The Quran has been revealed in the classical Arabic spoken in Makkah. It was spoken in the age of jahiliyyahby the tribe of Quraysh. No doubt the Almighty has endowed it with inimitable eloquence and articulacy in the Quran, yet as far as its substance is concerned, it is no different from the one spoken by the Messenger of God and which in those times was the tongue of the people of Makkah:

فَإِنَّمَا يَسَّرْنَاهُ بِلِسَانِكَ لِتُبَشِّرَ بِهِ الْمُتَّقِينَ وَتُنذِرَ بِهِ قَوْمًا لُّدًّا (97:19)

Thus We have made this [Quran] very easy and apt in your own tongue that through it you may proclaim glad tidings to the upright and fully warn the stubborn. (19:97)

Consequently, a correct understanding of this book is dependent on the correct knowledge and true appreciation of this language. It is essential that a person who wants to reflect on the Quran and attempts to interpret and explain it should be a very competent scholar of this language. He should also be adept in appreciating its styles and linguistic features so that at least the language is not an impediment to him in understanding the Quran.

No further explanation is required of the above mentioned fact; however, another important fact about the language of the Quran which every student of this divine book should be well aware of is that its Arabic is not the Arabic in which poets like al-Hariri (d. 516 AH) and al-Mutanabbi (d. 354 AH) composed their master-pieces nor is it the Arabic in which al-Zamakhshari (d. 538 AH) and al-Razi (d. 606 AH) wrote their commentaries on the Quran. It is also not the Arabic of the newspapers which are published in current times in Arab countries nor is it the Arabic prose and poetry written by their literati of today. No doubt, all this is Arabic too; however, it is very different from the Arabic of the Quran which can rightly be termed as classical Arabic. Thus the difference in the vocabulary, idiom, style and construction of classical Arabic and the one spoken and written today is the same as the difference, for example, between the Urdu and Persian of Ghalib (d. 1869) and Mir (d. 1810), and Sa‘di (d. 1292) and Khayyam (d. 1131) and the Urdu and Persian of the newspapers and journals of the Indian sub-continent and Iran. Similarly, this difference can be gauged if one compares the wide difference in the English of Shakespeare (d. 1616) and Milton (d. 1674) and the one written and spoken today in Britain, for example. It is thus an essential reality that not only contemporary or medieval Arabic has no role in creating an appreciation of the language, this Arabic is, in fact, detrimental to this appreciation, and if one becomes totally involved in it he may end up losing his understanding of the Quran.

Consequently, the very first thing which a person must turn to in order to understand the language of the Quran is the Quran itself. No one can deny the fact that when it was revealed, the people of Makkah did dispute its divinity for a long time; however, no one was able to challenge its language. It said that it was not the work of a non-Arab because it was revealed in the most articulate Arabic. It declared itself to be a miracle of language and literature and that of lucidity and eloquence and dared the Quraysh to produce a surahlike it. So much so, it challenged them to bring to their aid their literati, poets, soothsayers, orators and even their jinn, devils and deities. It is, however, an irrefutable reality that none among the Arabs could refute the magnificence of its language nor was it possible for any person to respond to this challenge:

وَإِن كُنتُمْ فِي رَيْبٍ مِّمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَى عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ مِّن مِّثْلِهِ وَادْعُواْ شُهَدَاءكُم مِّن دُونِ اللّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ (23:2)

And if you doubt what We have revealed to Our servant, produce just one surah like it, and for this call upon all your supporters except God if you are truthful. (2:23)

قُل لَّئِنِ اجْتَمَعَتِ الإِنسُ وَالْجِنُّ عَلَى أَن يَأْتُواْ بِمِثْلِ هَـذَا الْقُرْآنِ لاَ يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ ظَهِيرًا (88:17)

Tell them: “If men and jinn combined to produce a book like this Qur’an, they would be unable to do so even if they become helpers of one another.” (17:88)

Moreover, when Walid ibn al-Mughirah, one of the finest critics of the language in Makkah at that time, heard it, his response was:

والله ما منكم رجل أعرف بالأشعار مني ولا أعلم برجزه ولا بقصيده مني ولا بأشعار الجن والله ما يشبه الذي يقول شيئا من هذا والله إن لقوله الذي يقوله حلاوة وإن عليه لطلاوة وإنه لمثمر أعلاه مغدق أسفله وأنه ليعلو ولا يعلى وأنه ليحطم ما تحته

By God! None among you is more aware than me of poetry neither martial songs nor eulogies nor the incantation of the jinn. By God! the words spoken by this person resemble none of these. By God! it is very pleasant and lively. Its branches are laden with fruit. Its roots are well-watered. It will definitely dominate [every other thing] and nothing will be able to dominate it, and it will crush everything below it. [1]

From among the poets of the al-Muallaqat al-sab (The Seven Hanging Odes), Labid (d. 661) was alive. A poet of the calibre of al-Farazdaq (d. 730) prostrated on one of his couplets; [2] however, he too was dumbfounded before the Quran. When the caliph Umar (rta) wished to hear his poetry from him, he replied: “How can I recite my couplets after God has taught me Baqarah and Al-i Imran.” [3]

This was not merely the admission of a single person; it meant that the whole eloquence of the Arabs had surrendered before the sublimity of the Quran.

Moreover, it is also an established reality that this astounding miracle of language and literature has been transmitted to us without any change whatsoever. Thus, it is an acknowledged fact that the Quran is not only the final and ultimate authority in all matters of religion, it also represents the final criterion and standard for the language of its times.

After the Quran, we can find this language in the Ahadith of the Prophet (sws) and the Athar of the Companions (rta). No doubt, a very small portion of them has been transmitted verbatim and thus in a position to be presented as a criterion and as a representative of classical Arabic, yet whatever portion we have of it is a great treasure for students of this language. This is the language of the Prophet (sws) whose eloquence is matchless and that of the Companions (rta) who spoke in the same diction. Its words and idioms and styles and construction are the best examples of the language in which the Quran was revealed. Since original words have been preserved in the supplications of the Prophet (sws), in his conversations with his Companions (rta) and in the various parables that he stated to explain some aspect of religion, the parallels of this language can be observed in these three types of narratives the most. Thus if students of the Quran consult these sources, they can gather invaluable samples of classical Arabic which can help them in understanding both difficult words as well as the background and occasions on which they are spoken in the Quran.

After these three, the greatest source for classical Arabic is the classical literature of the Arabs. Within the corpus of this literature are the works of celebrated poets like Imru al-Qays (d. 544), Zuhayr (d. 609), Amr ibn Kulthum (d 584), Labid (d. 661), al-Nabighah (d. 604), Tarafah (d. 569), Antarah (d. 601), al-Asha (d. 629) and Harith ibn Halizzah (d. 580) and orators like Quss ibn Saidah (d. 600). Scholars of this field know that a greater part of this literature is found in the anthologies of the poets and in Asmaiyat, [4] Mufaddaliyat, [5] Hamasah, [6] al-Muallaqat al-sab [7] and in the works of literati like al-Jahiz (d. 255 AH) and al-Mubarrad (d. 286 AH). [8] Many cllections of the poetical works of those times have now been published which were not available to date. Undoubtedly, a greater part of the Arabic language has been transmitted to us through consensus and tawatur and is preserved in primary works like: al-Tahdhib, [9] al-Muhkam, [10] al-Sihah, [11] al-Jamhurah [12] and al-Nihayah; [13] however, this also is a fact that the greatest source of the portion of the language which has not been transmitted through tawatur is also the classical Arabic literature of that age. Though it does have some portions which were concocted later and attributed to that age, however just as scholars of Hadith can distinguish between rightly and wrongly reported narratives, in the same manner, critics of the Arabic language can distinguish the original from the concocted on the basis of objective standards of textual criticism. Consequently, it is for this very reason that the scholars of language and literature are unanimous on the fact that after the Quran it is this classical literature which can be depended upon and which because of its integrity in transmission and verbatim nature of transmission occupies the ultimate standard in research on the language. Abd al-Qadir al-Baghdadi writes:

الكلام الذى يستشهد به نوعان : شعر و غيره ، فقائل الاول قد قسمه العلماء على طبقات اربع. الطبقة الاولى:الشعراءالجاهليون،وهمقبلالاسلام كامرئالقيس والاعشى،والثانية:المخضرمون ، وهم الذين ادركوا الجاهلية و الاسلام كلبيد و حسّان ، والثالثة : المتقدمون ، ويقال لهم الاسلاميون ، وهم الذين كانوا فى صدر الاسلام كجرير والفرزدق ، والرابعة : المولدون ، ويقال لهم المحدثون ، وهم من بعدهم الى زماننا كبشار بن برد و ابى نواس : فالطبقتان الاوليان يستشهد بشعرهما اجماعا

A discourse from which parallels are presented to substantiate the meanings of words and phrases is of two types: poetry and prose. The first of these has been divided by scholars into four categories. The first category is of poets who belonged to the jahiliyyah period that prevailed in Arabia before Islam, such as Imru’ al-Qays and al-A‘sha. The second is of the mukhadramun who lived in both pre-Islamic and Islamic times such as Labid and Hassan (d. 35-40 AH). The third is the mutaqaddimun who are also called the islamiyyun. These are poets who belonged to the first period of Islam such as Jarir (d. 110 AH) and al-Farazdaq. The fourth is the muwallidun who are also called the muhdithun. Included in this category are all poets who belonged to the period after the three categories till our own times such as Bashshar ibn Bard (d. 167 AH) and Abu Nuwas (d. 199 AH). There is a consensus that parallels to substantiate the meanings of words and phrases shall be drawn from the poets of the first two categories. [14]

Quite similarly, Umar (rta) is reported to have said:

عليكم بديوانكم لا تضلوا قالوا وما ديواننا قال شعر الجاهلية فإن قيه تفسير كتابكم ومعاني كلامكم

If you preserve your poetry, you will not go astray. People asked: “What are our poetic collections?” He said: “The poetry of the jahiliyyah period because it contains the tafsir of your Book and also the meaning of your language.” [15]

Ibn Abbas (rta), a celebrated Companion of the Prophet (sws), said:

إذا سألتم عن غريب القرآن فالتمسوه في الشعر فإن الشعر ديوان العرب

If you want to understand the meaning of a Quranic word little known to you, look for it in poetry because it is this poetry which is the record of the Arabs. [16]

Another thing which needs to be appreciated is that this classical literature of the jahiliyyah period is not only a source of the language and its various styles, it also reflects the culture and civilization of the Arabs. If a person does not have the right knowledge about these, it becomes difficult for him to understand the various references, allusions and figures of speech which are the real constituents of this masterpiece of literature. What were the characteristics of the society of the Arabs? What were the things they regarded as ma‘ruf and munkar? What were the standards of good and evil in their society? What was the nature of their religion and traditions? What were the foundations of their culture and what were the constituents of their social fabric? What were their political ideologies and daily involvements and hobbies? Were they really a bunch of uncivilized people whom Islam elevated to the status of the conquerors of the world or in spite of their savageness, they did possess certain features and characteristics which made them eligible to receive a book as lofty as the Quran, and they were bestowed with the status of witnesses to the truth by the Almighty? The correct answer to all these questions is only found in this Book, and it is this answer through which the various allusions, references, insinuations and implications of the Quran become evident to its student with their true literary splendour and meaningfulness.

Thus it is not merely for language but also all these things for which a student of the Quran must consult this classical literature.

(Meezan: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi)

(Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem)

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[1]. Abu al-Fada Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir, Al-Sirah al-nabawiyyah, vol. 1 (Beirut: Dar ihya al-turath al-‘arabi, n.d.), 499.

[2]. The couplet is:

وجلا السيول عن الط

لول كأنـهازبـر تـجد متونـها أقلامها

wa jala al-suyul ‘an al-taluli ka’annaha

zuburun tujiddu mutunaha aqlamuha

(The flowing floods have made these ruins so bare [from the dust that had covered them] as if they are books whose texts have been re-written by pens.) See: Abu Zayd Muhammad ibn Abi al-Khattab al-Qurashi, Jamhurah ash‘ar al-‘arab (Beirut: Dar al-qalam, n.d.), 109.

[3]. ما كنت لأ قول شعراً بعد أن علمنـي الله البقرة و آل عمران. See: Yusuf ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Al-Isti‘ab fi ma‘rifah al-ashab, 1st ed., vol. 3 (Beirut: Dar al-jil, 1412 AH), 1337.

[4]. The author is Abu Sa‘id ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Qurayb al-Asma‘i (d. 216 AH).

[5]. The author is al-Mufaddal ibn Muhammad ibn Ya‘la ibn ‘Amir ibn Salim al-Dabbi (d. 165 AH).

[6]. The author is Abu Tammam Habib ibn Aws al-Ta’i (d. 231 AH).

[7].This is a selection of seven odes belonging to the jahiliyyah period.

[8]. For example al-Jahiz’sAl-Bayan wa al-tabyin andal-Mubarrad’sAl-Kamil fi al-lughah wa al-adab. Similiary, Jamhurah ash‘ar al-‘arab by Abu Zayd al-Qurashi (d. 170 AH),Mukhtarat shu‘ara al-‘arab by Ibn al-Shajari (d. 542 AH),Al-Fuhul by Abu Tammam (d. 231 AH), Hamasah byBuhturi (d. 284 AH), Ibn al-Shajari and Abu Hilal al-‘Askari (d. 395 AH) and Diwan al-ma‘ani by AbuHilalare also similar collections.

[9]. Al-Tahdhib fi al-lughah byAbu Mansur Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Azhari (d. 370 AH).

[10]. Al-Muhkam wa al-muhit al-azam by Abu al-Hasan‘Ali ibn Isma‘il ibn Sidah (d. 458 AH).

[11]. Taj al-lughah wa sihah al-arabiyyah byAbu Nasr Isma‘il al-Jawhari (d. 393 AH).

[12]. Al-Jamhurah fi al-lughah by Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Durayd al-Azdi (d. 321 AH).

[13]. Al-Nihayah fi gharib al-hadith wa al-athar byAbu al-Sa‘dat al-Mubarak ibn Muhammad ibn al-Athir al-Jazari (d. 606 AH)

[14]. ‘Abd al-Qadir ibn ‘Umar al-Baghdadi, Khazanah al-adab fi lubb-i lubab lisan al-‘arab, 1st ed., vol. 1 (Beirut: Dar sadir, n.d.), 3.

[15]. Nasir al-Din Abu al-Khayr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar al-Baydawi, Anwar al-tanzil wa asrar al-ta’wil, 2nd ed., vol. 3 (Beirut: Dar al-fikr, 1996), 401.

[16]. Jalal al-Din ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Kamal al-Din Abi Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Sabiq al-Din al-Suyuti,Al-Muzhir fi ‘ulum al-lughah wa al-adab, 1st ed., vol. 2 (Beirut: Dar al-kutub al-‘ilmiyyah, 1998), 261.