Balaghah

16Apr09

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

One of the branches of Arabic is an ‘ilm called balaghah. If Arabic were to be a cake, balaghah is the icing. And Quran is full of balaghah. The scholars of Islam study this ‘ilm in order to grasp the peak understanding of the Quran. The more we study the language of the Quran the more we realize how we are in need of this language in order to swim in the ocean of Quran to discover its gems.

One simple example is from surah Al-Fatihah.

We read
إياك نعبد و إياك نستعين
In arabic there are 2 types of sentence:

1. Nominal sentence جملة اسمية (A sentence that starts with a noun)
2. Verbal sentence. جملة فعلية (A sentence that starts with a verb)

And the verse above is a type of verbal sentence. In a normal case, a verbal sentence consists of a verb (فعل) + doer (فاعل) + object (مفعول به). And very much remains in this order : verb + doer + object

For example:

يقرأ محمد القرآن

Literal translation: Read Muhammad Al-Quran → Muhammad reads Al-Quran

where: (object) القرآن+ (doer) محمد + (verb)يقرأ

Applying the same rule to the verse above, a normal verbal sentence would sound:

نعبد إياك → (object) إياك .(doer + verb)نعبد

However notice Al-Quran uses a different order. Instead of starting with a verb, it starts with the object which is إياك in this case.

This is where balaghah plays its role and explaining things which would otherwise remain a mistery.

For إياك نعبد , although it is a verbal sentence which should start with a verb (نعبد), Quran doesn’t use the normal order to give a strong sense of Tawheed, where إياك is being given a greater concern here. Therefore the verse starts with the object. You alone do we worship. Which implies we don’t worship others, other than you.

However should Quran use the normal order of the verbal sentence, which would be نعبد إياك, there would be less of a strength in term of Tawheed. We worship you. But it gives some gray area that there might be something else that we worship other than you as well.

See the difference?

Well this is just a sip from the ocean.

الله تعالى أعلم

Filed under: 'Ilm, Arabic   |  2 Comments