reynolds-the-quran-in-its-historical-context-2

268 Munther YounesThe wordgharq violates a basic morphological rule of the language.Ibn Mall?iir, who quotes al-Azhari, it is "a noun built in place of the truenoun." 12 The word does not seem to have an independent existence in theoutside of this verse. In addition, an examination of the meanings ofwords listed above shows that, as in the case of nazi 'at, a new and quitemeaning is assigned to gharq, which is not related to drowning, the basicof the root.Leaving aside the elaborations created by the interpreters ongrounds (the angels pulling out the souls from the chests of the unbelievers ,like the puller goes deep in [pulling] the bow), 13 we simply have a combinationtwo words, one meaning "those that pull" and the other "drowning". In termsits syntactic structure, the verse consists of an active participle and a verbalin the accusative case. The accusative case assignment does not followstandard rules of Arabic syntax: gharqa is not the object of a verb, the ,.,,.,,;J;,,,·t~of kana and its sisters, the subject of inna and its sisters, tamyfz (ac:cusativeS{Jecification), f:zal (circumstantial accusative), or maf'l7! mujlaq (accusativeabsolute). Rather, the case assignment is typically explained as the resultgharqa being a verbal noun (ma(fdar). ·In explaining the case assignment, Al-NaiJl.:tiis (d. 338/950) writes: "Theare pulled out, drowned, burned, and then thrown into the fire ... and theis the souls are drowned so they drown [a drowning]" (tunza 'nufiisuhwntughraq· thumma tubraq thumma yulqa biha fi al-nar ... wa-1-ma 'na tn_t1/(rh'""'al-nufiis fd-taghraq gharqa). 14 He cites Qur' iin 71:17 wa-al!ahu atzbatalatmal-an;l nabatan as a comparable case.Ibn al~AnbiirT (d. 577/1181) simply states thatgharqa is accusative by virtue .··being a verbal noun: man(fiib 'ala al-ma(fdarY Al-'UkbarT (d. 616/1219)more elaborate account, but with the same conclusion. He writes: gharqa: ·'ala al-ma 'na li-anna al-niizi' al-mughriq fi naz' al-sahm aw fi jadhbwa-huwa ma(fdar maf:zdhiif al-ziyada ay ighraqan (gharqa: a verbal noun onbasis of the meaning, because the puller is drowning [or going deep into]pulling of the arrow, or extracting the soul. It is a verbal noun, with thedeleted, i.e. gharqa instead ofighraqa). 16 In the last part of his statement,is making the claim thatgharq, a Form I verbal noun, is taking the place-""'-'·--=theverbal noun of Form IV.12 Al-gharq ism uqim maqam al-ma$dar al-/laqiqf min aghraqtu ighraqan. Ibn Manziir,a/- 'Arab, ed. 'Ab.d Allah ai-Kabir, Mul)ammad I:Iasaballah and Hashim al-Shiidhi!I, Cairo:ai-Ma'arif(not dated), 3245. ·13 Yal)ya b. Ziyad ai-Farra', Ma 'anr al-Qur 'an, 'Abd ai-Fattal) Shalabi (eel.), Cairo: Markazal-Turath, 2002, 3:230.14 "'::_bU Ja' far A(lmad b. Mu(lammad b. lsma 'II al-Nal)(las,I 'rab al-Qur 'an, ed. Zuhayr Ziihid,'Alam al-Kutub, 1985,5:139.15 'Abd a!-Ral)miin b. Mul)ammad Ibn al-An barr, Al-Bayanji gharfb i 'rab al-Qur 'an, eel. Tiihfi •al-l:lamid Tiiha and MU$\afa al-Saqqii, Cairo: Dar al-Katib a!-' Arabi, 1970, 2:492.16 Abi al-Baqa' 'Abd Allah b. al-l:lusayn ai-'Ukbarr, Al-Tibyan fi i'rab al-Qur'an, ed. 'Mul)ammad ai-Bajawi, Cairo: 'Isa ai-Babi al-l:lalabi, 1976, 2:1269.•.The opening verses of Qur 'an 79 269three grammarians attempt to explain the case assignment as an instanceabsolute accusative. There are at least two problems with this explanation.the absolute accusative requires a verb as the source of the verbal nounpresent in the sentence, as in the example given by al-NaiJl.:tiis: anbatalatmNo such verb exists in Qur'iin 79:1 or in any of the following verses.there is no basis for the claim that gharq can be a substitute for ighraq. Itbrought in because the context requires a verbal noun derived from thegh-r-q but with a transitive meaning: the angels have to be drowning annot themselves.root s-b-f:z occurs eighty-nine times in the Qur'iin in seven different forms. 17of these are the Form II verb (sabbal:z-yusabbi/:1), its verbal noun tasbf/:1, oractive participle musabbi/:1. The meaning of Form II and its derivatives generrevolvesaround glorifying God. The other four forms are the Form I verbaba·h-l''asi'Jah and three forms related to it: the two nouns sabf:za andsubf:zan, andactive participle sabi/:1. These derivatives have the following meanings: 18trail, pass along, trail in spacerange, scope; opportunity for action, toiling, work; the act ofswimming, floating, sailing, gliding, fast running, sweeping aheadswimmers, floaters, gliders, fast-running horsespraise and glory be to ...word sab/:za is found in the Qur'iin twice, in 73:7 and the one occurrence inverse. In 73:7, its meaning seems to have been unclear to the commentators.lists free time, sleep, and enjoyment. 19 He adds that Yal;!yii b. Ya'mar7) read it with a kha' in place of the /:1, with the same meaning. 20absence of clarity in the meaning of sabl:za is reflected in Ibn Mall?iir's{ex]plruJatiion of the word. Citing a number of authorities, all commenting on theof the wordsabba in Qur'iin 73:7 (al-Layth, Abil 'Ubayda, al-Mu'arrij, Abilal-Farrii', Abil Isl;!iiq and Ibn al- 'Arabi), Ibn Mall?iir lists the following,,1ll"'a.uu"5 ". free time to do things, free time to sleep, scope for action, free time,and going, free time at night, and the opportunity to do what needs to beduring the dayY Ibn Mall?iir adds that, according to Abil Isl;!iiq, for those whosabkha, the meaning is close to that of sab/:za; according to Ibn al-A' riibi, forwho read sabl:za the meaning is confitsion or life's activities, while for thoseread sabkha the meaning is rest and relief of the body (from toil).Badawi and Abdel-Haleem, Dictianary, 415-16.Ibid., 416.Tabati, Ta}Sfr, 12:285-86.Ibid., 286.lbnM~r, 1914.