and musical patterns of poetry. He adds: ‘This quality is clear in Arabic sounds, on their own, and how they are articulated; in Arabic words, on their own; and in its rules and phraseology; as also in its metres of poetry... The human system of articulation is a complete musical instrument. No community, past or present, has used it to its full potential as the Arab nation has done, making use of all its places of articulation to distribute its sounds.’2
Al-Aqqad further explains that the Arabic alphabet does not include more sounds than these languages: ‘Arabic on the other hand has more sounds that are not repeated with additional features. No place of articulation in the vocal tract is missing in Arabic. Indeed, Arabic relies on distributing its sounds along the right places in the vocal tract, without the need to add or omit features of articulation.’3
In his discussion of the poetic aspect of Arabic, from the point of view of its sounds, al- ‘Aqqād describes Arabic as ‘an articulate human language’ because of its full usage of the system of speech. Arabic, in his view, does not omit any tool of sound.
The best known sound that, according to al-‘Aqqād, exists only in Arabic is the ḍād, given the symbol, ḍ. Indeed, Arabic is often referred to as the language of the ‘ḍād’, making it the one sound that distinguishes it from all other languages. Perhaps this is due to the fact that this sound alone represents the vocal system in Arabic, since some of the other five sounds that exist in Arabic only may also exist in other languages with some variation of articulation. This sound is the only one given in Arabic that features istiṭālah, which scholars of Qur’anic recitation define as ‘the spread of the sound along the length of the tongue’. As such, it represents the vocal system and has no parallel in other languages.4
Al-‘Aqqād’s remark that Arabic is an articulate language may refer to the fact that in addition to its having these special sounds, Arabic incorporates all that is given to other languages of these sounds.
We cannot include here even a summary of all that al-‘Aqqād says about what may be termed the excellence of the Arabic tongue, or how Arabic sounds give the language its poetic character. Nor can we give a full account of his discussion of individual terms, case markings, poetic metres, allegory, as well as what he terms scientific eloquence. Indeed, we will only make a few short quotations. On words, he says that poetic talent is equally or even more apparent in sounds ‘because words add the musical quality of rules and meanings to the clearly noticeable music of pronunciation, even without any particular meaning speakers express.’5
In the composition of words from letters and sounds, it is sufficient to note that the wazn, i.e. phonic pattern, is what distinguishes the parts of speech in Arabic. Other derivative languages of the Semitic group have not attained the same high standards of derivation control according to the phonic pattern. In Arabic, phonic patterns apply to all parts of speech and match, as perfectly as possible, the structure of a word to its meaning. Yanẓur, nāẓir, manẓūr, naẓīr, naẓā’ir, naẓẓārah, munāẓarah, minẓār, manẓar, muntaẓar, are a few of the derivations from the root naẓara. The differences between them are those of nouns, verbs, adjectives, singular and plural. Yet all these differences are based on the phonic patterns, or rather the different musical notes in pronouncing them.6
Phonic patterns of individual words in other languages do not follow the same system. Words may have the same phonic pattern but without any reference to similarity of meaning, or coining nouns, verbs or prepositions. They may have phonic similarities, but it is only accidental. Without it, such languages would have had as many phonic patterns as their vocabulary.7
These quotations give us enough to understand why the Arabic tongue is described in the Qur’an as ‘making things clear’, and why it is contrasted with other languages.8 God says in the Qur’an: ‘We know fully well that they say: “It is but a man that teaches him [all] this.” But the man to whom they so maliciously allude speaks a foreign tongue, while this is Arabic speech, pure and clear’ (16: 103). ‘Most certainly, this [Qur’an] has been bestowed from on high by the Lord of all the worlds. The trustworthy Spirit has brought it down into your heart – so that you may give warning, in the clear Arabic tongue’ (26: 192–195). We now realise why the Qur’an was revealed in the Arabic language. Many Muslim authors have expressed the view that as a clear and lucid tongue, Arabic is the most suited language God has given to communities and nations to carry God’s Book which is inimitable in both word and meaning. God says: ‘Yet before this the book of Moses was revealed as a guide and a (sign of God’s) grace. This Book confirms it in the Arabic tongue, to warn the wrongdoers and to give good news to those who do good’ (46: 12).
The language that is poetic in its sounds, vocabulary and inflection is the one most suited to express the Qur’an, God’s eternal word. God wanted His Book to be superior to poetry in its precision and effect, as well as in its rhythm and music.9 It is well known that, unlike Arabic poetry, the Qur’an does not maintain rhymes or metres. Yet the Qur’an renders itself to reading and recitation in a way that accommodates musical tunes. As such, it is superior to poetry, but it is unique prose. Hence, people memorise it in full in a few months, and some people achieve this even in a few weeks. None of the superb speeches of the Arabs of old, or the texts of the finest writers of Arabic literature, of olden and recent times, comes close to this.
May we say that the revelation of the Qur’an in ‘poetic language’ meant that it did not need to be in poetry so as to be recited and memorised. This is particularly so because it attained with this language a standard of superior excellence that is impossible to imitate. Moreover, the poetry of this language needs metres that bear special significance once added to the phonic patterns of words and structures. Hence, what may be called poetry in other languages does not necessarily apply to Arabic. Hence, we find it very strange when writers speak of their ‘prose poems’.
Moreover, in its sentences, verses and surahs, the Qur’anic text flows in a unique way, one that we may describe as the Qur’anic spirit or the essence of its construction. Hence, it is perhaps right to say that whoever achieves a good standard of reading or reciting this inimitable book can read and recite well any text of Arabic literature across the language’s history from pre-Islamic days to the present. The reverse does not apply. To prove this we may need broad theoretical and applied studies. What we may say for the present is that the literary or poetic nature of Arabic, which is reflected in its sounds, vocabulary, rules and constructions, attains in this immortal book a summit that cannot be scaled by anyone. Reading the Qur’an and reciting it according to the considered rules of recitation, i.e. tajwīd, gives a person a good command of literary language and enhances his phonetic skills. Furthermore, it gives him a wealth of expressions and fine meanings that is not confined to scholars or adults. The Qur’an is a book that is rich in the best linguistic constructions and the finest literary expressions, all of which are easily memorised. When children start, at five years of age, to memorise parts of the Qur’an, they are able to achieve a good command of Arabic and gain a keen sense of faith and solid moral values that stay with them for life.
2. The Arabs and the Qur’an
The Qur’an was revealed to the Arabs in their own language. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was an Arab from the Quraysh, and he was given his message among them. Then, the Arabs carried this noble book, the Qur’an, to the world as a message for mankind embodying God’s grace to the world. The role of the Arabs with regards to the Qur’an is to deliver or present it to people, showing them the guidance it provides and to strive to make it known. In this way, they take mankind from darkness into light. Their role is by no means one of stressing their own supremacy or fanatic preaching. It is the role of one assigned a hard task for which he has to strive with great effort. Human privileges are associated with tasks to be fulfilled and burdens to be carried, not with pleasure and enjoyment. God says to His Messenger in the Qur’an: ‘Hold fast to what has been revealed to you: you certainly are on a straight path; and
