102 CHAPTER III IBN QUTAYBAH’S TREATISE OF THE PHENOMENA OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE In this chapter the phenomena of figurative language in the verses of the Qur‟ān will be dealt with. They will be divided into six categories based on Ibn Qutaybah‟s treatment. They are: metaphor (majāz and isti‘ārah), inversion (maqlūb), ellipsis (h . adhf) and brevity (ikhtis . ār), repetition (takrār) and pleonasm (ziyādah), metonymy (kināyah) and allusion (ta‘rīd . ), and the idiomatic expression entitled “the disagreement of the word with its literal meaning” ( ). A. Metaphor Metaphor is the use of words to indicate something different from their basic meanings. For example, if we speak of somebody who is stubborn, merciless or cruel, we can say “he has a heart of stone”. Although Ibn Qutaybah put majāz and isti‘ārah in a separate chapter both are entered here under metaphor, since both are, as we shall see, closely related. He said that many of the majāz fall into the category of isti‘ārah. 1 1. Majāz The basic meaning of the term majāz is “a crossing”, “a passage”. It is derived from the verb jāza, yajūzu, meaning “to pass”, “to travel (through)”. 2 In classical terminology it means “the way of expression”. Abū „Ubaydah in his Majāz al-Qur’ān used this terminology in this sense rather than its later meaning as figurative speech which is in contrast with h . aqīqah (the real meaning). 3 Ibn Qutaybah still used this term in this sense when he said that the Arabs had majāzāt (pl. of majāz) in their expression, meaning “the ways and sources of expression” ( ). Among these majāzāt he mentioned isti‘ārah, tamthīl, - simile, known in modern terminology as tashbīh, which he did not treat in a particular chapter - maqlūb, takrār, and others. 4 On the other hand, he also used it in contrast with h . aqīqah, as we shall see later. According to Ibn Taymīyah, the division of words into h . aqīqah and majāz was not found in the statements of the salaf, but in those of scholars in later generations. Neither the s . ah . ābah nor the tabi‘īn had ever used these technical terms. They were not found in the statements of early Muslim legists, such as Abū H . anīfah, Mālik, al-Shāfi„ī and al-Awzā„ī, as well as
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102
CHAPTER III
IBN QUTAYBAH’S TREATISE OF THE PHENOMENA
OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
In this chapter the phenomena of figurative language in the verses of the Qur‟ān will be dealt with. They will be divided into six categories based
on Ibn Qutaybah‟s treatment. They are: metaphor (majāz and isti‘ārah),
inversion (maqlūb), ellipsis (h.adhf) and brevity (ikhtis.ār), repetition
(takrār) and pleonasm (ziyādah), metonymy (kināyah) and allusion (ta‘rīd.),
and the idiomatic expression entitled “the disagreement of the word with its
literal meaning” ( ).
A. Metaphor
Metaphor is the use of words to indicate something different from their
basic meanings. For example, if we speak of somebody who is stubborn,
merciless or cruel, we can say “he has a heart of stone”. Although Ibn Qutaybah put majāz and isti‘ārah in a separate chapter both are entered here
under metaphor, since both are, as we shall see, closely related. He said that
many of the majāz fall into the category of isti‘ārah.1
1. Majāz
The basic meaning of the term majāz is “a crossing”, “a passage”. It is
derived from the verb jāza, yajūzu, meaning “to pass”, “to travel (through)”.
2 In classical terminology it means “the way of expression”.
Abū „Ubaydah in his Majāz al-Qur’ān used this terminology in this sense
rather than its later meaning as figurative speech which is in contrast with h.aqīqah (the real meaning).
3 Ibn Qutaybah still used this term in this sense
when he said that the Arabs had majāzāt (pl. of majāz) in their expression,
meaning “the ways and sources of expression” ( ). Among
these majāzāt he mentioned isti‘ārah, tamthīl, - simile, known in modern
terminology as tashbīh, which he did not treat in a particular chapter - maqlūb, takrār, and others.
4 On the other hand, he also used it in contrast
with h.aqīqah, as we shall see later.
According to Ibn Taymīyah, the division of words into h.aqīqah and
majāz was not found in the statements of the salaf, but in those of scholars in later generations. Neither the s.ah.ābah nor the tabi‘īn had ever used these
technical terms. They were not found in the statements of early Muslim legists, such as Abū H.anīfah, Mālik, al-Shāfi„ī and al-Awzā„ī, as well as
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philologists, such as al-Khalīl, Sībawayh, and Abū „Umar ibn al-„Alā‟. They appeared in the third/ninth century, or probably at the end of the
second/eighth century, and became well-known in the fourth/tenth century.5
Ibn Qutaybah wanted to prove that majāz as a figure of speech and, in contrast with h.aqīqah, did actually occur in the verses of the Qur‟ān. This
was to counter the existing view in his time that rejected such a possibility. We know that he was a contemporary of Dā‟ūd ibn „Alī ibn Khalaf al-
As.bah.ānī (d. 270/884), the founder of the Z.āhirī school of law. This school
insists on the literal meanings of the Qur‟ān, and as such, was said to have
rejected the occurrence of majāz in the Qur‟ān. This view of rejecting the occurrence of majāz in the Qur‟ān was also held later by some scholars from
different schools, such as Abū ‟l-„Abbās Ah.mad ibn Ah.mad al-T.abarī,
better known as Ibn al-Qas.s. (d. 335/947) of the Shāfi„ī school, Ibn Khuwayz
Mundhādh (d. ca. 400/1010) of the Mālikī school, and Abū Muslim
Muh.ammad ibn Bah.r al-As.bahānī (d. 370/981) of the Mu„tazilī school of
theology. Their main argument was that a speaker would only resort to
majāz if he were unable to express himself properly by using h.aqīqah, and
such a weakness obviously could not be attributed to Allah.6
On the other hand, Ibn Qutaybah wanted to repudiate what he
considered the excessive use of majāz which, in his view, led to misinterpreting the verses of the Qur‟ān. Although he did not mention the
people who held this view, it is possible he had the Mu„tazilīs in mind. He
said that some people interpreted black magic (sih.r) as being merely a trick,
rejected the existence of the interrogation and the punishment by the two angels (Munkar and Nakīr) in the grave, the statement that the shuhadā’
(martyrs) were alive, the sound of demons, and the harm caused by ghouls
(desert demons appearing in ever varying shapes). They said that when people were alone in the desert they could easily imagine seeing and hearing
something that did not really exist.7
In modern terminology, the definition of majāz is as follows: “It is a
word not used in its proper meaning (context) due to the [existence of] coherence or indication which prevents it from having the basic meaning as
the intended one ).”
The example from poetry is as follows:
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“A person dearer to me than myself stood to protect me from the sun. He stood
to protect me; amazingly, „a sun‟ was protecting me from the sun.”8
What the poet means by „a sun‟ is a man of great personality who is very dear to him.
If there is an affinity between the original and the intended meanings
in the majāz, it is called isti‘ārah. Otherwise it is called majāz mursal. An
example of isti‘ārah can be seen in the following Qur‟ānic verse:
( :٧) “…, to lead you out of the deep darkness into the
light..” (Q. 57:9, Asad). The verse is a metaphor for bringing people from
ignorance and error into guidance and truth. There is an affinity between darkness and ignorance, and between light and guidance. An example of
majāz mursal can be seen in the following poem: “My
country, although it wronged me it is [still] dear to me.” What the poet
means with his country is its inhabitants. Here, there is no affinity between the country and its inhabitants.
After illustrating majāz in modern technical terminology, we come to
Ibn Qutaybah‟s view and see what he meant by this term. Stating the
occurrence of majāz in Arabic expression as well as in the Qur‟ān, Ibn Qutaybah gave the example of the word umm (“mother”). When the Arabs
say that their land is their mother, it is because, like their mother, it was from
it they started their lives, to it they would return, and from it they obtained their food and provision. In poetry he cited the poem of Umayyah ibn Abī
al-S.alt as follows:
“And the land is our refuge and was our mother. In
it our grave will be, and in it we are born.”9
The example from the Qur‟ān given by Ibn Qutaybah is the verse:
( :٩) “his mother will be an abyss” (Q. 101:9). As the mother is
the sponsor, the sustainer, the shelter, and the nurse to her baby, so is Hell to
the unbeliever to which he will be brought.10
Another example is that the
Prophet‟s wives are “the mothers of the believers” (Q. 33:6), meaning that reverence should be due to them as to their own mothers.
Ibn Qutaybah rejects the views of an unspecified group of people who
say that Allah‟s statements in the Qur‟ān are metaphors, and not intended in
the real sense. There are those among them who say that Allah‟s order to the
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angels to prostrate to Adam (Q. 2:34) was only an inspiration, like His inspiration to the bees to choose habitations in the hills and trees (Q. 16:68).
They refer to Allah‟s statement:
( :) “And it is not given to
mortal man that God should speak unto him otherwise than through sudden
inspiration, or [by voice, as it were,] from behind a veil, or by sending an
apostle to reveal, by His leave, whatever He wills [to reveal]: for, verily, He is exalted, wise.” (Q. 42:51, Asad). Here they say that He did not really say
to the heaven and earth “come [into being] both of you
willingly or unwillingly!”, and they did not really answer ( :)
“we do come in obedience” (Q. 41:11). According to them this expression
merely means “We created them both, and so they exist.” In poetry, it is like
the poem “My camel complained to me against the long
journey” in which the camel did not actually complain to the poet, but rather
the poet spoke about his frequent journeys and of tiring his camel, and that if it were able to speak it would have complained to him.
11 Similarly, Allah
did not actually say to Hell “Art thou filled?” and Hell did not
actually say ( :) “[Nay,] is there yet more [for me]?” (Q.
50:30), but the statements merely indicate the vastness of Hell. In addition,
Hell does not actually call the sinful person who turns away (Q. 70:17), but
the expression indicates that Hell would be their future abode as if it called them to it. It is like the fly calling its friend in the following poem:
“I have descended the two valleys and another valley where the „mute
and tender‟ creature [i.e., the fly was buzzing as if it were] calling [its]
close friend [to the plant and water].”12
Here the fly did not actually call, but buzzed to indicate the existence of
plants and water in the valley.
Before refuting the above statements, Ibn Qutaybah makes a clear
distinction between “saying” and “speaking” in regard to the occurrence of majāz. He says that majāz can occur on the word “saying” but not on
“speaking”. We can say, for example, “the wall says, so it leans” (
); “say (it) to me with your head” meaning “tilt it” ( يإن كسأرب مقـ
ـههمأ يأ ) and “the camel says... [or complains]” as mentioned earlier in the
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poem. But we cannot say that the wall speaks, since the word denotes the act of speaking. However, Ibn Qutaybah asserts, exception occurs in one
case, namely, when the speaker is an animate being giving advice or moral
lessons, so that we can say that it informs, it spoke, and it reminded. The example in poetry is the poem of Abū ‟l-„Atāhiyah as follows:
“Silent tombs advised you, hidden tongues reproached you. They spoke
about decayed faces and resting images. They showed you your grave
in the graveyard, while you are [still] alive, not dead.”13
The example from the Qur‟ān is as follows:
( :) “Have We ever bestowed upon them from on high a divine
writ which would speak [with approval] of their worshipping aught beside
Us?” (Q. 30:35, Asad). Here the verse means “Or have We revealed to them any evidence from which they will seek guidance that will guide them?”
14
Ibn Qutaybah gives us two conditions for a word to become majāz: it
shall not be accompanied with its mas.dar, and it shall not be emphasised
with takrār (repetition). For example, we say “the wall will fall down” and
we do not say “the wall will fall down with strong willingness”. He does not give us an example for the use of repetition here. The example for the use of
mas.dar in the Qur‟ān is as follows: literally means “And
Allah spoke to Moses with speaking,” translated by Asad as: “...: and as God
spoke His word unto Moses” (Q. 4:164). Here the verb kallama is
accompanied with its mas.dar, namely, taklīm to indicate that the speaking is
real and actually happens, not majāz. Moreover, the expression kallama (to speak to) itself, as mentioned earlier, indicates that it is real. The example for
the use of takrār in the Qur‟ān is as follows:
“And Our word unto a thing, when We intend it, is only that
We say unto it: Be! and it is.” (Q. 16:40, Pickthall). Here the word qawlunā
is emphasised with takrār (repetition of qawl with naqūl), and the statement
itself is emphasised with the word innamā.15
Despite the frequent occurrence of majāz in the Qur‟ān, Ibn Qutaybah was extremely cautious with it. He rejects the view that the order of Allah to
the angels to prostrate themselves to Adam in Q. 2:34 was an ilhām
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(inspiration), because, according to him, it involved dialogues of events: Allah‟s order to the angels and Iblīs to prostrate, Iblīs‟s refusal to comply,
his expulsion from the Garden (Jannah), and his plea for the postponement
of punishment to Judgement Day.16
Ibn Qutaybah also rejects the interpretation of qawl in the above verse as a subjection (taskhīr) because, he
contends, it cannot be applied to something which refuses to comply, and in
this case, Iblīs.17
With regard to the verse Q. 42:51 Ibn Qutaybah asserts that wah.y
includes: things shown by Allah to His prophets in their vision; speaking
behind the veil such as His speaking to Prophet Moses; and speaking with a message by sending the Trustful Spirit (al-Rūh. al-Amīn, i.e. Gabriel). What
he means here is that Allah actually spoke to Prophet Moses, not majāz.
We have seen that Ibn Qutaybah rejects the occurrence of majāz in
many Qur‟ānic verses such as Q. 41:11 and 50:30 mentioned above. He
bases his argument on several Qur‟anic verses and h.adīths according to his
understanding without applying majāz. The Qur‟ānic verses state that Allah
would make parts of the bodies of wrong-doers testify against them on the Last Day (Q. 24:24, 36:65 and 41:20-1), that He makes the mountains, birds
and everything praise Him (Q. 17:44, 34:10 and 38:18-9), and that Prophet
Solomon understood the language of ants (Q. 27:18-9); that Hell would burst with rage (Q. 67:8) and its crackling and roar would be heard by the
wrong-doers (Q. 25:11-2). In a h.adīth it was reported that when Hell saw
those who denied the coming of Doomsday, they heard its crackling and
roar, saying “qat, qat” which means “enough, enough (h.asbī, h.asbī)."18
In
other h.adīths it was reported that the food informed the Prophet that it had
been poisoned, and that a camel complained to him that its master had
starved and overworked it. All these, in Ibn Qutaybah‟s view, are h.aqīqah
and have no room for majāz.19
2. Isti‘ārah
The term isti‘ārah literally means “borrowing, loan, or lending”. It is
borrowing one meaning of a word other than its basic or primary meaning. According to „Abd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī (d. 470/1078) isti’ārah is “a word
which in the language has a known basic meaning, is temporarily lent, as it
were, to something other than the original object. Therefore metaphor in Arabic is called „loan‟”.
20 It is lending the meaning of one object to another
object, the aim being the attribution of the dominant trait in the first object to
the second one. For example, if we want to say that a person is brave, we
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lend and associate the meaning of the object lion to that person, so that the lion's dominant trait, namely, bravery, can be attributed to him. So, we say
ا (“I saw a lion”), meaning a brave man.
With regard to isti‘ārah in its early development, Ibn Qutaybah gave us his understanding of it. He said that the Arabs used to borrow a word and
put it in place of another, if this borrowed word is the cause of, close to, or
similar to the word it replaces. For example, they said
“We kept walking on the pasture [al-samā‘ lit., 'the sky'] until we came to you." Here the pasture is called samā’ which is the rain that causes the
existence of the pasture, and in turn, the rain itself is called samā’ from
which it falls down, and which is the cause of it. The poet Mu„āwiyah ibn Mālik ibn Ja„far ibn Kilāb calls the rain “the sky” in his following poem:
“When the rain [lit., „the sky‟ that causes it to fall] falls on the land of a
tribe [so that it becomes fertile], we care for it [namely, we move to that
fertile land and care for the plants which grow because of the rain],
although they are angry [about our coming].”21
Ibn Qutaybah mentions in his Ta’wīl fifty main examples of isti‘ārah
in the verses of the Qur‟ān. Some of them will be dealt with here as follows:
a. ( :) “..., and their hearts (as) air.” (Q. 14:43,
Pickthall). The air is a metaphor for emptiness, namely, their hearts are empty of good things, because they do not pay attention to anything, like
an empty place which contains nothing but air.22
b.
( :) “Is then he who was dead [in spirit] and whom We
thereupon gave life, and for whom We set up a light whereby he might
see his way among men - [is then he] like one [who is lost] in the
darkness deep, out of which he cannot emerge?” (Q. 6:122, Asad). Here death, life and light are respectively metaphors for infidelity, guidance
and faith.23
c. ( :-) “and lifted from thee the burden
that had weighed so heavily on thy back?” (Q. 94:2-3, Asad). The word
wizr originally means “something a person carries on his back”, used
here as a metaphor for sin,24
or specifically, the sin in the Jāhiliyyah (pre-Islamic) period.
25
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d. ( :٧) “But as for
those with faces shining, they shall be within God's grace, therein to
abide.” (Q. 3:107, Asad). The grace here is a metaphor for Paradise, as it is through Allah's grace that one can enter it.
26 This verse, however, is
used in our time as an example of majāz mursal where the condition
(h.āl), in this case, Allah‟s grace, is used as a metaphor for the place
(mah.all), namely, Paradise.
The term rah.mah can also be a metaphor for rain and sustenance
respectively in the following verses:
( :٧) ”And He it is who sends forth the winds as a glad tiding of
His coming grace...” (Q. 7:57, Asad), and
( :) “Whatever grace God opens up to man, none can withhold it...”
(Q.35:2, Asad).27
Rah.mah which means grace on the needy can be a metaphor for many
different things. In this case, it is said that the term has wujūh,
homonyms. Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 598/1201), al-H.usayn ibn Muh.ammad al-
Dāmaghānī, and Abū al-Fad.l H.ubaysh ibn Ibrāhīm Tiflīsī (d. ca.
600/1203) mentioned respectively sixteen, fourteen, and thirteen wujūh
of rah.mah in various verses of the Qur‟ān. All of them included what
have been mentioned by Ibn Qutaybah above, namely: Paradise, rain
and sustenance. Others, to mention a few, are: Islam (Q. 2:105), faith (Q. 11:28), prophethood (Q. 38:9), the Qur‟ān (Q. 10:5), and well-being
(Q. 39:38).28
e. ( :) “And, verily, this [revelation] shall indeed
become [a source of] eminence for thee and thy people...” (Q. 43:44,
Asad). The word dhikr (remembrance) is a metaphor for sharaf
(eminence) which is something to be remembered.29
Ibn al-Jawzī, al-Dāmaghānī, and Tiflīsī mentioned respectively twenty, eighteen and
seventeen wujūh of dhikr, including the term sharaf and its three
examples from the Qur‟ān as mentioned above. Among them are: remembering (Q. 3:135), mentioning (Q. 2:200), tawh.īd (monotheism)
(Q. 20:124), the Qur‟ān (Q. 21:2, 50), the Torah (Q. 16:43 and 21:7) the
Friday prayer (Q. 62:9), and the Preserved Tablet (Q. 21:105).30
f. ( :٩) “And neither the heaven
nor the earth wept for them, nor were they reprieved.” (Q. 44:29). Ibn
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Qutaybah‟s commentary on this metaphorical verse is as follows: If the Arabs want to emphasise the awful condition, especially the failing
health of a great and noble king they say: “The sun was becoming
darkened, the moon was becoming eclipsed, and the wind, the lightning, the sky and the earth [all] were weeping for him.” The listener will
understand this hyperbole, that the disaster was so severe and extensive
that the elements of nature almost shared the grief of the people. On the contrary, with regard to Pharaoh and his followers, neither the sun nor
the earth wept for them. In poetry, such hyperbole was also employed,
as in the following poem:
“The sun, weeping for you, is rising without veiling
the brightness of the stars and the moon.”
As the sun is rising without light, the day appears to be like the night, and the light of the moon and the stars is not diminished by the lightless
sun.31
Ibn Qutaybah gives us three interpretations of the above verse as
follows: (a) When Allah destroyed Pharaoh and his people by drowning them and destroying their houses and gardens, no one was left to weep
for them, mourn or miss them; (b) The expression “the heaven and the
earth” in the verse means “the inhabitants of the heaven and the earth”, so that the verse means “nobody among the inhabitants of the heaven
and the earth wept for them”. The argument of the upholders of this
view is that it occurs in other Qur‟ānic verses where the word
“inhabitants” or “people” is not mentioned, such as the verse
( :٨) “…and ask the township” (Q. 12:82, Pickthall), which means
“its inhabitants”,32
and ( :) “... till the war lay
down its burdens” (Q. 47:4, Pickthall) which means “till the people at
war lay down their arms”. This view, as we have seen earlier, belongs to
the category of majāz mursal, according to the modern terminology; (c) The interpretation of Ibn „Abbās, that every believer has a door in
heaven through which his deeds ascend and his sustenance (rizq) descends; when he dies, this door, his traces and places of prayer weep
for him. As for the unbeliever, no deed will ascend to heaven for him,
no door in heaven will open for him and no trace of his on the earth will weep for him.
33
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g. ( :)
“Hence, [be patient,] even though they who are bent on denying the
truth would all but kill thee with their eyes whenever they hear this reminder, and [though] they say, „[As for Muhammad,] behold, most
surely he is a madman!.‟” (Q. 68:51, Asad). Pickthall and Ali translate
yakādu layuzliqūnaka respectively as “would fain disconcert thee” and “would almost trip thee up”. Ibn Qutaybah‟s commentary on this verse
is that the disbelievers looked at the Prophet with hostility so stern that
they almost made him slip and fall down.34
This kind of hyperbole had been used in classical poetry. Some unidentified grammarians were said
to have criticised it as an excess and an exaggeration, but Ibn Qutaybah
defended it, saying that it was quite possible and a good way of expressing one‟s view. He cited many examples from the classical
poetry, one of which is as follows:
“When they met in a place their looking at
each other [almost] removed the ground”,
meaning that their looking at each other was extremely hostile and
malicious so that it almost brought them to the ground. 35
Ibn Qutaybah states that there are many Qur‟ānic verses indicating hyperbole (mubālaghah fī ’l-was.f) which he includes in the category of
the figure of speech called isti‘ārah, by using the word kāda (almost),
either explicitly or by implication. For example, in order to show the
graveness of the Christians‟ statement that Allah has a son, He said:
( :٩-٨٩) “Assuredly ye utter a disastrous thing,
whereby almost [takādu] the heavens are torn, and the earth is split asunder and the mountains fall in ruins, that ye ascribe unto the
Beneficent a son, when it is not meet for (the Majesty of) the Beneficent
that He should choose a son.” (Q. 19:89-92, Pickthall). Here the word takādu (the present tense of kāda) is mentioned. The example in which
the word kāda exists by implication, is as follows:
( :) “[Remember what
you felt] when they came upon you from above you and from below
you, and when [your] eyes became dim and [your] hearts came up to
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[your] throats, ...” (Q. 33:10, Asad). The verse portrays the seriousness of the situation in the battle of the Trench, that "[their] hearts almost
reached to [their] throats.”36
When the word kāda exists only by
implication in such a case as above, Ibn Qutaybah asserts it can be replaced with ka’anna (as if), so that the verse means “as if the beats of
violently agitated hearts reached the throat”.37
In fact, among the fifty
examples of the isti‘ārah from the Qur‟ān, this hyperbole is the longest treatment given by Ibn Qutaybah to demonstrate its significance. He
gives more than twenty examples from classical poetry, such as the
poems of Imru‟ al-Qays, al-Nābighah, „Antarah, Dhū al-Rummah, and others.
38 His objective is clear: to show that hyperbole is not a lie, but a
figure of speech indicating the greatness, severity or seriousness of a
statement or an event.
h. ( :) “... for there is no living creature
which He does not hold by its forelock....” (Q. 11:56, Asad). It means
that He subjugates and controls it.39
The origin of this meaning is that if you grasp its forelock you subjugate and control it. From this idea it
can be said in the du‘ā' (supplication) (“my forelock is in your
hand”), meaning “you are my sovereign and conqueror”.40
Here the
forelock is representing the whole body when we say
“This is a graceful forelock.”41
This example, then, belongs to the
category of majāz mursal in modern terminology.
To sum up, Ibn Qutaybah‟s understanding of majāz and isti‘ārah is rudimentary. For example, he puts majāz mursal, homonyms, and
hyperbole in the category of isti‘ārah, since they do not represent their
basic meanings. This instance is comprehensible, as Ibn Qutaybah was giving the transitional meanings of the terms from classical to modern
terminology.
B. Inversion (Maqlūb)
Ibn Qutaybah mentions us four types of inversion in his Ta’wīl, as
follows: ascribing something with its opposite quality ( ),
such as calling a foolish person a bright one; designating two contradictory
things having one basic meaning with one name (
), such as calling amām (before) warā’ (behind), as the basic meaning of
warā’ is what is absent from our eyes, either before or behind us; advancing
what will be clear by retarding, and retarding what will be clear by
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advancing in the word order ( ), such as
the Qur‟ānic verse ( :٨) “Then he drew nigh and came down”
(Q. 53:8) which is clearly understood by inversion, namely, “then he came
down and drew nigh”); and lastly, the inversion of words by mistake (
), such as the expression “adultery is a religious duty for stoning”
which should be “stoning is a religious duty for adultery”. Ibn Qutaybah‟s
treatment of them is as follows:
1. Ascribing something with Its Opposite Quality
Ibn Qutaybah mentions three motives for ascribing something with its
opposite quality, as follows:
a. (for pessimism and optimism), such as saying to the sick “good
health” encouraging (countering) pessimism about the sickness and
optimism to health.
b. (for hyperbole, lit., “for exaggeration of description”), such
as calling the sun jawnah (black) because of its intense light, and the crow a‘war (one eyed) for its keen sight. It means that even one eye is sharp
enough for the crow, as if it does not need the other eye.
c. (for sarcasm), such as the answer of „Ubayd ibn al-Abras. to Imru‟
al-Qays ibn H.ajar of the Kindah tribe, as follows:
“Why do you not ask the troops of the Kindah tribe the day they fled
away [and were called]: „where, where [are you going]?‟”,
meaning “come back!”. „Ubayd ibn al-Abras.‟s tribe Banī Asad had killed
Imru‟ al-Qays‟s father. Imru‟ al-Qays threatened the Banī Asad tribe with
retaliation, but „Ubayd ibn al-Abras. disregarded the threat, ridiculing the
Kindah‟s defeat in the battle and citing the above poem. 42
The example in
the Qur‟ān is as follow:
( :-) “And, when they felt Our might, behold them
fleeing from it! (But it was said unto them): Flee not, but return to that
(existence) which emasculated you and to your dwellings,..” (Q. 21:12-3).43
2. Designating Two Contradictory Things Having One Basic Meaning
with One Name
The Arabic language is known as lughat al-ad.dād (the language of
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opposite meanings), because it has many words which have opposite meanings. Apart from words, some sayings also seem to be contradictory,
such as (“Whoever has good faith will live long”) and
(“Good faith will lead to destruction”), for good faith cannot lead
to long life and destruction at the same time. For the Arabs, these two
expressions are not contradictory, since they are used to emphasise two
different situations. With regard to the words which have contradictory meanings, one of the two meanings is usually more prevalent than the other,
although both are derived from one basic meaning. Words of this type are
called by Arabic philologists al-ad.dād (words which have opposite
meanings).
Ibn Qutaybah cites thirteen ad.dād only in his Ta’wīl, three of which
are without examples from the Qur‟ān. We shall trace their basic meanings
and see how Ibn Qutaybah treats them, as follows:
a. (dawn, night, or part of the night)
The basic meaning of s.arīm is “something cut”. The verb s.arama and
s.aruma mean “to cut, to leave, to separate”. The word al-s.armān or al-
as.ramān (lit. “the two separating things”) means “the night and the day”,
because they are separated from each other; it can also mean “the wolf and the crow”, because they isolate themselves from people.
44
Ibn Qutaybah gives us the meanings of s.arīm, namely, the morning
and the night. Day and night are called s.arīm, because one of them is
departing when the other is approaching. The example from the Qur‟ān
in which s.arīm means “night” is as follows: ( :)
“And in the morning it became [burned and black] like [the blackness of] night.” (Q. 68:20).
45
b. (darkness, twilight, dusk, light; curtain)
The verb sadafa in the expression sadafa al-h.ijāb means “he loosened
the curtain”. The word sadfah and sudfah mean “darkness” as well as
“light”. Sudfah also means “the door” as well as “the curtain put on the door to protect it from the rain”.
46
According to Ibn Qutaybah, the basic meaning of sudfah is “a curtain”.
It means both “light” and “darkness” as if the darkness when it comes
becomes “a curtain” for the light, and vice versa.47
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c. (a shouter, a crier out)
S.ārikh applies to a person who asks help as well as the person who
responds to give help, as both of them cries out to each other. No
example is given by Ibn Qutaybah, neither from poetry nor from the
Qur‟ān.48
Ibn Fāris, however, gives us an example from the Qur‟ān, as
follows: ( :)ا “… It is not for me to
respond to your cries, nor for you to respond to mine...” (Q. 14:22, Asad). Here mus.rikh which is like s.ārikh, is translated as the person who
responds to the crier for help.49
d. (opinion, belief, doubt, assumption, uncertainty)
Z.ann means both yaqīn (certainty) and shakk (doubt), because,
according to Ibn Qutaybah, z.ann has a part of certainty, as in the
following Qur‟ānic verse: ( :) “I was sure that
I should have to meet my reckoning.” (Q. 69:20).50
The example from
poetry is the poem of Durayd ibn al-immah, as follows:
“So I told them: be sure that [the enemy of] two thousand well-equipped
warriors [will come to you], the best among them are with armour.”51
It means “be sure of their coming to you”.
According to Tiflīsī and al-Dāmaghānī the term z.ann has four
homonyms, namely: (1) yaqīn (certainty), as in ( :
) “I was sure that I should have to meet my reckoning.” (Q. 69:20) as
mentioned above; (2) shakk (doubt), as in ( :) “We think it
no more than an empty guess ...” (Q. 45:32, Asad), namely, doubt it; (3)
tuhmah (accusation), as in ( :) “... and ye imagined
various (vain) thoughts about God”. (Q. 33:10, Ali), namely, accusing Him
of not going to help them; and (4) h.usbān (consideration, thinking), as in
( :) “he never thought that he would have to return to
God”. (Q. 84:14, Asad). Ibn al-Jawzī mentions three homonyms of z.ann,
namely, yaqīn, shakk, and kadhib (falsehood). The examples given for the
first two are the same as those mentioned above. The example for the last,
which, according to Ibn al-Jawzī, is the view of al-Farrā‟, is
( :٨) “They follow nothing but falsehood; yet,
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falsehood can never take the place of truth.” (Q. 53:28).52
e. and (may be, perhaps)
Both ‘asá and la‘alla according to some scholars whom Ibn Qutaybah
does not identify indicate certitude as well as doubt. He gives us only one
example with la‘alla in the Qur‟ān as follows:
( :) “... and [that] We have appointed thereon broad paths, so that
they might find their way.” (Q. 21:31, Asad).53
Al-Suyūt.ī gives more details about ‘asá and la‘alla. He said that
these words signify hope for something desirable and fear of something
undesirable ( ). He mentions the opinion of
some scholars about the term ‘asā as follows: Ibn Fāris: The term is used for
something imminent, as in ( :٧)
“Say thou: „It may well be that something of that which [in your ignorance] you so hastily demand has already drawn close unto you‟.” (Q. 27:72,
Asad). Al-Kisā‟ī: Every ‘asá in the Qur‟ān signifies khabar (report, news);
in this case, it is in singular form; when it is interrogative, it is in plural form,
such as in the following verse where the word ‘asaytum is used:
( :) “[Ask them:] 'Would you,
perchance, after having turned away [from God‟s commandment, prefer to revert to your old ways, and] spread corruption on earth, and [once again]
cut asunder your ties of kinship?‟” (Q. 47:22, Asad). This rhetorical question
is an allusion to the moral darkness and chaotic conditions of pre-Islamic Arabia. Ibn „Abbās, as reported by Ibn Abī H.ātim and al-Bayhaqī: Every
‘asá in the Qur‟ān is bound to happen. Ibn al-Anbārī: Similar to Ibn
„Abbās‟s view, with the exception of the following verses: (a)
( :٨) “Your Sustainer may well show mercy unto you; ...” (Q.
17:8, Asad) where Allah did not bless the Jews of Banū al-Nad.ir, but
punished them; and (b) ( :) “[O
wives of the Prophet!] Were he to divorce [any of] you, God might well give
him in your stead spouses better than you...” (Q. 66:5, Asad), where the Prophet‟s wives were not replaced with others. Some scholars reject this
exception on the grounds that blessing and replacement mentioned
respectively in the above verses were conditional: that they did not commit such transgression again in the first verse, and that the Prophet divorced his
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wives in the second. Since none of these conditions was fulfilled, the general rule that the verb ‘asá in the Qur‟ān is bound to happen has no exception.
Al-Zarkashī: Both ‘asá and la‘alla are about something bound to happen
with certainty when the expression comes from Allah. When it comes from people, it contains hope and wish, since they are subject to uncertainty and
assumption, whereas Allah is not. Since Allah's statements always contain
certainty, He can express them directly without using ‘asá or la‘alla, as in
( :) “... If you ever
abandon your faith, God will in time bring forth [in your stead] people whom He loves and who love Him...” (Q. 5:54, Asad) where the word saufa
(“will”) is used. He can also give the impression of uncertainty for those to
whom Allah is speaking, as in ( :) “… But God
may well bring about good fortune [for the believers] ...” (Q. 5:52, Asad).54
Al-Zamakhsharī, commenting on the verse :٨) )
“... it may well be that your Sustainer will efface from you your bad
deeds, ...” (Q. 66:8, Asad), said that apart from the fact that it is bound to happen, ‘asá (as well as la‘alla) also gives a moral lesson that the Muslims
should put greater weight on their position between fear and hope (
).55
With regard to la‘alla, al-Suyut.ī says that it has many meanings, the
most common of which are: (1) expectation, namely, hope for something
desirable ( ), as in ( :٨٩) “... so that you might
attain to a happy state”. (Q. 2:189, Asad), and fear of something undesirable
( ), as in ( :٧) “..., the Last Hour may well
be near”. (Q. 42:17, Asad); (2) motivation ( ), as in
( :) “But speak unto him in a mild manner, so that he might
bethink himself or [at least] be filled with apprehension.” (Q. 20:44, Asad);
here the motive of speaking in a mild manner to Pharaoh is to make him
heed or fear Allah; (3) question, as in ( :) “But what
could tell thee but that perchance he might grow (in spiritual
understanding)?” (Q. 80:3, Ali). Al-Suyūt.ī says further that according to al-
Wāqidī as reported by al-Baghawī and quoted from al-Zarkashī, every
la‘alla in the Qur‟ān signifies motivation, except in ( :٩)
(Q. 26:129) where it signifies a simile, namely, which means “as
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if ye will last forever”. This exception is an isolated view, according to al-Zarkashī, since no grammarian has ever held this view, although it is
mentioned in the S.ah.īh. of al-Bukhārī. Other scholars say that la‘alla in this
verse signifies plain hope. Supporting al-Wāqidī‟s view and countering al-
Zarkashī‟s, al-Suyut.ī relates a view similar to that of al-Wāqidī, namely, the
view of „Abd Mālik. It is reported by Ibn Abī H.ātim from al-Suddī, that
according to „Abd Mālik la‘alla in the Qur‟ān means kay (“in order that”,
“so that”), except one verse, namely, which means
as mentioned above. Moreover, Qatādah says that in one of the variant
readings it is read (“as if ye will last forever”).56
f. (buyer) and (seller)
The root-word shará or ishtará is the synonym of bā‘a, meaning “to
sell” or “to buy”. Ibn Qutaybah states that and , both mean “buyer”
and “seller”, because the buyer himself is a seller, namely, a trader of money with something, and vice versa. The example from the Qur‟ān is as
follows: ( :) “And they sold him for a
paltry price - a mere few silver coins:...”(Q. 12:20, Asad). The example
from poetry is the poem of Yazīd ibn Rabī„ah ibn Mufarrigh al-H.imyarī,
known as Ibn Mufarrigh (d. 69/689) as follows:
“And I sold [the servant called] Burd, I [regretfully] wish I were vermin
[after I had sold him]."57
Ibn al-Jawzī and al-Dāmaghānī mention three homonyms of al-shirā’
(buying, or selling), namely: (1) (buying, purchasing), as in
( :) “Behold, God has bought of the
believers their lives and their possessions,...” (Q. 9:111, Asad); (2)
(selling), as in ( :٩) “Vile is that [false pride] for
which they have sold their own selves ...” (Q. 2:90, Asad), and (3)
(preference, choice), as in ( :) “[for] it
is they who have preferred error to guidance ...” (Q. 2:16).58
In selling and buying people exchange something for something else they prefer. In this
sense the above verse is translated by Asad, as follows: “[for] it is they
who have taken error in exchange for guidance.” (Q. 2:16, Asad).
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We notice that Ibn Qutaybah does not treat the term bay‘ here other than as a homonym of shirā’, which might be better translated as
“trading” as it includes buying, selling and exchanging.
g. (behind)
According to Ibn al-Anbārī the term warā’ belongs to the category of
al-ad.dād, as it may mean “behind” as well as “before”,59
whereas
according to Ibn Qutaybah it has basically one meaning, namely, “what is concealed from someone”. Ibn Qutaybah says further that this term means
“behind” as well as “before”, because anything absent from our sight is
warā’, whether before or behind us. The word al-muwārāh (disguise) and al-tawārī (concealment) are derived from it. The example from the
Qur‟ān is as follows: ( :٧٩ ) “...
because [I knew that] behind them was a king who is wont to seize every
boat by brute force”. (Q. 18:79, Asad). The term warā’ in this verse,
according to Ibn Qutaybah, means “before”, which, according to al-Zarkashī, belongs to the Coptic language.
60
Ibn al-Jawzī and Tiflīīi mention five homonyms of warā’, whereas
al-Dāmaghānī mentions six, among them being: (1) khalf (behind), as in
( :٨٧) “But they cast this [pledge] behind their
backs, ...” (Q. 3:187, Asad); (2) amām, quddām (before), as in
( :) “Hell is before him, ...” (Q. 14:16), meaning “awaiting for
him”; (3) siwá (other than), as in ( :٧)
“But those who desire other than that are truly transgressors.” (Q. 23:7);
(4) ba‘d al-mawt (after death), as in ( :) “Now,
behold, I am afraid of [what] my kinsfolk [will do] after my death, ...” (Q.
19:5); and (5) al-dunyā (the world), as in ( :
) “… They will be told: „Turn back to the world and seek for light!...‟”
(Q. 57:13), meaning “you should have sought light while you were on earth, not here in the Hereafter”.
61
h. (significant)
Jalal is applied to both small and big, because small is big compared to what is smaller than itself, so that it is both small and big. No example is
given by Ibn Qutaybah.
i. . (some) and (all)
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The word ba‘d. and kull may mean “some” or “all”, because something in
its entirety, as a whole thing, is only “some”, a part of something else, so
that it becomes “some” and “all” at the same time. The examples from the
Qur‟ān in which ba‘d. means kull and vice versa, are as follows:
( :٧) “... he said: „I have now come
unto you with wisdom, and to make clear unto you all of that on which
you are at variance...” (Q. 43:63); here ba‘d. means kull.62
( :) “Behold, I found there a woman ruling
over them; and she has been given [abundance] of some [good] things,...” (Q. 27:23); here kull means ba‘d.. No example is given by Ibn Qutaybah
from poetry.63
j. (above)
Fawqa means also dūna (below) compared to what is above it, as in the
following Qur‟ānic verse ( :
) “Behold, God does not disdain to propound a parable of a gnat, or of
something [even] less than that....” (Q. 2:26, Asad). The expression
(even something above it), means (even something below it),
namely, even something less than a gnat as translated above. This is the
view of Ibn Qutaybah, Abū „Ubaydah and Ibn al-Anbārī.64
Al-Farrā‟ mentioned the fly and the spider as examples of things “above the gnat”.
For him, it is possible to interpret fawqa as “smaller” in this verse, but he prefers to interpret it as “larger”, as a gnat is extremely small.
65 Lane
translates in the above verse as “a gnat and what exceeds it in
smallness or in largeness; what is smaller than it, or what is larger than it,
by the latter being meant the fly (Q. 22:72) and the spider (Q. 29:40)”.66
Both Tiflīsī and al-Dāmaghānī mention nine homonyms of fawqa - whereas Ibn al-Jawzī mentions eight - among which are as follows: (1)
akbar (greater, bigger), as in Q. 2:26 above in which means
“something bigger than a gnat”; it is similar to the interpretation of
Qatādah and Ibn Jurayj who say that means
(“something greater than a gnat”). 67
None of them say that fawqa here
means dūna as claimed by Ibn Qutaybah, Abū „Ubaydah and Ibn al-
Anbārī; (2) akthar (more), as in ( :) “...; but if
there are more than two females...” (Q. 4:11, Asad); (3) afd.al (better), as
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in ( :) “The Hand of God is better than their hands.”
(Q. 48:10), namely, what Allah did for them is better than what they did in
the pledge of H.udaybīyah; (4) arfa‘u fī ’l-manzilah (higher in position), as
in ( :) “But they who are conscious of God
shall be above them on Resurrection Day...” (Q. 2:212, Asad), namely,
their position will be higher than that of non-believers; and (5) fawqa
ru’ūsihim (above their heads), according to al-Dāmaghānī, as in
( :٧) “And [did We not say,] when We caused
Mount Sinai to quake above the heads of the children of Israel as though it were a [mere] shadow, ...” (Q. 7:171).
68
k. and (to fear)
Khashiya and khāfa both mean “to fear”, but may also mean ‘alima (“to
know”), because fear is a part of knowing, as in
( :٨) “... and we knew that he would bring bitter grief upon them
by [his] overweening wickedness and denial of all truth.” (Q. 18:80), and
( :) “And warn hereby those who
know that they will be gathered unto their Sustainer” (Q. 6:51).69
As a shāhid, Lane cites a poem and its translation in which the term khashiya
means „alima, as follows:
“And I know assuredly that he who follows the right direction shall
dwell in the Gardens of Paradise with the Prophet Mohammad.”70
l. (hope)
Rajā’ which means “hope” may also mean khawf (fear), because a person
who hopes is in doubt and has a part of fear that what he hopes will not be
fulfilled, as in ( :) “What is amiss with you that
you do not fear Allah's majesty, ...” (Q.71:13, Asad). The example from
poetry is the poem of Abū Dhu‟ayb al-Hudhalī, as follows:
“When the bees sting him he fears not their stings.”71
The above verse according to al-Qurt.ubī means, “what is amiss with
you that you do not fear Allah‟s majesty and His ability to punish you,
namely, what is your excuse for not fearing Him?” He quotes the interpretation of Ibn „Abbās, Sa„īd ibn Jubayr, Abū al-„Āliyah, „At.ā‟ ibn
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Abī Rabāh., as follows: “What is amiss with you that you do not look
forward to reward from Allah and do not fear punishment from Him?”
The term is also interpreted as (“you do not see”) by Ibn
„Abbās in another report and Mujāhid, as well as (“you do not
care”) by Ibn Mujāhid in another report and al-D.ah.h.āk. This last
interpretation is based on the language of H.ijāz, as asserted by Qut.rub.
Similarly, in the languages of Hudhayl, Khuzā„ah and Mud.ar the
expression means (“I do not care”).72
According to al-Farrā‟, the Arabs use the word rajā’ meaning “fear”
only if it is accompanied with jah.d (denial, negation), as in the examples
above, and in the expression meaning I did not fear
him”).73
Ibn al-Jawzī, Tiflīsī, and al-Dāmaghānī mention respectively two,
three, and five homonyms of rajā’: (1) amal (hope), rajā’, and t.ama‘
(ambitious desire) according to Ibn al-Jawzī, Tiflīsī and al-Dāmaghānī
respectively, as in ( :٨) “... they have the hope of the
mercy of God; ...” (Q. 2:218, Ali); (2) khawf which is also the language of Hudhayl according to Ibn „Abbās, (khashyah, fear, according to Tiflīsī and
al-Dāmaghānī), as in ( :) “And whoever
feared the meeting with his Sustainer...” (Q. 18:110); (3) al-t.ama‘,
according to Tiflīsī, as in ( :٧) “... they strive for His
mercy” (Q. 17:57); (4) al-h.abs (arrest), as in ( : ؛
(33: انشعراء “They said (unto Pharaoh): Arrest him and his brother“ (Q.
7:111 and 26:36); (5) al-nawāh.ī (sides), as in ( :٧)
“And the angels [will appear] on its sides,...” (Q.69:17, Asad); and (6) al-
tark (leaving), as in ( :) “Thou mayest put off
for a time whichever of them thou pleasest, ...” (Q. 33:51, Asad).74
m. (to give up all hope)
Ya’isa may also mean ‘alima (to know), for knowing and being sure of
something make a person abandon all hope for other things, as in
( :) “Have, then, they who have
attained to faith not yet come to know that, had God so willed, He would
indeed have guided all mankind aright?” (Q. 13:31, Asad). The example
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from poetry is the poem of Suh.aym ibn Wathīl al-Yarbū„ī, as follows:
“I told them at the mountain path when they captured me: „Do you not
know that I am the son of the rider of the horse Zahdam?‟”75
We have seen that many words belonging to al-ad.dād treated by Ibn
Qutaybah were included later in the category of words having many
homonyms. They were treated by writers in the field of
(homonyms and synonyms in the Qur‟ān).
3. Advancing what will Be Clear by Retarding, and Retarding what will
Be Clear by Advancing.
Ibn Qutaybah quotes thirteen Qur‟ānic verses, several examples from
poetry and one example of an Arabic expression of the time to illustrate this
category of inversion, thus evidencing the existence of such inversion in the Qur‟ān, Arabic poetry and in common use. These examples will be
discussed as follows:
a. Arabic Expression
The expression meaning “present the she-camel to
the water basin” is the inversion of (“present the water
basin to the she-camel”). As a matter of fact, they are presented to each other.
b. Arabic Poetry
An unidentified poet said: “You see the bull
in it making the shade enter his head,” is the inversion of
“making his head enter the shade”. As the bull's head and the shade become intermingled, they enter one into the other, leading Ibn Qutaybah to observe
that though the first expression is not incorrect, the second one is more
appropriate.76
Al-A„shá said: “Until it burned
up and the firebrand became (hot) like its dust.” It means
“its dust became (hot) like (the heat of) its firebrand”.77
c. Qur’ānic verses
(1) ( :٧ ) “So think not that Allah will fail to
keep His promise to His messengers” (Q. 14:47, Pickthall) in which
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inversion is claimed to take place, namely, the inversion of
(“... He will fail to keep to His messengers His promise”). According to
Ibn Qutaybah, inversion occurs because the verb akhlafa (to violate) applies equally to the promise as well as to the messengers. We can say
“I fail to keep the promise”, and “I fail [to keep
promise with] the messenger”.78
(2) ( :٧٧) “Now [as for me, I know that,] verily,
these [false deities] are my enemies, [and that none is my helper] save the
Sustainer of all the worlds” (Q. 26:77, Asad) in which the inversion of
(“I am their enemy”) takes place. This is because, Ibn Qutaybah
asserts, “whomsoever you treat as an enemy will also treat you as such.”79
(3) ( :٨) “and then [he] drew nearer, and came close”
(Q.53:8, Asad) is the inversion of (“and then he came close and
drew nearer”), because Gabriel came close by drawing nearer, and drew nearer by coming close.
80 This view is similar to that of al-Farrā‟ who
states that the meaning of the verse is . However, he states further
that it is possible to say, for example, (“he came close, so he came
nearer”), or (“he came nearer, so he came close”), because both
verbs have similar or nearly similar meanings. Therefore, it could be claimed that inversion does not occur in the above verse.
81
(4) ( :) “Nay, but man shall against himself be
an eye-witness” (Q. 75:14, Asad) is said to be the inversion of
meaning “nay, but the one who will be an eye-witness against
man will (come) from himself”, namely, his limbs. Because his limbs are parts of him, they took his place, namely, “himself” in the above verse.
82
(5) ( :) (“old age has already reached me” Q. 3:40)
is claimed to be the inversion of (“I have reached old age”).83
Abū „Ubaydah gives the same interpretation but does not acknowledge inversion has taken place here, but rather that this is the Arabic way of
expression.84
Al-Zamakhsharī who does not see any inversion here says
that the verse means (“old age has affected me and
weakened me”); it is like the expression “the high [namely,
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old] age has reached him”.85
According to al-T.abarsī both expressions are
correct, because old age reaches you when it happens, and you reach old
age through the passing of time. It is unlike the expression (“I
have reached the town”) which cannot be inverted by saying (“the
town has reached me”), in as much as the town does not reach or come to
us.86
(6) ( :٧ ) “Man is created out of haste” (Q. 21:37) is the
inversion of “Haste is made with man.” It means that
haste is made as part of human nature. This is the view of Abū
„Ubaydah.87
Al-T.abarsī gives two main views about the meaning of the term
insān in the above verse: Adam and man. Those who say that it is Adam, have three views regarding the meaning of the above verse: (a) Adam was
created after the creation of other creatures at the end of the day of the
year of creation; it was Friday and Adam was created after sunset; (b) Adam was created not through the slow process of creation of babies; (c)
when Adam was created his spirit filled most parts of his body; he became
physically active and grasped at the fruits of Paradise. Those who say that it is man, have four different interpretations: (a) Man was created with the
impatience to rush when dealing with his affairs. This is the view of
Qatādah, Abū Muslim, and al-Jubbā‟ī. The type of expression in this verse
is common among the Arabs. For example, they say of a sleeper
“he was not created but of sleep”, and of a criminal, “he
was not created but of evil”. (b) There is inversion in this verse, namely,
“the haste was created out of man”, which is the view of
Abū „Ubaydah and Qut.rub. This vew, however, is weak according to al-
T.abarsī, because in order to put Allah‟s words into inversion one needs
ta’wīl, whereas no ta’wīl is needed here; (c) The term ‘ajal means
(clay), so that the verse means that man was created from clay, which is,
according to al-T.abarsī, also the view of Abū „Ubaydah and a group of
linguists. As a shāhid from poetry they cite the following poem:
“and the date palms grow between water and clay (soil)”. (d)
Man was created in haste, as Allah said (“be and it is”).88
126
(7) ( :-) “Praise be to
Allah Who hath revealed the Scripture unto His slave, and hath not placed
therein any crookedness. (But hath made it) straight...” (Q. 18:1-2,
Pickthall) is the inversion of “... Who hath
revealed the Scripture ... made it straight, and hath not placed therein any
crookedness.” This is the view of the majority of scholars, such as al-
Akhfash, al-Kisā‟ī, al-Farrā‟, Abū „Ubayd, as well as al-T.abarī, who
based his view on Ibn „Abbās‟s interpretation. Qatādah, however, says
that there is no inversion in this verse, as the verse means
, as translated by Pickthall above.89
(8) :٧) ) “And his wife was standing
(there), and she laughed. But We gave her glad tidings of Isaac, ...” (Q.
11:71, Ali) is the inversion of (“We gave her glad
tidings of Isaac then she laughed”).90
What made Sarah laugh? Al-Farrā‟
mentions two views: She laughed because of the glad tidings that she
would have a son; this is the interpretation of those who state that there is inversion in the verse above. According to al-Qurt.ubī, this is also the view
of al-Farrā‟ who said that Sarah laughed because she was happy after
hearing the good tidings. The other view is that there is no inversion in the
above verse. Al-Qurt.ubī said further that at the time of Prophet Abraham
people who did not touch food presented to them were suspected of being
enemies or robbers. Since the angels who appeared like human beings did not touch the food presented by Prophet Abraham, he became afraid. His
fear was noticed by the angels who told him not to be afraid. So, his wife
Sarah laughed.91
According to Muqātil, Sarah laughed because she saw Abraham who could challenge one hundred men by himself being afraid
of three men, his guests. The best view according to al-Nah.h.ās, is that
when the angels told Abraham not to be afraid, he became happy; Sarah
laughed because she was pleased with his happiness.92
According to Qatādah she laughed because she was amazed to see that her guests whom
she was serving did not touch the food. According to al-Zajjāj she laughed
because she was amazed and happy to learn that Lot's people would be punished. She had advised Abraham to take his nephew Lot with him, for
she feared punishment might come to his people.93
(9) ( :) “But they gave him the lie, and cruelly
127
slaughtered her ...” (Q. 91:14, Asad) is the inversion of (“But
they cruelly slaughtered her and gave him the lie”). However, Ibn
Qutaybah says that it is also possible that there is no inversion here. This is also the view of al-T.abarī and al-Qurt.ubī. Al-T.abarī said that it is
possible to mention the motive before or after the deed, for example
(“You gave, so you did good”) and (“You did good,
so you gave”).94
(10) ( :٧) “Thus have their
(so-called) partners (of Allah) made the killing of their children to seem
fair unto many of the idolaters ...” (Q. 6:137, Pickthall). This is the reading of the jumhūr of the qurrā’, of the peoples of Makkah, Madīnah, Kūfah,
and Bas.rah. Ibn Qutaybah said that “some reciters”, namely, Ibn „Āmir,
read the verse as follows: which
means that the killing of the idolaters‟ children by what they called
“partners” of Allah has been made to seem fair to the idolaters.
The difference between the two readings is as follows: In the first
reading it reads (a verb in active voice), (the object of the verb هيز ),
(genitive case), and (the subject of ). In the second reading
it reads (a verb in passive voice), (nā’ib fā’il of ), (the object
of قتم), and (in genitive case, but is the subject of the verbal noun
). In the first reading the so-called partners of Allah made the killing of
the idolaters‟ children by their own parents seem to be fair. But in the second reading the so-called partners of Allah are only indirectly the
killers, because of the idolaters' belief in their existence, influence, and
will. To this second reading Ibn Qutaybah said that is the
inversion of .95
Al-Qurt.ubī mentions four variant readings for the above verse,
follows: (1) the reading of the great majority of qurrā’ mentioned above in
which the idolaters killed their own children, and this act was made to
seem fair by the so-called partners of Allah to the parents;
means , “their killing of their (own) children” where the pronoun
hum is hidden. The ellipsis of the pronoun is also found in the verse
128
( :٩) “Man never tires of asking for the good [things
of life]:...” (Q. 41:49, Asad), meaning (“of his asking for good
[things of life]”). The (partners) in the above reading according to al-
Farrā‟ and al-Zajjāj are the people who serve the idols. Another view says
that they are the tempters, and it has also been said that they are the devils;
(2) the variant reading of al-H.asan
which is also a possible reading according to al-Qurt.ubī.
is similar to the expression (“Zayd was beaten by
„Amr”) meaning (“he was beaten by „Amr”). As a shāhid from
poetry is Sībawayh‟s poem:
So that Yazid was made to cry by D.āri„ because of an argument,
and was beaten in such a way that would make people perish.
meaning (“D.āri„ made him cry”). As a shāhid from the Qur‟ān
itself is the variant reading of Ibn „Āmir and „Ās.im from the report of Abū
Bakr who read - instead of ( : -٧) ... -
meaning “He was offered praise ... by men” (Q. 24:36-7); (3)
the variant reading of the people of Shām
in which means the idolaters‟ children whom they killed
and with whom they shared kinship and inheritance. This reading is also acceptable; (4) the variant reading of Ibn „Āmir and of the people of Shām
(Syria) as reported by Abū „Ubayd as mentioned above.96
The reading of Ibn „Āmir is disputable. Among those who reject this
reading are: al-Nah.h.ās, al-Farrā‟, Abū Ghānim Ah.mad ibn H.amdān, al-
T.abarī and al-Zamakhsharī. Al-Nah.h.ās said that the grammarians allow
the separation between (the annexed, the first of the governed noun
of the genitive construction) and (what is annexed to, namely, the
second of the governed noun of the genitive construction) with (an
adverb denoting place or time), not with nouns. In Ibn „Āmir‟s reading
is separated from with a noun ( ), and therefore, his reading is
not acceptable.97
129
Al-Mahdāwī justifies Ibn „Āmir‟s reading by comparing it with the following line of poetry:
“I cast at her [my wife] with a small arrow the way Abū Mazādah cast
at the young camel.
Here as is separated from its , namely, with a
noun which is the object.98
Al-Farrā‟ rejects this argument, saying
that this is only the view of the grammarians of H.ijāz, and nothing similar
to it is found in Arabic.99
Abū Ghānim Ah.mad ibn H.amdān al-Nah.wī said that Ibn „Āmir‟s
reading is a mistake and should not be followed. The separation between
the and the with a z.arf is allowed only for the reason of
poetic necessity, because the does not separate, as in the following
poem of Abū H.ayyah al-Numayrī:
“It [the house] is [so well designed] like the book written one day
by a Jewish scribe who makes some of his writings close to
each other, and others well separated”.
Here the word yahūdī is separted from kaff by yawman. Al-Qushayrī
said that a group of people rejected this view, as this reading was
reported mutawātir from the Prophet. Moreover, it was written in the
„Uthmānic codex (with ) indicating the soundness of Ibn
„Āmir‟s reading.100
Al-T.abarī and al-Zamakhsharī who rejected the reading of Ibn
„Āmir of the above verse101
were opposed by many ‘ulamā‟, such as Ibn al-Munayyir al-Iskandarī, Abū H.ayyān al-Nah.wī, Niz.ām al-Dīn al-
Nisābūrī, and Ibn al-Jazarī. Ibn al-Munayyir asserted that al-Zamakhsharī thought that Ibn „Āmir‟s variant reading was based on his
own ijtihād, whereas, in fact, it was revealed to the Prophet, and the
Prophet read it to Gabriel and to people with tawātur, as with the rest of the seven variant readings.
102
Niz.ām al-Dīn al-Nisābūrī, defending the variant reading of Ibn
„Āmir, said:
130
The right view according to me, in this case, is that the Qur‟ān is a h.ujjah
(proof) on others, and not the others being a h.ujjah on it. As the seven
variant readings are all mutawātir, how could it be then possible to say that
some of them are wrong? If such a variant reading [of Ibn „Āmir] has been
reported in the miraculous Qur‟ān then it is necessary to assert that it is
right and eloquent.103
Ibn al-Jazarī who disagreed with al-Zamakhsharī on Ibn „Āmir‟s
reading on the above verse said that the right view was not what al-
Zamakhsharī said, and he asked Allah‟s protection from reading the Qur‟ān with ra’y (personal opinion) and al-tashahhī (personal wish). He
said further that it would be impossible to reject the reading of Ibn „Āmir
who was one of the great tābi‘īn who took the learning from the s.ah.ābah,
like „Uthmān ibn „Affān and Abū al-Dardā‟.104
(11).
( :) “Let not, then, their worldly goods, or [the happiness
which they may derive from] their children excite thy admiration: God but
wants to chastise them by these means in this worldly life, and [to cause] their souls to depart while they are [still] denying the truth.” (Q. 9:55,
Asad). According to Ibn „Abbās‟s interpretation on the authority of al-
Kalbī referred to by Ibn Qutaybah the above verse means “Do not let their riches and their children in the world please you; on the contrary, Allah
will punish them because of them [i.e., their riches and children] in the
Hereafter.” Therefore, the inversion occurred between
and , so that the above verse means that the occurrence of
punishment will not be in this world, but in the Hereafter.105
This is also
the interpretation of al-Farrā‟.106
According to al-Qurt.ubī, Ibn „Abbās‟s view is also shared by
Qatādah. This is also the view of the majority of Arabists ( )
according to al-Nah.h.ās. However, there is also another view which states
that there is no inversion in the above verse. The punishment occurs in
this world, namely, in their toil of collecting wealth and in spending it by
force in order to conceal their hypocrisy.107
(12). ( :٩) “And but for a decree
that had already gone forth from thy Lord, and a term already fixed, the judgement would (have) been inevitable (in this world).” (Q. 20:129,
131
Pickthall). The inversion here occurs between and as
translated by Pickthall above. This is also the view of Qatādah.108
Instead
of “the judgement”, the inevitable thing according to Ibn Qutaybah and al-
T.abarī respectively is “the punishment” () and “the destruction”
() .109
Another view specifies the inevitable punishment, namely, the
death of the leaders of the unbelievers in the battle of Badr. Had it not been decreed by Allah regarding the fixed terms of the rest of the
unbelievers and the promise of punishing them in the Hereafter, they
would have been killed the way their leaders were (in the battle of Badr).
110
(13)
( :٨).
"And if any [secret] matter pertaining to peace or war comes within their ken, they spread it abroad - whereas, if they would but refer it
unto the Apostle and unto those from among the believers who have
been entrusted with authority, such of them as are engaged in obtaining intelligence would indeed know [what to do with] it. And but for
God‟s bounty towards you, and His grace, all but a few of you would
certainly have followed Satan." (Q. 4:83, Asad).
According to Ibn Qutaybah the inversion in the verse occurs between
and , so that the verse becomes
(“… such of them as are engaged in obtaining
intelligence would indeed know [what to do with] it but a few of them
[would not know]).”111
Al-Qurt.ubī mentions three views on this verse:
(1) It means “they spread it abroad except a few ( ) which are
not spread abroad and revealed”; this is the view of Ibn „Abbās and a group
of grammarians, such as al-Kisā‟ī, al-Akhfash, Abū „Ubayd, Abū H.ātim,
and al-T.abarī. (2) Similar to the view of Ibn Qutaybah above, which is also
that of al-H.asan.112
We notice that these two views state the occurrence of
inversion. The words are put together after and
according to the first and the second view respectively. Al-Farrā‟ and al-Kalbī prefer the first view, whereas al-Zajjāj prefers the second. (3) It means
“had it not been for the grace of Allah and His mercy on you by sending you
132
a messenger among yourselves who brought evidence on you, you would have become unbelievers and idolaters, except a few among you.” There is
no inversion here.113
We have seen that Ibn Qutaybah‟s treatment of this topic was very
brief and limited. Scholars of later generations had more things to say and gave more elaborate explanations.
4. Inversion by Mistake
Ibn Qutaybah asserts that inversion by mistake occurs in poetry,
because the poets invert and omit words by mistake or by necessity for the
sake of rhyme or the correctness of the meter of the verses. As an example is the poem of an unidentified poet as follows:
“What you have said is obligatory like adultery is obligatory for
stoning”
which is the inversion of “like stoning is obligatory for adultery” (
).114
Did any of the philologists or Qur‟ānic commentators ever explicitly mention the occurrence of inversion by mistake in the Qur‟ān? As far as we
know, none of them. However, by implication, the way some Qur‟ānic
verses were explained, this type of inversion seems to occur. Abū „Ubaydah, for example, when he illustrated the occurrence of inversion in some
Qur‟ānic verses never claimed that this inversion is by mistake, because
inversion is itself one of the ways of expression by the Arabs.
Ibn Qutaybah in rejecting the occurrence of inversion by mistake in the verses of the Qur‟ān, states that Allah does not make any mistake nor is
compelled to. However, he treats briefly four Qur‟ānic verses suspected to
belong to this category of inversion, as follows:
a. ( :
٧) “And so, the parable of those who are bent on denying the truth is as that of the beast which hears the shepherd‟s cry, and hears in it nothing
but the sound of a voice and a call [lit. „him who cries unto what hears
nothing but a cry and a call‟]. Deaf are they, and dumb, and blind: for they do not use their reason.” (Q. 2:171, Asad)
According to Abū „Ubaydah whom Ibn Qutaybah referred to as
133
“some philologists” () ,115
the word yan‘iqu, “the one who calls”,
namely, the shepherd, should mean yun‘aqu, “the one which is called”,
namely, the sheep. Therefore, the verse means that the similarity of unbelievers when they are called to Islam is like the deaf sheep which do
not hear except a shout and cry when they are called by the sheep-tender,
as translated by Asad above.116
What Abū „Ubaydah means is that although it is read yan‘iqu it means yun‘aqu, and this inversion in
meaning is not a mistake, because it is used by the Arabs. They say, for
example (“this dress is not sufficient for my size”, namely,
“it does not fit me” when it is meant “my size does not fit the dress”
They also say (“I put my head into the cap”), when they
mean “I put the cap onto my head.”117
This interpretation of Abū „Ubaydah is also that of Ibn „Abbās, Mujāhid,
„Ikrimah, al-Suddī, al-Zajjāj, Sībawayh and al-Farrā‟. Al-Farrā‟ gives an
example in the Arabic expression , meaning, “So-and-
so fears you like the fear of the lion”, which means (“... like his
fear of the lion”).118
Ibn Qutaybah rejects this interpretation and contends that the verse means “the likeness of those who disbelieve and our likeness in their
preaching are like the one who calls to someone who does not hear.” The
expression “and our likeness” ( ), is omitted in the verse as the mode
of expression in the verse gives an indication of its existence.119
This view
is similar to that of Ibn Zayd, Qut.rub, and al-T.abarī, namely, the
disbelievers calling their idols is like calling to the deaf.120
Ibn Qutaybah gives another interpretation of al-Farrā‟, namely, “the likeness of
preaching of those who disbelieve” which means “the likeness of
preaching to those who disbelieve”;121
it is like the expression
(“If you meet So-and-so greet him the emir‟s greeting”).
The expression (“the emir‟s greeting”) here means
(“the way you greet the emir”). Therefore, it means “the way the emir
is greeted”, not “the way the emir greets”.122
b. ( :٧) “...that his treasure-chests alone
would surely have been too heavy a burden for a troop of ten men or even more.” (Q. 28:76, Asad). There is an inversion here according to Abū
134
„Ubaydah, that the verse means “a troop of ten men or even more would
have too heavy a burden with the treasure-chests” ( ).123
The word is the plural of (a treasure-chest or a store) and (a
key).124
Asad, Ali and Arberry use the first meaning as seen above,
whereas Pickthall uses the second. The size of a troop ( ) according to
Ibn „Abbās consists of people between three and ten, whereas according to Mujāhid, Qatādah and Abū S.ālih. it is respectively between ten and
fifteen, between ten and forty, and forty people.125
Asad translates it as
"ten men or even more" as noticed above, since this term “is used here
metonymically, pointing to the great weight involved...”126
According to Ibn Qutaybah and al-Farrā‟, there is no inversion in this verse, as it means that the treasure-chests, due to their heaviness, made the
troop of mighty men who were carrying them bend down.127
Here Ibn
Qutaybah disagrees with Abū „Ubaydah.
c. ( :٨) “for, verily, to the love of wealth is he most
ardently devoted.” (Q. 100:8, Asad) is claimed to be the inversion of
(“for, verily, his love of wealth is ardent”) or, according to al-
Farrā‟, , meaning (“for, verily, he is
ardently in love of wealth”). Ibn Qutaybah rejects the occurrence of
inversion here, because, like Abū „Ubaydah and al-Kalbī, he translates
as (miserly), so that the verse means “Verily, for his love of wealth
he is miserly ( ).”128
Here Ibn Qutaybah leans towards the
view of Abū „Ubaydah rather than that of al-Farrā‟.
d. ( :٧) “... and make us examples to the righteous”.
(Q. 25:74). There is inversion here according to Mujāhid, namely,
“and make those who are righteous examples for us”.129
Ibn Qutaybah‟s interpretation of the above verse in refuting the
occurrence of inversion in it is that it means “and make us examples in good things by which the righteous will follow”. To support his view Ibn
Qutaybah cites the following verse:
( :) “and [as] We raised among them leaders, so long as
they bore themselves with patience and had sure faith in Our messages,
guided [their people] in accordance with Our behest.” (Q. 32:24, Asad).
135
Here a’immah means qādah (leaders), according to Ibn „Abbās‟s interpretation.
130 However, Ibn Qutaybah also gives Mujāhid‟s
interpretation as reported by al-T.abarī, that the verse in question means
“make us follow the examples of people before us so that people who
come after us will follow our example.”131
We have seen how Ibn Qutaybah treated the Qur‟ānic verses in which
inversion by mistake seemed to occur. Through his philological explanation he proved the absence of inversion, much less inversion by mistake.
Unfortunately, Ibn Qutaybah‟s treatment of this topic is very brief and lacks
detail. More explanation on this topic would have been valuable and helpful. This brevity is probably due to his conviction that there is no inversion by
mistake in the Qur‟ān and that no philologist explicitly mentions its
occurence in the verses of the Qur‟ān.
C. Ellipsis (H.adhf) and Brevity (Ikhtis.ār)
Ibn Qutaybah in his Ta’wīl mentions nine categories of ellipsis and
brevity which occur in the Qur‟ān. They are as follows: (1) the ellipsis of
the mud.āf whose function is replaced by the mud.āf ilayh (
), for example, ( :٨) “And ask the
township” (Q. 12:82), meaning “ask the inhabitants (ahl) of the township”; (2) the effect of a verb on two things when it is actually intended for one of
them, while the verb of the other is hidden (
), such as ( :٧) “So decide upon your
course of action, you and your partners” (Q. 10:71), meaning “so decide
upon your course of action and call (wa ad‘ū) your partners”; (3) the ellipsis
of the main clause of a conditional or an incomplete sentence due to its
clarity to the listener (
), such as ( :) “And were it not
for God's favour upon you and His grace and that God is compassionate, a Dispenser of grace...” (Q. 24:20, Asad) with the ellipsis of the main clause
“He would have punished you” ( ) according to Ibn Qutaybah; (4) the
ellipsis of one or two words, such as (
:) “And as for those with faces darkened, [they shall be told:] „Did
you deny the truth after having attained to faith?‟” (Q. 3:106, Asad), with the
ellipsis of the words (“it will be said to them”) in the Qur‟ānic text;
136
(5) the ellipsis of the main clause of an oath when there is an indication of its
presence in the sentence ( ) such as
( : -)
“By those angels who drag forth souls with violence, and by those who with joyous release release them; by those who swim swimmingly along; by
those who are foremost with foremost speed; by those who conduct the
affairs of the universe!” (Q. 79:1-5, Rodwell) with the ellipsis of the words
“you will be surely raised” ( ) at the end of these verses; (6) the ellipsis of
the word lā (no, not) while the sense of the sentence indicates its presence (
), such as ( :٧) “God makes
[all this] clear unto you, lest you go astray; ...” (Q. 4:176, Asad) with the
ellipsis of the word la in the text, namely, ; (7) the use of a pronoun
for something which has not been mentioned before ( ), such
as ( :) “Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Power!”
(Q. 97:1, Pickthall) with the ellipsis of the pronoun “it” (hu) referring to the
Qur‟ān which was not mentioned beforehand; (8) the ellipsis of
propositions, such as :) “And Moses
chose out of his people seventy men” (Q. 7:155, Asad) with the ellipsis of
the word min (among, from, out of) in the text, namely, ; and lastly,
(9) the complex ellipsis which is unspecified by Ibn Qutaybah due to its
complexity, such as ( :) “He who desires
might and glory [ought to know that] all might and glory belong to God
[alone]....” (Q. 35:10, Asad) with the ellipsis of the expression
(“he will know to whom power belongs”) according to Ibn Qutaybah, and
“ought to know that” as put by Asad. These categories of ellipsis will be
discussed with some selected examples, as follows:
1. The Ellipsis of the Mud.āf whose Function is Replaced by the Mud.āf
Ilayh
As mentioned earlier, the omitted mud.āf and its function are replaced
by the mud.āf ilayh in its relation to its verb. Ibn Qutaybah mentions ten
Qur‟ānic verses and five verses of poetry which belong to this category of
ellipsis. Three Qur‟ānic verses and one verse of poetry will be discussed as follows:
137
a. ( :٩) “... for their hearts are filled to overflowing
with love of the [golden] calf...” (Q. 2:93, Asad). According to Ibn
Qutaybah, as translated by Asad, the verse means “the love of the calf” with the ellipsis of h.ubb (love).
132 This is also the view of al-Farrā‟ and
Abū „Ubaydah.133
b. ( :٩٧) “For the H.ajj are the months well known....”
(Q. 2:197, Ali). According to Ibn Qutaybah the verse means “the time of pilgrimage” (waqt al-h.ajj) with the ellipsis of the word waqt.
134 This is
also the opinion of al-Farrā‟, who heard al-Kisā‟ī saying
(“verily the summer is two months, and verily the t.aylasān
is three months”), meaning “the summer time
and the time for wearing the t.aylasān (a shawl-like garment worn over
head and shoulders)...135
Instead of , it is also said
(“the time for performing the pilgrimage”).136
c. ( :٧) “in which case We would
indeed have made thee taste double [chastisement] in life and double [chastisement] after death, ...” (Q. 17:75, Asad) with the ellipsis of ‘adhāb
(punishment), rendered as “chastisement” by Asad. This is the view of Ibn Qutaybah, Abū „Ubaydah and al-Zamakhsharī.
137 This is also the view of
Ibn „Abbās, Mujāhid, and others.138
d. As evidence from poetry is the following poem of Abū Dhu‟ayb:
“They brought him [the wine‟s owner] with profit which he had tried [to
obtain], so that it became kept [and] permissible [to drink], and drinking
it became easy.”
The words means (“they brought its owner”) with the
ellipsis of the word s.āh.ib (owner).139
2. The Ellipsis of the Verb
It is the ellipsis of a verb which belongs to one of two objects. These
objects are literally affected by another verb, although in meaning, only one
of them is affected by it ( ). Ibn
Qutaybah mentions examples from two Qur‟anic verses and four verses of
poetry. The Qur‟ānic verses and two verses of poetry will be discussed as
138
follows:
a.
و (-٧: ) “Immortal youths will
wait upon them with goblets, and ewers, and cups filled with water from
unsullied springs by which their minds will not be clouded and which will not make them drunk; and with fruit of any kind that they may
choose, and with the flesh of any fowl that they may desire. And [with
them will be their] companions pure, most beautiful of eye.” (Q. 56:17-22, Asad).
According to Ibn Qutaybah the fruit, the flesh of fowls and the
companions pure are brought to the inhabitants of Paradise, with the
ellipsis of the verbs wa yu’tūna bi (“and it will be brought to them”) which affects the fruit, the flesh and the companions pure.
140
b. The poem heard by al-Farrā‟ from Banī Dubayr: “I
foddered it [the animal] with straw and [watered it] with cold water,” with
the ellipsis of the verb (I watered it).141
c. The verse of „Ubayd ibn al-H.usayn al-Numayrī, better known as al-Rā‘ī
(“the Shepherd”), as follows:
When the pretty girls appeared one day and pencilled (their) eyebrows and eyes
with the ellipsis of the verb kah.alna (smeared with kohl). The verse
means “and they pencilled their eyebrows and smeared their eyes with
kohl.”142
3. The Ellipsis of the Main Clause of a Conditional or an Incomplete
Sentence
The main clause of a conditional sentence is omitted for brevity, as
the hearer knows it. Ibn Qutaybah gives us four examples of Qur‟ānic verses and three from poetry. Two Qur‟ānic verses and one verse of poetry will be
discussed as follows:
a. ( :) “If there were
a Qur‟ān with which mountains were moved, or the earth were cloven
asunder, or the dead were made to speak, (this would be the one!)....” (Q. 13:31, Ali)). We notice the omitted main clause given by Ali is “this
would be the one”. Ibn Qutaybah expresses a similar view when he states
139
that the omitted words are (“it would have been this
Qur‟ān”),143
which is also the view of al-Zubayr ibn al-„Awwām,
Mujāhid, Qatādah and al-D.ah.h.āk.144
According to Abū „Ubaydah, there are many omitted main clauses in
this verse, so that it means that if there were a Qur‟ān with which
mountains were moved, they would have moved () , or the earth were
cloven asunder, it would have been cloven asunder () , or the dead
were made to speak, they would have been resurrected () .145
According to some grammarians the omitted main clause is in the
previous verse, namely, (“for [in their ignorance] they
deny the Most Gracious...” Q. 13:30, Asad). Therefore, the verse means
that they would still disbelieve Allah even if He sends a Qur‟ān with which the events mentioned above occured. However, this view is not
preferred by al-Farrā‟ who states that it is possible that the omitted clause
is (“they would have disbelieved”).146
Similarly, according to al-
Zajjāj, the omitted clause is (“they would not believe”), as the
omitted clause is revealed in another verse which reads:
( :)
"And even if We were to send down angels unto them, and if the dead were to speak unto them, and [even if] We were to assemble before them,
face to face, all the things [that can prove the truth], they would still not
believe unless God so willed....” (Q. 6:111, Asad). This is the interpretation adopted by Asad when he rendered the omitted clause as
“they ... would still refuse to believe in it.”147
b.
:٩) “Is, perchance, he who worships [God] throughout the
night, prostrating himself or standing [in prayer], ever-mindful of the life
to come, and hoping for his Sustainer‟s grace, [equal to one who denies
the truth]? Say: „Can they who know and they who do not know be deemed equal?‟” (Q. 39:9, Asad). The main clause omitted in the above
verse, according to Asad, is “equal to one who denies the truth”. Ibn Qutaybah does not mention it precisely, but says that it is the opposite of
what is mentioned in the verse. This is self-evident, as the verse continues
with the two opposite things, namely, those who know and those who do
140
not know.148
Al-Zajjāj states that since those who know are above those who do not know, so those who obey are above those who disobey.
149
c. An unidentified poet says the following line:
I [come to] see you, for I do not know whether it is anxiety which is
worrying me, and a worried man in olden times was humble and lean.
In this verse, the poet does not mention the main clause, namely, other than
anxiety.150
4. The Ellipsis of One or Two Words
Ibn Qutaybah in this category of ellipsis mentions ten Qur‟ānic verses
and four verses from poetry as examples. Three Qur‟ānic verses and one verse from poetry will be treated as follows:
a. ( :٧)
“And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the
Thou alone art all-hearing, all-knowing!‟” (Q. 2:127, Asad). According to
al-Farrā‟, Ibn Qutaybah and al-Qayrawānī, the omitted words are
(“both saying”), namely, both Abraham and Ishmael said the prayer, as
translated by Asad above.151
In addition, the words (“and both are
saying”) are found in the variant readings of Ubayy and „Abd Allāh ibn Mas„ūd.
152
b. ( :) “for thy Sustainer has
ordained that you shall worship none but Him. And do good unto [thy]
parents.” (Q. 17:23, Asad). According to Ibn Qutaybah and al-Farrā‟, the
omitted word is respectively was.s.á and aws.á, both meaning “He
enjoined”.153
The verb was.s.á for parents is explicitly used in other verses;
for example, ( :) “Now [among the best of
the deeds which] We have enjoined upon man is goodness towards his
parents....” (Q. 46:15, Asad), and ( :) “And [God
says:] We have enjoined upon man goodness towards his parents: ...”
(Q.31:14, Asad). Moreover, instead of it is written in Ibn
Mas„ūd‟s codex and Ibn „Abbās‟s variant reading.154
c. ( :٧) “So, when the prediction of the
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second [period of your iniquity] came true, [We raised new enemies against you, and allowed them] to disgrace you utterly, ...” (Q. 17:7,
Asad). We notice here the ellipsis of the words ba‘athnāhum (“We sent
them”) as the word ba‘athnā (“We sent”) has been mentioned in the
previous verse which reads: ( :)
“Hence, when he prediction of the first of those two [periods of inquity] came true, We sent [ba‘athnā] against you some of Our bondmen...” (Q.
17:5).155
d. The poet al-Namir ibn Tawlab said in his poem:
“For verily, death will meet the person who fears it wherever [he is or
he goes].”
In this verse the ellipsis of the word kāna or dhahaba occurs after
aynamā.156
5. The Ellipsis of the Main Clause of an Oath
Ibn Qutaybah mentions only two examples of the ellipsis of the main
clause of an oath from the Qur‟ānic verses and does not give an example from poetry, as follows:
a. ( :
-) “By those angels who drag forth souls with violence, and by those who with joyous release release them; by those who swim swimmingly
along; by those who are foremost with foremost speed; by those who
conduct the affairs of the universe!” (Q. 79:1-5, Rodwell). We notice, as
said by Ibn Qutaybah, the ellipsis of the main clause (“you will be
surely raised”) at the end of these verses. Al-Qurt.ubī adds with
(“and you will be surely accounted for [your actions]”). This main clause is easily understood by the listener as stated by al-Farrā‟, and is indicated
in the succeeding verse “even though we may have become
[a heap of] crumbling bones?” (Q. 79:11, Asad) with the ellipsis of
(“shall we be raised?”).157
b.
. ( : -) “Qāf. By the Glorious Qur‟ān (thou art God's
Apostle). But they wonder that there has come to them a warner from
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among themselves. So the unbelievers say: „This is a wonderful thing! What! When we die and become dust, (shall we live again?) That is a
(sort of) return far (from our understanding).‟” (Q. 50:1-3, Ali).
Ibn Qutaybah interprets here the main clause of the oath as
(“shall we be resurrected?”).158
Al-Farrā‟ mentions his interpretation and
the ellipsis of the main clause of the oath in this verse as follows: “Qaf. By
the glorious Qur‟ān, you will be surely raised after death ... Shall we be raised when we are dead and have become dust?”
159
6. The Ellipsis of the Word Lā
Ibn Qutaybah mentions four examples of the ellipsis of ال from the Qur‟ān and two from poetry. Two examples from the Qur‟ān and one from
poetry will be treated as follows:
a. (:) “Verily, it is God [alone] who
upholds the celestial bodies and the earth, lest they deviate [from their
orbit]...” (Q. 35:41, Asad). We notice here the ellipsis of lā, so that the
verse means (“so that they do not deviate”).160
However,
according to al-Zajjāj, there is no need for the ellipsis of lā here, as the meaning of upholding in the verse is preventing, so that the verse means
“Allah prevents... from deviating.”161
b. ( : )
“...and neither speak loudly to him, as you would speak loudly to one
another, lest all your [good] deeds come to nought without your perceiving it.” (Q. 49:2, Asad). According to Ibn Qutaybah the verse
means (“[so] that your good deeds will not come to
nought”).162
This is the view of the grammarians of the Kūfan school.
The grammarians of the Bas.ran school, however, say that the verse means
(“because it will bring your good deeds to nought.”).163
c. The poet Imr‟ al-Qays says:
“So, I said with oath: by Allah I will remain sitting, even if they beat
my head and limbs in front of you.”
The expression lā abrah.u (abrah.u with the ellipsis lā) means “I shall
continue”.164
143
7. The Use of the Pronoun for Something, Which Has Not Been
Mentioned Before
Ibn Qutaybah mentions eight examples from the Qur‟ān and six from
poetry for this type of ellipsis. Three Qur‟ānic verses and two verses of
poetry will be dealt with as follows:
a. (:) “Now if God were to
take men [at once] to task for whatever [wrong] they commit [on earth],
He would not leave a single living creature upon its surface....” (Q. 35:45, Asad). We notice that the pronoun hā refers to the earth, although the
earth has not been mentioned before in this verse.165
b. ( : ) “thereby raising clouds of dust.” (Q. 100:4, Asad).
The pronoun “it” in bihi [lit. by it, with it, or in it] in this verse, according
to Ibn Qutaybah, refers to the valley () .166
Al-Qurt.ubī and Ibn Kathīr
simply said that it is referring to the place where the morning raid
mentioned in the previous verse (Q. 100:3) occurred.167
Al-T.abarsī
mentions both views,168
whereas al-Zamakhsharī mentions two more
interpretations of in the verse, namely that the pronoun is referring to the
act or the time of raiding.169
c. ( :) “Then which of the favours of your Lord will
ye deny?” (Q. 55:13, Ali). The pronoun of the dual كما refers to both man and demon (jinn). Man has been mentioned earlier in the previous verse,
but jinn has not been mentioned yet; it is mentioned later in verse 15.170
Man and jinn are later referred to as (“the two dependents”, lit., “the
two burdens”, because they burden the earth).171
d. The poet T.arafah said: “I wish I could free you from
it and become free [myself].” The pronoun (it), according to Ibn
Qutaybah, refers to (the waterless desert, the open country).172
e. The poet al-Muthaqqib al-„Abdī said in his poem:
I do not know when I go to a country whether a good thing [or a bad
thing] is intended [to me], which of the two will follow me: whether the
good thing which I seek, or the bad thing which awaits [lit. seeks] me.
144
The pronoun ayyuhumā (which of the two) in the above poem refers to the good thing and the bad thing. The latter is mentioned later only, in the
second verse, not in the first.173
8. The Ellipsis of the Prepositions
This category of ellipsis is called by Ibn Qutaybah [ ]
(the ellipsis of the prepositions). H.urūf al-s.ifāt is the Baghdādī technical
term for the h.urūf al-jarr (prepositions), three of which are dealt with here
by Ibn Qutaybah. They are, as we shall see from the examples given by Ibn
Qutaybah, li, ‘an, and min. Two examples from the Qur‟ān and one from poetry are dealt with as follows:
a. ( :) “But when they have to measure or
weigh whatever they owe to others, [they] give less than what is due!” (Q.
83:3, Asad). The verse means . as translated
by Asad above with the addition of the preposition “to” and “for”. 174
This is also the view of al-Akhfash and al-Farrā‟. They say that like the
verb wazana and kāla we can say or (“I advised you”), and
or (“I ordered you [to do] it”), with or without the preposition
la and bi respectively. Al-Farrā‟ was reported to have said that he heard a
bedouin woman saying
“When people left we came to the merchant so that he measured us one or
two mudds [of grain]”, instead of saying (“he measured for us”).
This is the language of the people of H.ijāz and the surrounding Qays
tribe.175
b. ( :) “For (every) engagement will be enquired into
(on the Day of Reckoning).” (Q. 17:34, Ali), with the ellipsis of the
preposition ‘an, so that the verse means . 176
c. The poet al-„Ajjāj said: “Under what Allah has
chosen for him [among] the trees”, with the ellipsis of the preposition min,
so that the verse means as translated above with
the addition of “among”.177
9. Complex Ellipsis
The complex ellipsis includes what Ibn Qutaybah calls the expression
which becomes obscure and difficult to understand due to its brevity and
145
ellipsis ( ). He mentions ten examples from
the Qur‟ān, and five from poetry. This type of ellipsis also includes an
unspecified category of ellipsis from which he gives four examples from the Qur‟ān, but no example from poetry. For the first type of complex ellipsis
two examples from the Qur‟ān and one from poetry will be discussed, and
two examples from the Qur‟ān for the second type as follows:
a.
( :٨) “Is, then, he to whom the evil of his own
doings is [so] alluring that [in the end] he regards it as good [anything but
a follower of Satan]? For, verily, God lets go astray him that wills [to go astray], just as He guides him that wills [to be guided]. Hence, [O
believer,] do not waste thyself in sorrowing over them: verily, God has full
knowledge of all that they do!” (Q. 35:8, Asad)
Asad mentions the omitted words “anything but a follower of Satan” as we notice above. But according to Ibn Qutaybah the omitted words in
the verse are , so that the above verse means: “Would,
then, he to whom the evil of his own doings is [so] alluring that [in the
end] he regards it as good, waste thyself in sorrowing over him?"178
Al-Kisā‟ī has the same view and says that the word man is the subject
(mubtada’) of an omitted khabar, namely, (“you
would waste yourself in sorrowing over him”). He says further that this is
an uncommon Arabic expression known only to a few people. This is also
the view of al-Zajjāj.179
The clue of this missing clause is “do not waste thyself in sorrowing over them” mentioned in the second part of the verse.
b. ( : ) “Say: „They are
[lawful] in the life of this world unto all who have attained to faith - to be
theirs alone on Resurrection Day....‟” (Q. 7:32, Asad).
According to Ibn Qutaybah and al-Farrā‟, there is an omitted word in
this verse, namely, mushtarikah, meaning “shared (with non-believers)”. Therefore, the verse means that the adornment of Allah is for the
believers and shared with non-believers in this world, but on
Resurrection Day it is only for the believers.180
This is also the view of Ibn „Abbās, al-D.ah.h.āk, al-H.asan, Qatādah, al-Suddī, Ibn Jurayj and Ibn
Zayd. The other view is that of Sa„īd ibn Jubayr who says that the verse means that the beauty which Allah has brought forth for His creatures in
this world, will be on the Day of Resurrection exclusively for those who
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believed while they were in this world.181
c. The poet al-Shanfará said before he was executed:
So, do not bury me, verily, burying me is forbidden for you,
but [leave me to the hyena to which it is said after hunting it]:
„Hide yourself O Umm „Āmir‟ [i.e. the hyena].
The poet wanted his corpse to be left to the hyena.182
d. ( : )
“Art thou not aware of those who, having been granted their share of the divine writ, now barter it away for error, and want you [too] to lose your
way?” (Q. 4:44, Asad). The verse means, according to Ibn Qutaybah,
“barter away guidance for error”. The words “with guidance () ” is
omitted, but mentioned in another verse, namely
( :) “[for] it is they who have taken error in exchange for
guidance; ...” (Q.2:16, Asad).183
e. ( :) “Thereupon God
sent forth a raven which scratched the earth, to show him how he might
conceal the nakedness of his brother‟s body....” (Q. 5:31, Asad). Ibn
Qutaybah mentions the full meaning of the verse as follows: “Then Allah sent a raven scratching on the ground to hide a dead raven to show him
how to hide his brother‟s naked body.”184
According to Ibn „Abbās, Ibn Mas„ūd and Mujāhid, Allah sent two
ravens fighting each other until one of them was killed and buried by the other. Another commentary states that the raven scratched on the ground
to hide his food for further use, as it is the habit of the ravens to do so.185
We have seen that Ibn Qutaybah divided ellipsis and brevity into
categories and gave examples from the Qur‟ān and classical poetry. Although, being a man of letters, he gave many examples from poetry, his
treatment of this topic lacks detail. More elaborate treatment is given by commentators of later generations, like al-T.abarī and al-Qurt.ubī.
D. Repetition (Takrār) and Pleonasm (Ziyādah)
1. Repetition
Like ellipsis, repetition is also one of the characteristics of the Arabic language. It is used to emphasise something. In the Qur‟ān it is used
generally for emphasising and elaborating meaning. Ibn Qutaybah mentions
147
two categories of repetition: repetition of words and repetition of meaning. They will be dealt with as follows:
a. Repetition of Words
Ibn Qutaybah cites seven examples from the Qur‟ān in which repetition
of words occurs. Two of them will be discussed hereunder:
(1
( :- ) . Say: “O you who deny the
truth! I do not worship that which you worship, and neither do you
worship that which I worship. And I will not worship that which you
have [ever] worshipped, and neither will you [ever] worship that which I worship. Unto you, your moral law, and unto me, mine!” (Q. 109:1-6,
Asad).
Ibn Qutaybah‟s commentary on these verses is that the disbelievers
seemed to have said to the Prophet: “Surrender to some of our idols so that we shall believe in your God.” So, Allah revealed to him: “I do not
worship that which you worship, and neither do you worship that which
I worship.” It means that they would not believe until he did what they had suggested. Time elapsed and they came again to the Prophet,
saying: “If you worship our idols for a day, a month, or a year, we shall
worship your God for a day, a month, or a year.” For this, Allah revealed: “And I will not worship that which you have [ever]
worshipped, and neither will you [ever] worship that which I worship,”
denouncing their readiness to believe in Allah at one time and associate Him with others at the other.
186
The repetition in these verses serves many purposes, among which
are: (a) for emphasis; this is the view of al-Farrā.187
(b) for rendering in
line with the disbelievers‟ statement “You worship our idols and we will worship your God, then you worship our idols and we will worship your
God, so that we shall go on like this year after year.” The repetition in
the verses in question is used in accordance with the disbelievers‟ repetition; (c) for indicating the difference of time, namely, “I do not
worship now what you worship, and you do not worship now what I
worship. And in the future I shall not worship what you worship, and in the future you will not worship what I worship.” This is the view of al-
Akhfash and al-Mubarrad; (d) for indicating the difference of idols; in
pre-Islamic Arabia when people became bored with worshipping the same idols they replaced them with new ones. Therefore, the verses
148
mean: “I do not worship the idols you worship today, and you do not worship what I worship, for you worship the idols you have now; and I
shall not worship the idols you worshipped yesterday which you have
abandoned, and you will not worship what I worship, for I worship my God”; and (e) for indicating the existence of distinction between the two
ways of worship; the particle in and which follows it is
, so that they respectively mean “your way of worship” ( ) and
“our way of worship” ( ).188
(2) ( :) “Then which of the favours of your Lord
will ye deny?” (Q. 55:13, Ali).
The above verse is repeated 31 times in Sūrat al-Rah.mān (chapter
55). The purposes of this repetition according to Ibn Qutaybah is to
remind people of Allah‟s favours to them and to call their attention to
His power and mercy to His creatures. The verse is repeated after mentioning the favours of Allah so that they would understand and
acknowledge them.189
It is, Ibn Qutaybah states further, like telling a
man to whom you have given your favours and assistance continuously and who still denies your favours: “Didn‟t I provide you
accommodation when you were outcast? Do you deny this? Did I not
pick you up when your leg was injured? Didn‟t I make you perform the pilgrimage (a lam ah.ijj bika) when you had not performed it? Do you
deny this?.”190
b. Repetition of Meaning
According to Ibn Qutaybah the repetition of a meaning or an idea by
using different wording is intended to elaborate the meaning and to
extend the expression, such as , meaning, “I order
you to fulfil (your promise) and I forbid you from betraying (it).” The
order to fulfil one‟s promise is itself the prohibition from betraying it. He mentions three examples from the Qur‟ān and one from poetry. Two
examples will be discussed as follows:
(1) ( :٨) “In both of them will be [all kinds of]
fruit, and date-palms and pomegranates.” (Q. 55:68, Asad). Although
the date-palms and the pomegranates are fruit, Ibn Qutaybah states, they are specially mentioned to indicate their excellence.
191
(2) ( :٨ ) “Or do
149
they, perchance, think that We do not hear their hidden thoughts and their secret confabulations? Yea, indeed, [We do,] and Our heavenly
forces are with them, recording [all].” (Q. 43:80, Asad).
The meaning of the word sirr (a secret) is repeated in this verse with
the word najwá (a confidential talk), as najwá is itself sirr, a secret. It is also possible, Ibn Qutaybah asserts, that sirr means a personal secret,
while najwá means what is discussed secretly by people and kept for
themselves.192
2. Pleonasm
Pleonasm is the redundancy of words, namely, the use of more words
than are needed to express the meaning; for example, “divide something into four quarters” and “each of the two twins”. Here the words “four” and “two”
are redundant, since things divided into quarters will become four quarters,
and the twins are two children.
Ibn Qutaybah gives us two categories of pleonasm in his Ta’wīl: general and specified. The general pleonasm is the addition of unspecified
words in the statement, while the specific one is the addition of a certain
word in it. There are fifteen examples of pleonasm mentioned by Ibn Qutaybah. In this study two Qur‟ānic verses for each category (whenever
Ibn Qutaybah mentions more than one) and one verse of poetry (whenever
available) will be discussed as follows:
a. General Pleonasm
Ibn Qutaybah cites seven examples of general pleonasm in the Qur‟ān, two of which are as follows:
(1) ( :٧) “uttering with their mouths
something which was not in their hearts, ....” (Q. 3:167, Asad). Ibn
Qutaybah asserts that the expression “with their mouths” is to
emphasise that they actually said what is not in their hearts, not just in writing or gesture.
193 The purpose of this expression is to emphasise
hypocrisy by showing the contrast between what is said and what is
truly believed by means of mentioning its respective place.
(2) ( :٩) “whereas
he who cannot afford it shall fast for three days during the pilgrimage
and for seven days after your return: that is, ten full [days]....” (Q. 2:196, Asad). According to Ibn Qutaybah, the expression “ten full” is
for emphasis.194
However, according to al-Zajjāj and Abū al-Qāsim al-
Balkhī, it is to remove obscurity, since the particle wa (and) could also
150
mean aw (or); in the above expression it becomes clear that it does not mean a fast of either three days on the pilgrimage or seven days after
returning home, but both, ten days in all. The example in which و means
(: ) :is in the following verse أو
“... then marry from among [other] women such as are lawful to you -
[even] two, three, or four:...” (Q. 4:3, Asad).195
(3) The poet al-Shammākh said:
When a banner was hoisted for a glorious cause „Arābah took it
vigorously.
The words bi’l-yamīn literally mean “with the right hand”, and since the power is in the right hand, the words here mean “vigorously and
enthusiastically”.196
b. Specific Pleonasm
The fifteen additional words given by Ibn Qutaybah are as follows:
(1) Additional ال. This lā (no, not) should be dropped in meaning,
although added in the text due to the occurrence of rejection (ibā’) or
negation (jah.d) in the statement. For example
( :) “[And God] said: „What has kept thee from prostrating
thyself when I commanded thee?‟...” (Q. 7:12, Asad).
The expression means so that the verse means “What
prevented you from prostrating thyself...?” where lā is not translated. However, as Iblis (Satan) did not prostrate himself the word lā is added
in the verse.197
According to al-Farrā‟, the verse means “What
prevented you from prostrating,” and the word lā in allā is s.ilah. It is
also possible that the second negation is used to emphasise the first,
such as the following poem:
Verily, we have not seen like them, a group of black head
two-humped camels and elephants.
Both mā and in in this verse mean “not”, but the second is meant for
emphasis.198
151
Al-Qurt.ubī mentions three main views about lā in the above verse:
(1) It is additional, according to Abū „Ubaydah199
and some
grammarians of both of the Bas.ran and the Kūfan schools; (2) It is not
additional, as the word mana‘a has the meaning of saying or appealing, so that the verse means “who appealed to you for not falling prostrate”
or “who told you not to fall prostrate”; this is the view of al-Farrā‟.200
Moreover, in al-Farrā‟‟s view, the significance of lā here is that it indicates the existence of rejection in the previous verse, namely, Iblis‟s
refusal to fall prostrate. (3) There is an ellipsis in the verse; it means
“What hindered you from obeying and compelled you not to prostrate?”
201 Al-Tabari‟s view is similar to this when he said that the
verse means “What hindered you from prostrating so that it compelled
you not to prostrate?”202
Al-Zamakhsharī‟s interpretation is “What hindered you from carrying out the prostration and (from) forcing
yourself to (do) it?”203
According to al-Sakkākī (d. 626/1229) this verse
is a metaphor (majāz); the particle lā is neither additional nor s.ilah, but
rather an indication (qarīnah) of the existence of metaphor. Therefore,
the meaning of this verse according to him is
“What called you up for not prostrating?”204
The example from poetry is Abū al-Najm‟s poem as follows:
I do not blame the [women with] white [hair] for ridiculing when they
saw the ugly [person with] white hair [mixed with baldness].
The word is translated as (or ( according to Abū
„Ubaydah) with the omission of the additional lā. The word lā at the end
of the verse is additional.205
An additional lā also occurs at the beginning of verses starting with oaths, the purpose of which, in Ibn qutaybah‟s view, is to disprove
the disbelievers. For example: ( :
-) “Nay! I call to witness the Day of Resurrection! But nay! I call to
witness the accusing voice of man‟s own conscience!” (Q. 75:1-2,
Asad) and “Nay, I call to witness this land.”
(Q. 90:1, Asad). Therefore, such verses give a sort of expression similar to the following one: “Nay, by Allah, it is not as you say.”
Although it is possible to drop the “nay”, its presence in the statement
152
makes it stronger. 206
The position of the additional lā preceding an oath like the verse lā uqsimu mentioned above is a widely controversial issue among Arabic
grammarians. According to Ibn Jinnī, it is lām al-ibtidā’ (lām used for
starting a sentence), so that lā uqsimu is originally la’anā uqsimu, then the personal pronoun anā is dropped, and finally it becomes
la’uqsimu.207
Moreover, it is written (la without alif) in the
„Uthmānic recension.208
According to al-Kisā‟ī lā is additional,
whereas according to al-Farrā‟ it is not additional. Rather, it is
necessary to indicate a reply to the disbelievers‟ statements, belief, and rejection of faith, such as Paradise, Hell, and the Resurrection, as if it
states that what they think is not right. This view is adopted by Ibn
Qutaybah as mentioned above.209
(2) Additional . The word alā which means “verily,” “indeed,” is an
intensifying interjection. It is introduced at the beginning of the sentence to alert the listener to what is about to be said. It should not be confused with
alā consisting of two particles, a (intorregative) and lā (negative). The
examples of the additional alā given by Ibn Qutaybah are as follows:
(a) ( :) meaning “Oh, verily, [even] when they
cover themselves with their garments [in order not to see or hear],...” (Q.
11:5, Asad).210
(b) ( :٨) meaning “Oh, verily, on the Day when
it befalls them there will be nothing to avert it from them;...” (Q. 11:8, Asad).
(that I might be killed) and for enjoying my wealth (that
I might become poor), are you my immortaliser?
What the poet means is that since his rebuker cannot make him immortal,
he is free to go to war and to spend his wealth. 212
(3) Additional . Ibn Qutaybah asserts that this additional bi, meaning
“by”, “in”, should not be interpreted. Some examples of this additional bi
are as follows:
(a) ( :) “Read in the name of thy Sustainer, who
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has created.” (Q. 96:1, Asad), which means, according to Ibn Qutaybah,
Abū „Ubaydah and al-T.abarsī, “Read the name of thy
Sustainer who has created."213
Al-Qurtubi mentions three views on this verse: (1) as mentioned by Ibn Qutaybah above; (2) “Read (the Qur‟ān) by opening with the name
of your Lord (Sustainer);” here the expression is in the accusative
case as an adverb ( ), and (3) “Read (the Qur‟ān) in the name
of your Sustainer,” ( ).214
(b) :) ) “A fountain from which the
servants of Allah will refresh themselves and make it gush forth
abundantly.” (Q. 76:6, Dawood), which means, according to Ibn
Qutaybah and al-Farrā‟, “a fountain which the servants
of Allah will drink (from) ...”215
(4) Additional . Ibn Qutaybah mentions one example only of the
additional min (“of”, “from”), as follows: ( :٧)
meaning “...no sustenance do I ever demand of them...” (Q.
51:57).216
(5) Additional . Ibn Qutaybah mentions example only where the additional
li (“for”) occurs in the Qur‟ān, as follows:
( :) meaning “... and
in their inscription there was guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord.” (Q. 7:154, Pickthall).
217
Al-Qurt.ubī mentions three views on this li, as follows: (1) it is
additional as mentioned above, which is the view of the grammarians of
Kūfah; (2) it means “for the sake of” ( ), so that the verse means
“for those who fear for the sake of their Lord”, and this
is the view of al-Akhfash; (3) it is added to the noun that precedes its verb
which becomes weak and intransitive; it is like the verse
( :) “if you are able to interpret dreams!” (Q. 12:43, Asad).218
(6) Additional . Ibn Qutaybah mentions one example only from the Qur‟ān
in which the additional ka (as, same) occurs, as follows:
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( :) meaning “There is nothing like unto Him.” (Q.
42: 11, Asad).219
According to Tha„lab instead of the addition of ka in the
above verse, it is the addition of mithl that occurs, the purpose of which is
for emphasis. Therefore, the verse means .220
(7) Additional . Ibn Qutaybah mentions one example from poetry, and
none from the Qur‟ān where the additional ‘alá occurs, as the following
verse of H.umayd ibn Thawr:
Allah rejected [any claim or statement] except that the Sarh.at
tree of Mālik is superior to all kinds of thorny trees.221
(8) Additional . Ibn Qutaybah gives us one example only where the
additional ‘an (“from”, “against”) occurs, as the following Qur‟ānic verse:
( :) meaning “Let those
who disobey His orders beware,...” (Q. 24:63, Dawood).222
This is the
view of Abū „Ubaydah223
and al-Akhfash. However, according to al-Khalīl and Sībawayh, the preposition ‘an in the verse is not additional, as the
verse means “disobey after [giving] His order”, namely “after
He has given the order”.224
(9) Additional . Ibn Qutaybah gives two examples from the Qur‟ān and
one from poetry in which the additional inna (“verily”) which is called
“the heavy inna (إن انثقيهة)” occurs, as follows:
(a) ( :) “[But,]
behold, as for those who attain to faith and do righteous deeds - verily,
We do not fail to requite any who persevere in doing good.” (Q. 18:30). The second inna is additional.
225 Al-Zamakhsharī mentions three
interpretations of the above verse which indicate that, contrary to Ibn
Qutaybah‟s view, inna in this verse is not additional, as follows: (1) The
verse is an which is in modern technical
terms called (a parenthetical clause), so that the meaning of
the verse is completed with the khabar (predicate) in the succeding verse,
namely, ( :) “theirs shall be gardens of perpetual
bliss ...” (Q. 18:31, Asad); (2) Instead of being a parenthetical clause, it is also a khabar, the first khabar, whereas the preceding verse is the
155
second. The connection (s.ilah) between the subject “those who attain to
faith” and the first predicate is the expression (“who persevere
in doing good”) which is identical to “those who attain to faith”.
Therefore, the verse means “As for those who attain to faith... We do not fail to requite them, for theirs shall be the gardens of perpetual bliss;” (3)
The preceeding verse is not a khabar, but an explanation of the term ajr
(reward).226
(b) ( :٨) “Say: „Behold, the death from
which you are fleeing is bound to overtake you...‟” (Q. 62:8, Asad).
Here, the second inna is also additional.227
Al-Zamakhsharī mentions
two other variant readings: (1) without , which is of Ibn
Mas„ūd; this is the khabar of the subject, the death ( ), in the verse;
(2) (without ), which is of Zayd ibn „Alī. This is a new
sentence, because is the khabar, so that the verse means:
“Say, the death is the thing from which you are fleeing.Verily, it is bound
to overtake you.”228
(c). The poet Jarīr said:
The caliph has been covered by Allah with a garment of power
with which seal-rings [of authority] are enforced. 229
According to al-Farrā‟ it is not correct to say, for example,
("Verily, Zayd, verily his brother is departing"); however, it is
correct in the Qur‟ānic verses, such as Q. 22:17, because it contains
recompense. The verse runs as follows:
( :٧) “Verily, as for
those who have attained to faith [in this divine writ], and those who
follow the Jewish faith, and the Sabians, and the Christians, and the
Magians, [on the other hand,] and those who are bent on ascribing divinity to aught but God, [on the other,] verily, God will decide between
them on Resurrection Day...” (Q. 22:17, Asad).
On the contrary, Abū Ish.āq allows it and says that it is possible for
every mubtada’ to be emphasised with inna; therefore, according to him,
we can say, for example, (Verily, Zayd, he is departing),
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then we emphasise huwa (he) and say , as in the poem
mentioned above.230
(10) Additional . Ibn Qutaybah gives us two examples of the occurrence
of the additional in (“not”) which is called by Arabic grammarians “light
in” ( ), one from the Qur‟ān and the other from poetry, as follows:
a. ( :) “And yet, We had established them
securely in a manner in which We have never established you, [O people of later times].” (Q. 46:26, Asad).” Ibn Qutaybah mentions two
interpretations on the above verse: (1) by considering in as non-additional, meaning “never” as translated by Asad above, and (2) by
considering it as additional, and therefore, the verse means: “And yet,
We had established them securely in a manner in which We have established you,...”
231 The first view belongs to al-Mubarrad, al-Farrā
232
as well as Ibn „Abbās and Qatādah; 233
the second, to al-Qutabī, namely,
Ibn Qutaybah, according to al-Qurt.ubī.234
Al-Qurt.ubī mentions the third
view, namely, is conditional ( ) with a hidden apodosis ( ,
namely, a clause answering to an if-clause in syntax), so that the above
verse means: “And yet, We had established them securely in a manner that which if We established you [too], your injustice would increase and
your obstinacy would be intensified.”235
b. Durayd ibn al-S.immah said:
I have neither seen nor heard like [what I have seen and heard] today:
coating with henna she-camels infected with skin disease! 236
Here, the particle in is additional and therefore is not translated.
(11) Additional . Ibn Qutaybah mentions three examples of the occurrence
of the additional idh (“when”, “then”, and “since”), two from the Qur‟ān, and one from poetry, as follows:
(a) ( :) “And lo! Thy Sustainer
said unto the angels...” (Q. 2:30, Asad).237
The word idh (when) which is translated by Asad as the interjection “lo”, should be omitted in meaning,
and the translation should be “And thy Sustainer said unto the
angels...”238
This view of Ibn Qutaybah which is adopted from that of Abū
157
„Ubaydah239
is rejected by many Qur‟ānic commentators. Al-Nah.h.ās, for
example, says that this view of Abū „Ubaydah is wrong, as this particle
is an (a noun in the Arabic grammar), a (an adverb denoting
time), and therefore cannot be additional. Another commentator, al-
Zajjāj, says that this is a wrong-doing ( , an offence) from Abū
„Ubaydah; as Allah mentions the creation of men and other creatures, the verse means “He began creating you when (idh) He said...”
240
The more acceptable explanation on this issue is probably that of al-
T.abarī. In rejecting Abū „Ubaydah‟s view without mentioning him by
name, al-T.abarī states that the verse in question is connected with the
previous one where Allah reminds people of what He has done for them
by bestowing them His bounty and blessings, and yet, they disbelieve
Him. Then He reminds them of what He did to their forefather Adam "when He said to the angels ...” as mentioned in the above verse.
241
However, another view is that the particle idh is connected with the
hidden word udhkur (remember), so that the verse means “And
remember when thy Lord said ...,”242
; this is the view of „Alī ibn „Īsá towards which al-T.abarsī leans.
(Q. 31:13, Asad). Here again, idh which is translated by Asad as the
interjection “lo”, according to Ibn Qutaybah, is additional.244
Some Qur‟ānic commentators such as al-Qurt.ubī say that the particle
idh is not additional, as the verse implies the existence of the word udhkur meaning “remember”, so that the verse means “And remember
when Luqman...” as translated by Pickthall. Instead of the word udhkur,
al-Zajjāj connects the particle idh with the preceding verse, namely,
( :) “And verily We gave Luqman wisdom ...” (Q.
31:12), and continues with “when he said” ( ). Al-Nah.h.ās rejects this
view on the grounds that the conjunction و (and) preceding إذ makes the
connection suggested by al-Zajjāj unlikely to occur.245
(c) Ibn Mayyādah said about digging and making a well:
“He was still saying: „take [the bucket] away, take [the bucket]
way.‟”246
(12) Additional . Two Qur‟ānic verses are given by Ibn Qutaybah as
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examples of the occurrence of the additional mā (“what,” “which”) as follows:
(a) ( :) “[And God] would say: „After a little
while they will surely be smitten with remorse!‟” (Q. 23:40, Asad). According to Ibn Qutaybah and Abū „Ubaydah, mā is additional in this
verse.247
(b) ( :) “... by whichever name you invoke
Him, [He is always the One - for] His are all the attributes of
perfection...” (Q. 17:110, Asad).248
(13) Additional . The additional wa (“and”) which is called by the
grammarians (conjunctive wa) in the Qur‟ān makes the expression
seem incomplete. Ibn Qutaybah provides five examples of the additional
conjunctive wa from the Qur‟ān, and two from poetry, among which are following:
(a) ( :٧) “... till, when they
reach it, and its gates will have been opened, and its keepers will say unto them: „Peace be upon you!...‟” (Q. 39:73, Asad). According to Ibn
Qutaybah, the last wa is additional, and therefore, the expression “its
keepers will say unto them...” makes the sentence complete.249
According to Abū „Ubaydah the khabar of the verse is not mentioned,
since the Arabs used to omit the khabar of sentences. This implies that
wa is not additional here.
The grammarians have different views concerning the wa in
which does not exist in the previous verse dealing with the
companions of Hell (Q. 39:71). Al-Qurt.ubī mentions four views as
follows: (1) The wa is in conjunction with the elliptical sentence
(“they became happy”) according to al-Mubarrad, and (“they
entered it”) according to al-Zajjāj. (2) It is additional according to the
grammarians of Kūfah, but this view is rejected by those of Bas.rah. (3)
It is the (the “and” of eight) according to Abū Bakr ibn „Iyāsh; it
is the tradition of the Quraysh tribe when they count from one and reach
seven they put wa before eight; they say: “one ... five, six, seven, and
eight” ( ). Many examples for this wa are found
in the Qur‟ān, such as Q. 69:7, 66:5, 9:112, and 18:22. (4) It indicates
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that the gates of Paradise will have been opened before its companions come to it as translated by Asad above. It is unlike the gates of hell
which will be open only when its companions come to it.250
This last
view is mentioned by al-Zamakhsharī with a shāhid from the Qur‟ān, as
follows: ( :) “gardens of perpetual bliss, with
gates wide-open to them”. (Q. 38:50, Asad).251
(b) ( :) “And [He is
aware, too, that] they who are bent on denying the truth speak [thus, as it were,] to those who have attained to faith: „Follow our way [of life], and
we shall indeed take your sins upon ourselves!...‟” (Q. 29:12, Asad).
According to Ibn Qutaybah the particle wa is additional, so that the
above verse means “follow our way so that we
shall indeed take your sins upon ourselves”.252
This view is adopted
from that of al-Farrā‟ and al-Zajjāj who say that the above verse means
“If you follow our way we shall take your sins upon
ourselves.”253
(c) Imru‟ al-Qays said:
Until your tribesmen increased (in number) and you saw
your sons growing up, you turned the shield to us [i.e., announced
hostility]; verily, the wicked one is the weak swindler.254
Here in is additional. However, according to al-Nah.h.ās, this
particle cannot be additional, because it belongs to the .255
We
see how al-Nah.h.ās insists on rejecting the idea of the existence of the
additional و in particular, and the additional particles in general, in the
verses of the Qur‟ān.
(14) Additional . The additional wajh (“face,” “countenance”) occurs
in the Qur‟ān before the name “Allah” or the pronoun referred to Him is
mentioned. The expression (“His countenance”) and (“the
countenance of Allah”) respectively means “Him” and “Allah”, such as in
the following examples given by Ibn Qutaybah:
(a) ( :٨٨) “Everything is bound to perish save His
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[eternal] Self” (Q. 28:88, Asad), meaning “Him”, Allah.256
This is the interpretation of Mujāhid,
257Abū „Ubaydah,
258 and al-Farrā‟.
259 Al-
Zamakhsharī‟s interpretation of is (“His Essence”).260
(b) ( :٩) means, according to Ibn Qutaybah, “We
feed you, for the sake of Allah alone...” (Q. 76:9).261
(15) Additional . According to Ibn Qutaybah the term ism (“name”)
can be additional. He quotes the view of Abū „Ubaydah who states that the
expression (“by the name of Allah”) means (“by Allah”).262
This view
is rejected by al-T.abarī.263
Al-Akhfash says that the significance of
mentioning ism here is to make it different from the oath .264
Ibn Qutaybah mentions one verse and one poem as examples of the
additional ism, as follows:
(a) ( :٧٨) “Hallowed be thy Sustainer‟s
name, full of majesty and glory!” (Q. 55: 78, Asad), meaning
“Hallowed be thy Sustainer!”265
„Āmir among the qurrā’ read instead of , making it
the s.ifah of the name (ism) in the verse in question. The name mentioned in
the opening of the sūrah of this verse is al-Rah.mān (the Most Gracious).
The sūrah itself speaks about the creation. This is to indicate that Allah
creates everything by His grace.266
(b) Labīd said:
Until next year, then, peace be upon both of you; and
whoever mourns for one year will be excused.267
Here the word ism is additional and is not translated.
E. Kināyah (Metonymy) and Ta‘rīd. (Allusion)
(metonymy) and (allusion) are parts of the art of expressing
oneself clearly and eloquently called (lit., "the science of clarity of
speech or expression"). It is one of the three branches of the (the
rhetorical science, the art of good style), the other two being (lit.,
"the science of notions") which deals with various kinds of sentences and
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their proper use, and which deals with "the beautification of literary
style", namely, "the embellishment of speech and figurative use of words".
In modern terminology both kināyah and ta‘rīd. deal with something
other than what is expressed by the speaker. However, the difference lies in
that in the kināyah something is mentioned by using a different term, such as "he opened his mouth" meaning "he spoke". In the ta‘rīd. something is
mentioned which indicates something else unmentioned; for example, an employer asked his employee who was late "what is the time?" when he
meant "you are late".
1. Kināyah (Metonymy)
Al-Sakkākī gives the definition of kināyah as follows:
It is abandoning the use of a clear statement of something by stating
something else attached to it, so that [the speaker] shifts from what is
mentioned to what is not mentioned; it is like saying "So-and-so has a
long suspensory cord to his sword", so that [the speaker] alludes to
something else attached to it, namely, the tall stature.268
Since a long suspensory cord to a sword fits only the tall person, the person
who has it would be tall. However, if the above statement is meant in its real
meaning, then it is h.aqīqah ("real") rather than kināyah.
Since both kināyah and majāz indicate allegorical meanings, what then
is the difference between the two? To this question, al-Sakkākī gives the following answer: (a) The statement in the kināyah could be real rather than
metaphorical, whereas in the majāz it can only be metaphorical. The
expression "So-and-so has a long suspensory cord to his sword" could be
real without meaning "he is tall", whereas the statement "we have
taken care of the rain" or "a lion is in the bath-room" cannot be
taken for real; here the rain and the lion are metaphors for the plants and the brave man respectively; (b) Kināyah is based on the shift from the dominant
trait of something to the thing itself ( ); in the above example,
instead of saying "So-and-so is tall" it is said that he has a long suspensory
cord to his sword, a dominant trait for a tall person, as a person who has a
long sword belt is usually tall. On the contrary, majāz is based on the shift from the dominant trait of something to something else which shares this
trait ( ); in the above example, the lion is mentioned, but its
dominant trait, the bravery in a person, is meant, namely a brave man.269
162
Although Ibn Qutaybah does not mention any definition of metonymy, he states that metonymy is divided into many categories without giving any
specification. However, he mentions two categories of metonymy which he
deals with in his Ta’wīl, namely, the (agnomen, allusive name) and the
substitution (So-and-so or Such a one) for an unidentified person.
a. Kunyah
Kunyah belongs to the category of kināyah, because by using it the real
name of a person is not revealed. Kunyah is the name consisting of Abū
(father of) or Umm (mother of) followed by a name - usually of a son or a daughter - or a word - describing some prominent characteristic of the
bearer. This latter type of kunyah had been used earlier than the former.
A man or a woman does not necessarily have a son or a daughter in order to be named with a kunyah. If a son or a daughter was born later he or
she does not have to adopt the name from the kunyah.270
This kunyah,
according to Ibn Qutaybah, serves two purposes: to support the identity of a person which distinguishes him from other persons who have the
same personal name, and to glorify him with this kunyah which indicates
his old age, experience, and maturity.271
A question may arise: If the purpose of the kunyah is glorification, why did Allah mention Abū Lahab in the Qur‟ān with his kunyah, not with his
personal name, „Abd al-„Uzzá 272
when he was the enemy of Prophet
Muhammad? And Allah mentioned the Prophet whom He loved with his personal name, not with his kunyah, Abū al-Qāsim? Ibn Qutaybah's
answer is that there are among the Arabs those who make the personal
name of a person also his kunyah. For example, several people reported to Ibn Qutaybah on the authority of al-As.ma„ī that Abū „Amr ibn al-
„Alā‟ and Abū Sufyān ibn al-„Alā‟ were personal names as well as
kunyahs.273
Moreover, a man may have both a personal name and a
kunyah, but his kunyah is so well-known that he becomes known by it, and his personal name becomes replaced by it. For example, the
personal name of Abū Sufyān, Abū T.ālib, Abū Dharr and Abū Hurayrah
are respectively Sakhr ibn H.arb, „Abd Manāf, Jundub ibn al-Sakan, and
„Abd Allāh ibn „Amr.274
With regard to the kunyah Abū Lahab (lit. "Father of the Flame") Ibn
Qutaybah contends that if it is true that the personal name of Abū Lahab
is „Abd al-„Uzzá (lit. "the servant of al-„Uzzá"), this name is not used by
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Allāh because it indicates idolatry and falsehood, as all people are His servants. Moreover, this kunyah has become the name with which he is
well-known. It is true that he has no son called Lahab (the flame). But to
be called with this kunyah it is not necessary for him to have a son bearing that name. Otherwise, it would also be incorrect to name a
person with the name of an animal, such as Kalb (a dog), Qird (a
monkey), Ghurāb (a crow) and Dhubāb (a fly).275
Besides the above-mentioned reason, Al-Zamakhsharī adds another reason for using Abū Lahab as a kunyah. Since he is among those who
will be sent to the flaming hell, his condition is like his kunyah with
which he deserves to be mentioned. Calling him Abū Lahab is like calling an evil person (sharīr) Abū al-Sharr (lit., "the Father of Evil").
276
Another view states that Abū Lahab was popularly nicknamed with this
kunyah, even before the advent of Islam, due to his beauty, particularly his glowing countenance. This, however, is rejected by al-Qurt.ubī for the
reasons mentioned above. Moreover, al-Qurt.ubī contends, contrary to
Ibn Qutaybah's view, the personal name is nobler than the kunyah, and Allah wanted to put down Abū Lahab by calling him with his kunyah
which He never did with His prophets.277
b. Fulān
The word (So-and-so, Such a one) is considered metonymy by Ibn
Qutaybah, as it can be applied to any person as well as a particular one.
He gives an example from the Qur‟ān as follows:
( :٨) "Oh, woe is me! Would that I had not taken So-and-so for a
friend!" (Q. 25:28, Asad). Ibn Qutaybah says that a group of people whom he has not identified and who call themselves Muslims are said to
insist that the word fulān indicates a particular person, and not kināyah
for any person. They say that only hypocrites and people who are afraid of revealing the identity of that particular person insist on the use of
kināyah for this word fulān.278
Another unidentified group of people who seem to be among the Bāt.inīs say that the name of the person in the verse was mentioned,
namely, „Umar, but was replaced with fulān. They say that the preceding
verse says: ( :٧)
"And a Day on which the evildoer will bite his hands [in despair],
exclaiming: 'Oh, would that I had followed the path shown to me by the
164
apostle.'" (Q. 25:27, Asad), and the evildoer here, according to them, was Abū Bakr. He regretted taking fulān, meaning „Umar in their view, for a
friend (Q. 25:28) instead of the Prophet, and that „Umar had led him
astray from the Reminder when „Alī came to him as the Reminder. This is their interpretation of the verse succeeding the one in question, namely
( :٩) "Indeed, he led me astray from the
remembrance [of God] after it had come unto me!..." (Q. 25:29, Asad).279
Ibn Qutaybah answers with the following questions: "How can „Alī be
a reminder? Has anybody said that Abū Bakr did not become a Muslim,
and that he did not choose to follow the way together with the messenger of Allah?" Then he continues with the asbāb al-nuzūl of the above verse
according to Ibn „Abbās, as follows: „Uqbah ibn Abī Mu„ayt. invited the
nobles of Makkah, including the Prophet, for a meal. The Prophet
refused to eat until „Uqbah pronounced the testimony of truth ( ).
When he did, Ubayy ibn Khalaf came and asked him: "Have you become
a Sabaean?" „Uqbah answered: "No, but a man among the Quraysh is with us, and I do not want him to leave without eating." Ubayy said: "I
will not be pleased until you spit on his face." He did, and the above
verses were revealed.280
Ibn Qutaybah insists on the generic application of the term fulān as well as the definite article al ("the") in al-z.ālim (the evildoer) in the
verses mentioned above. He contends that each of these can be applied
to a person or a group of people. Should the word al-z.ālim in the verse
be specified with names, such as Korah, Hāmān and „Uqbah ibn Abī
Mu„ayt., who would later regret taking Pharaoh, Namrūd and Ubayy ibn
Khalaf for friends, there would have been no room left for other
evildoers who came later after the revelation of these verses. This is not the way the Arabs and other people express themselves.
281 This is also
the view of Mujāhid and Abū Rajā‟ who said that the term al-z.ālim is
general and applicable to any evildoer, whereas the term fulān is for
Satan.282
Ibn Qutaybah cites the Arabic expression as evidence that fulān means
a group of people, as follows: "Nobody comes to you
except So-and-so son of So-and-so," meaning, according to Ibn Qutaybah, the well-known nobles. In poetry he cites the poem of Abū al-
Najm al-„Ijlī (d. 130/747), as follows: "Restrain So-
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and-so from So-and-so in the commotion," meaning, while people were the midst of evil and commotion, those who wanted to stop it told people
to restrain each other. The word (an evildoer) in the Qur‟ān is
applied to a group of evildoers ( ), and the word (an
unbeliever) is applied to a group of unbelievers ( ), such as the
following verse: ( :) "... and the unbeliever
will cry: 'Would that I were dust'" (Q. 78:40).283
2. Ta‘rīd. (Allusion)
Ta‘rīd., as stated by Lane, is
the speaking obliquely, indirectly, obscurely, ambiguously, equivocally,
... as when thou asked a man, 'Hast thou seen such a one?' and he,
having seen him, and disliking to lie, answers, 'Verily, such a one is
seen'; or the making a phrase, or the like, to convey an allusion, or an
indication not expressly mentioned therein; as when you say 'How foul
is niggardliness!' alluding to such a one's being a niggard.284
Ibn Qutaybah states that the Arabs often use ta‘rīd. in their discourse to
convey its meaning in a euphemistic way, namely in a gentler and better way
than the obvious one. He shows us the significance of ta‘rīd. that asking for
a woman's hand in marriage during her ‘iddah (the legally prescribed period
of waiting during which a woman may not remarry after being widowed or
divorced) is permissible if it is said through ta‘rīd. only, as it is forbidden
through clear statements. Allah says in the Qur‟ān as follows:
( :) "But you will incur no sin
if you give a hint of [an intended] marriage-offer to [any of] these women, or
if you conceive such an intention without making it obvious:..." (Q. 2:235, Asad). For example, a man says to a woman: "By Allah, verily, you are
beautiful, may Allah bless you with a suitable husband; indeed women are
among my needs."285
Ibn Qutaybah mentions seven Qur‟ānic verses in which allusion occurs. Four of them are illustrated as follows:
(a) ( :٧) “Said [Moses]: 'Take me not to task for
my having forgotten [myself], ...'" (Q. 18:73, Asad). Ibn Qutaybah cites the report of al-Minhāl from Sa„īd ibn Jubayr from Ibn „Abbās that Moses
did not forget to keep his promise to keep silent, but he gave only an
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allusion that he forgot it. What is meant by Ibn „Abbās according to Ibn Qutaybah is that Moses did not forget to keep his promise. Therefore, he
did not say "I forgot it," or he would have lied, but he said: "Take me not
to task for my having forgotten [myself]" which instilled an allusion that he had forgotten it. To prove that Moses did not lie by using the allusion
Ibn Qutaybah cites the well-known expression
("Verily, instilling allusions is an alternative to lying.")286
However, there
is also another view stating that Moses did really forget and therefore he
apologised, and the verse in question indicates that forgetting does not necessitate blame.
287
(b) ( : ) "He answered: 'Nay,
it was this one, the biggest of them, that did it: but ask them [yourselves]
- provided they can speak.'" (Q. 21:63, Asad). We notice a kind of
circumspection in this statement. He did not confess openly but through insinuation.
According to Ibn Qutaybah, what Prophet Abraham meant is that if
their idols could speak, then it was their chief that had destroyed them; so,
he told people to ask them. He made speaking a condition for the action, namely, if they could speak then their chief could have done it, and since
they could not, their chief could not have done it, and therefore, Abraham
was not lying.288
It is, as mentioned by al-T.abarsī, like saying "So-and-so
is right if there is no sky above us."289
(c) ( : ) ".... And behold, either we [who
believe in Him] or you [who deny His oneness] are on the right path, or
have clearly gone astray!" (Q. 34:24, Asad).
The above verse means, according to Ibn Qutaybah, that we (the Muslims) are on the right path or have clearly gone astray, and you (who
deny His Oneness) are also on the right path or have clearly gone astray,
but Allah knows that His messenger is on the right path, and those who disagree with him have clearly gone astray. It is like telling a person who
disagrees with us: "One of us must be a liar," when we mean him, but we
say it euphemistically. This is the view of al-Farrā‟ quoted by Ibn Qutaybah.
290
(d) ( :٩) "If thou
art in doubt of what We have revealed to thee, ask those who have read
the divine writ [revealed] before thee...." (Q. 10:94).
167
Ibn Qutaybah provides us with two interpretations of the above verse as follows:
(1) The address is to the Prophet, but it is intended for others among the
doubters.The Arabs sometimes address a person with something
when they mean somebody else. This is what later commentators call iltifāt (sudden transition, such as turning the address from one person
or group of people to another). Such iltifāt occurs in many Qur‟ānic
verses, such as the following verse:
( :) "O Prophet! Remain conscious of God,
and defer not to the deniers of the truth and the hypocrites: for God is
truly all-knowing, wise." (Q. 33:1, Asad). The instruction and advice are directed to the Prophet but are intended for the believers. This is
apparent as the verse continues with
( :) "And follow [but] that which comes unto thee
through revelation from thy Sustainer: for God is truly aware of all
that you do [O men]." (Q. 33:2, Asad). Similarly, the address in the
above verse is to the Prophet but is intended for the believers. The
evidence is the use of the plural form in ("of what ye do")
instead of ("of what thou dost") in the singular form.291
(2) In the time of the Prophet there were people who believed,
disbelieved, and in doubt. In the verse in question Allah was addressing these doubters, saying that
If you O man are in doubt of the guidance We have revealed to you
through Muhammad, upon whom be Allah's blessing and peace, ask
leading personalities among the people of the Book and scholars
before you, like „Abd Allāh ibn Sallām, Salmān al-Fārisī, Tamīm al-
Dārī, and people like them. The stubborn persons among them
would not resist and would bear witness of his [Muhammad's]
truthfulness. They would inform you about his prophethood and
Allah's mentioning him in the [previous] Books.292
The evidence that the word "thee" in the verse "...of what We
revealed to thee" (Q. 10:94) above is intended for any person in general
and any doubter in particular, is that in another verse it is mentioned that a divine writ has been revealed to men in general (through the Prophet),
as follows: ( :) "[O men!] We have now
bestowed upon you from on high a divine writ containing all that you
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ought to bear in mind: ..." (Q. 21:10, Asad). Sometimes the singular
number is used for plural, such as the following verse:
( :) "[then,] O man - thou [that] hast, verily,
been toiling towards thy Sustainer in painful toil - then shalt thou meet Him!" (Q. 84:6, Asad).
293
The evidence from poetry in which a particular person is intended
for people in general, is the following poem of an unidentified poet:
If you are taking a friend, never take a Dārimī young man for friend.
Here the poet is not addressing a particular person, but he means that
whoever wants to take a friend should not take him from Dārim.294
Although Ibn Qutaybah considers the second interpretation possible and good, he prefers the first one. The reason is that the verse in question
continues the discourse until verse 99 as follows
( : ٩٩) "... dost thou, then, think that thou couldst compel
people to believe," (Q. 10:99, Asad). This verse in his view is definitely
directed to the Prophet - instead of the doubters - although it is intended
for the believers.295
Al-Farrā‟'s commentary on the verse in question is that Allah knew that the Prophet was not in doubt, and Allah did not ask him to question
those who had read the divine writ before him. It is like saying to your
servant who does not doubt your authority over him: "If you are my servant, listen and obey."
296
Al-Tabarsi mentions four different views of the interpretation of the
above verse, as follows: (1) Al-Zajjāj, al-H.asan and Ibn „Abbās: the
verse is directed to the Prophet but intended for people in general; (2) al-
Farrā‟ as mentioned above; (3) the verse is directed to other than the Prophet; it means "if you listeners are in doubt of what We sent to you
through Our Messenger...", and (4) It is reported by al-Zajjāj that it is
possible that the particle إن (if) means ما (not), so that the verse means "you are not in doubt of what We have sent to you, so ask those who read
the divine writ before you, so that your faith will increase".297
We have seen that Ibn Qutaybah's treatment of the kināyah and ta‘rīd.
is rudimentary and brief. He confines himself to the types of kināyah called
kunyah and fulān, as well as the generic application of the definite article al.
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Moreover, he does not include Umm or Ibn among the kunyah. In the field of ta‘rīd. Ibn Qutaybah mainly discussed the euphemistic and circumspective
expressions in the Qur‟ānic verses.
F. The Disagreement of the Word with Its Literal Meaning
Ibn Qutaybah mentions twenty-six categories of idiomatic expression
which can be condensed into ten categories in the chapter entitled
in his work Ta’wīl. They are as follows: imprecation, repetition of
words indicating sanction, rhetorical questions, imperatives, specifications,
number, iltifāt, juncture, tempora, and morphology. They will be discussed as follows:
1. Imprecation
The imprecation referred to here by Ibn Qutaybah is something which
is not meant to occur () . He cites three examples
from the Qur‟ān, namely, ( :) “Woe to the conjecturers”
(Q. 51:10),298
“Woe to man! What hath made him
reject God?" (Q. 80:17, Ali),299
and ( :) “God's curse
be on them: how they are deluded away from the truth."(Q. 9:30, Ali). 300
The literal meanings of the above verses are respectively as follows:
"May the conjecturers be killed!", "may man be killed!" and "may Allah fight them, how perverted they are!"
301 The use of the past tense in Arabic
may indicate imprecation as we have seen in the above verses and in the
du‘ā‟, such as the expression like ("may Allah reward you", used to
express thanks to somebody), and ("may Allah bless him" used after
mentioning the name of a deceased person).
However, Ibn Qutaybah's view that the imprecations in the above
verses are not meant to occur is rejected by Ibn Fāris. He contends that nobody should suggest what Allah said as a du‘ā‟ was not meant to occur.
On the contrary, these imprecations are intended by Allah to occur and they
actually occurred. Whoever is cursed by Allah will never escape. Ibn Fāris mentions as an example in the case of Abū Lahab. He was cursed in the
Qur‟ān as follows: ( :) "Perish the hands of the
Father of Flame! Perish he!" (Q. 111:1, Ali).302
Imprecation is also used to express wonder, and as such, according to
Ibn Qutaybah, it is also not meant to occur. When someone is right in his
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reasoning, knowledge, or contention, it is said (lit., "May
Allah fight him, what a good thing he has said!"), (lit., May
Allah disgrace him, how knowledgable he is!"), and
(lit., "His achievement is due to Allah, what a good argument he has
given!").303
2. Repetition
Among the words which disagree with their literal meanings are the
repeated ones which change their meanings to be jazā’ (recompense, reward,
punishment) for the first (original) meaning, such as ( :
) "The recompense of an injury is an injury equal thereto (in degree)..."
(Q. 42:40, Ali). ( : ) "And they
schemed and Allah schemed (against them): and Allah is the best of schemers." (Q. 3:54), in which Allah's scheme means His punishment by
destroying them according to Abū „Ubaydah,304
or His requital for their
scheme, according to al-T.abarsī,305
( :٩) “And one who attacketh you, attack him in the like manner as he
attacked you...." (Q. 2:194, Pickthall). Here the first attack is a hostile act
and a wrongdoing, whereas the second one is not, but a retaliatory measure.
306
3. Rhetorical Question
The significance of rhetorical questions is divided by Ibn Qutaybah
into three categories: (a) affirmation ( ), such as ( :
٧) “Now, what is this in thy hand, O Moses?" (Q. 20:17, Asad); Allah
already knew what was in Moses's hand when He asked him this question, but He wanted to remind him that what he had in his hand was only a staff
which later turned into a serpent;307
(b) wonder ( ), such as
( :-) "About what do they [most often] ask one another? About
the awesome tiding [of resurrection]," (Q. 78:1-2, Asad),308
and (c) reproach
( ), such as ( :
-) "Of all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males, and
leave those whom God has created to be your mates?" (Q. 26:165-6, Ali).309
Al Zarkashī in his work al-Burhān gives us more information about
the (asking a question) in the Qur‟ān. He divides the into two
types: one means (lit., "news"), and the other means (lit.,
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"composition"). He divides the meaning into (negation) and
(affirmation). He calls the former (in modern terminology,
, negative question) and the latter (in modern terminology,
, affirmative question) which has been dealt with briefly by Ibn
Qutaybah above. Al-Zarkashī goes further and divides the latter into twelve
divisions with examples from the Qur‟ān.310
With regard to the
meaning , al-Zarkashī divides it into eighteen divisions including wonder
and reproach briefly dealt with by Ibn Qutaybah above.311
4. Imperative
Ibn Qutaybah divides the significance of imperative into four
categories: (a) threat ( ), such as ( :) "Do what you will
..." (Q. 41:40, Asad); (b) admonition ( ), such as (
:) ".... And let two persons of [known] probity from among your own
community witness [what you have decided]; ..." (Q. 65:2, Asad), (c)
exemption ( ), such as ( :) "And when
the prayer is ended, then disperse freely on earth..." (Q. 62:10, Asad), and
(d) religious duty ( ) such as ( :) "... and be
constant in prayer, and spend in charity, ..." (Q. 2:43, Asad).312
5. Specification
Ibn Qutaybah mentions eight Qur‟ānic verses as examples of general
statement meant to be particular ( ) in time and person, among which are
as follows:
a. ( : ) "..., and I am the first of those who surrender
(unto Him)." (Q. 6:163, Pickthall), meaning that the Prophet was the first person who surrendered himself unto Allah in his time.
b. ( :) ("..., and I am the first of (true) believers." (Q.
7:143, Pickthall), meaning that Prophet Moses was the first believer in his
time.
c. ( : ) "Poets are followed by erring men"
(Q.26:224), meaning some of them only;313
d. ( :٧) "those who have
been warned by other people, 'Behold, a host has gathered against you; so
beware of them!'..." (Q. 3:173, Asad). According to one tradition Nu„aym
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ibn Mas„ūd al-Ashja„ī said to the companions of the Prophet: "People have gathered against you," meaning Abū Sufyān, „Uyaynah ibn H.is.n and
Mālik ibn „Awf. Therefore, the first (the people) is meant to be a
particular person, Nu„aym ibn Mas„ūd, while the second is intended
to be a group of people, namely, Abū Sufyān, „Uyaynah and Mālik
mentioned above.314
e. ( :) "I created the jinn and human-kind
only that they might worship Me." (Q. 51:56, Pickthall), meaning that only some of the jinn and human-kind, namely, the believers among them
are created to worship Him. Others are created for Hell. To support his
view, Ibn Qutaybah cites the following verse:
( :٧٩) "We have made for hell many of the jinn and
humankind..." (Q. 7:179). He gives the basic meaning of , namely,
"We create" in the above verse, so that it means “We created for hell...” 315
This is also the view of al-Qushayrī who said that children and insane
people are excluded from the injunction of worshipping Allah as well as those who are created for Hell. Moreover, in the variant reading of „Abd
Allāh ibn Ubayy it is written “I
created the jinn and human-kind among the believers only that they might
worship Me." This view is supported by al-Zajjāj who cites the verse:
( :) "... they were bidden to worship only One
God." (Q. 9:31, Pickthall).316
However, according to Ibn „Abbās, the
meaning of the verse in question is that the jinn and the humankind are created to confirm the bondage willingly or unwillingly.
317
6. Number
In this category Ibn Qutaybah shows us the application of number (singular, dual, or plural) to nouns, adjectives and verbs in the verses of the
Qur‟ān, so that their literal (ostensible) meanings are in disagreement with
their real meanings, as follows:
a. Noun
We can divide this section into two: 1) the plural noun meaning (a)
singular, (b) dual, (c) dual and plural, and (d) singular, dual, and plural; and 2) the singular noun meaning plural. They will be discussed as follows:
(1) The use of the plural which is meant:
173
(a) singular, such as ( :)
"Verily, [O Prophet,] as for those who call thee from without thy private
apartments - most of them do not use their reason." (Q. 49:4, Asad), as there was only one person who called the Prophet from behind his
private apartments, saying: "O Muh.ammad, my praise is good, and my
abuse is disgracing" ( ); 318
That person,
according to al-D.ah.h.āk, was al-Aqra„ ibn H.ābis.319
There is also
another view that there was another person who called the Prophet
besides al-Aqra„, namely, „Uyaynah ibn H.is.n.320
However, according to
Mujāhid, the people who called the Prophet were the Banī Tamīm tribe
who entered the mosque and wanted him to come out of his
apartment.321
This view is supported by Ibn Mas„ūd's variant reading
("and the majority of them were Banū Tamīm, who
did not use their reason.").322
It is possible that one or two persons of
the Tamīm tribe called the Prophet on their behalf.
(b) dual, such as ( :) "[Say, O Prophet:]
'Would that you two turn unto God in repentance, for the hearts of both
of you have swerved [from what is right]...'" (Q. 66:4, Asad). Here the
expression is meant to be ("the two hearts of both of
you").323
(c) dual and plural, such as ( : ) "and if he has
brothers and sisters, then his mother shall have one-sixth..." (Q.4:11,
Asad). The term (brothers) includes (two brothers).324
(d) singular, dual, and plural, such as ( :)
"And let a group of the believers witness their chastisement." (Q. 24:2,
Asad). Here the term (a group, a band, a troop, a party) means one,
two, and more persons.325
(2). The use of the singular intended for the plural, such as
( :٨) "Exclaimed [Lot]: 'Behold, these are my guests: so put
me not to shame.'" (Q. 15:68, Asad). The term (my guest) is used to
mean (my guests). Another example is ( :) "...,
and then We bring you forth as infants ..." (Q. 22:5, Asad). The term
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(an infant) is used instead of أ (infants).326
As an example from poetry
Ibn Qutaybah cites the poem of al-„Abbās ibn Mirdās al-Sulamī, as
follows:
Then we said: 'Surrender, verily, we are your brothers; the hearts have
been healed from the old feuds.'
The term (your brother) is intended to mean (your
brothers).327
b. Adjective (quality, attribute)
This section can be divided into two: 1) the adjective in the singular for
a plural object, and 2) the adjective in the plural for a singular object, as follows:
(1) The use of an adjective in the singular for a plural object, such as
( :) “.... And if you are in a state requiring total ablution,
purify yourselves." (Q. 5:6, Asad). The term junub (unclean) is in the singular but is used for the plural "you".
328 Another example is the verse
( :) “...; and furthermore the angels are his
helpers." (Q. 66:4, Pickthall). The term z.ahīr (lit. "a state of being
helpful") is an adjective and in the singular, and the noun "angels" is in the
plural. In poetry, Ibn Qutaybah cites the poem of an unidentified poet, as
follows: “Verily, the reprovers are not consultant to me."
The term amīr (lit., "a person who is consulted") here is in the singular.329
(2) The use of an adjective in the plural for a singular object, such as the
poem of an unidentified poet, as follows: “The Winter
has come and my dress is worn out." The term the plural of
(shabby, threadbare, worn), but is intended for the singular, as it is
describing a single object, namely, the dress.330
c. Verb
We can divide this section into four, as follows: (1) a verb that refers to
two different things and is intended for one of them only; (2) a verb that refers to one of two different things but is intended for both of them; (3) an
imperative verb in dual but is intended for one, two, or more persons; and
(4) a verb with a plural pronoun intended for one person indicating respect. They are as follows:
175
(1) A verb that refers to two different things but is intended for one of them
only, for example: ( :) "But when they
reached the junction between the two [seas], they forgot all about their fish, ..." (Q. 18:61, Asad). It was Yūsha„ ibn Nūn only who had forgotten
the fish, for he said to Prophet Moses ( :) "..., I
forgot about the fish..." (Q. 18:63, Asad).331
Another example is as
follows: ( :) "O ye assembly of the
jinn and humankind! Came there not unto you messengers of your
own...?" (Q. 6:130, Pickthall). Here it means that messengers came from humankind only.
332
(2) A verb that refers to one of two different things but is intended for both
of them is the same as the one in the following verse:
( :) "... - the while it is God and His Apostle whose pleasure
they should seek above all else,.." (Q. 9:62, Asad). Here the verb
("to please Him") is used for ("to please them both").333
Another
example is as follows: ( :) "Yet, [it does
happen that] when people become aware of [an occasion for] worldly gain
or a passing delight, they rush headlong towards it..." (Q. 62:11, Asad).
Here the verse means ("they rush headlong towards both of
them").334
As an example from poetry Ibn Qutaybah cites the poem of
„Amr ibn Imru‟ al-Qays al-Ans.ārī addressing Mālik ibn al-„Ajlān, as
follows:
We are content with what we have and you with
what you have, and the opinion is different.
Instead of in the plural form, the term in the singular form is
used for both (we) and (you).335
(3) An imperative verb in the dual but is intended for one, two, or more
persons is the same as that in the following verse: (
:) "[Whereupon God will command:] 'Cast, cast into hell every [such]
stubborn enemy of the truth.'" (Q. 50:24, Asad). Here the verb is in the
dual form but it is intended for one person only, namely, Mālik, the angel
who is in charge of Hell.336
It may also be intended for more persons,
176
namely, the zabāniyah (the infernal attendants of Hell),337
or the two
angels mentioned in the previous verse Q. 50:21, one is a driver ( ) who
drives people to do what Allah has ordered them to, and the other is a
witness ( ) who registers what people do; this is the view of Mujāhid,
„Uthmān338
and al-Zajjāj.339
Abū „Uthmān al-Māzinī and al-Mubarrad,
both of the grammarian school of Bas.rah, state that the verb is in the
dual to indicate repetition, namely, as translated by Asad above.340
Ibn Qutaybah states that according to al-Farrā‟ it is common among the Arabs to use imperative verbs in the dual when they are addressing one
person or more, such as the expression "Woe unto you!
Move her away and drive her away both of you."341
One of the examples
from poetry given by Ibn Qutaybah is the poem of Suwayd ibn Karrā„ al-
„Ukalī, as follows:
If you drive me away O Ibn „Affān, I shall go away, but if you leave me
alone, I shall protect my honour from those who hurt me.
Here ("you both drive me away") and (“you both leave me
alone”) are in the dual form when the poet meant Ibn „Affān only.342
Al-
Farrā‟ says that the number of people needed to form a company ( ) is
three people.343
In this case, the conversation occurs between one of them and the other two by using verbs in the dual form. Poets use them most
when they say ("O my two companions") and ("O my two
friends").344
(4) A verb with a plural pronoun intended for one person indicating respect
is like the king's statement when he said: "We did this" instead of "I did this". There are many examples in the Qur‟ān, among which are as
follows: ( ) “..., he prays: 'Oh my Sustainer! Let me
return, let me return [to life].'" (Q. 23:99, Asad). Here (namely,
) in the plural is used instead of (namely, ) in the singular
to indicate respect.345
Another example is
"We explain it to thee in the best possible way, ..." (Q. 12:3, Asad) in
which the expression ("We explain") refers to Allah alone.346
177
7. Sudden Transition (Iltifāt)
Ibn Qutaybah deals with three categories of what is later called .
They are as follows: a. It is addressing a person who is present (namely, the
second person), then suddenly the address is changed into the wording of a
third person ( ); b. It is addressing
the third person by using the wording of the second person ( );
and c. It is addressing a person with something, then suddenly the address is
shifted to another person ( ); this includes:
addressing two persons then suddenly the address is directed to one of them
only, and addressing somebody, but the address is intended for somebody
else.347
They are dealt with as follows:
a. With regard to addressing a person who is present (the second person), then suddenly the address is changed into the wording of a third person,
Ibn Qutaybah gives three examples from the Qur‟ān, one of which is as
follows: ".... And
[behold what happens] when you go to sea in ships: [they go to sea in
ships,] and they sailed on in them in a favourable wind, and they rejoiced
thereat..." (Q. 10:22, Asad). Here the words ("they sail on in
them") and ("they rejoiced thereat") is a sudden transition from
("you sail on in them") and ("you rejoiced thereat")
respectively.348
We notice that in translating the above verse Asad says "they go to sea in ships" between brackets to indicate the occurrence of the
shift from the direct address and the second person plural "you" to the
third person plural "they". The purpose of this shift, as he stated it, is "to bring out the allegorical character of the subsequent narrative and to turn it
into a lesson of general validity".349
Ibn Qutaybah does not explain the purpose of the iltifāt in this verse,
but al-Zarkashī mentions three views concerning its purpose, as follows: (1) it is to indicate wonder about people's deeds and disbeliefs; (2) it is to
single out the rebellious among the people; before the iltifāt the address
was to people in general, believers as well as non-believers; then the iltifāt is used to indicate that the reproof is exclusively for those who
rebel wrongfully after being delivered from danger, as mentioned in the
above verse and that which follows it (Q. 10:23); (3) it is to indicate the two conditions of people: when they were on board a ship they felt
confined and feared perishing and changing wind; in this case they were
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addressed the way people who are present are addressed (in the second person); but when the danger passed with a favourable wind, they were
happy, and their presence was no longer required in referring to them;
therefore, the iltifāt is used, the address was given in the third person,
and it was said "and they sailed on in them".350
b. With regard to addressing the third person by using the wording of the
second, Ibn Qutaybah does not give us any example from the Qur‟ān, but one from poetry by Abū ‟l-Kabīr al-Hudhalī, as follows:
O woe unto myself, the wealth of Khālid and the whiteness of his
[lit. your] face are for the dust coloured soil [in which he is buried].
Here, after mentioning Khālid as a third person, the poet spoke to him in
the second person, when he said "the whiteness of your face".351
Al-Zarkashī mentions many examples from the Qur‟ān, one of which
is as follows: ( :٨٩-٨٨) “As it is,
some assert, 'The Most Gracious has taken unto Himself a son'! Indeed, [by this assertion] you have brought forth something monstrous."
(Q.19:88-9, Asad). Instead of ("they brought forth") it is used
("you brought forth") to indicate that whoever makes a statement like
theirs he is to be reproached and rejected. Here Allah is addressing them
directly as if they were present.352
c. With regard to addressing a person with something, then suddenly the address is shifted to another person Ibn Qutaybah gives us two examples,
as follows: "And if they do not respond to your call" which
was addressed to the Prophet, and then suddenly shifted to unbelievers, as
the verse continues with "then know that
[this Qur‟ān] has been bestowed from on high out of God's wisdom alone,
and that there is no deity save Him." This is evident as the verse
continues addressing the unbelievers thus ( :) "Will
Muhammad,] We have sent thee as a witness [to the truth], and as a herald
of glad tidings and a warner." (Q. 48:8, Asad). This verse was addressed
to the Prophet; then the address was suddenly shifted from him to people
in the following verse: ( :٩)
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"so that you [O men] might believe in God and His Apostle, and might honour Him, and revere Him, and extol His limitless glory from morn to
evening." Q. 48:9, Asad).354
With regard to addressing two persons and suddenly the address is
directed to one of them only, Ibn Qutaybah gives us two examples. They
are: ( :٩) He replied: 'Who, now, is this Sustainer of
you two, O Moses?'" (Q. 20:49, Asad). Here Pharaoh spoke at first to both Moses and Aaron, but later spoke to Moses alone, saying "O
Moses".355
Another example is the following verse:
( :٧) “And thereupon We said: 'O Adam! Verily,
this is a foe unto thee and thy wife: so let him not drive the two of you out
of this garden and render thee unhappy.'" (Q. 20:117, Asad). We notice
here that at the beginning the address was directed to Adam only, then to him and his wife, then again to him only.
356
With regard to addressing somebody, but the address is intended for
somebody else, Ibn Qutaybah mentions the following example:
( :) "... , and when He brings you into being out of dust." (Q.
53:32, Asad). Here Allah means Adam himself, not his descendants.357
Al-Zarkashī in his work al-Burhān examines the iltifāt in more detail.
He mentions its definition, advantages, and divisions. He says that the
iltifāt is the change from one style to another as a means to alert and attract the listener, to renew his energy, and to protect his mind from boredom and
discontent caused by listening to an incessant single style
.358
Al-Zarkashī divides the advantages of the iltifāt into general and particular. The general advantage is that it gives an opportunity to use
various styles and to shift from one style to another which alert the listener
and attract his interest, to broaden the flow of the speech, and to facilitate the
use of poetic measure and rhyme
. The particular advantages are: to
honour the position of the person who is spoken to (the second person), to direct attention to the significance of the statement, to complete the meaning
intended by the speaker and to indicate hyperbole, specification, significance
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and reproach.359
Al-Zarkashī divides the iltifāt into seven divisions: from the first person (the speaker) to the second (the person spoken to), from the first
person to the third, from the second person to the first, from the second
person to the third, from the third person to the first, from the third person to the second, and the formation of a verb for the object after the expression or
the speech has been given by its subject .360
Al-Zarkashī also includes the shift of the speech from one subject to
another in what he calls "close to the iltifāt" . The purpose of
this shift is to stop the discussion of a particular subject with an ignorant and
fanatical opponent, and to bring him to a new and different subject, so that
he will keep his attention on the new subject and forget the previous one. This is because the more we enter into the discussion with him on that
particular subject; the more he will reject our view. Then the former subject
is introduced slowly within the new subject. Al-Zarkashī includes in this category of expression close to the iltifāt: the shift from addressing one to
two persons, from one to three persons, from two to one person, from two to
three persons, from three to one person, and from three to two persons. He also includes what are called tempora and morphology which will be dealt
with later.361
Ibn Qutaybah's treatment of this subject, the iltifāt, is very brief and
rudimentary. He does not even use the term iltifāt in his work Ta’wīl, since this technical term seems to have been unknown in his time. Commentators
like al-T.abarī, al-Qurt.ubī, al-T.abarsī, and al-Zamakhsharī did not mention
it, and often give different interpretations rather than using it.
8. Juncture
Juncture is the joining of two different statements of two different
persons, so that they appear to be the statement of one person or one group
of persons. Among the examples given by Ibn Qutaybah are the following Qur‟anīc verses:
a. ( :) "Said she: 'Verily,
whenever kings enter a country they corrupt it, and turn the noblest of its people into the most abject.'" (Q. 27.34, Asad). This statement of Queen
Bilqīs of Sheba is followed by Allah's statement "And
this is the way they [always] behave." (Q. 27:34).362
This is the view of Ibn
„Abbās. However, another view says that the latter statement also belonged
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to Queen Bilqīs who had witnessed and heard the habits of kings in the past.
363
b. ( :) "They will say: 'Oh, woe unto us! Who
has roused us from our sleep [of death]?'" which will be the statement of righteous Muslims when they are resurrected. The verse continues with the
angels' following statement: ( :)
"[Whereupon they will be told:] 'This is what the Most Gracious has
promised! And His message bearers spoke the truth!.'" (Q. 36:52, Asad).364
This is the view of Ibn „Abbās and al-Farrā‟ adopted by Ibn Qutaybah.
However, it is also possible that the statement of the angels is shared by the
believers, or it is exclusively the statement of the muttaqīn according to al-H.asan. Another view suggests that the statement refers to the unbelievers
who, after asking each other who raised them from their sleep, will finally believe in the Resurrection Day, when this belief was now of no avail.
365
9. Tempora
Ibn Qutaybah mentions the use of a verb in the past-tense when it is meant for the present or the future. He cites seven examples, among which
are as follows:
a. ( :) "You are indeed the best community
that has ever been brought forth for [the good of] mankind: ..." (Q. 3:110,
Asad). The word (lit. "you were") means "you are" and "you will be".
The use of the verb "to be" in the past-tense indicating the present and the
future is found profusely in the Qur‟ān, such as:
( :٩) "They exclaimed: 'How can we talk to one who [as yet] is
[ , lit., "was" ] a little boy in the cradle?'" (Q. 19:29, Asad).366
There are several views concerning the use of the verb (in this case
) in the above verse. Some say that it is used for emphasis. The other
view is that kāna indicates the past, namely, the believers were the best
community in the sight of Allah as mentioned in the Preserved Tablet
( ) which is the interpretation of al-Farrā‟ and al-Zajāj; according
to al-H.asan they were the best community mentioned in the previous
Scriptures. Kāna is also interpreted as s.āra (has become) and wujida (to
be found) or khuliqa (to be created), so that the verse in question means
"You have become ( ) indeed the best community that has ever been
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brought forth for [the good of] mankind, because you enjoin...", and "you have been found (or created) to be the best community...".
367
b. ( :)
"And lo! God said: 'O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, "Worship me and my mother as deities beside God"?'..." (Q. 5:116, Asad).
The verb قال is in the past tense but is meant in the future when Allah
speaks to Jesus on the Last Day. The evidence that the occurrence of the
dialogue will be in the future is the verse that which follows reads:
( :٩) "[And on
Judgment Day] God will say: 'Today, their truthfulness shall benefit all who have been true to their word: theirs shall be gardens through which
running waters flow,...'" (Q. 5:119, Asad). The day referred to in this verse
is the Last Day, the Judgement Day.368
This is the view of Qatādah, Ibn Jurayj, and the majority of the commentators, and is supported by al-
Qurt.ubī and al-T.abarsī. Another view is that the dialogue had taken place,
namely, when Jesus ascended to Heaven, which is the view of al-Suddī
and Qut.rub.369
c. ( :) "God's judgment is [bound to] come: do not
therefore, call for its speedy advent! ..." (Q. 16:1, Asad). The verb (lit.
"it came") which is in the past-tense proclaims the future, namely, "it will come to pass", translated by Asad as "is bound to come" as mentioned
above.370
Various interpretations of ("Allah's judgment") are given,
among which are as follows: (1) the Judgment Day which is the view of
Ibn „Abbās; (2) Allah's punishment to the idolaters which is the view of al-H.asan and Ibn Jurayj as stated by al-T.abarsī, whereas according to al-
Qurt.ubī it is the view of al-Zajjāj; (3) Allah's injunctions and laws which
is the view of al-D.ah.h.āk according to al-T.abarsī, whereas according to
al-Qurt.ubī, it is also the view of al-H.asan and Ibn Jurayj.371
d. (
:٩) "And [remember:] it is God who sends forth the winds, so that they raise a cloud, whereupon We drive it towards dead land and thereby give
life to the earth after it had been lifeless: even thus shall resurrection be!"
(Q. 35:9, Asad). We notice here that the verb ("He sent forth"),
("then We drove it") and ("thereby We gave life to it") are in the
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past-tense, but they mean the present and the future.372
Ibn Qutaybah does not mention the opposite of the above tempora, namely, the use of the present or the future-tense for the past-tense, such as:
( :) "And follow [instead] that which
the evil ones used to practice during Solomon's reign..." (Q. 2:102, Asad), in
which in the present or future is meant to be in the past. 373
The other
example is: ( :٩) ".... Say: 'Why,
then, did you slay God's prophets aforetime, if you were [truly] believers?'"
(Q. 2:91, Asad), in which the verb ("you slay") in the present or future-
tense is meant to be ("you slew") as translated above.374
10. Morphology
Ibn Qutaybah briefly mentions four categories of words which
morphologically disagree with their literal meanings. They are as follows:
a. A passive participle in the form of an active participle
, such as: (1) ( :) “Said [Noah]:
'Today there is no protection [for anyone] from God's judgment, save [for]
those who have earned [His] mercy!'...." (Q. 11:43, Asad). The word
(lit. "protector") which is an active participle, means ("protected")
in a passive participle in the above verse, namely, "nobody is protected
from His judgment" ( ).375
This is one interpretation. The
second interpretation is that means ("no protector"), so that the
verse means "there is no protector from Allah's punishment except He
[Allah] Who has mercy" since it is on that day of reckoning that the unbelievers deserve punishment.
376 The third interpretation is mentioned
by al-T.abarsī, namely, "there is no protector except to whom Allah has
mercy," meaning that whom Allah has mercy for will be protected.377
(2) ( : ) "He is created from a gushing fluid." (Q.
86:6, Pickthall). The verb (gushing) is an active participle meaning
(gushed) in passive participle.378
(3) The following verse of Wa„lat
al-Jarmī:
When I saw the horses following each other in groups,
I realised that it was a hard impudent day.
184
The word (lit., immoral actor) is an active participle meaning a
passive participle (acted upon immorally), so that the verse means "a
hard day in which immorality was committed" ( ).379
b. The verb pattern which means (doer), such as: (1)
(: ؛ ٧: ) “The originator is He of the heavens and the
earth:..." (Q. 2:117, Asad and 6:101). The word badī‘ means mubdi‘
("originator", "creator");380
(2) ( : , ,٧٨) "a painful
punishment" (Q. 2:10, 104, and 178). 381
The word (painful) means
(causes pain); (3) The verse of „Amr ibn Ma„dīkarib who was longing for
his sister Rayh.ānah who was taken captive by al-S.immah ibn Bakr as
follows:
Is it from [listening to] the inviter who makes us listen
[to what he said] about Rayh.anah that makes me anxiously
sleepless while my companions are peacefully sleeping?
Here the word means (who makes people listen). However, this
is an isolated meaning, since means "all-hearing".382
c. The verb pattern which means the active participle , such as
(all-knowing), (glorious), and (originator of creation). All
these are the (emphatic form) of (preserving), (powerful),
(hearer), (seer), (knower), (possessor of glory), and
(originator of creation) respectively.383
d. Active participle in the form of passive participle
which is very rare, such as: ( :) "... Verily, His
promise is ever sure of fulfilment..." (Q. 19:61, Asad) in which the word
(lit., "is being brought") means (lit. "is coming").384
Ibn Qutaybah's material of disagreement of a word with its literal
meaning is very brief. It lacks organisation and details. He divides it into twenty-six categories with examples, which I divide systematically into ten
categories. More details are available in literature of later times, such as al-
185
Burhān of al-Zarkashī, Jāmi‘ of al-T.abarsī and al-Jāmi‘ of al-Qurt.ubī.
Moreover, he does not mention the other views which are contrary to his.
The lack of details and systematic division, as well as different views is apparent in Ibn Qutaybah's treatise of the phenomena of figurative language.
186
ENDNOTES TO CHAPTER III
1. Ibn Qutaybah, Ta’wīl, p. 134.
2. See Ibn Manz.ūr, Lisān, vol. 5, p. 326.
3. For further details, see „Iwad. H.amad al-Qawzī, al-Mus.t.alah. al-Nah.wī:
Nash'atuhu wa Tat.awwuruhu h.attá Awākhir al-Qarn al-Thālith al-Hijrī (Riyadh:
„Imādat al-Shu‟ūn al-Maktabāt, Riyadh University, 1401/1981), pp. 15-16.
4. Ibn Qutaybah, Ta’wīl, p. 20.
5. For further details, see Ibn Taymīyah, Majmū‘ Fatāwá, vol. 7, pp. 87-90
(Kitāb al-Imān).
6. Al-Zarkashī, al-Burhān, vol. 2, p. 255.
7. Ibn Qutaybah, Ta’wīl, pp. 115-120. See also al-Jāh.iz., al-H.ayawān, 7 vols.
(Cairo: Mus.t.afá ‟l-Bābī ‟l-H.alabī, 1366/1947), vol. 6, pp. 248-252 in which the author
indicated his disbelief in ghouls, and said that stories about them were invented by
bedouins in their poetry and laymen who did not make any distinction between what to
believe, doubt, and what to disbelieve. Some of them falsely claimed to have seen
ghouls; others, killed, accompanied, even married them.
8. See Abū Ya„qūb Yūsuf ibn Abī Bakr al-Sakkākī, Miftāh. al-‘Ulūm, ed. and