Daily Times

Quran is unique in that the reader is overwhelmed by the exquisite beauty of its language and diction, even before its exalted message breaks upon him.

I am not a scholar of the Arabic language but have a little smattering of the Quranic Arabic due to my earliest training in the recitation of the Holy Quran by various Qaris at home. I later acquired its rudimentary knowledge at school, as was the case of most of my contemporaries. Later in life, I kept myself in regular touch with the Quran, its meanings and interpretations by famous scholars.

What has fascinated me most is its phonetics and recitation. This made me preserve the recordings of several famous Qaris (reciters), which often fill my moments of deep relaxation.

As I turn to the Quran, I feel nearly shattered to read the words of the wife of the Holy Prophet reporting what he told her about the first revelation: “Gabriel pressed me, until all the strength went out of me; whereupon he released me and said: ‘Read!'”

“This was repeated three times and upon the third, Gabriel released me and said, “Read in the name of the Sustainer who created humankind from a clot! Read!”

And thereafter, the floodgates of the hidden treasures of knowledge were thrown open to the Holy Prophet, an unlettered man otherwise, making him the greatest instructor of mankind. No such miracle had ever happened before.

To me, the Quran is unique in that the reader is overwhelmed by the exquisite beauty of its language and diction, even before its exalted message breaks upon him. Muslims, as well as non-Muslims, have been overwhelmed by its style, which they call “inimitable.”

The Quran has challenged the disbelievers that if anyone thinks that it is a product of human imagination and not a Divine revelation, he should produce even a single surah of similar merit.

Most Quranic scholars have underlined some of the linguistic beauties of the Quran, which I would wish to share with you. According to them, the Holy Quran is unique not only in its meaning, thought and the message but also in its form, intonation and diction. Revealed more than 1400 years ago to the Holy Prophet, it is, undoubtedly, a masterpiece of literature. The unmatched beauty and power of its language, rhythm and cadences have inspired several generations of people.

French scholar Paul Casanova has paid his tributes to the miraculous language of the Quran in the following words: “Whenever Muhammad was asked a miracle, as a proof of the authenticity of his mission, he quoted the composition of the Quran and its incomparable excellence as proof of its Divine origin. And even its simple audition melted their hearts like the wax. Its diction and the ampleness of its syllables with a grandiose cadence and a remarkable rhythm, all combined together were able to convert and disarm the most hostile and the most sceptical of men to submission.”

The Quranic diction, according to Dr Fazal ur Rehman Ansari, was unique in its intonation, diction and thought, which was indeed inimitable. The Holy Quran’s depth in the dimension of its meaning and the grandeur of its language are simply immeasurable by human standards.

American scholar, Harry Gaylord, regards the style of the Quran as a miracle, which truly appears as words of God, dictated to the Prophet by Gabriel, perfect in every letter. Its words and message are so perfect and lofty that neither men nor jinn could produce a single chapter comparable to this. The contents of its teaching, prophecies about the future, and amazingly accurate information could also not be deemed to have been coined by a Prophet who was unlettered and had no schooling at all.

Linguistically, the Quran is neither poetry nor prose but it draws the beautiful qualities of both in such a splendid manner that it is more elegant than poetry and more fluent than prose. In the preface of his translation of the Quran, Moulana Ahmed Ali describes the beauty of the Quranic language in these words: “The Quranic Arabic is distinguished by the combined effect of sublimity and excellence of its sound, its appropriate eloquence and rhetoric, its reliance on and use of metaphor, assonance and alliteration etc. Its cadences and rhythm pauses and stops only enhance the effect of its eloquence”.

The Quran is incomparable in its exposition of all kinds of expressions and addresses such as those relating to encouragement, dissuasion, praise, censure etc,

Instead of following the most favourite themes of romance and military expeditions of the time, the Quran invokes a wide range of aspects of individual and collective life such as spiritual, ethical, social, economic, political, and legal etc.

With the revelation of the Quran, the Quranic Arabic made a very strong impact on the entire Arabic language spoken in the region. Michael Hart, the American historian and author of the famous “The 100” said: “The centrality of the Koran in the Moslem religion and the fact it is written in Arabic have probably prevented the Arab language from breaking up into mutually unintelligible dialects, which might otherwise have occurred in the intervening thirteen centuries.” The Quran has challenged the disbelievers that if anyone thinks that it is a product of human imagination and not a Divine revelation, he should produce even a single surah of similar merit.

Another unique aspect of the Quran is that it is untranslatable. The language of the Quran is so unsurpassable in its expression as well as meaning that it is not possible for a translator or commentator to translate it completely into any other language. In the foreword of his classic translation, Moulana Mohammad Ali, the first English translator of the Quran in our part of the world, has quoted Professor Gibb’s splendid words, highlighting why it is difficult to translate the Quran. I reproduce the quote as follows: “The Quran is essentially untranslatable. The seer can never communicate his vision in ordinary language. He can express himself only in broken images, every inflexion of which, every nuance and subtlety, has to be long and earnestly studied before their significance breaks upon the reader—-images too, in which the music of sounds plays an indefinable part in attuning the mind of the hearer to receive the message. To paraphrase them, in other words, can only be to mutilate them, to substitute clay for fine gold, the plodding of the pedestrian intelligence for the winged flight of intuitive perception…..”

It is simply impossible for a mortal human being to encompass the eternal Word of God. The view is shared by all great scholars and translators of the Quran, including Marmaduke Pickthall, the renowned English translator of the Quran.

Muhammad Asad, one of the great Quranic translators, said that it was “impossible to ‘reproduce’ the Quran as such in any other language.”

And he wondered that “the more our worldly knowledge and historical experience increase, the more meanings, hitherto unsuspected, reveal themselves in its pages.”

Regarding his translation, he said, “I am fully aware that my rendering does not and could not really ‘do justice’ to the Quran and the layers upon layers of its meaning.”

Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali, the famous English exegete of the Quran, is reported to have remarked, “The best translator of the Quran is Time.”

Another modern translator of the Quran, Arthur J Arberry, has made similar comments. He observed, “In making the present attempt… to produce something which might be accepted as echoing however faintly the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pains to study the intricate and richly varied rhythms which-apart from the message itself-constitute the Koran’s undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary masterpieces of mankind…”

Thus, even the best of translations of the Quran sound dull and flat in comparison with the splendidly decorated original. John Nash, a Christian clergyman, recognizes the fact in the following words: “The Quran in its original Arabic dress has a seductive beauty and charm of its own. Couched in concise and exalted style, its brief sentences possess an expressive force and explosive energy which it is extremely difficult to convey by literal word for word translation.”

I think this would suffice to show the eternal beauty of the glorious Quran.

The writer is a former member of the Provincial Civil Service, and an author of Moments in Silence