The Qur'an and Its Study. Adnan Zarzour
full in a few months, and some people achieve this even in a few weeks. None of the superb speeches of the Arabs of old, or the texts of the finest writers of Arabic literature, of olden and recent times, comes close to this.
May we say that the revelation of the Qur’an in ‘poetic language’ meant that it did not need to be in poetry so as to be recited and memorised. This is particularly so because it attained with this language a standard of superior excellence that is impossible to imitate. Moreover, the poetry of this language needs metres that bear special significance once added to the phonic patterns of words and structures. Hence, what may be called poetry in other languages does not necessarily apply to Arabic. Hence, we find it very strange when writers speak of their ‘prose poems’.
Moreover, in its sentences, verses and surahs, the Qur’anic text flows in a unique way, one that we may describe as the Qur’anic spirit or the essence of its construction. Hence, it is perhaps right to say that whoever achieves a good standard of reading or reciting this inimitable book can read and recite well any text of Arabic literature across the language’s history from pre-Islamic days to the present. The reverse does not apply. To prove this we may need broad theoretical and applied studies. What we may say for the present is that the literary or poetic nature of Arabic, which is reflected in its sounds, vocabulary, rules and constructions, attains in this immortal book a summit that cannot be scaled by anyone. Reading the Qur’an and reciting it according to the considered rules of recitation, i.e. tajwīd, gives a person a good command of literary language and enhances his phonetic skills. Furthermore, it gives him a wealth of expressions and fine meanings that is not confined to scholars or adults. The Qur’an is a book that is rich in the best linguistic constructions and the finest literary expressions, all of which are easily memorised. When children start, at five years of age, to memorise parts of the Qur’an, they are able to achieve a good command of Arabic and gain a keen sense of faith and solid moral values that stay with them for life.
2. The Arabs and the Qur’an
The Qur’an was revealed to the Arabs in their own language. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was an Arab from the Quraysh, and he was given his message among them. Then, the Arabs carried this noble book, the Qur’an, to the world as a message for mankind embodying God’s grace to the world. The role of the Arabs with regards to the Qur’an is to deliver or present it to people, showing them the guidance it provides and to strive to make it known. In this way, they take mankind from darkness into light. Their role is by no means one of stressing their own supremacy or fanatic preaching. It is the role of one assigned a hard task for which he has to strive with great effort. Human privileges are associated with tasks to be fulfilled and burdens to be carried, not with pleasure and enjoyment. God says to His Messenger in the Qur’an: ‘Hold fast to what has been revealed to you: you certainly are on a straight path; and it is an honour for you andyour people. In time, you will all be called to account’ (43: 43–44). Commenting on these verses, Ibn Kathir said: ‘Take the Qur’an, revealed to you, because it is the truth. It guides you to the truth and to God’s straight path that leads to Heaven and its everlasting happiness and bliss... The Qur’an is an honour granted to the Prophet and to his community. It has been revealed in their language. They are the ones who understand it best. Hence, they should be the keenest to learn what it requires of them and to fully implement it.’10
God has made mankind into nations and communities, giving them talents of different types: mental, literary, artistic and scientific. Thus, mankind can complement one another. They should not make their talents a basis to press their superiority on one another. To press one’s superiority over others on the basis of natural qualities that are given to man, and about which one can do nothing either to acquire or discard them, such as regards race or colour, is merely to confine oneself to the stage of childhood or adolescence. This is something that is unbecoming of any rational and mature person. Humanity should have got rid of such attitudes when it received the Qur’anic revelation that says: ‘Mankind! We have created you all out of a male and a female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another’ (49: 13). Having established this, the verse goes on to state the proper criterion which gives people their status. This is due to personal action that is undertaken by free will and clear resolve. God says: ‘Truly, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most genuinely God-fearing’ (49: 13).
The criteria to determine superiority is not based on the qualities that distinguish a particular community or nation. These qualities are meant to stress the unity of the human race and to make it easier for people to get to know one another. Moreover, every good quality entails certain duties and responsibilities that are commensurate with its nature and value. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: ‘The people who are put to the hardest test are the prophets, then the most God-fearing, then the test gets easier as their good qualities get less and less.’11
God chose the Arabs to be the bearers of His last message to mankind. He knew that they were most qualified for this by their nature and talents, not by their behaviour and practices. Such was the case at a moment in history which witnessed wars and conflicts and in an environment that suffered a number of ills in relation to the economy pertaining therein, social relations and other areas of life. Hence the Prophet’s statement: ‘You find people of different metal. The best of them prior to Islam are the best under Islam, if they get a good grasp of it. You will find among the best people in this faith some who hated it most before accepting it’ (Related by Muslim). This is also indicated by the Prophet’s supplication: ‘My Lord, give good support for Islam through the one who You love best: either Abū Jahl or ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb’ (Related by Ahmad and al-Tirmidhī). This prayer for one of the two means that each of them could, by nature and talent, achieve a high standard. In reality, it was ‘Umar who became a Muslim and climbed higher and higher to achieve a unique status in Islamic and human history. Abū Jahl was by no means a lesser person by nature or talent, but all this was smothered by hatred and arrogance and was eventually buried under heaps of desert sand. His talent and good nature were lost when the man denied Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the Qur’an. In the context of mental, literary and other qualities possessed by the Arabs, Ibn Taymiyyah draws the same distinction and says:
The basis of the [Arabs’] distinction is their special qualities: mental, language, ethics and actions. People are distinguished either by useful knowledge or good action.
Knowledge has a start which is the mental ability to understand and retain, and a final point which is the logical ability to express and explain. The Arabs are better qualified in these than other nations, and their tongue is the best in expression and distinction of meaning.
Action is determined by ethics, which are personal instincts. The instincts of the Arabs are more responsive to goodness. They are more ready to show generosity, forbearance, courage, honourable commitment and other good values. Prior to Islam, however, they had a nature that was susceptible to goodness but were prevented from doing it. They had no revealed knowledge, nor a code of law given to them by a prophet. Nor were they pursuing some purely mental knowledge. All their knowledge was what their talent gave them of poetry and fine speeches, what they learnt of their history, ancestors and special days, and what they needed to learn about the weather, the stars and war.
Then God sent Muhammad (peace be upon him) with the best guidance that He has or will ever place on earth, and they (the Arabs) first responded with determined opposition. He worked hard to move them away from their ignorant practices and the darkness of unbelief that corrupted their nature. When they accepted that great guidance, all the rust that covered their hearts and minds was removed. They now had the light of Divine guidance and responded to it with their good nature. Thus, they combined the power they were created with and the perfection God revealed to them. That was like a land that is fertile but neglected, allowing weeds and useless trees to grow in it and letting pigs and wild animals make it their habitation. If this land is cleared of useless plants and wild animals, and then planted with grains and fruit trees, it will yield very useful crops.12
In his lucid style, Ibn Taymiyyah refers to the advantage of the Arabic tongue. He also refers to the clear compatibility between the natural strengths of the Arabs and the perfection of the Qur’an and the Divine law revealed to them.