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Internal Rhymes as Evidence for Old Hijazi: Difference between revisions
Internal Rhymes as Evidence for Old Hijazi (view source)
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The word kitāban is spelled as if it were pronounced as kitābā. The “an” marker for the indefinite accusative is spelled as a long ‘a’ vowel (ā). | The word kitāban is spelled as if it were pronounced as kitābā. The “an” marker for the indefinite accusative is spelled as a long ‘a’ vowel (ā). | ||
Arab grammarians tried to explain the mismatch between spelling and classical Arabic pronunciation by saying that every Arabic word is spelled as if the word was the first to be uttered and the last to be uttered.<ref>rasm al-miṣḥaf | Arab grammarians tried to explain the mismatch between spelling and classical Arabic pronunciation by saying that every Arabic word is spelled as if the word was the first to be uttered and the last to be uttered.<ref>Ghanim Qadduri, rasm al-miṣḥaf, p.67</ref> This rule explains why the alef of the definite article is always spelled although it’s only pronounced when it’s in the beginning of utterance. It also explains all the previous mismatch examples: | ||
المدرسة جديدة | المدرسة جديدة | ||
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Historical linguist Marijn Van Putten says: | Historical linguist Marijn Van Putten says: | ||
{{Quote|Case in the Quranic Consonantal Text | {{Quote|Marijn Van Putten, Case in the Quranic Consonantal Text, p7,14|While such a ‘pausal’ spelling convention is, of course, not impossible, such a spelling convention is – to our knowledge – unique among the languages of the world. Despite this, very few scholars have attempted to explain the origins of themechanics of Arabic pausal spelling and rather just cite it as a given fact. The few authors that comment on it (e.g. Rabin 1951: 26; Blau 1977: 12) often explain the pausal spelling as the result of authors writing very slowly, while sounding out each word individually.)) ((The idea is that, as words were sounded out one-by-one in isolation before being committed to writing, they would take on their pausal form and be pelled as such, which eventually became conventionalised into the pausal spelling (Nöldeke et al. 2013: 408; Blau 1977:12).18 This of course presupposes that the language of the Qurˀān did have full case inflection and would only lose nunation and its case vowels in pause}} | ||
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In the Quran, the last word of nearly every verse rhymes with the last words of the surrounding verses. Sometimes within the same verse, words in pausal positions rhyme with each other. But there are many cases where a word that’s in context (i.e., not in a pausal position) does rhyme with another word that’s either in a pausal position or in context. This type of rhyming was never noted by Muslim scholars despite the presence of obvious examples such as: | In the Quran, the last word of nearly every verse rhymes with the last words of the surrounding verses. Sometimes within the same verse, words in pausal positions rhyme with each other. But there are many cases where a word that’s in context (i.e., not in a pausal position) does rhyme with another word that’s either in a pausal position or in context. This type of rhyming was never noted by Muslim scholars despite the presence of obvious examples such as: | ||
<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ <u>أَغْنَى وَأَقْنَى</u>﴾</span> | <span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ <u>أَغْنَى وَأَقْنَى</u>﴾</span> {{Quran|53|48|}} | ||
ʾaghnā wa ʾaqnā. | |||
Old Hijazi: aghnē wa aqnē. | Old Hijazi: aghnē wa aqnē. | ||
<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿لَوْ أَنْزَلْنَا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَى جَبَلٍ لَرَأَيْتَهُ <u>خَاشِعًا مُتَصَدِّعًا</u> مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ﴾</span> | <span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿لَوْ أَنْزَلْنَا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَى جَبَلٍ لَرَأَيْتَهُ <u>خَاشِعًا مُتَصَدِّعًا</u> مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ﴾</span> {{Quran|59|21|}} | ||
khāshiʕan mutaṣaddiʕan. (The two words are in context) | |||
Old Hijazi: khāshiʕā mutaṣaddiʕā. | Old Hijazi: khāshiʕā mutaṣaddiʕā. | ||
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<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿وَالصَّابِرِينَ فِي <u>الْبَأْسَاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ</u> وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ﴾</span> | <span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿وَالصَّابِرِينَ فِي <u>الْبَأْسَاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ</u> وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ﴾</span> | ||
“al-baʾsāʾi wal-ḍarrāʾi”. This example occurs three times: | “al-baʾsāʾi wal-ḍarrāʾi”. This example occurs three times: {{Quran|2|177|}},{{Quran|6|42|}}, {{Quran|7|94|}}. And occurs once in the nominative {{Quran|2|214|}} “al-baʾsāʾu wal-ḍarrāʾu”. In all these 4 occurrences, the two words were in context. In Old Hijazi, the two words in the four instances are pronounced as: ǝl-baʾsāʾ wal-ḍarrāʾ. Note that although Old Hijazi lost the use of Hamzah, the Hamzah is still retained in a word-final position that is preceded by a long 'a' vowel. | ||
The previous examples were internal rhymes that appear both in a classical Arabic pronunciation and in an Old Hijazi pronunciation. But when the Quran is read in Old Hijazi, hundreds of internal rhymes appear, which means that imposing classical Arabic on the Quran has led to the loss of hundreds of internal rhymes. | The previous examples were internal rhymes that appear both in a classical Arabic pronunciation and in an Old Hijazi pronunciation. But when the Quran is read in Old Hijazi, hundreds of internal rhymes appear, which means that imposing classical Arabic on the Quran has led to the loss of hundreds of internal rhymes. | ||
==Old Hijazi internal rhymes== | ==Old Hijazi internal rhymes== | ||
In 2014, Pierre Larcher was the first to note this sort of internal rhymes in the Quran. He provided two examples. One of them is verse | In 2014, Pierre Larcher was the first to note this sort of internal rhymes in the Quran. He provided two examples. One of them is verse {{Quran|96|16|}} <ref>Previous source, p.12</ref> | ||
<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿نَاصِيَةٍ كَاذِبَةٍ خَاطِئَةٍ ﴾</span> | <span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿نَاصِيَةٍ كَاذِبَةٍ خَاطِئَةٍ ﴾</span> | ||
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Marijn Van Putten discovered a few more internal rhymes, including this general rhyming scheme: | Marijn Van Putten discovered a few more internal rhymes, including this general rhyming scheme: | ||
{{Quote|Case in the Quranic Consonantal | {{Quote|Marijn Van Putten, Case in the Quranic Consonantal, p.13|the epithets of Allah which generally form verse-final internal rhymes in the shape CaC(ī/ū)C in pairs of two, e.g. Q2:173, 182, 192 ġafūrun raḥīm /ġafūr raḥīm/ ‘forgiving, merciful’ Q4:26; Q8:71; Q9:15 ˁalīmun ḥakīm /ˁalīm ḥakīm/ ‘knowing, wise’ Q64:18 al-ˁazīzu l-ḥakīm /al-ˁazīz al-ḥakīm/ ‘the powerful, the wise’ Q35:30, 34; 42:23 ġafūrun šakūr /ġafūr šakūr/ ‘forgiving, appreciative}} | ||
Based on the evidence of internal rhymes in the Quran, Van Putten concludes that the original language of the Quran had the following features that sets it apart from classical Arabic<ref> | Based on the evidence of internal rhymes in the Quran, Van Putten concludes that the original language of the Quran had the following features that sets it apart from classical Arabic<ref>Previous source, p.13</ref>: | ||
1- Lack of nunation. | 1- Lack of nunation. | ||
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Among the internal rhymes in the Quran, there are cases that show an unusual word choice by the Quran which clearly shows that these unusual words were chosen so that they form an internal rhyme. | Among the internal rhymes in the Quran, there are cases that show an unusual word choice by the Quran which clearly shows that these unusual words were chosen so that they form an internal rhyme. | ||
<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿ أُولَئِكَ هُمُ <u>الْكَفَرَةُ الْفَجَرَةُ</u>﴾ {{Quran|80|42|}}</span> | |||
“Those are the disbelievers, the wicked ones” | “Those are the disbelievers, the wicked ones” | ||
Old Hijazi pronunciation: hum ǝl-kafarah ǝl-fajarh | Old Hijazi pronunciation: hum ǝl-kafarah ǝl-fajarh | ||
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In the following examples, the first word of the two internally rhyming words is a unique word that wasn’t used anywhere else in the Quran. Which shows that these unique words were chosen to form an internal rhyme with the next word: | In the following examples, the first word of the two internally rhyming words is a unique word that wasn’t used anywhere else in the Quran. Which shows that these unique words were chosen to form an internal rhyme with the next word: | ||
{{Quran|21|90|}} | |||
<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْخَيْرَاتِ وَيَدْعُونَنَا <u>رَغَبًا وَرَهَبًا</u> ۖ وَكَانُوا لَنَا خَاشِعِينَ﴾</span> | <span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْخَيْرَاتِ وَيَدْعُونَنَا <u>رَغَبًا وَرَهَبًا</u> ۖ وَكَانُوا لَنَا خَاشِعِينَ﴾</span> | ||
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The two words are spelled in the Quran as: raghabā wa rahabā. The classical Arabic nunation of the word “raghab” isn’t written (raghaban رغبن) in accordance with the claimed pausal spelling rule. Note how if the two words are read the same way they are spelled then they rhyme with each other. | The two words are spelled in the Quran as: raghabā wa rahabā. The classical Arabic nunation of the word “raghab” isn’t written (raghaban رغبن) in accordance with the claimed pausal spelling rule. Note how if the two words are read the same way they are spelled then they rhyme with each other. | ||
{{Quran|56|37|}}<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿عُرُبًا أَتْرَابًا﴾</span> | |||
OH: ʕurubā atrābā | OH: ʕurubā atrābā | ||
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The word “ʕurub” wasn’t used anywhere else in the Quran. | The word “ʕurub” wasn’t used anywhere else in the Quran. | ||
{{Quran|71|27|}} | |||
<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿وَلَا يَلِدُوا إِلَّا <u>فَاجِرًا كَفَّارًا</u> ﴾</span> | <span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿وَلَا يَلِدُوا إِلَّا <u>فَاجِرًا كَفَّارًا</u> ﴾</span> | ||
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The word “fājir” wasn’t used anywhere else in the Quran. | The word “fājir” wasn’t used anywhere else in the Quran. | ||
{{Quran|77|32|}} | |||
<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِ<u>شَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ</u>﴾</span> | <span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿إِنَّهَا تَرْمِي بِ<u>شَرَرٍ كَالْقَصْرِ</u>﴾</span> | ||
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The word “sharar” wasn’t used anywhere else in the Quran. | The word “sharar” wasn’t used anywhere else in the Quran. | ||
Note: In the canonical readings, the final word is read “qaṣr”. But a number of non-canonical readings read it as “qaṣar”<ref>Muʕjam al-qirāʾāt, vol.10 p.248, 251, | Note: In the canonical readings, the final word is read “qaṣr”. But a number of non-canonical readings read it as “qaṣar”<ref>Abdul Latif Al-Khatib, Muʕjam al-qirāʾāt, dar sad al-din, vol.10 p.248, 251, معجم القراءات لعبد اللطيف الخطيب، دار سعد الدين </ref> which makes it rhyme perfectly with the preceding word “sharar”. The final word of the next verse "ṣufr" is non-canonically read as ṣufur.<ref>Previous source, p.251</ref> | ||
{{Quran|104|1|}} | |||
<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿وَيْلٌ لِكُلِّ <u>هُمَزَةٍ لُمَزَةٍ</u> ﴾</span> | <span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿وَيْلٌ لِكُلِّ <u>هُمَزَةٍ لُمَزَةٍ</u> ﴾</span> | ||
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The word “humazah” wasn’t used anywhere else in the Quran. | The word “humazah” wasn’t used anywhere else in the Quran. | ||
<span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿مِنْ شَرِّ <u>الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ</u>﴾ | <span dir="rtl" lang="en">﴿مِنْ شَرِّ <u>الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ</u>﴾{{Quran|114|4|}}</span> | ||
OH: min sharri l-waswās ǝl-khannās | OH: min sharri l-waswās ǝl-khannās | ||
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Other examples of verse-final attributes of Allah that form Old Hijazi internal rhymes: | Other examples of verse-final attributes of Allah that form Old Hijazi internal rhymes: | ||
ʕalīm ḥalīm عليم حليم “Knower, Forbearing” ( | ʕalīm ḥalīm عليم حليم “Knower, Forbearing” ({{Quran|4|12|}}, {{Quran|22|59|}}) | ||
khabīr baṣīr خبير بصير “Aware, Seeing” ( | khabīr baṣīr خبير بصير “Aware, Seeing” ({{Quran|35|31|}}, {{Quran|42|27|}}) | ||
ʕazīz ḥakīm عزيز حكيم “Mighty, Wise” (13 attestations, such as | ʕazīz ḥakīm عزيز حكيم “Mighty, Wise” (13 attestations, such as {{Quran|8|10|}}{{Quran|8|49|}}) | ||
ghafūr raḥīm غفور رحيم “Forgiving, Merciful” (49 attestations, such as | ghafūr raḥīm غفور رحيم “Forgiving, Merciful” (49 attestations, such as {{Quran|2|173|}},{{Quran|2|182|}}) | ||
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Hadith was written down in the second and third Islamic centuries, the same period that Arab grammarians wrote their first works. In their works there’s no mention of any variety of Arabic that lacks nunation and final short vowels. Yet the Hadith tradition has many internal rhymes that only appear if nunation and final short vowels were dropped. Which leads to the same conclusion that Van Putten reaches based on the study of pre-Islamic Arabic varieties and the early Arabic texts written in scripts other than Arabic. He says: | Hadith was written down in the second and third Islamic centuries, the same period that Arab grammarians wrote their first works. In their works there’s no mention of any variety of Arabic that lacks nunation and final short vowels. Yet the Hadith tradition has many internal rhymes that only appear if nunation and final short vowels were dropped. Which leads to the same conclusion that Van Putten reaches based on the study of pre-Islamic Arabic varieties and the early Arabic texts written in scripts other than Arabic. He says: | ||
{{Quote| | {{Quote| Marijn Van Putten, Quranic Arabic, p.18|(what) the Arabic the grammarians saw fit to comment upon is a highly selective subset of forms of Arabic that were around. Exclusively taking that which the grammarians saw fit to comment upon as “Arabic”, ignores a vast amount of linguistic variation that existed in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic period.}}<br /> | ||
==Examples of Old Hijazi internal rhymes in Hadith== | ==Examples of Old Hijazi internal rhymes in Hadith== | ||
The first example is from the seven aḥruf Hadith listed in a huge number of Hadith sources. The two rhyming words in this Hadith always come at a possible pausal position and sometimes at the end of the Hadith, such as: | The first example is from the seven aḥruf Hadith listed in a huge number of Hadith sources. The two rhyming words in this Hadith always come at a possible pausal position and sometimes at the end of the Hadith, such as: | ||
{{Quote|Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaybah, vol.6 p.137 | {{Quote|Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaybah, Dar Al-Taj, vol.6 p.137| «نَزَلَ الْقُرْآنُ عَلَى سَبْعَةِ أَحْرُفٍ كُلٌّ <u>شَافٍ كَافٍ</u>» | ||
Old Hijazi: shāf kāf | Old Hijazi: shāf kāf | ||
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<span dir="rtl" lang="en">اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ <u>الْمَأْثَمِ وَ الْمَغْرَمِ.</u></span><ref>Sahih Muslim, vol.1 p.412, Matbaʿat Isa Al-Babi</ref> | <span dir="rtl" lang="en">اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ <u>الْمَأْثَمِ وَ الْمَغْرَمِ.</u></span><ref>Sahih Muslim, vol.1 p.412, Matbaʿat Isa Al-Babi</ref> | ||
Old Hijazi: al-mātham wal-maghram | |||
Classical Arabic: al-maʾthami wal-maghram{{Quote|Sahih Muslim, Matbaʿat Isa Al-Babi, vol.1 p.412|اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الْمَأْثَمِ وَ الْمَغْرَمِ. | |||
Old Hijazi: al-mātham wal-maghram | Old Hijazi: al-mātham wal-maghram | ||
Classical Arabic: al-maʾthami wal-maghram | Classical Arabic: al-maʾthami wal-maghram | ||
}} | |||
اللَّهمَّ إنِّي أسألُكَ مِنَ الخيرِ كلِّهِ ع<u>اجلِهِ وآجلِهِ</u> ، ما عَلِمْتُ منهُ وما لم أعلَمْ ، وأعوذُ بِكَ منَ الشَّرِّ كلِّهِ <u>عاجلِهِ وآجلِهِ</u> ، ما عَلِمْتُ منهُ وما لم أعلَمْ<ref>Sunan Ibn Majah | اللَّهمَّ إنِّي أسألُكَ مِنَ الخيرِ كلِّهِ ع<u>اجلِهِ وآجلِهِ</u> ، ما عَلِمْتُ منهُ وما لم أعلَمْ ، وأعوذُ بِكَ منَ الشَّرِّ كلِّهِ <u>عاجلِهِ وآجلِهِ</u> ، ما عَلِمْتُ منهُ وما لم أعلَمْ<ref>Sunan Ibn Majah, Dar Al-Risalah Al-ʿilmiyyah, vol.5 p.17</ref> | ||
OH: ʕājilih wa ājilih | OH: ʕājilih wa ājilih | ||