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Ulm-ul-Qur’an An Introduction to the Science of the Qur’an
(How to Study and Understand the Quran) By:
Dr.
Hasanuddin Ahmed, I.A.S.
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CHAPTER
- 7
ILM MA'ANIYIL QUR’AN
STUDIES
OF THE MEANING OF THE QUR'ANIC LANGUAGE
Ilm‑ma'ani is the discipline of
understanding the Qur'anic message through its diction. The aim of 'ilm
ma'ani' of the Qur'an is to help the student in his endeavours to comprehend
the divine intention and purpose. The
correct knowledge of what is expressed or indicated can be gathered by the
proper understanding of the diction employed by the Qur'an. The Qur'an is a spoken word which after
revelation was committed to writing. It was expressed in Arabic words. Full
comprehension of its verbal description is essential to know the meanings
behind the words. Research of the
Qur'anic vocabulary and etymology is the subject matter of this study. This discipline covers the study of
changes in the meaning by any shift in the order of the words or their usage.
A language consists of
words. Words with which the
contemporary Arabs were familiar were employed in the Qur’an. Words like
other inanimate objects are basically lifeless but man with the help of his
brain gives them life. As far as the
Qur'an is concerned Allah not only gave life to common Arabic words but also
elevated them and used them for guidance to the humanity through the Prophet. Thus to acquire the knowledge of the
meaning which is divine intent is of utmost importance. Just like in the case of
human beings the words also possess their own individuality and genius. For the scholar who wants to employ them
in order to express an idea it is necessary to know the genius. This shows how great and difficult it is
to know the genius of the Qur'anic diction.
Muslim scholars from the beginning were fully aware of the
significance of this discipline. Maulana Sayeed Ahmed
Akbarabadi in his book 'Fahm‑e‑Qur'an' says: " The
scholars of literary evaluation and eloquence have correctly pointed out that
basically there is no synonymy is words.
Each expression possesses one and only one meaning. One who is alien to the language may offer
endless explanations and interpretations but one who knows the language as
his mother tongue fully grasps the purport of the expression and needs no
further clarificatons." This was
the reason that as long as the Qur'an remained in the Arab Peninsula, the
necessity of explaining the Qur’anic vocabulary was not felt. When it reached those whose mother tongue
was not Arabic it became necessary to explain the words, idioms and terms of
the Qur'an and to compile dictionaries. According to ibn Khaldoun
(d. 808/1405): "
The Qur'an was revealed in the language of the Arabs and as per the level of
their understanding. Every one
understood it and possessed the knowledge of the meaning of its words and
phrases (simple and compound words)." Commenting on the above
views of ibn Khaldoun, Hafiz Muhammad Aslam Jairajpuri in the introduction of
'Ma'arif al Qur'an says: "What ibn Khaldoun meant was
perhaps that the Arabs in general understood the message of the Qur'an. Otherwise it is obvious that every Arabic
speaking person cannot possess the knowledge of the Qur'anic diction and all
the constructions thereof. No doubt the Arabs understood a general purport of
the message of the Qur'an, they did not regard it necessary to go into the
depth of the meaning of every ayah”. Pre‑Islamic poetry
can be employed as the dictionary of Qur'anic words. Its use in the
philological explanation of the Qur'an is quite essential. According to the
eminent Qur’anic scholar, Jalaluddin Suyuti about two hundred Qur’anic words
are interpreted in the light of pre‑Islamic poetry. According to
another Qur’anic scholar Jahiz. " He who is unaware of pre‑Islamic
affairs cannot understand the Qur’an and the 'sunnah' properly". There are innumerable
books on ilm ma'aniyil Qur'an.
Abdul Qahar bin Abdul Rahman al Jurjani (d. 471/1079) laid the
foundation of ilm ma'ani. He
improved the discussions of his predecessors into a regular discipline and by
giving a scientific approach to the discussions of diction and meaning
formulated the principles of literary evaluation. Earlier Ali bin Hamza
Kasa'i (d. 189/805), Abu Muhammad Salma bin Asim Nahvi (d. 310/922) and Abu
Ishaq Ibrahim al Zujaj (d. 311/923) made valuable contributions to ilm
ma'ani. Some scholars made an in
depth study of the diction of the Qur'an and covered all the Qur'anic words. They named it `mufferadat al Qur’an`.
Thus compilation of the dictionaries of the Qur’an started.[1] Some lexicographers confined to the
explanation of particular and difficult words and named their compositions as
'Gharib al Qur'an' Some did not cover the nouns but confined to the
explanation of verbs and the derivatives. Some words of the Qur'an
give different meaning at different places.
Such words are termed as naza'er. The words which are used in the same meaning throughout the
Qur'an are termed as 'wajuh'.
According to 'ilm ma'ani’ comprehension of both 'wajuh' and
'naza'er' is considered essential. Selected Vocabulary
The Muslims, all over the
world, use the original text of the Qur;an in their obligatory prayers (salat)
five times a day. They are thus
familiar with the text of the Qur'an.
The non‑Arabic knowing believers, if they study the Qur'an
through translations, acquire the
understanding indirectly. They in
general have a vague idea about the contents of the Qur'an but are not aware
as to what exactly they are reciting in the 'salat'. In order to acquire the understanding of
the Qur'an directly ‑‑‑ which is definitely preferable ‑‑‑‑
one can take advantage of the familiarity with the text. For this purpose knowledge of sufficient
number of Qur'anic words is necessary. It is to be noted that
the realm of Qur'an with its magnificence is made up of words. For those
whose mother tongue is not Arabic knowledge of the vocabulary of the Qur'an
is, therefore, a prerequisite for the knowledge and understanding of the
Qur'an and subsequently of its higher values. Frequently used words of the Qur'an At this stage a question
arises as to which words are to be selected.
If such words are identified whose frequency in the Qur'an is, say
eight and more, a larger percentage of text of the Qur'an can be understood
by knowing lesser number of words. "The need for the
study of selected words arises out of practical considerations of which the
foremost is the time factor. The time
at the disposal of the student for the study of the Qur'an in Arabic, a
foreign language is in most cases very limited. It is, therefore, evident
that the Qur’anic words to be taught in the first instance should be selected
ones, so that by learning fewer words one may be able to master greater
portion of the text of the Qur’an." [2] It is necessary to clarify that either the Qur’anic words
(all those derivations as they frequently occur in the Qur'an) can be taken
or their roots (the derivatives of which are frequently used). In case of
determining the roots it would be necessary to avail the assistance of
trained teachers whereas in case of identifying more frequently used
derivatives the student can directly learn the text of the Qur'an.[3] Terms of the Qur'an
When a word is used in a
special sense different from the dictionary meaning it is called a term. When a science is developed and when new
ideas are introduced the prevalent words of a language are not sufficient to
fully express the specialized concepts.
As such either new words are coined or special meanings are assigned
to the ordinary words. Thus a new
status is given to some chosen words of the language. These words with the new status are called
terms. Term is a unit of thought and
conveys the entire idea. The Qur'an being
representative Book of a dynamic movement and a book of Wisdom (al Hikmah)
has its own terms. Each Qur’anic term
encompasses a whole concept. It is
imperative to understand the underlined meaning of these terms to grasp the
spirit of the Qur’an. The Qur'an has used not less then 37 terms to convey
its message. "In order to
understand the Qur'an, a clear comprehension of the full connotation of these
terms is a sine qua non. These terms
are fully explained by the Qur'an, itself.
The Prophet of Islam also explained these terms to his followers but
in later centuries mostly due to the influences of alien civilisations and of
Sufism, their meaning mostly slipped away from the Muslim mind and
changes crept in. Thus every term was
expanded in its connotation and became elastic to accommodate foreign trends
of thought relating to that term. For
example, the term 'al‑ihsaan' assumed wider range of meaning in
post‑Qur'anic sufi literature.
So much so that today it becomes rather difficult to sift Qur'anic
meaning from the jargon collected around these lofty concepts. It is necessary to take
deliberate and effective steps to understand the meanings of the Qur'anic
terms, which are well preserved in the Qur'an".1 The exercise of seeking
different interpretations of the Qur'anic terms is futile as the Qur'an
itself provides the correct interpretations of its respective terms. It never tires of playing upon the terms
by repetition, expansion, variation or clarification. The fact that the Qur'an deliberately
explains its terms by their frequent uses is very obvious. The roots of some Qur'anic terms such as 'nafakah',
'ghafara', 'shakara', 'kafara, and 'salawa' etc. are used three or even four times in a
single ayah respectively. The
terms "taqwa" and the derivatives for example, have been
used in the Qur'an not less than 258 times. When such is the case it is
rather unfortunate that the Qur'anic terms have received from various
translators a rather uncharitable treatment, at times variant with the
Qur'anic concept. It is immaterial if
everyone of them is partly correct. It is absolutely
necessary to identify 'terms' and to differentiate them from words. It may be improper ‑‑‑
and at time dangerous ‑‑ to treat ordinary words of the Qur'an as
'terms' and vice‑versa. 'Imam'
for example is used in the Qur'an as a word. By treating it as a term immeasurable confusion has been
created. Similarly if the Qur'anic
terms, 'salat', 'kufr' etc.,
are treated as words the entire purpose of the message will be defeated. Representative Words of
the Qur'an There are certain words
in the Qur'an which cannot be treated as terms because of the fact that their
dictionary meanings are retained. At
the same time these words cannot be regarded as ordinary words. It is
therefore, necessary to maintain the difference between the general words and
representative words of the Qur'an.
These words play an important role to represent Islam and its
teachings. For every revolutionary movement representative words are
important because it is through them that the fundamental principles of the
message are explained and introduced.
The Qur'an being the proclamation or charter of a dynamic movement has
used certain words as its representative words to convey its message. Qur'anic‑Words of Non‑Arabic
Origin[4]
One method for the study
of the diction of a treatise is to know the underlying ideas and
concepts. The other is to go into the
etymology and to make a linguistic analysis to find their origin. Is there a real need to
make the latter type of research of the Scriptures? From the point of view of
the followers, the former study is sufficient and the latter appears to be
redundant. For academic approach,
however, the latter is necessary.
This has special significance for the Qur'an since, unlike the diction
of other religious books, the original diction of the Qur'an is fully
preserved. The deeper we go into the
origin and structure of the words, the better for the complete understanding
of their meaning. One such approach
is to determine such words of the Qur'an which are of non‑Arabic
origin. Earlier scholars,
lexicographers and exegetes have made commendable research which is of real
value in the field of Qur'anic Studies. The non‑Muslim
Oriental scholars have also made substantial contribution. The studies dealing with the foreign words
in the Qur'an is scientific and has to exhibit objective point of view. The orientalists however, have
unfortunately exhibited prejudiced views even in these studies. Basing on the contention that there are
words of foreign origin in the Qur'an they have tried, in vain, to infer that
there are Biblical, heathen and heretical influences in the Qur'an. For example Henry Preserved Smith, in his
Ely lectures for 1897 (p 108) traces the origin of the word Rabb to
Aramaic and jumps to the observation:
"This is another indication that Mohammed's ideas were derived
from some 'heretical source'.” In
fact the resemblance is nothing more than the general semantic cast of thought
and language in both Bible and the Qur'an.
It would, therefore, be wrong to argue for Biblical or other influence
on the Qur'an on the ground of such resemblances. In fact the Qur'an, even in the so-called borrowing, has given
new life and new concepts to the dead material. In the Qur'an the word Rabb has assumed the status of a
term. There is no positive proof that
in Aramaic this word represented the same concept. Qur'anic usage of terms are independent of influences from Old
or New Testament or any other religious Scripture. It may not be fair to mix up the borrowing of the words with
the borrowing of the ideas. The
fallacy of such notions, which are motivated, require to be emphasised. Leave alone the ideas and
the concepts, even in the choice of words and the terms, the Qur'an was not
under any Scriptural influence. Now the question arises
whether there are words of foreign origin in the Qur'an? Before further
elaborating on the subject it would be interesting and useful to refer to the
following Ayaat of the Qur'an: “We have sent it down as
an Arabic Qur'an in order that you may learn wisdom” (Qur’an 12:02). “Had we sent this Qur’an
(in a language) other than Arabic, they would have said: Why are not its ayaat
explained in detail? What! (a Book) not in Arabic and ( a Messenger ) an Arab
?” (Qur’an 41:44) “And before this, was the
Book of Moses as a guide and a mercy: and this Book confirms (it) in the
Arabic tongue; to admonish the unjust, and as glad tidings to those who do
right”. (Qur’an 46:12) In all the above three Ayaat
it is asserted that the Qur'an is in Arabic language which it is. The question whether
entire vocabulary of the Qur'an is exclusively Arabic is not of recent
origin. The earlier scholars and lexicographers discussed these questions and
there had been differences of opinion between them. There was some difference, of opinion among Muslim scholars
whether the diction of the Qur'an included words which were not Arabic.
Adherents of one school of thought contend that the Qur'an denies the
existence of non‑Arabic (Ajami) words by distinctly claiming to
be in the plain Arabic language. They
further argued that the acceptance of non‑Arabic words would have
rendered the Qur'an defenceless and in reply to its challenge (Qur’an 41: 44)
the non‑believers could have reasonably argued that because of the non‑Arabic
words the Qur'an was beyond their comprehension. Ibn al Faras (author of Al‑sahih
fi Fiqhul Lughah) says that the acceptance of the presence of non‑Arabic
words in the Qur'an amount to agreeing that there being no equivalent words
in the Arabic language, the Qur'an has used them and that these words were
unfamiliar for the Arabs. Some scholars of this
school of thought are extreme in their views, and go to the extent of saying
that those who accept the presence of non‑Arabic words in the Qur'an
make a dangerous claim. Abu Obaida
says that "the Qur'an was conveyed in plain Arabic. One who thinks that the Qur'an contains
non‑Arabic diction has got exaggerated views." Ismail bin Kathir (100
/1301 ‑ 774/1377) in his Tafsir Al Qur’an‑ul‑Azeem
says: "Qartabi was of the view that there are no words of non‑Arabic
origin in the Qur'an except the names such as Ibrahim, Nuh, Lut etc.
Baqillani was of the view that what is apparently 'Ajami is in fact
Arabic. Due to similarity these words
are considered as `Ajami." Muhammad ibn Jarir al
Tabari (224/839/311 ‑ 923) was of the view that if some Qur'anic words
have similarity between Arabic and non‑Arabic words, it does not amount
that these words were borrowed from non‑Arabic languages. This could even be coincidence. He
elaborates that when ibn Abbas or other scholars say about certain words of
the Qur'an that they are words of Persian, Ethiopic, Aramaic, or any other
language, it only means that these words are common both in Arabic and one of
those languages. Other scholars have said
that the Qur'an does contain words not used in Arabic language and that words
of foreign origin have positively been used in the Qur'an. It has been quoted from the distinguished Tabi’een
(Companions of the Prophet's Companions) Abu Maisra: that the Qur'an contains words from every
language. Scholars of this school of thought firmly accept this view. They argue that the presence of some non‑Arabic
words in the Qur'an, will not mean that the Qur'an is not in Arabic. They further argue that
the Prophet of Islam was not sent for a particular people. His message was for all mankind. As such the presence of non‑Arabic
words cannot be a bar for the Qur'an to be in Arabic. Moreover, the Qur'an is a book which
covers various sciences. It is
therefore, inevitable that there should be representation of various
languages. The present day knowledge
of linguistics shows that all the languages of the world are related to one
another and form recognizable families.
It also shows influences of one language on the other and the common
heritage of different languages. One
such family is Semitic. Semitic is
applied to a family of languages including Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, and later
some other languages of the Middle East and North Africa. Studies have shown that Arabic language
forms with Ethiopic the Southern branch of the Semitic languages. Arabic and Semitic languages are grouped
together as South Semitic as distinct from the North Semitic group. Arabic language has, therefore, several
similarities with these languages. Of all the Semitic languages Ethiopic, the
ancient language of Abyssinia, is the most closely related to Arabic. Close
relationship existed between Hijaz and Abyssinia in the time of the Prophet.
Borrowing of words from different languages is the natural result of social
behaviour of human beings. Arabic
language is not an exception to this general rule. In spite of the fact that the pre‑Islamic Arabs kept
themselves almost in seclusion from others, the words of other languages of
the neighbouring countries such as Persian, Ethiopic, Roman, Hebrew etc.,
found their way into Arabic. The Qur'an brought a new
message. It had to find new words to
express ideas unfamiliar to the contemporary Arabs. When the Qur'an felt the need of a new vocabulary, Arabic
literature offered no suitable words for the new concepts and ideas. The
wealth of the Arabic language seemed to lack words to denote or even
adequately describe them. The Qur'an,
therefore devised its own vacabulary.
In devising its vocabulary Qur'an resorted to the following methods: 1. Borrowing: Broadly speaking the
Qur'an adopted Arabic verbs. Nouns
were borrowed from other languages.
These words were mostly for such articles which were not found in
Arabia. 2. The
Qur'an felt the need of a new religious phenomenon and coined a new term to
denote it. 3. Semantic rejuvenation or resemanticization: This is found where an
old word is given new meaning different from those which is previously
expressed. 4. Loan
translation or calque. This means that an Arabic
word is given a change of meaning or an extension of range of reference
borrowed from the historical development of the equivalent word in another
language. (1 and 4
apply to foreign words) When these words were
borrowed from other languages, the Arabs did not use them in their original
form. They were Arabicized and
variations of these words were made according to the rules of the Arabic
grammar. The non‑Arabic
words which are used in the Qur'an, and which in the past were the cause of
divergent points of view among the scholars, are in fact non‑Arabic
according to their origin. In pre‑Islamic
era they were adopted and assimilated into Arabic and were Arabicized. In other words, Arabic had absorbed a
large number of Persian, Egyptian, and Sanskrit words before Islam. It had assimilated those elements and
Arabicized them before Islam. These
words were in usage. Qur'an also used
them. If we look at the problem with
this angle, there remains no real difference between the two divergent
schools of thought. Both the points
of view are correct. Those who believed that there are no foreign words in
the Qur'an were justified because these very foreign words were already
Arabicized and had come in usage as Arabic words. The Arabs had already used them and these words had become
integrated in the Arabic language.
Those scholars who accepted the presence of non‑Arabic words in the
Qur'an were also justified because these words were actually non‑Arabic
in origin. It may not be out of
place to mention here that some of the early scholars had expressed this very
view but it was not heeded in the controversial atmosphere. The recent studies have proved this point
of view as correct. Those scholars who
accepted the presence of non‑Arabic words in the Qur'an pointed out
those words and showed the language from which those words were taken. The renowned scholar Jalaluddin
Suyuti (d. 911/ 1505) in his
monumental book, Al‑Itqan Fi Ulum‑il‑Qur'an, has
given a list, in alphabetical order, of the 118 non Arabic words in the
Qur'an. This list as well as the other words pointed out by the earlier
scholars cannot be fully relied upon because of the limited knowledge of
linguistics in their age. Mutual relationship of the languages was not fully
known. Some modern scholars have
identified the words of foreign origin in the Qur'an keeping in view the
latest studies in linguistics. Their
findings can be regarded as more reliable.
One of such scholar is Rifael Nakhalah who in his book, Gharaibul
Lughatul Arabia, has given an exhaustive list of such non‑Arabic
words which are used in the Qur'an.
He has also given the name of the language from which these words are
taken, along with their meaning in that language. In respect of the origin of
some words he agrees with the early scholars and for others he has differed
from them . His views which are based
on scientific studies, are more reliable than those of the earlier scholars.
Earlier Muslim scholars have referred to the Greek and Latin Languages as
Roman. In fact there is no language
by the name Roman. Similarly, they
have identified many Qur'anic words as of Hebrew origin. The fact that the Arabic and Hebrew are so
closely related and that the state of society in which the two sister
languages were spoken was so nearly the same, causes a similarity in
phraseology which is mostly deceptive.
One is likely to suppose there was borrowing, when in fact, there was
none.[5]
Because of such
similarity it cannot be contended that these words are from Hebrew. There are, however, some words in the
Qur'an which are of Hebrew origin and these should be identified. Now we are faced with an
important question: Whether the fact
that words from other languages have been borrowed in the Qur’an, goes
against the Arabic language, and whether it affects the claim of the Qur'an
to its literary excellence? As explained above, the
interchange of vocabulary and interaction of languages is an accepted
principle and applies to all languages.
Arabic is not an exception to the general rule. The Arabic language
has greatly and deeply influenced other languages and has accepted their
influence. The capability of a language to absorb and assimilate the words
from other languages is considered as a distinct quality of that
language. It proves the strength,
life‑force and extensivity of the language. One more rule governs the influence of one language over the
other: If people speaking a language
are superior economically, culturally or politically their language will
influence other languages. It was
because of this factor that in pre‑Islamic era the influence of other
languages on Arabic was greater and in the post‑Islamic period the
influence of Arabic language on other languages was far greater and deeper
than the influence of other languages on Arabic. As regards the second part of the question, the usage of non‑Arabic
words actually lends to the literary excellence of the Qur'an, which lies in
the way the Arabic as well as these foreign words are used. The treatment of the diction in the
ultimate analysis is the standard of literary style. In fact for expression of new concepts and
a lofty message the Qur'an required a wide range of vocabulary. The vocabulary of the Arabic language was
not at all sufficient for this purpose.
The Qur'an not only gave new meanings to the Arabic words but also
used the borrowed and Arabicized words of foreign origin. In addition the Qur'an coined terms with
the existing vocabulary and treated this material in a magnificent way. It is unfair to jump to
the assumption, as H.A.R. Gibb's and some other Orientalists have done, that
the mere presence of words of foreign origin shows that the religious ideas
in the Qur'an were borrowed from Jewish sources or Syriac Christianity. The
revolution which Islam brought about has led to the introduction of new
significance in old words.[6] If one looks at the list
of words of foreign origin (which are quite ordinary words) with their
original meaning and compares them with the new concepts evolved out of them,
and the literary expressions fashioned by the Qur'an, one will be stunned.[7] The Qur'an expresses
concepts with a beauty and passion that can be fully appreciated only when we
try to replace one word with any alternative word and miserably fail in the
attempt. Each word is aptly and
perfectly used with a skill which cannot be anything but Divine. This applies to each and every word of the
Qur’an and the words of foreign origin lend much to this unique technique. Use of symbols in the Qur'an
In literature symbol is
something that stands for or represents something else not by exact
resemblance, but by vague suggestion.
It is characterised not by its uniformity but by its versatility.[8] Similes, metaphors and
symbols are the tools whereby expression is made more effective. Unlike similes and metaphors, in a symbol
there is no question of comparison.
The words themselves explain the subject and the literal meaning is
liberated from its trammels. The
functions of simile, metaphor and metonymy are also performed by the symbol.
In a symbol, the same word is expanded in meaning so much so that its
implication becomes symbolic for some aspects of life. The use of symbols in
literature is called 'symbolism'. A
basic problem of symbolism is the proper selection of symbols. In the selection of symbols, it has to be
borne in mind that there should be resemblance and relationship in
characteristics. Symbols themselves
have no meaning. It is the writer who assigns meanings to the symbols and his
method of approach determines the meaning of the symbols. In most of the religious
books symbols are used. The Qur'an
had the problem of presenting its universal message keeping in view eternal
realities, wisdom and mental background and the limitations of the
addressees. The Qur'an introduced new
ideas and new concepts, and for their expression it provided new terms and
countinuously used metaphors.
Similarly the Qur'an also introduced the usage of symbols. In the
Qur'an metaphors assumed the status of symbols on account of their frequency
of usage. It is one of the miracles
of the Qur'an that we become aware of the situation in our after life during
our lifetime only through the means of symbols. Symbols have always a possibility of alteration or deviation in
their meaning. The Qur'an being an eternal message the symbols in it are not
subject to revision. The meanings
assigned to a symbol must last forever.
It is one of the miracles of the Qur'an that it has successfully
expressed feelings which cannot be expressed in normal words. The Qur'an's figurative
style creates an atmosphere in which concepts and meanings appear in the form
of symbols. For example, the Qur'an
has used 'subh' (morning) as symbol for the 'appointed time of
chastisement': "...... Verily,
their appointed time is the morning (and) is not the morning
nigh?". (Qur’an 11:81) "When our decree
issued, We saved Shu'aib and those who believed with him, by Mercy from Us,
But the (mighty) Blast did seize the wrongdoers, and they lay prostrate in
their homes by the morning." (11:94) “My sustainer and your
sustainer ‑‑‑‑
that I seek refuge against your stoning (tarjumun).” (Qur’an 44: 18‑20) The expression 'tarjumun'
in the above ayaat has a symbolic meaning indicating the entire
attitude of Firaun and his people. According to Abdullah Yusuf Ali "
Stoning may be here symbolical of any injury or vilification".1
Prophet Musa was facing
rejection, ridicule, condemnation, vilification, denunciation etc. all at one time which cannot be
represented by any other word except stoning. Salat has also been used as a
symbol in the Qur'an. When Prophet
Shu'aib conveyed the message to the people of Madyan, they said: "Oh
Shu'aib, does your 'salat' command you that we give up all that our
forefathers were wont to worship or that we refrain from doing whatever we
please with our possession. "(Qur’an 11:87) In the above ayah
the word salat is used as a symbol for 'din'. In Surah 111, 'Abu Lahab'
is used as a symbol for those who oppose the 'Divine Message'. In the Qur'an 'the wind'
is used as a symbol for intellectual progress and hope. There is a close
comparison between 'the winds' and the 'ayaat' of the Qur'an. Just as winds may either bring clouds and
rain as a hope for the crops, or bring disaster, the ayaat of Allah
also bring hope to the believers and warning to the unbelievers. It is therefore, apt that the Qur'an has
used wind and rain as symbols of intellectual progress. Says the Qur'an: "And
it is He who sends the winds as a glad tiding of His coming grace ‑ so
that, when they have brought heavy clouds, We may drive them towards dead
land and cause thereby water to descend, and by this means do We cause all
manner of fruit to come forth: (and this) you ought to keep in mind, thus
shall We raise up the dead," (Qur’an 7:57). "As for the good
land, its vegetation comes forth (in abundance) by its Sustainer's leave,
whereas from bad it comes forth but poorly. Thus do We give many facets to
Our messages for (the benefit of) people who are grateful." (Qur’an
7:58).
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