2.2 The Quranic Linguistic Style
According to Muslims, the Quran is divine and contains words of God. It was revealed over a period of 23 years to the Prophet Mohammad in Arabic language. It contains around 78,000 words within the 114 chapters. The central topic of the Quran is to establish the monotheistic creed of God being the only possessor of divine power and only being who deserves to be worshiped. Prophet Muhammad challenged the Arabs to find another text –or a chapter of a text- like the Quran (5). The Quran claims to contain the fairest of statements and a scripture able to raise emotions and sentiments (6).
Following are some of the characteristics of the linguistic styles in the Quran. These features should pose special interests and challenges for computational linguistics solutions.
2.2.1 Scattered information on a same topic
The Quran often talks about a topic scattered within many different verses in different chapters. Consider the following verses (7):
[1]
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Show us the straight path, The path of those whom Thou hast favoured [1:6,7]
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[2]
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Whoso obeyeth Allah and the messenger, they are with those unto whom Allah has shown favour, of the prophets and the saints and the martyrs and the righteous
[4:69]
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[3]
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He who holdeth fast to Allah, he indeed is guided unto a right path [2:101]
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In [1] there is a reference to a ‘straight/right path’ and a reference to a category of people whom God has favoured without highlighting who might be in this category Verse [2] which is in a different chapter gives four types of people whom God shown favour In [3], which is again in a different chapter, expands this list of favoured category to include one more.
The Quran also repeats a certain story, for example, of a previous prophet in many chapters but each occurrence adds certain information not present in other occurrences. For example, the Quran tells various aspects of the story of Moses in 132 places distributed among 20 chapters. This feature of the Quran makes a good case for computational solutions towards bringing these scattered occurrences automatically in one thread.
2.2.2 Literal vs. technical sense of a word
The Quran borrows an Arabic word and specializes it to indicate a technical term. Consider for example the word جَنّة /jannah meaning literally ‘a garden’, but -as a technical term- in the Quran whenever this word is used it refers to ‘the paradise’ where the believers will abode as reward after the Day of Judgment. However, there are few instances where this word is used in the literal meaning to refer to certain gardens in this world. In the following examples [4] uses the more frequent technical sense and [5] uses the less frequent literal meaning.
[4]
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And vie one with another for forgiveness from your Lord, and for a
paradise
as wide as are the heavens and the earth, prepared for those who ward off (evil); [3:133]
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[5]
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There was indeed a sign for Sheba in their dwelling-place: Two
gardens
on the right hand and the left..[34:15]
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2.2.3 Grammatical shift
The Quran often draws the attention of the reader by shifting grammatical agreement in a statement. For example, in [6] the mode changed from ‘you’ to ‘they’ and ‘them’ moving from 2nd person to third person. In [7] the verse shifted from addressing the Prophet alone to addressing the group.
[6]
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when ye are in the ships and they sail with them with a fair breeze
[3:133]
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[7]
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O Prophet! When ye (men) put away women..
[65:1]
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2.2.4 Verbs associating with different preposition
The Quran exhibits many examples where a certain verb is associated with a preposition which is unusual with this verb, but common with a different verb. Consider [8a] and [8b] below, the Arabic verbs خلا /khala
means be alone, which is usually followed by the preposition ‘with’ like ‘John was alone with Mary’. However, in this verse the Quran choose to use the preposition ‘to’ with ‘be alone’ which sounds unusual to say, ‘John was alone to Mary’. However, this is a valid classical Arabic style when a verb borrows a preposition that binds with another verb and uses it to indicate at the same time meaning of both verbs. The Arabic verb ذهب /dhahaba (go) fits well with the preposition ‘to’ as in: ‘John went to Mary’. So, in this verse, the Quran by using a verb (be alone) with a preposition (to) from another verb ‘go’ conveyed the meaning of ‘being alone and going to’ at the same time. This unique characteristic made both translations in [8a] and [8b] partially true, highlighting either the sense of the original verb ‘be alone with’ as in [8a] or the implicit verb with explicit preposition ‘go to’ as in [8b]. See Ibn-Katheer (2006) on his commentary of this verse.
[8a]
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When they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe;" but when they are
alone with
their evil ones, they say: "We are really with you: We (were) only jesting."
[2:14 Yusuf Ali Translation]
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[8b]
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And when they fall in with those who believe, they say: We believe; but when they
go apart to
their devils they declare: Lo! we are with you; verily we did but mock.
[2:14 Pickthal Translation]
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2.2.5 Metaphors and Figurative
The Quran uses a lot of metaphors and figurative language. In [9] Pickthal used the verb ‘shine’ but the Arabic verb /ishtala means ‘to flare’ and shows the analogy of ‘old age symptom by many gray hair’ with a ‘fire burning a bush’. In [10] the Muslim army was so frightened that it felt as if their hearts reached to the throats.
,
[9]
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My Lord! Lo! the bones of me wax feeble and my head is
shining
with grey hair..
[19:4]
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[10]
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When they came upon you from above you and from below you, and when eyes grew wild and hearts reached to the throats
[33:10]
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2.2.6 Metonymy
In many verses the Quran uses metonymy. In [11] the Arabic verse literally means ‘ask the town’ which means (and was translated so) ‘ask the people who live in the town’. In [12] ‘a thing of planks and nails’ is the ‘Noah’s ark’, and in [13] ‘eating food’ metonymically means the ‘need to answer call of nature’, see Ibn-Katheer (2006) commenting on this verse.
[11]
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Ask the township where we were, and the caravan with which we travelled
hither.
[12:82]
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[12]
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And We carried him upon a thing of planks and nails
[54:13]
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[13]
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The Messiah, son of Mary, was no other than a messenger, messengers (the like of whom) had passed away before him. And his mother was a saintly woman. And they both used to eat (earthly) food
[5:75]
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2.2.7 Imperative vs. non-Imperatives
Arabic verbs are classified into past, present and imperative. Thus, in Arabic the imperative structure can be understood from the type of the verb used. However, in the Quran, although this general rule applies, yet there are many instances where imperative is understood although no imperative verb is used, for example in [14]. The opposite is also true: there are instances where an imperative verb is used, but the verse indicates non-imperative sense, for example [15] where the translator explicitly indicated the non-imperative meaning within brackets.
[14]
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and whoever is minded to perform the pilgrimage therein there is no lewdness nor abuse nor angry conversation on the pilgrimage.
[2:197]
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[15]
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O ye who believe! Profane not Allah's monuments nor the Sacred Month nor the offerings nor the garlands, nor those repairing to the Sacred House, seeking the grace and pleasure of their Lord. But when ye have left the sacred territory, then go hunting (if ye will). [5:2]
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Author: Abdul-Baquee Sharaf Eric S. Atwell
