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

272 Mzmther Youneslater came to be distinguished by dots, were written identically. It is possiblesome of the words in Qur'iin 79:1-5, including those in the first verse,misunderstood and misinterpreted because they were assigned the wrongwhen dots were introduced (or reintroduced). 28There is also evidence which demonstrates that the earlywere dealing with a written text and that errors were made in its reading. 29accept that .Qur'iin 79:1 was misread, then a number of possibilitiesthemselves. For nazi 'at, possibilities include bari 'at, biizighat, tari 'at,and yari 'at; and for gharqa, possibilities include 'arqa, 'azfo, 'urfo, 'azqagharfo, among others. However, there is evidence for selecting one reading ·each case.naza ' and the starsThree of the earliest commentators, namely Mujiihid (d. 104/720), 30 AbU(d. 210/824? 1 and 'Abd al-Razziiq (d. 2111827/), explain the reference of nazi ..as the stars. 32 It is difficult to imagine any of the meanings associated withForm I verb naza ', cited above, being associated with stars. What could thebe pulling out or taking out? In addition, how would gharqa ("drowning") fitnazi 'at? The verb naza' simply does not work in this context no matter howone tries to stretch the meanings of naza' and gharq. Changing the uv•·•LUJ>;·UVlllt.Y to tY. results in the verb bazagh ("to break through, rise, shine"). Thisperfectly with the word "stars."One piece of evidence provided by Abi1 'Ubayda supports this conclusion.writes: "The stars 'pull,' that is, rise then set in it (al-nujiim tanza' tatfa 'tagh'ib fih ). " 33 Abi1 'Ubayda is interpreting tanza' as tat! a' ("to rise").not tanza '-clearly fits better with this interpretation.The root b-z-gh occurs twice in the Qur'iin (6:77-78; 14:64), with theof the sun and the moon rising. Elaborating on the meaning of the verbIbn Manziir states: bazaghat at-shams ... bada 'a minha tulii 'u aw tala 'aisharaqat ... ka 'annanha tushaqqu bi-niirihi al-dhulmatu shaqqan ("The28 Al-Munajjid claims that the first copies of the Qur'an had dots which were removed byProphet's companions after his death, and then reintroduced towards the end of the firstAH. Salal} al-DTn al-Munajjid, Dirasat ji tarikh al-kha! al- 'Arabi mundhu bidiiyatih itaat- 'a:jr at- 'umawi, Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-Jadid, 1972, 127.)29 M. Younes, "Ungrateful or honorable: A re-examination of the word kaniid in Qur'iin(al- 'adiyat)," Arabica 56, 2009, 274-85.30 Abii 1-l:lajjaj Mujahid b. Jabr al-QurashT al-MakhziimT, Tafsir Mujahid, ed. Abii MulJan:unadal-Asyii\T, Beirut: Dar al-Kutub a!- 'llmiyya, 2005, 320. ·31 Ma'mar b. ai-Muthannii a!-TaymT Abii 'Ubaydah, Majaz al-Qur'an, ed. Mul}ammadSazgin, Beirut: Mu'assasat ai-Risala, 1981,2:284.32 ·' Abd al-Razziiq b. Hammiim al-I;Iimyan al-San'anT, Tafsir 'A.bd al-Razzaq,Mul}ammad 'Abduh, Beirut: Dar al-Kutub a!- 'llmiyya, 1999, 3:387.33 Abii 'Ubaydah, Majaz al-Qur 'an, 2:284.The opening verses of Qur 'an 79 273it started to rise or it rose and shone ... derived from al-bazgh ... as ifwas broken by its light"). 34word that fits well semantically and syntactically with biizighat, and whichthe same consonantal skeleton and syllable structure as gharqii is 'urfo. It is. in the Qur' iin twice/ 5 in one instance in the opening verse of Qur' iin 77,is structurally similar to wa-l-niizi 'ati gharqa. Regarding the meaning ofIbn Manziir writes: it is the opposite of evil (nukr), 'urf and rna 'ntj mean(jfid). 36 Hence wa-al-bazighati 'urfo would mean, "Those (f.) who riseshine] through generosity and good works."key to a clear and consistent account of sabl;a and to understanding itsin both Qur'iin 79:3 and 73:7 may lie in a quotation by Ibn Mil~to Tha' lab, who states that subban is not the rna$ dar of the Form IT verbbut of the Form I verb saba/:1. 31 The verbal noun of the verb saba/:1 ("tois typically siba/:la. According to the traditional interpretation, sab/:la, insense of"swimming," is found only in 79:3. It is quite possible, that, as in the ·of gharqa above, this meaning was introduced by the commentators on theof the context and a shared root, while the original meaning may have beenon the verb saba/:la "to glorify".difficulty of reconciling the different meanings of sab/:lii in Qur'iin 79:3 andas well as the contradiction involved in the different meanings assigned toby different commentators in the latter verse, is eliminated if the word isto mean "glorifying." So 79:3 would mean "those [women] glorifying"as "there are many opportunities for you to glorify (Allah) during the day." 38· highly unlikely that the exclusive occurrence of the Form n verb dabbarits derivatives with the word amr, and of the Form V verb tadabbar with· . Ibn Mar¢ir, Lisan, 275.and Abdel-Haleem, Dictionary, 613.Man+fir, Lisan, 289.'indi anna sub/;an laysa bi-ma~dar sabbal;a innama huwa ma!fdar sabal;a.lbid., 1914-15.A different dotting scheme would produce wa-1-siiyi/;ati sayl;a. The root s-y-1; is found three times. in the Qur'iin in the words fa-sil;zi, sa'il;iin, and sa'il;at, all of which share the meaning of'.'traveling freely from one place to another, devoting oneself to the worship of God, particularlyfasting" (BadawT and Abdel-Haleem, Dictionary, 470). This is also a possibility thatbe considered in proposing an alternative interpretation ofQur'an 79:1-5:And those (f.) who glorify AllahAnd those (f.) who wander the earth devoting themselves to the worship of God