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Iltifat: Difference between revisions
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Iltifāt (التفات, iltifaat), also known as grammatical shift, refers to places where the Quranic text makes an unexpected switch of grammatical person (1st, 2nd, 3rd person) in pronouns referring to the same person or thing. Switches in pronoun number (singular, dual, plural) were also termed iltifāt or said to be related to iltifāt. Also considered by some scholars as iltifāt are unexpected changes of addressee, change of verb tense, change of grammatical case, and using a noun in place of a pronoun.<ref name="Haleem">M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (1992) [https://soas-repository.worktribe.com/output/411099 Grammatical Shift for rhetorical purposes: Iltifāt and related features in the Qurʾān] Qur'ān. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 55(3), 407-432. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00003621</ref> | Iltifāt (التفات, iltifaat), also known as grammatical shift, refers to places where the Quranic text makes an unexpected switch of grammatical person (1st, 2nd, 3rd person) in pronouns referring to the same person or thing. Switches in pronoun number (singular, dual, plural) were also termed iltifāt or said to be related to iltifāt. Also considered by some scholars as iltifāt are unexpected changes of addressee, change of verb tense, change of grammatical case, and using a noun in place of a pronoun.<ref name="Haleem">M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (1992) [https://soas-repository.worktribe.com/output/411099 Grammatical Shift for rhetorical purposes: Iltifāt and related features in the Qurʾān] Qur'ān. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 55(3), 407-432. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00003621</ref> | ||
Iltifāt is employed to a much greater extent and variety in the Quran than in pre Islamic or early Arab poetry and is an important technique in creating its distinctive style. In general, in the Quran these features seem to be intentional in order to achieve some rhetorical effect or for the sake of variety in pronouns. Some examples such as 19:63-64 and 10:22 discussed below have | Iltifāt is employed to a much greater extent and variety in the Quran than in pre Islamic or early Arab poetry and is an important technique in creating its distinctive style. In general, in the Quran these features seem to be intentional in order to achieve some rhetorical effect or for the sake of variety in pronouns. Some examples such as 19:63-64 and 10:22 discussed below have attracted criticism, however. There are also examples which some Muslim scholars have excused as iltifat but which, according to academic scholars, just seem to be unintended grammatical errors. This could indicate problems with the composition or preservation of the Quran. Some of these, as well as other grammatical errors, were even reportedly explained by Aisha and other companions as errors made by the first scribes to write down the Quran. | ||
==Academic views== | ==Academic views== | ||
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Haleem attempts instead to explain 5:69 and 4:162 (and a similar issue in 2:177) as examples of iltifat, as did a few classical Islamic scholars. 20:63 is not addressed by Haleem, but this too will briefly be discussed below as it is the most famous grammatical error in the Quran. | Haleem attempts instead to explain 5:69 and 4:162 (and a similar issue in 2:177) as examples of iltifat, as did a few classical Islamic scholars. 20:63 is not addressed by Haleem, but this too will briefly be discussed below as it is the most famous grammatical error in the Quran. | ||
Sean Anthony has remarked that the Aisha tradition is also narrated from Hisham without Abu Mu'awiyah, and that there is "a lot of special pleading on Haleem's part" in his attempts to explain these errors as iltifat.<ref>[https://x.com/shahanSean/status/961132289928376320 Part of a Twitter thread by Professor Sean Anthony on grammatical errors in the Quran] 7 February 2018</ref> | Historian Sean Anthony has remarked that the Aisha tradition is also narrated from Hisham without Abu Mu'awiyah, and that there is "a lot of special pleading on Haleem's part" in his attempts to explain these errors as iltifat.<ref>[https://x.com/shahanSean/status/961132289928376320 Part of a Twitter thread by Professor Sean Anthony on grammatical errors in the Quran] 7 February 2018</ref> | ||
====4:162 and 2:177==== | ====4:162 and 2:177==== | ||