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Muslims are absolutely convinced of the greatness and
importance of the Quran, which is usually mentioned with epithets like “noble,”
“glorious,” and “pure.” What is it that so deeply moves the Muslim when
reciting from the Quran, when seeing its verses, or when barely touching it?
The style of the Quran is inimitable and of divine beauty
and power. Try as he may, no man can write a paragraph that is comparable to a
verse of the revealed Book. This has to do partly with the literary merit of
the text and the efficacy of the words - their transforming and saving power -
that is inimitable. It moves an illiterate shepherd to tears when recited to
him, and it has shaped the lives of millions of simple people over the course
of almost fourteen centuries; it has nourished some of the most powerful
intellects known to human records; it has stopped sophisticates in their tracks
and made pious believers of them, and it has been the source of the most subtle
philosophy and of an art which expresses its deepest meaning in visual terms;
it has brought the wandering tribes of humanity together in communities and
civilizations upon which its imprint is apparent even to the most casual
observer.
To recite the Quran is the most sublime and
edifying occupation for the Muslim, even when he or she does not intellectually
understand its words, as is the case with most non-Arab believers. The Muslims’
desire to recite the Quran as beautifully as possible, and the art of tilāwat,
the proper recitation, has developed into a science. Even when reciting the
Book without embellishment, one has to observe certain rules of recitation. The
hafiz, who “preserves” the Quran, i.e., knows it by heart, is highly
respected, and boys and girls are sent at an early age to the mosque to
memorize the ‘Book.’
In order not to besmirch the sacred character of the Quran,
care should be taken that it is not left in a place where someone may
accidentally stand, sit on or otherwise disrespect it; it is extremely disliked
to use any book, let alone the Quran, as a prop for holding anything up. When
not being read, the Muslim will replace it in the shelf of the bookcase, or on
the lectern. Some people wrap it carefully in cloth in order to preserve it
and also to be able handle it when not in a state of purity if needed. They
also like to ensure that it is placed above other books, and they avoid just
letting the Quran lie around. It is absolutely forbidden to take it into the
place one urinates or defecates or that is a place of major impurity (toilets,
middens, sheepcotes, city sewers, etc.). Even reciting it in such places is a
thing not done.
Language of the Quran
The Quranic world view is closely tied to the Arabic
language, which, like Hebrew and Aramaic (the language spoken by Jesus),
belongs to the Semitic family. The Quran defines itself specifically as an ‘Arabic
scripture’, and the message is shaped to the complex structure of the chosen
language, a structure fundamentally different to that of any European tongue. The
internal logic of Semitic languages is very different from that of
Indo-European languages such as English, Latin, Sanskrit, and Persian. Every
Arabic word may be traced back to a verbal root consisting of three, four or
five consonants from which are derived up to twelve different verbal modes,
together with a number of nouns and adjectives. This is referred to as the
triliteral root, and specific words are formed from it by the insertion of long
or short vowels and by the addition of suffixes and prefixes. The root as such
is ‘dead’ - unpronounceable - until brought to life, that is to say vocalized,
by the vowels, and it is according to their placing that the basic meaning is
developed in a number of different directions. The root has sometimes been
described as the ‘body’ while the vowelling is the ‘soul’; or again, it is from
the root that a great tree grows. Without understanding the meanings and the
related concepts of the Arabic words, it is impossible to appreciate the
richness of the associated meanings, the difficulty of translating words into
English, and the interrelationships among Arabic words that are obvious in the
original.
The Muslims’ preoccupation with the sublime language of
the Quran grew into the study of grammar and rhetoric, especially when
non-Arabs entered the fold of Islam in increasing numbers and had to be taught
about the peculiarities of the language of revelation. The belief that the
Book was untranslatable forced those who embraced Islam to learn Arabic or at
least to become acquainted with the Arabic alphabet. Many times, this led
nations to actually adopt Arabic as their native languages, as is the case with
all Arab nations save the Arabian Peninsula. This had immense consequences for
other languages, such as Persian, Turkish, Malay and many others, who adopted
the Arabic script. Quranic sayings and expressions are used as much in high
literature as in daily conversations, even among non-Arabs, and Arab
non-Muslims.
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