This is a pre-publication of my book ‘49:49 ‘, to be published no later than 2025.
In Part I I already wrote that the critic who is sober and fearless, against hotheads who demand in a high or highest tone that one must know Quranic Arabic before one can say anything about the contents of this holy book of Allah, best ‘admits‘ that the teachings of Mohammed indeed were/are specific to Arabs and that clearly thus Allah was/is a god of Arabs.
This emerges most emphatically and ‘intranscribably’ in Sura 26 [47 *)]. The Koran has about twenty verses that are literally about the Arabic language or that relate to the Arab people, or rather: Arab peoples.
When it comes to the Arabic language, it is often formulated as “clearly Arabic”.
When it comes to the Arab people, there is often talk of “desert” or “wandering Arabs”.
§21 A foreigner?
Verse 195 of this surah talks about Mohammed’s language. Here again there is an interesting difference in detail between the translations: some come with the ‘Arabic language‘, others with the ‘Arabic speech‘ or the ‘Arabic tongue‘.
It reminds us that the Koran was a spoken text. After all, Mohammed was illiterate.
That is not a negative designation of his critical contemporaries or contemporary critics.
Rather a positive one: Mohammed’s illiteracy is brought up with a kind of pride by his most devoted followers!
The Quran contains several passages about the concept ‘someone who can write‘ that seems laughable in most of the world today.
It is also a reminder that Arabic was not yet fully developed as far as writing was concerned.
A striking example of this is verse 44:54 [64]. It is often referred to by critics of Islam in stories about those ‘72 virgins‘: in the Mohammedan paradise the men are welcomed by houris.
It has been suggested that this involved grapes, rather than young women (with dark eyes)…
There is therefore something ironic when one reads about ‘clearly Arabic‘ in the quran itself.
But then it comes. In verses 196 and 197 of surah 26 [47 *)] it is indicated that the Quran text had actually already been passed on by Allah – read: in the holy books of the Jews and Christians – and that now Mohammed appears to do it in Arabic.
In fact, in verses 198 and 199 the question is literally raised as to what would have happened if Allah’s text had been presented to the Arabs by a non-Arab. And the answer is: ‘he would not have been believed‘, after which the surah continues about the final judgment and the misery that awaits unbelievers.
Misery about which Allah seems to rejoice.
For example, in Yusuf Ali’s translation of verse 204: “Do they then ask for Our Penalty to be hastened on? ”
One of the vaguest chapters from the Quran is the (Meccan) 41 [62].
The Arabic title is Fussilat.
There are several, not very different English translations of: Expounded, Explained In Detail, Clearly Spelled Out.
The two Dutch translations that I consulted differed more from each other. One translates it as ‘Clearly explained‘, the other -an old version of the Ahmediyya– not only left it untranslated, but even gave as title “???” !
One of the more comprehensible verses in that chapter is number 44.
Sher Ali’s translation here seems most consistent with verses on the subject in other surahs: “And if WE had made it a Qur’an in a foreign tongue, they, surely, would have said, ‘Why have not its verses been made clear? What! a foreign tongue and an Arab Prophet? ‘ “.
§22 Another people
The lately uttered Sura 13 [96] has two verses in the category discussed here: 11 and 37.
Verse 37 reports that the Quran is a text in “clear Arabic” and is therefore about language.
Verse 11 is about how Allah views nations, but the Arab nation or nations are not explicitly mentioned.
This verse resembles one of the most warlike passages in the entire Qur’an.
Verse 39 talks about holy war.
If the addressed Arabs do not join the fight, Allah will not only punish them, but also choose another nation for his plans.
We find something similar in verse 5:54 [112].
Shakir’s translation puts it as follows:
O you who believe! whoever from among you turns back from his religion, then Allah will bring a people, He shall love them and they shall love Him, lowly before the believers, mighty against the unbelievers, they shall strive hard in Allah’s way and shall not fear the censure of any censurer; this is Allah’s Face, He gives it to whom He pleases, and Allah is Ample-giving, Knowing..
As if the devil was playing with it, it was only while writing this chapter that I came across a somewhat newer English translation of the Quran (from 1980). Not from the Saudis, but from other Mohammedans, there seems to be quite a bit of praise for ‘The Message of the Qu’ran ‘ by the European convert Mohammed Asad **), who devoted 17 years of his life to it.
I have not delved into this translation and certainly have no intention of doing so.
The quote in the featured image comes from the introduction to Asad’s book.
It is an extremely strong indication to me that this is certainly not a critical voice to use an understatement.
The quote is therefore a nice conclusion to this chapter.
Let us zoom in a bit on the ‘featured image’:
The language of a people whose mental images flowing without effort from association to association succeed one another in rapid progression (…) this ellipticism (called ijaz by the Arab philologists) is an integral characteristic of the Arab idiom…
When we consult an etymological dictionary about that wonderful concept ‘ellipticism‘ we see what Asad brags about: omissions!
Things are left out ‘because every child knows what is meant’…
17 years of study…
Notes:
*) : The [number] between square brackets is the number of the sura if the Quran is ordered in the logical, chronological order and not in the common, intentionally confusing order.
**) : Older English translations are also by converts.