Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T17:04:50.878Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Grammatical Shift for Rhetorical Purposes: Iltifāt and Related Features in the Qur'ān

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

M. A. S. Abdel Haleem
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In a study which has been described as pioneering, Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft, Theodor Nöldeke ‘discussed in detail the “Stylistische und syntaktische Eigentümlichkeiten der Sprache des Korans” (pp. 5–23) thereby collecting together everything that had occurred to him in this respect during his protracted and intensive study of the Holy Book of the Muslims.’ Among the examples Nöldeke discusses (pp. 13–14) are Q. 7 (not 77 which is clearly a misprint in his text): 55, 27:61; 35:27, 6:99, 20:55, 10:23, etc. where there is a sudden shift in the pronoun of the speaker or the person spoken about, known as iltifāt in balāgha (Arabic rhetoric), though Nöldeke does not refer to the term here. Introducing his discussion of this feature, Nöldeke remarks that ‘the grammatical persons change from time to time in the Qur'ān in an unusual and not beautiful way (nicht schöner Weise)’ (p. 13). This is a personal value judgement. Arab writers, in contrast see the matter differently. Ibn al-Athīr, for instance, after studying this stylistic feature, as we shall see below, classed it among the ‘remarkable things and exquisite subtleties we have found in the Glorious Qur'ān.’ It will be seen that the examples Nöldeke cites immediately following the statement quoted above do not occur haphazardly in the Qur'ān but follow a pattern. Examination of where exactly the shift occurs and why, will show how effective the technique is in these examples and why Muslim literary critics and exegetes greatly admire iltifāt and its related features. Nöldeke further remarks (p. 14) that in a few places the second and third person plural are exchanged abruptly: 30:38, 49:7, 10:23. Here again it will be seen that the changes are made according to an effective pattern and that the frequency of occurrences of this type is much greater than is indicated by Nöldeke.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , October 1992 , pp. 407 - 432
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Strassburg, Verlag von Karl J. Trübner, 1910.

2 Paret, R., The Cambridge history of Arabic literature, 1 (1983), 205Google Scholar.

3 According to the numbering system used in the Egyptian edition of the Qur'ān which I follow, this is 7:57; similarly, there is a slight difference in some other numbers; but as I include the Arabic version of citations there is no risk of confusion.

4 al-Jāmi' al-kabīr fi ṣinā'at al-manẓūm min al-kalām wa'l-manthūr, (ed.) M., Jawād and J., Sa'īd (Iraq, 1956), 98Google Scholar.

5 See for instance, al-Tibyān fī 'ilm al-ma'ānī wa'l-badī' wa'l-bayān by Husayn, b. Muhammad al-Ṭībī (743/1342), (Baghdad, 1987), 284–8;Google Scholaral-Iḍāḥ fī'ulūm al-bālagha, by al-Qazwīnī, M. M. A. (793/1338), (Cairo, 1971), 43–5Google Scholar.

6 This was a general practice for centuries, in writing textbooks on various subjects in Arabic, and not just balāgha, where some striking examples were simply copied by successive writers who found these age-old examples adequate and saw no need to depart from them.

7 al-Mathal al-sā'ir fī adab al-kātib wa'l-shā'ir, II (ed.) al-Hamīd, M. M. 'Abd (Cairo, 1933), 4–19;Google Scholaral-Jāmi'a'l-kabīr fī ṣinā'at al-manẓūm min al-kalām wa'l-manthūr (Baghdad, 1956), 98–105Google Scholar.

8 Matḷūb, A., Muj'am al-muṣṭalahāt al-balāghiyya wa-taṭawwurha, I (Baghdad, 1983), 302Google Scholar.

9 aI-Itqān fī 'ulūm al-Qur'ān, III (Cairo, 1967), 253–9Google Scholar.

10 al-Burhān fī 'ulūm al-Qur'ān, III (Cairo, 1958), 314–37Google Scholar.

11 Abū 'Alī, M: Dirāsāt fī'l-balāgha (Amman, 1984), 127Google Scholar.

12 See Ibn, al-Athīr, al-Mathal al-sā'ir, II, 4Google Scholar.

13 The famous al-Arba'īn of Nawawī, for instance (Beirut, 1976)Google Scholar.

14 Qur'ānic studies: sources and methods of scriptural interpretation (Oxford 1977), 227–46Google Scholar.

15 op. cit., 249–51.

16 Bell's Introduction to the Qur'ān: completely revised and enlarged by W. Montgomery Watt, Islamic Surveys, Edinburgh University Press, 1970, 79–85Google Scholar.

17 EI (2nd ed.) V, 419–21.

18 op. cit., 196–202.

19 Abū, Hilālal-'Askarī, , Kitāb al-ṣinā'atayn (Cairo, 1952), 392Google Scholar.

20 See Al-Bāqillānī, M.b.T: I'jāz al-Qur'ān, (ed.) Ṣaqr, S. A. (Cairo, n.d.), 149–51Google Scholar.

21 See Ma'āni'l-Qur'ān, I (Cairo, 1955) 60;Google ScholarMajāz al-Qur'ān, II (Cairo, 1954), 139;Google ScholarTa'wīl mushkil al-Qur'ān (Cairo, 1954), 223;Google Scholaral-Kāmil, II (Cairo, 1936), 729Google Scholar.

22 Naqd al-shi'r (Cairo, 1963), 167Google Scholar.

23 al-Ṣinā'atayn (Cairo, 1952), 392Google Scholar.

24 Kashshāf, 1 (Beirut, 1967), 62–5 et passimGoogle Scholar.

25 Miftāḥ al-'ulūm (Cairo, 1937), 95, 118Google Scholar.

26 al-Mathal al-sā'ir, II (Cairo, 1939), 4Google Scholar.

27 al-Burhān, III, 314–15.

28 al-Burhān fī wujūh al-bayān (Baghdad, 1967), 152Google Scholar.

29 al-Badi' fī naqd al-sh'r (Cairo, 1960), 200Google Scholar.

30 al-Risāla al-'asjadiyya (Tunis, 1976), 146Google Scholar.

31 al-Fawā'id fī mushkil al-Qur'ān (Kuwait, 1967), 16;Google Scholaral-Kāshif 'an i'jāz al-Qur'ān (Baghdad, 1974), 100;Google Scholarsee also Ṭībī, , op. cit., 287. In A tenth century document of Arabic literary theory and criticism (1950, 140)Google Scholar C. V. Grünebaum observes: ‘Goldziher registers talawwun as a synonym of iltifāt. Talawwun, in later usage, is however a form of verse which allows the verse to be read in accordance with various meters.’ The treatment given above shows that Goldziher was correct.

32 See Zarkashī's, Burhān, III, 31–2; al-Suyūṭī, Itqān, III, 257Google Scholar.

33 If we compare the use of pronoun here to that in other types, we can observe the contrast between the use of the 3rd person—abstract power, the 1st person plural—aesthetic power, and the 1st person singular—personal feeling, the shift emphasizing the quality of each.

34 M., Sa'rān, al-Lugha wa'l-mujtama' (Cairo, 1963), 139–58Google Scholar.

35 Bell's Introduction to the Qur'ānGoogle Scholar, 66.

36 Koranische Untersuchungen (Leipzig, 1926), 5Google Scholar.

37 Qur'ānic studies, 14Google Scholar.

38 Zamakhsharī, , Kashshāf, I (Beirut: Dār al-ma'rifa, n.d.), 64–5Google Scholar.

39 Zarkashī, , Burhān, III, 196;Google ScholarHaleem, M. Abdel, ‘Al-Sayyāb: a study of his poetry’, in Ostle, R. C. (ed.), Studies in modem Arabic literature (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1975), 78–9Google Scholar.

40 See for instance Qazwīnī, , op. cit., 26–7;Google ScholarAl-Hāshimī, A., Jawāhir al-balāgha (Beirut, 1986), 129Google Scholar.

41 op. cit., 234.

42 op. cit., 258.

43 op. cit., 258.

44 op. cit., 334–5.

45 Shurūh al-talkhīs, 1 (Cairo: Al-Halabi & Co., 1937), 492Google Scholar.

46 al-Mathal al-sāir, II, 13–19Google Scholar.

47 op. cit., 46–7.

48 op. cit., 336.

49 op. cit., 258–9.

50 op. cit., 241–2.

51 al-Burhān, III, 325.

52 See Hassān, T., al-Lugha'l-'arabiyya mabnāhā wa-ma'nāhā (Cairo, 1976), 233–40Google Scholar.

53 ‘Linguistic errors in the Qur'ān’, Journal of Semitic Studies, XXX, 2, 1988, 181–96Google Scholar.

54 ibid., 181. Burton quotes another ḥadīth: ‘When the copies of the revelations which he had ordered to be made were submitted to him, ‘Uthmān noted several irregularities. “Do not change them”, he ordered, “the Arabs will change (or will correct them) as they recite”.’

This, however, does not involve any of our examples of iltifāt at all and Burton gives an account (p. 182) of what Suyūṭī said [Suyūṭī, op. cit., II, 270] about the difficulties seen in such reports. Suyūṭī then goes on to deal with the reports.

55 The way Suyūṭī, Ṭabarī and other Muslim scholars dealt with such material testifies to their moral and academic integrity. There was no attempt to ignore, ‘spirit away’, suppress or restrict the circulation of any reports, however sound or fabricated, even when they were considered absurd and even when they questioned fundamental matters about the Qur'ān.

56 We should add to that Ṭabarī's comment that ‘Ubayy's muṣḥaf, written by a different hand, in coinciding with the reading in our text shows what is in our muṣḥaf to be correct.’ Tafsīr, IX, (ed.) Shākir, M. M. (Cairo, n.d.), 394Google Scholar.

57 op. cit., 269, 272.

58 op. cit., 395. See also Ṭabaī's Tafsīr, 9, 395.

59 See Dhahabī, : Mīzān al-i'tidāl, VI, (ed.) , A. M. and Al-Bijāwī, F. A. (Cairo, 1963), 249Google Scholar, Ibn, Rajab, Sharḥ 'ilal al-Tirmidhī (Baghdad, 1369/1949), 347–9Google Scholar.

60 See also criticism of the reports by Zarqānī, M. A.: Manāhīl al- 'irfān fī 'ulüm al-Qur 'ān, I (3rd ed.Cairo, n.d.), 386–96Google Scholar.

61 art. cit., 183–6.

62 art. cit., 186–8.

63 It includes Ḥammād, b. Salama and Abān, b. 'Uthmān: see Sharh 'ilal al-Tirmidhī, (ed.) Al-Hamīd, S. J. (Baghdad, 1396/1976), 347–9;Google Scholar for a general discussion, see also Ṭabarī's, Tafsīr, (ed.) Shaker, M. M. (Cairo, n.d.), IX, 395–9Google Scholar.

64 Kashshāf, I, 631–2.

65 Or by reason of the original grammatical structure before inna was introduced.

66 Tafsīr, VI, part 12, 55.

67 See Burton, 192–3.

68 Qazwīni, 42–6; Al-Hāshimī, 239–42.

69 op. cit., 392.

70 al-Mathal al-sā'ir, II, 9.

71 I have checked Forty Hadith Qudsī, selected and translated by Ibrahim, E. and Davies, D. Johnson (Damascus, 1980)Google Scholar. Interestingly, God speaks throughout in the first person singular pronoun.

72 op. cit., 239.

73 See Zarkashī, 355 ff.

74 Al-Maghribī's, commentary on Talkhīṣ al-miftāḥ, see Shurūḥ al-talkhīṣ, 1 (Cairo: Al-Ḥalabī, 1937), 448Google Scholar.

75 ibid., II, 57.

76 al-Mathal al-sā'ir, II, 14.

77 Kashshāf, I (Beirut: Dār al-ma'rifa, n.d.), 62–4Google Scholar.

78 See an example referred to in Zarkashī's, Burhān, III, 326–8Google Scholar.

79 Najib Mahfouz, the distinguished Arab novelist and winner of the Nobel prize for literature in 1988 does so frequently in his novels written after his naturalistic phase, where he uses the ‘stream of consciousness’ technique. See El-Sakkout, H., The Egyptian novel and its main trends 1913–1952, (Cairo: American University of Cairo Press, 1970), 115, 141Google Scholar.