The Qur'an and Its Study. Adnan Zarzour

      The Qur’an and Arabic

       Chapter 1

       The Language of the Qur’an

       Chapter 2

       The Impact of the Qur’an on Arabic

       Chapter 3

       The Impact of the Qur’an on Islamic Culture and Civilisation

1

      The Language of the Qur’an

1. The Arabic Tongue¹

      That God chose Arabic from among the great multitude of human languages to be the language of His last Book addressed to mankind suggests that the Arabic tongue has particular and very important features that place it above others. We should remember too that the Prophet Muhammad’s greatest miracle is closely related to the expression of the message. So, the miraculous aspect of the Qur’an, which is associated with a challenge to produce even a small portion like it, relates purely to its language and way of expression, as confirmed by many scholars.

      An important aspect of Arabic is that it uses the whole length of the vocal tract. Its sounds are perfectly and accurately arranged to make use of all places of articulation. This is a highly useful feature of Arabic. The late ‘Abbās Mahmūd al-‘Aqqād describes Arabic as a ‘poetic language’ which uses the artistic and musical patterns of poetry. He adds: ‘This quality is clear in Arabic sounds, on their own, and how they are articulated; in Arabic words, on their own; and in its rules and phraseology; as also in its metres of poetry... The human system of articulation is a complete musical instrument. No community, past or present, has used it to its full potential as the Arab nation has done, making use of all its places of articulation to distribute its sounds.’²

      Al-Aqqad further explains that the Arabic alphabet does not include more sounds than these languages: ‘Arabic on the other hand has more sounds that are not repeated with additional features. No place of articulation in the vocal tract is missing in Arabic. Indeed, Arabic relies on distributing its sounds along the right places in the vocal tract, without the need to add or omit features of articulation.’³

      In his discussion of the poetic aspect of Arabic, from the point of view of its sounds, al- ‘Aqqād describes Arabic as ‘an articulate human language’ because of its full usage of the system of speech. Arabic, in his view, does not omit any tool of sound.

      The best known sound that, according to al-‘Aqqād, exists only in Arabic is the ḍād, given the symbol, ḍ. Indeed, Arabic is often referred to as the language of the ‘ḍād’, making it the one sound that distinguishes it from all other languages. Perhaps this is due to the fact that this sound alone represents the vocal system in Arabic, since some of the other five sounds that exist in Arabic only may also exist in other languages with some variation of articulation. This sound is the only one given in Arabic that features istiṭālah, which scholars of Qur’anic recitation define as ‘the spread of the sound along the length of the tongue’. As such, it represents the vocal system and has no parallel in other languages.⁴

      Al-‘Aqqād’s remark that Arabic is an articulate language may refer to the fact that in addition to its having these special sounds, Arabic incorporates all that is given to other languages of these sounds.

      We cannot include here even a summary of all that al-‘Aqqād says about what may be termed the excellence of the Arabic tongue, or how Arabic sounds give the language its poetic character. Nor can we give a full account of his discussion of individual terms, case markings, poetic metres, allegory, as well as what he terms scientific eloquence. Indeed, we will only make a few short quotations. On words, he says that poetic talent is equally or even more apparent in sounds ‘because words add the musical quality of rules and meanings to the clearly noticeable music of pronunciation, even without any particular meaning speakers express.’⁵

      In the composition of words from letters and sounds, it is sufficient to note that the wazn, i.e. phonic pattern, is what distinguishes the parts of speech in Arabic. Other derivative languages of the Semitic group have not attained the same high standards of derivation control according to the phonic pattern. In Arabic, phonic patterns apply to all parts of speech and match, as perfectly as possible, the structure of a word to its meaning. Yanẓur, nāẓir, manẓūr, naẓīr, naẓā’ir, naẓẓārah, munāẓarah, minẓār, manẓar, muntaẓar, are a few of the derivations from the root naẓara. The differences between them are those of nouns, verbs, adjectives, singular and plural. Yet all these differences are based on the phonic patterns, or rather the different musical notes in pronouncing them.⁶

      Phonic patterns of individual words in other languages do not follow the same system. Words may have the same phonic pattern but without any reference to similarity of meaning, or coining nouns, verbs or prepositions. They may have phonic similarities, but it is only accidental. Without it, such languages would have had as many phonic patterns as their vocabulary.⁷

      These quotations give us enough to understand why the Arabic tongue is described in the Qur’an as ‘making things clear’, and why it is contrasted with other languages.⁸ God says in the Qur’an: ‘We know fully well that they say: “It is but a man that teaches him [all] this.” But the man to whom they so maliciously allude speaks a foreign tongue, while this is Arabic speech, pure and clear’ (16: 103). ‘Most certainly, this [Qur’an] has been bestowed from on high by the Lord of all the worlds. The trustworthy Spirit has brought it down into your heart – so that you may give warning, in the clear Arabic tongue’ (26: 192–195). We now realise why the Qur’an was revealed in the Arabic language. Many Muslim authors have expressed the view that as a clear and lucid tongue, Arabic is the most suited language God has given to communities and nations to carry God’s Book which is inimitable in both word and meaning. God says: ‘Yet before this the book of Moses was revealed as a guide and a (sign of God’s) grace. This Book confirms it in the Arabic tongue, to warn the wrongdoers and to give good news to those who do good’ (46: 12).

      The language that is poetic in its sounds, vocabulary and inflection is the one most suited to express the Qur’an, God’s eternal word. God wanted His Book to be superior to poetry in its precision and effect, as well as in its rhythm and music.⁹ It is well known that, unlike Arabic poetry, the Qur’an does not maintain rhymes or metres. Yet the Qur’an renders itself to reading and recitation in a way that accommodates musical