MESA Banner
Al-Rummānī’s Taṣrīf and its Implications for the Study of Iʽjāz al-Qur’ān
Abstract
During the 4th/10th century, the notion of iʽjāz al-Qur’ān (the inimitability of the Qur’ān), which had long circulated among the Muslim community, found clear articulation in a number of key works on the topic. While the treatise of Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā b. ʿAlī al-Rummānī (276-384/889-94), al-Nukat fī iʽjāz al-Qur’ān, which is among them, shares many elements with works by Abū Sulaymān al-Khaṭṭābī, Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī and, somewhat later, ʽAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjani, it stands out for its inclusion of topics not treated in these seminal works. One such topic is contained in al- Rummānī’s chapter on al-taṣrīf, in which this Muʽtazilite grammarian, rhetorician, and theologian borrows a term traditionally applied by grammarians to refer to the morphology and morphonology of individual words, to treat, if only briefly, whole sections of Qur’ānic discourse. This paper lays out al- Rummānī’s treatment of al-taṣrīf, and after discussing its origins in the field of grammar, examines how it relates to other sections of al-Nukat. Because of al-Rummānī’s emphasis on the interconnectedness of meanings, particular attention is paid to his treatment of repetition within the Qur’ān and to the implications of al-taṣrīf and related concepts for discussions of the stylistics of the text. The paper further questions how al-Rummānī’s perspective on al-taṣrīf meshes or contrasts with the concept of naẓm, which was more prevalent among scholars of iʽjāz al-Qur’ān, and postulates about its absence from the work of otherwise like-minded scholars in this field. The work of later thinkers in the field of iʽjāz al-Qur’ān and related Qur’anic sciences is surveyed to highlight echoes of al-Rummānī’s views, with and without attribution, and trace the influence of his emphasis on narrative construction and the interconnectedness of meanings within the Qur’an. Throughout this paper, the theological leanings of the various authors are analyzed as the main arbiter of whether and how issues of textual unity and narrative construction were discussed. Finally, we examine how al-Rummānī’s insights are suggestive of those of selected modern Arab and western analysts of Qur’ānic style.
Discipline
Religious Studies/Theology
Geographic Area
Islamic World
Sub Area
7th-13th Centuries