A few examples showing the beauty of the Quran

A few beautiful examples of certain specific grammar used in the Quran are shown below.

These examples highlight the following key themes:

1. The importance of Tawheed (singling out Allah for worship / directing all acts of worship only to Allah) , not only as a core theme throughout the Quran, but rather it is embedded in the very framework of these verses.
2. The importance of understanding the Arabic language in order to gain a deeper understanding, and not having to rely on (sometimes faulty) translations.

In the below two ayahs of Surah Fatiha, you can see the mafool مفعول به has been bought forward (i.e. the object to which an action is done to, or to simply put it, the object of the verb فعل), that being إِيَّاكَ

Whereas in normal sentence structures, the (object) مفعول به comes after the (verb) فعل

For example كتب الطالب “The student wrote..” has the (object) الطالب coming after the (verb) كتب. Similarly you can have ذهب الولد “The boy went..” which also follows the same construct.

So if the Surah Fatiha, Ayah 5 had the verb first, it would be have been written as: نعبدك literally meaning, “we worship you”, however this form is unrestricted, hence one could proceed with other deities, e.g. “we worship you, and x and y”. We know that the Quraish worshiped Allah, but they also worshiped their idols (e.g. Lat, Uzzah, Manat) [1]

However due to the perfection of the Arabic used in Allah’s speech. The object is “Allah” so the object is bought forward to give إِيَّاكَ , not only for importance and focus, however also to restrict the action described by the verb to the object alone. To give the meaning; You (Allah) alone we worship and You (Allah) alone do we ask for help. [3]

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

You (Alone) we worship, and you (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything).

Al-Fatihah, Ayah 5

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

You (Alone) we worship, and you (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything).

Al-Fatihah, Ayah 5

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ فَاغْسِلُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوا بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ ۚ

O you who believe! When you intend to offer As-Salat (the prayer), wash your faces and your hands (forearms) up to the elbows, rub (by passing wet hands over) your heads, and (wash) your feet up to ankles.

Al-Ma’idah, Ayah 6

Similarly if we look at the above Ayah, which is the Ayah relating to Wudu. Hence we see here that here the عَطْف (conjunction) is being used and this means that a noun must follow the same vowel endings as a previous noun and take on its verb. Hence in this case the verb أرجلَكم written with fatha vowel requires it to follow the previous verb فَاغْسِلُوا hence it takes the command of washing the feet similar to washing the face and hands. if it was written with a kasra vowel أرجلِكم then it would follow the preposition بِ and hence the command to wipe امْسَحُوا . Hence without the proper understanding of the grammar, someone may only rub (by passing wet hands over) their feet, as instructed to do so in the same Ayah with regards to the head, which would be an incorrect method of Wudu [2].

It must be noted however, that the Arabic grammar is not the sole the criterion to be relied upon to understand the Quran, rather the Quran is firstly understood or explained by way of the Quran itself, the sunnah (i.e. the narrations of the Prophet ﷺ), the Companions رضي الله عنهم , the Successors of the Companions and then finally the Arabic language. Verily this sequencing is the correct method adapted by the mainstream classical and contemporary works of tafsir (exegesis).

Footnotes

[1]

أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللَّاتَ وَالْعُزَّىٰ

Have you then considered Al-Lat, and Al-‘Uzza (two idols of the pagan Arabs).

An-Najm, Ayah 19

وَمَنَاةَ الثَّالِثَةَ الْأُخْرَىٰ

And Manat (another idol of the pagan Arabs), the other third?

An-Najm, Ayah 20

أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الْأُنْثَىٰ

Is it for you the males and for Him the females?

An-Najm, Ayah 21

تِلْكَ إِذًا قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَىٰ

That indeed is a division most unfair!

An-Najm, Ayah 22

إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا أَسْمَاءٌ سَمَّيْتُمُوهَا أَنْتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُمْ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ بِهَا مِنْ سُلْطَانٍ ۚ إِنْ يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَمَا تَهْوَى الْأَنْفُسُ ۖ وَلَقَدْ جَاءَهُمْ مِنْ رَبِّهِمُ الْهُدَىٰ

They are but names which you have named, you and your fathers, for which Allah has sent down no authority. They follow but a guess and that which they themselves desire, whereas there has surely come to them the Guidance from their Lord!

An-Najm, Ayah 23

[2]

حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْعَزِيزِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الأُوَيْسِيُّ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي إِبْرَاهِيمُ بْنُ سَعْدٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، أَنَّ عَطَاءَ بْنَ يَزِيدَ، أَخْبَرَهُ أَنَّ حُمْرَانَ مَوْلَى عُثْمَانَ أَخْبَرَهُ أَنَّهُ، رَأَى عُثْمَانَ بْنَ عَفَّانَ دَعَا بِإِنَاءٍ، فَأَفْرَغَ عَلَى كَفَّيْهِ ثَلاَثَ مِرَارٍ فَغَسَلَهُمَا، ثُمَّ أَدْخَلَ يَمِينَهُ فِي الإِنَاءِ فَمَضْمَضَ، وَاسْتَنْشَقَ، ثُمَّ غَسَلَ وَجْهَهُ ثَلاَثًا، وَيَدَيْهِ إِلَى الْمِرْفَقَيْنِ ثَلاَثَ مِرَارٍ، ثُمَّ مَسَحَ بِرَأْسِهِ، ثُمَّ غَسَلَ رِجْلَيْهِ ثَلاَثَ مِرَارٍ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ، ثُمَّ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏
‏ مَنْ تَوَضَّأَ نَحْوَ وُضُوئِي هَذَا، ثُمَّ صَلَّى رَكْعَتَيْنِ، لاَ يُحَدِّثُ فِيهِمَا نَفْسَهُ، غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهِ ‏‏.