Exegesis of surat 98 (al-byn@) of the Qur'an
klei...@astound.net
(Madinan - proved by the vocabulary) surat that is so short it got
caught up with the small Makkan surats. Even a cursory glance shows
that verses 2 and 3 (in the current standard Qur'an) should not have
been divided (and they were not divided in the manuscript Fluegel
used). Exegesis makes me extremely sympathetic to Richard Bell, even if
I cannot accept his scraps of paper theory.
Here is the (unvocalized) text of the surat. The techniques I am using
are explained elsewhere:
SWR@ [98] AL BYN@
BSM ALLE ALRHMN ALRHYM
1
LM Y.KN --- LM 3.be
AL Dh.YN KFR.WA MN AEL AL KTAB W AL MShRK.YN --- @ [Dh.$ disbelieve.3$
MN people^@ book] W @ associator.$
MNFK.YN --- = freed-one.$
HTY T.ATY.EM AL BYN@ --- HTY 3f.came.3$ @ clarity
2-3
RSWL MN ALLE Y.TLW CHFA MXER@ --- = messenger MN Allah [3.recite pages
pure
FY.EA KTB QYM@ --- FY.3f books correct]
4
W MA T.FRQ AL Dh.YN AWT.WA AL KTAB --- W MA 2.divide @ Dh.$ [~give.$ @
book]
ALA MN BOD MA GAT.EM AL BYN@ --- ALA = MN after MA [~came.3$ @
clarity]
5
W MA AMR.WA -- W MA ~command.$
ALA L Y.OBD.WA ALLE --- ALA L 3.serve.$ Allah
MKhLC.YN L.E AL DYN HNF.A --- ? sincere.$ L.3 @ religion hanif.A
W Y.QYM.WA AL CLA@ --- W 3.continue.$ @ prayer
W.Y.T.WA AL ZKA@ --- W 3.pay.$ @ poor-tax
W DhLK DYN AL QYM@ --- W that = religion^@ proper
6
AN AL Dh.YN KFR.WA MN AEL AL KTAB W AL MShRK.YN --- AN @ Dh.$
[~disbelieve.$ MN people^@ book] W @ associator.$
FY NAR GENM --- = FY fire^Hell
KhALD.YN FY.EA --- = abider.$ FY.3f
AWLK EM ShR AL BRY@ --- these 3$ = worst^@ creatures
7
AN AL Dh.YN AMN.WA W OML.WA AL CALHAT --- AN @ Dh.$ [~believe.$ W ~do.$
@ good]
AWLK EM KhYR AL BRY@ --- these 3$ = best^@ creatures
8
GZA.EM OND RB.EM --- reward.3$ = OND lord.3$
GNAT ODN --- = garden^eternal
TGRY MN THT.EA AL ANEAR --- ~flows MN below.3$ @ rivers
KhALD.YN FY.EA ABD.A --- = abider.$ FY.3$ forever.A
RChY ALLE ON.EM --- ~is-pleased Allah ON.3$
W RCh.WA ON.E --- W ~is-pleased.3$ ON.3
DhLK L MN KhShY RB.E --- that = L MN ~fear lord.3
===========================================================================================
There are two parts building on the same firstline - 1B and 6A.
The rhyme, such as it is, is @. The rhyme words are BYN@ QYM@ BYN@ QYM@
in the first half and BRY@ BRY@ RB.E in the second half. This would
seem to "prove" that @ was pronounced, as it was written, E. It appears
that both halves are also composites.
Because of the parallel in 7A I believe that W AL MShRK.YN is
intrusive. In general it seems that, at a very late date, somebody went
through the Qur'an and mechincally added W AL MShRK.YN to references to
the AEL AL KTAB. I believe that AL MShRK.YN refers, not to the
hypothical polytheists of Muslim tradition, but rather to Christians.
The polemic in this surat was initally aimed at the Jews. Later
Christians became the target of the polemic and the Qur'an was updated
to denounce them as well. Then even later, after the Qur'an was
canonized, the Christians became less interesting (I do not know why)
and the legend of the polytheists was created to explain the references
to AL MShRK.YN.
The first quarter begins
LM Y.KN --- LM 3.be
AL Dh.YN KFR.WA MN AEL AL KTAB W AL MShRK.YN --- @ [Dh.$ disbelieve.3$
MN people^@ book]
MNFK.YN --- = free-one.$
HTY T.ATY.EM AL BYN@ --- HTY 3f.came.3$ @ clarity
and the second quarter begins
W MA T.FRQ AL Dh.YN AWT.WA AL KTAB -- W MA 2.divide @ Dh.$ [~give.$ @
book]
ALA MN BOD MA GAT.EM AL BYN@ --- ALA = MN after MA [~came.3$ @
clarity]
It would appear that the reference to KFR is intrusive, so the first
quarter was originally
LM Y.KN AEL AL KTAB MNFK.YN --- LM 3.be people^@ book] = freed-one.$
HTY T.ATY.EM AL BYN@ --- HTY 3f.came.3$ @ clarity
So I have here two different versions of the same thought juxtaposed.
The second part of the first quarter is
RSWL MN ALLE Y.TLW CHFA MXER@ FY.EA KTB QYM@ --- = messenger MN Allah
[3.recite pages pure FY.3f books correct]
and the second part of second quarter is
W MA AMR.WA --- W MA ~command.$
ALA L Y.OBD.WA ALLE --- ALA L 3.serve.$ Allah
MKhLC.YN L.E AL DYN HNFA --- ? sincere.$ L.3 @ religion hanifs
W Y.QYM.WA AL CLA@ --- W 3.continue.$ @ prayer
W.Y.T.WA AL ZKA@ --- W 3.pay.$ @ poor-tax
W DhLK DYN AL QYM@ --- W that = religion^@ proper
which seems like quite different expansions. W Y.QYM.WA AL CLA@ W
Y.T.WA AL ZKA@ is the routine description of good behavior and is
doubtless intrusive here. The meaning of KhLC is somewhat obscure.
Compare 39.2 ... FA OBD ALLE MKhLC.A LE ALDYN which is translated "so
serve Allah being sincere to him in obedience" which contains all the
same roots as the second and third lines except HNFA. Nadwi gives HNF
as nominal "upright man" with HNFA as its plural. The only other
occurance of HNFA is 22.31 which begins HNFA ALLE GhYR MShRKYN BE W MN
YShRK BALLE ... where the text is broken and only a sentence fragment
occurs. The end of 22.30 is a second person ordiance about food. I
cannot see any reason why HNFA should not be the plural of HNF - but it
is odd that it only occurs in broken text. The originalmight have been
W MA AMR.WA ALA HNFA W DhLK DYN AL QYM@ = W MA ~command.$ --- ALA =
hanifs W that = religion^@ proper
which has about the same weight as
RSWL MN ALLE Y.TLW CHFA MXER@ FY.EA KTB QYM@ --- = messenger MN Allah
[3.recite pages pure FY.3f books correct]
so that the first quarter began as
LM Y.KN AEL AL KTAB MNFK.YN --- LM 3.be people^@ book] = free-one.$
HTY T.ATY.EM AL BYN@ --- HTY 3f.came.3$ @ clarity
RSWL MN ALLE Y.TLW CHFA MXER@ FY.EA KTB QYM@ --- = messenger MN Allah
[3.recite pages pure FY.3f books correct]
and the second as
W MA T.FRQ AL Dh.YN AWT.WA AL KTAB --- W MA 2.divide @ Dh.$ [~give.$ @
book]
ALA MN BOD MA GAT.EM AL BYN@ --- ALA = MN after MA [~came.3$ @
clarity]
W MA AMR.WA ALA HNFA W DhLK DYN AL QYM@ --- W MA ~command.$ ALA =
hanifs W that = religion^@ proper
It seems possible that 6-7 began as
AN AL Dh.YN KFR.WA --- AN @ Dh.$ [~disbelieve.$]
AWLK EM ShR AL BRY@ --- these 3$ = worst^@ creatures
AN AL Dh.YN AMN.WA --- AN @ Dh.$ [~believe.$]
AWLK EM KhYR AL BRY@ --- these 3$ = best^@ creatures
early additions would include
NAR GENM --- = fire^Hell
KhALD.YN FY.EA --- = abider.$ FY.3f
GNAT ODN --- = garden^eternal
KhALD.YN FY.EA --- = abider.$ FY.3$ forever.A
where the FY is a late contamination and ABD.A a late improvement.
TGRY MN THT.EA AL ANEAR --- ~flows MN below.3$ @ rivers
was, at some late point, added mechanically (I do not know why) to all
the mentions of the garden in the Qur'an.
I assume the rest of 8 is an independent fragment
GZA.EM OND RB.EM --- reward.3$ = OND lord.3$
RChY ALLE ON.EM --- ~is-pleased Allah ON.3$
W RCh.WA ON.E --- W ~is-pleased.3$ ON.3
DhLK (L) MN KhShY RB.E --- that = L MN ~fear lord.3
This is a fairly clear demonstration how the surats were put together
from small pieces (presumably before they were collected into a single
Qur'an).
I assume the driving force behind the expansion and combination of
these samll pieces was liturgical. It is hard to see how the relatively
elaborate ritual of Muslim prayer could be sustained by fragments as
small as those identified here. So to meet the need for larger surats
the smaller ones were combined in various ways in various places. To
judge by the difference between the first two quarters, which I judge
to be alternative versions of the same thought, a long time elapsed
between the creation of the fragments and the compilation of the
surats. The thought expressed in these quarters could have been very
early (when the original alliance between Jews and Muslims was first
falling apart) so this is quite possible.
The last two quarters come close to being platitudes. I think they
might well be described as slogans. This is especially apt for the
third quarter:
AN AL Dh.YN KFR.WA AWLK EM ShR AL BRY@
AN AL Dh.YN AMN.WA AWLK EM KhYR AL BRY@
is an excellent slogan - a bit too verbose for a war cry, but useful
almost anywhere else. The expanded version is almost as good:
AN AL Dh.YN KFR.WA AWLK EM ShR AL BRY@ NAR GENM KhALD.YN FY.EA
AN AL Dh.YN AMN.WA AWLK EM KhYR AL BRY@ GNAT ODN KhALD.YN FY.EA
The fourth quarter suggest that it might have original referred not to
all those with whom Allah is pleased, but rather to a single person
GZA.EM OND RB.E
RChY ALLE ON.E
W RCh.WA ON.E
DhLK (MN) KhShY RB.E
Then it rhymes (in the sense that rhyme is used in the Qur'an) nicely
and is almost metric. It probably could be made metric by the proper
selection of vowels but I do not want to explore that possibility here.
Thus AL BYN@ decomposes into four short fragments (two of them
differing versions of one original) so short that they probably
originally functioned as slogans.