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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
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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.

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Articles
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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

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References

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.