are defined and
that in the Qur‘an, the use of language is semantically can be distinguished from one another. The totality of
orientated and its literary structure is distinct, whereas every chapter has a special character, with its own
in saj‘, conformity to style is a primary objective. unique form, and its unique use of literary devices.
Furthermore the Qur‘an uses literary and linguistic These features of the Qur‘an are part of the reason of
devices in such a way that has not been used before and why it has not been emulated to this day. The Makkians
achieves an unparalleled communicative effect. This still demanded of Him a miracle, and with remarkable
use of language, called stylistic variation or stylistic boldness and self-confidence Muhammad appealed as a
differences, includes, but is not limited to, supreme confirmation of his mission to the Qur‘an
 Word‘s order itself. Like all Arabs they were connoisseurs of
 Choice of Words language and rhetoric. Well, then if the Qur‘an were His
 Semantically driven assonance and rhyme own composition other men could rival it. Let them
produce ten verses like it. If they could not (and it is
 Interrelation between sound, structure and
obvious that they could not), then let them accept the
meaning
Qur‘an as an outstanding evidential miracle. There are
 Unique linguistic genre many Muslim and Non-Muslim Scholars who testify
 Grammatical shifts that the Qur‘an is indeed unique and inimitable.
The Qur’an’s not Poetry
The Holy book Qur‘an—which is proved to
the most read and perfect book. It is not written in

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Saleem M. et al.; Saudi J. Humanities Soc. Sci.; Vol-1, Iss-1(Jan-Mar, 2016):32-35

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