The following is a list of the rhythmical patterns, which all of Arabic poetry adhere too or are loosely based upon:-
1. at-Tawîl
2. al-Bassit
3. al-Wafir
4. al-Kamil
5. ar-Rajs
6. al-Khafif
7. al-Hazaj
8. al-Muttakarib
9. al-Munsarih
10. al-Muktatab
11. al-Muktadarak
12. al-Madid
13. al-Mujtath
14. al-Ramel
15. al-Khabab
16. as-Saria’
Each one of the al-Bihar have a unique rhythmical pattern.(20) The al-Biharwere first codified in the 8th century by al-Khalil bin Ahmad and have changed little since. The al-Bihar are based on the length of syllables. A short syllable is a consonant followed by a short vowel. A long syllable is a vowelled letter followed by either an unvowelled consonant or a long vowel. A nunation sign at the end of a word also makes the final syllable long. In Arabic poetry each line is divided into two halves.
Below are basic scansions of the rhythmical patterns commonly found in Arabic poetry, showing long (—) and short (^) syllables. They represent pairs of half-lines and should be read from left to right. The patterns are not rigidly followed; two short syllables may be substituted for a long one.
Tawil
^ — — ^ — — ^ — — ^ ——
^ — — ^ — — ^ — — ^ ——
Kamil
^ ^ — ^ — ^ ^ — ^ — ^ ^ — ^ —
^ ^ — ^ — ^ ^ — ^ — ^ ^ — ^ —
Wafir
^ — ^ ^ — ^ — ^ ^ — ^ ——
^ — ^ ^ — ^ — ^ ^ — ^ ——
Rajs
— — ^ —— — ^ ——— ^ —
— — ^ —— — ^ ——— ^ —
Hazaj
^ —— — ^ —— —
^ —— — ^ —— —
Basit
— — ^ — — ^ ——— ^ — — ^ —
— — ^ — — ^ ——— ^ — — ^ —
Khafif
— ^ ——— — ^ — — ^ ——
— ^ ——— — ^ — — ^ ——
Saria’
— — ^—— — ^ — — ^ —
— — ^ —— — ^ — — ^ —
These are the sixteen al-Bihar (literally "The Seas", so called because of the way the poem moves, according to its rhythmic patterns): at-Tawil, al-Bassit, al-Wafir, al-Kamil, ar-Rajs, al-Khafif, al-Hazaj, al-Muttakarib, al-Munsarih, al-Muktatab, al-Muktadarak, al-Madid, al-Mujtath, al-Ramel, al-Khabab and as-Saria'. So the challenge is to produce in Arabic, three lines, that do not fall into one of these sixteen Bihar, that is not rhyming prose, nor like the speech of soothsayers, and not normal speech, that it should contain at least a comprehensible meaning and rhetoric
The Challenge
• The Qur’an challenges mankind
• “...and bring a single chapter like it...”
• According Qur’anic Exegetes (mufasiroon) these
verses issue a challenge to produce a chapter
(surah) that imitates the Qur’an’s style, structure,
nature and linguistic features.
• Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qurtubi, Tafsir al-
Jalalayn and Ma’riful Qur’an.
The Qur’an is not prose and that it is not verse either. It is rather Qur’an, and it cannot be called by any other name but this. It is not verse, and that is clear; for it does not bind itself to the bonds of verse. And it is not prose, for it is bound by bonds peculiar to itself, not found elsewhere; some of the binds are related to the endings of its verses and some to that musical sound which is all its own. It is therefore neither verse nor prose, but it is “a Book whose verses have been perfected the expounded,
from One Who is Wise, All-Aware.” We cannot therefore say its prose, and its text itself is not verse. It has been one of a kind, and nothing like it has ever preceded or followed it.
The Arabic Literary Forms
• Every expression of the Arabic language falls
into the literary forms of Prose and Poetry.
• There are other ‘sub’ forms that fall into the
above categories such as Kahin; a sub-form of
rhymed prose.
• However all literary forms can be categorised
as prose or poetry.
What is Arabic Poetry?
• The definition of Arabic poetry is that it has a:
a. End Rhyme (qafiyah)
b. Syllabic Rhythmical Pattern (al-Bihar)
• It is a metrical form of speech
Arabic Prose can be described as non-metrical
speech, meaning it does not have a consistent
rhythmical pattern like poetry mentioned
above.
• Arabic prose can be further divided into two
categories:
– Saj which is rhymed prose
– Mursal which is straight prose or what some may
call ‘normal speech’.
Saj (Rhymed Prose)
• The definition of saj is that it has a:
a. Accentual rhythmical pattern
b. End rhyme
c. Concentrated use of rhetorical features
• It is non-metrical speech
English example
Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full;
One for the mas-ter,
And one for the dame,
And one for the lit-tle boy
Who lives down the lane
Concentrated Use of Rhetoric
• Additionally saj is distinct from poetry and other
forms of Arabic speech due to its concentrated
use of rhetorical features.
• Rhetorical features are literary and linguistic
devices intended to please or persuade, that
differ from normal speech.
• Devin J. Stewart in the Encyclopaedia of the
Qur’an highlights this feature of saj, “In addition,
saj regularly involves the concentrated use of
syntactic and semantic parallelism, alliteration,
paronomasia and other rhetorical figures.”
Mursal (Normal Speech)
• The definition of Mursal is that it has,
a. No rhythmical pattern
b. No rhyme
c. A resemblance to straight forward speech
What Form is the Qur’an?
• It is not poetry
• Its is not prose
• It is Qur’an
The Qur’an is not Poetry
• The Qur’an is not poetry because the totality of each
surah does not conform to any of the al-Bihar and in
many places exhibits inexact and irregular rhyme.
i. Inna aAtayna kal kawthar
ii. Fasalli li rabbika wanhar
iii. Inna shani-aka huwal abtar
• Mohammad Khalifa in his article The Authorship of the
Qur’an correctly concludes, “Readers familiar with
Arabic Poetry realize that it has long been distinguished
by its wazn, bahr, ‘arud and qafiya – exact measures of
syllabic sounds and rhymes…all this is categorically
different from Qur’anic literary style.”
The Qur’an is not Mursal
• A superficial analysis on surah al-Kawthar will
conclude that it can not be described as normal
speech.
i. Inna aAtayna kal kawthar
ii. Fasalli li rabbika wanhar
iii. Inna shani-aka huwal abtar
• This chapter employs an end rhyme as can be
seen by the end letters in red and the repetition
of the ‘ka’ (in blue) is responsible for the chapters
rhythm; which differs from any of the al-Bihar.
The Qur’an is not Saj
• There are three main reasons
– Unique fusion of metrical and non-metrical
speech
– Qur’anic saj
– Stylistic variations
Unique Fusion
• The Qur’an achieves this unique literary form by fusing
metrical and non-Metrical speech.
• Shaykh Mitwalli al-Sharawi states, “It is almost
impossible for the listener to detect the shift from one
form to the other, nor does this exquisite mingling
impinge on the fluidity of expression or impair its
meaning.”
• This view is also supported by the famous Arabic
Literary scholar Arthur J. Arberry, “For the Koran is
neither prose nor poetry, but a unique fusion of both”
Qur’anic Saj
• Devin J. Stewart who is one of the only western
scholars to discuss the literary form of the Qur’an
and highlight the formal differences between saj
and, what he calls, Qur’anic saj concludes, “The
analysis undertaken in this study makes possible
some preliminary observations on the formal
differences between Qur’anic saj…”
a. Greater tendency to mono-rhyme
b. Inexact rhyme
c. Greater range of saj phrases
d. Higher frequency of rhetorical features.
Stylistic Variations
• Stylistics is a branch of linguistics which
studies the features of the varieties of
language within a given situation, context and
meaning. Stylistics also tries to develop
principles to explain the particular choices
made by the author.
• Stylistic variation is the use of different
features of language in a myriad of ways.
Qur’an Bound Stylistics
• Theologians and Arab Linguists such as al-Ash’ari, al-
Rummani and al-Baqillani held that the Qur’an does not
contain saj and is unique to all types of saj. Their reasoning
is that in the Qur’an, the use of language is semantically
orientated and its literary structure is distinct, whereas in
saj, conformity to style is a primary objective.
• Stylistic variation or stylistic differences, includes, but is not
limited to:
a. Semantically driven assonance and rhyme
b. Grammatical shifts (iltifaat, in Arabic)
c. Interrelation between sound, structure and meaning
d. Choice of Words
e. Unique linguistic genre
f. Word order
A thinking process where you draw conclusions from a
universally accepted statement:
“The Arabs at the time of revelation failed to
challenge the Qur’an”
Possible sources:
– Arab
– Non-Arab
– Muhammad (pbuh)
– God
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