IT has been narrated that a major scholar of the past* used to try and fault the Qur'an by searching for flaws in its language. His attempts and studies lasted months, during which time a group of men would frequent his house and ask him whether he had found anything yet. Eventually, he smashed his ink pot and broke his pen, and replied, “None can dispute that this is the Speech of Allah!” He then left the house and passed by a mosque, from which he heard the voice of a young boy reciting the verse, “And it was said, ‘O earth, swallow your water, and O sky, withhold (your rain).' And the water subsided, and the matter was accomplished, and the ship came to rest on the (mountain of) Judi. And it was said, ‘Away with the wrongdoing people.'” (Qur'an, 11:44) to which the man remarked, “It is not possible that a human could produce such words.” The verse in question is one of the most beautiful, eloquent, rhetorical verses of the Qur'an, as the scholars of Arabic balaghah (rhetoric) identified within it more than 25 different rhetorical devices (fann balaghi) within just 17 words! (Refer: Kifayat Al-Alma'ee Fee Ayat Ya Ard Ibla'ee) When the Prophet (peace be upon him) would pray in the Ka'ba in Makkah, the Quraish would laugh at him, curse him, throw rocks at him, and ridicule him. One day he was sitting with some companions around the Ka'bah and recited to them Surah Al-Najm, within earshot of the Quraish. Everyone listened intently until he (peace be upon him) went on to recite the last few verses of this chapter, “Do you then wonder at this recital (the Qur'an)? And you laugh at it and weep not. Wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing, etc.). So fall you down in prostration to Allâh, and worship Him (Alone)” By the time this last verse was recited, they all fell involuntarily into prostration as commanded in the verse, mesmerized by the beauty and truth of what they had just heard. And the conversion of Umar Bin Al-Khattab after reading the verses of Surah Taha is well-known. But the question that remains to be asked is: What did these men have in common? Among other things, they all had a deep, solid, understanding and appreciation of the Arabic language, its syntax, semantics, rhetorical and literary devices, poetry, prose, and all else a mastery of any language entails. An understanding that allowed them to immediately discern that the difference between the speech of God and the speech of His creation is the difference between God and His creation itself. An understanding of the language that allowed them to recognize the truth and submit to it without giving another moment's consideration to the issue at hand. An understanding that enabled them to recognize the miraculous nature of the Qur'anic text, and use this recognition as a base on which to build their faith. Perhaps we will never be able to acheive the same appreciation and understanding of the language of the Qur'an as they did, but who can dispute that we owe it to our souls, to our faith, to at least try. – Shoubaki has a masters in Arabic linguistics from the International Islamic University, Malaysia. She blogs at arabicgems.wordpress.com * It has been said that he was the well-known Ibn al-Muqaffa'. But the narration appeared without naming the man in Al-Jadwal fee I'raab Al-Qur'an wa Sarfuhu wa Bayanuhu by Mahmood Safi (6/278). __
