The Linguistic Features of the Qur'anic Narratives 9783643507792, 3643507798

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Wiener Offene Orientalistik Yehudit Dror

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

Yehudit Dror is lecturer at the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Haifa, Israel.

Yehudit Dror

This monograph attempts to identify the linguistic characteristics of the Qur’ānic narratives and to indicate what distinguishes them from other Qur’ānic thematic passages. Initially, it is noted that there are four models of Qur’ānic narratives. In spite of the distinction between the models, much of the narrative has the structure suggested by Labov (1974) – namely, they include six elements: abstract, orientation, complicating action, evaluation, resolution and coda. This work shows that each component is associated with specific linguistic features.

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

978-3-643-50779-2

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Contents Preface

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1. Chapter One: Introduction

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1.1 What Is a Narrative

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1.2 Literary Models of Narratives: Labov's Model

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1.3 The Qur’ānic Narratives in Light of Labov's Model

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1.4 Discussions of Qur’ānic Narratives in the Research Literature

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1.5 Objectives of the Study

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2. Chapter Two: Four Models of the Qur’ānic Narratives

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2.1 Narratives Composed of Dialogues

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2.2 Mixed Narratives Composed of Dialogues/Direct Speech and

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Sequences of Events 2.3 Narratives Composed of a Few Sequential Events

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2.4 Narratives Without Sequences of Events

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Chapter Three: Discourse Markers Indicating the Beginning of a New

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Narrative or a New Section 3.1 wa-’iḏ

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3.2 wa-la-qad

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3.3 Word Order OVS/OSV/SVO

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3.4 Miscellaneous

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Chapter Four: Topic References

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4.1 Topic in Initial Position in the Narrative

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4.2 New Topic Introduction

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4.2.1 Introducing a New Topic in the Plot

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4.2.2 Introducing a New Topic to Mark a New Unit

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4.3 Topic Reference Due to Gaps in the Narratives

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4.4 Topic Reference to Prevent Ambiguity

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4.5 Addressing the Topic

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4.6 Topic Specification

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4.7 Miscellaneous

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4.7.1 Redundant Reference

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4.7.2 Emphatic Reference

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Chapter Five: Foreground and Background Information

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Chapter Six: Cohesion and Conjunction Particles

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Conclusions

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References

85

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Preface The Qurʼānic narratives concern different topics and different personalities and they are different in length; thus, Gilliot (2013) suggests that the Qurʼānic narratives might be categorized into four groups: (1) A single story that stands as the focus of a specific sūra. (2) Narrative pieces, i.e., which have been integrated into the sūras, and thus do not have any contextual relation with the non-narrative material presented in the sūra. (3) Passages that are composed of several stories but revolve around the same theme. (4) Short narratives that are reduced to a few verses. In light of the above suggested division of the Qurʼānic narratives, this work addresses the following questions: On what basis is it argued that the sections mentioned by Gilliot are indeed narratives? How do these sections differ from other thematic sections found in the Qurʼān? The research literature mentions some prominent features of the Qur’ānic narratives, such as the particle ’iḏ, which starts the narrative. The question is, however, are there other features shared by all narratives regardless of their theme, length and structure? To answer this question we first formulated a list of narratives based on previous studies. However, all previous lists of the Qur’ānic narratives were examined carefully before including them in this monograph; thus, in several cases some sections that were considered by the scholars as narratives were omitted because they did not meet the basic requirements of a narrative, such as (for example) a narrative must consist of at least two sequential events. After gathering all narratives we noticed that there are different models of narratives, which led us to re-classify them in four groups presented in the second chapter. It was noticed that in spite of the structural differences, there are four common features that appear in all types of story. Each feature is discussed thoroughly in the monograph's chapters. This study is organized as follows: The first chapter is the introduction, which includes a definition of the term narrative, a presentation of Propp's and Labov's narrative structures, a literature review and finally presents the objectives of the study. In the second chapter we establish the four models of the Qurʼānic narratives. Chapter three investigates the markers indicating the beginning of a new narrative or a new section/thematic unit of the narratives. These markers include the ʼiḏ-structures, la-qad, along with a less familiar structure such as the OVS structure. In chapter four we examine the reference to the participants made in the narrative. The Qurʼānic narratives are characterized by their reference to specific events in which several participants are involved. The questions that need further investigation are why and when a full name (e.g., Nūḥ, qawmuhu) is mentioned during the story. Chapter five is devoted to the

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features of the background and foreground information in the narrative, particularly the use of verbs in perfect in the foreground information, i.e., the events that advance the plot. Chapter six provides a look at the connective particles wa-, fa- and the temporal adverb wa-lammā and their functions in the narrative.

Chapter One: Introduction “Narratives: Stories of individuals and communities of the past, of varying lengths, many of which appear in numerous renditions throughout the Qurʼānic text, are found predominantly in the Meccan sūras of the Qurʼān. Although the Qurʼān relates the tales of prophets and other notable persons, tales that presumably were already familiar to the first auditors of the Qurʼān, the stories that are characterized as “narratives” contain certain requisite structural features (…) The proportion of the narratives in the Qurʼān is very large: 1,453 verses, or about a quarter of their total number. The narratives consist of accounts concerning prophets or so-called prophets, messengers, sages, historical, historicomythical or mythical celebrities of ancient times.” (Gilliot 2003:516-517) The introductory paragraph that starts Gilliot’s entry on narratives in the Qurʼān includes the primary facts regarding the Qurʼānic narratives. They concern various topics and different personalities and they vary in length, but their structure usually contains the same formalistic features. Furthermore, the primary contribution of Gilliot (2003) lies in presenting the distribution of the Qurʼānic narratives and categorizing them into several groups: The first group includes one single story that stands in the focus of a specific sūra, e.g., Q 12, the story of Joseph. In the second group is classified narrative pieces, i.e., they have been integrated into the sūras, and thus they have no contextual relation with the non-narrative material presented in the sūra; they are therefore isolated and considered independent units, e.g., Q 89:6-14 the story of ʻĀd. Within the third group there are passages composed of several stories but which revolve around the same theme, e.g., Q 26:10-189. In the fourth group there are short narratives that are reduced to a few verses, e.g., Q 53:50-54. (Gilliot 2003:518520)1 Gilliot does not deal with all the themes of the Qurʼānic narratives; however, he manages to present the narratives, their content and type, and their formalistic features. Nevertheless, after reading literature that defines the term narrative and refers to different aspects such as structure and linguistic features, the following questions are raised: Can all narratives mentioned by Gilliot be called narratives? Should, for example, every passage mentioning the name of a prophet be considered a narrative? Gilliot shows that there are different types of narratives in the Qurʼān, yet it is unclear whether these types affect their structure − i.e., is there one uniform structure and if such a structure does exist, what are its linguistic features?

1

Cf. Robinson (1996:106-109). Another classification of the narratives found in the research literature distinguishes between two primary types: 1. Parables, e.g., 18:32-43. 2. Historical narratives, e.g., 11:84-95. See: Ḫalafallāh (1999:153-198) and Quṭub (2002:263-276).

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

The starting point of the introduction is a definition of the term, narrative. Such a definition is important and must appear at the beginning of this work because, as will be shown, some of the Qurʼānic passages that are classified in the research literature as narratives do not accord with the definition of narrative. 1.1 What Is a Narrative? The term narrative is ambiguous because it has both a broad sense and a narrow sense. In the broader sense, the term narrative refers to “the semiotic representation of a series of events meaningfully connected in a temporal and causal way. Films, plays, comic strips, novels, newsreels, diaries, chronicles and treatises of geological history are all narratives in this wider sense. Narratives can therefore be constructed using an ample variety of semiotic media: written or spoken language, visual images, gestures and acting, as well as a combination of these. Any semiotic construct, anything made of signs, can be said to be a text. Therefore, we can speak of many kinds of narrative texts: linguistic, theatrical, pictorial, and filmic” (Onega and Landa 1996:3). The narrow sense concerns this study because it refers only to the linguistic phenomenon, i.e., a narrative is a speech act or a verbal text told by a narrator. It is also a representation of a series of events. (Onega and Landa 1996:4-5) It seems that almost everyone has a general idea of what narrative texts are; however, it is sometimes difficult to decide whether a given text can be considered a narrative. This problem can be solved when the characteristics of the text can be defined; in other words, when a description of the way in which the narratives are constructed can be reached, then we have a description of a narrative system. However, discovering the characteristics of the text also depends on the researcher's point of view. In his/her description, he/she can emphasize different aspects and thus produce a different textual description. Moreover, one should keep in mind that narrative is a broad concept consisting of different genres, such as novels, short stories, fairy tales and newspaper articles. For this reason, it would be helpful to determine first the corpus, i.e., the narrative text that is examined. (Bal 2004:3-4) Within the framework of defining a narrative, the following related concepts are usually mentioned. A narrative text is one in which an agent relates or tells a story in a particular medium. A story, which is also called fabula, is a series of logically− and chronologically−related events that are caused or experienced by one or several actors. An event is the transition from one state to another. Actor or actors are the people who perform the actions. In the analysis of a narrative text, a three-layer distinction should be taken into consideration – text, story and fabula. Bal (2004:5) illustrates the difference between story and text by using the story of Tom Thumb. According to Bal, this story is well-known in Europe; not everyone, however, has read the same text, because there are several versions, some of them considered to be literary and others are not. It also can be

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

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argued that the story of Joseph is familiar both in Islam and in Judaism; however, there are two different texts – the Biblical text and the Qurʼānic text. With regard to the fabula, this term refers to the content of the story because it includes a series of events, which are constructed according certain rules. These rules, also called the logic of events, determine that the events must be arranged and presented in a chronological and logical way. These are the same rules controlling human behavior, and if the narrative does not follow these rules it will be impossible to understand the narrative (Bal 2004:7). According to Bremond (1996:63), all narratives must consist of a sequence of events, because without succession there is no narrative and the text might as well be considered as description or any other non-narrative text. The term time is also a valuable element in a narrative; it is closely related to the fabula, because time is important for the continuation of the fabula. One theory to mention is that of Genette (1988), who identifies three dimensions of temporal articulations in the narratives. Order: This term refers to the relation between the assumed sequence of events in the story and their actual order of presentation in the narrative. Frequency: This temporal aspect refers to the question of how often an event happens in the story and how often it is narrated in the text. Duration: According to Genette, one should distinguish between the extent of time required to perform the event and the amount of text spent in presenting this event (Toolan 1988:49). Reichenbach (1947:290) distinguishes between three temporal references: Speech Time (ST), the time at the moment when the utterance is made; Event Time (ET), the interval time occupied by the event; and Reference Time (RT)2, a point in time that is determined by the tense of the sentence. (Almeida 1995:166) 3 The narrative text should be told in a medium or, as Bal (2004:8) explains it, the narrative is converted into signs and these signs are produced by an agent who is someone other than the writer. This agent is also known as the narrator. However, it is possible that the presence of the narrator will be interrupted; in a direct speech, for instance, it appears that the narrator transfers his task to the participants in the narrative. It is possible to distinguish between two types of narrator: the external narrator who never refers explicitly to himself as an actor, and the character-bound narrator, who is identified with one of the actors in the fabula (Bal 2004:22).4 Barthes (1996:57) introduced an additional concept of 2

For an additional explanation, see footnote 38. Cf. Cohen (2013:16-17). 4 Bortolussi and Dixon (2003:63-64) distinguish between the following kinds of narrators:  Extradiegetic: narrators who are external and not part of the story.  Heterodiegetic: those narrators who are part of the world of the story but not participants in the events.  Homodiegetic: those who are also characters in the narrative.  Autodiegetic: those who are the protagonists of their own story. 3

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

narrator that represents also the Qurʼānic narrator — the narrator as a sort of omniscient, impersonal consciousness that tells the story from a superior point of view ‒ that of God. This narrator knows everything, the actors in the story, their actions and their ways of thinking. The term actions occupies a central position in the definition of fabula, but in the analysis of a narrative structure, three levels of description in the narrative should be distinguished: the level of functions, the level of actions and the level of narration. The term function, from a linguistic point of view, refers to a unit of content. This unit provides the reader with information and that is what makes this information a functional unit. Such a unit need not be a long passage − sometimes it can consist of one sentence or less, even one word. (Barthes 1996:49) The last term mentioned in the research literature in relation to narrative is focalization. This refers to the point of view from which things in the story are seen, understood and assessed. It might be argued that some narratives try to be objective, i.e., to present only what is seen without further non-narrative material such as personal comments. Usually a story is presented in a certain way, as a vehicle for conveying a certain vision. The vision of the story can be realized by the focalization, i.e., the relation between the vision, the agent that sees and that which is seen during the reading. Focalization can also be defined as the relation between the focalizor and the focalized. Focalizor is the point of view from which the elements are viewed. It can be internal or external — internal is when the point of view is associated with one of the characters of the fabula. If the point of view is associated with an anonymous agent, situated outside the fabula, then the focalizor is external. An example would be if the reader sees or reads the story from the viewpoint of one of the participants of the story; s/he will then, eventually, accept the view presented by this participant. It is possible to find in stories a switch from the external to an internal focalizor. (Bal 2004:142-143,148) Genette (1988:73) has a different concept of the term focalization. He argues that there is no focalizing or focalized character because “focalized can be applied only to the narrative itself, and if focalizer applied to anyone, it could be only the person who focalizes the narrative — that is the narrator or if one wanted to go outside the conventions of fiction, the author himself, who delegates (or does not delegate) to the narrator his power of focalizing or not focalizing.” In spite of the different definitions, the focalizor is connected with a specific focalized object, but there are some questions regarding these statements: What is this object? Why is it focalized? How is it being focalized? Regarding 

Intradiegetic: those who produce a story as characters within the main narrative. (Diegesis is the fictional world in which the situations and events narrated occur.)

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

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the first question, the objects that are focalized are not limited. The object can be a description of a landscape or a specific event in the story. Introducing images or metaphors, unspoken words, thoughts and internal monologues can affect the focalizor. (Bal 1997:149-150) To conclude, a narrative is a representation of events, which is achieved by integrating several elements: a story, fabula, actors, time and place, narrator, point of view and division of the narrative into units (i.e., function). The question is how should these elements be organized in the narrative? Should elements such as adverbials of time and place appear at the opening sentence of the narrative? What is the position of information that does not belong to the sequenced events? To answer these questions, the model of Labov is presented in the following section. 1.2 Literary Models of Narratives: Labov's Model There are several approaches to the structure of narrative which have become known in the West. One approach is presented by the Russian scholar, Vladimir Propp (1968). His book, entitled The Morphology of the Folktale, was published in Russia in 1928 and was translated later into English. After analyzing various Russian folktales, Propp noticed that most folktales have certain features in common and he also identifies thirty-one functions in the narratives − i.e., there are the same sequences of events in each narrative, such as, for example, in the introduction, someone is missing/or someone is leaving — the hero is warned (e.g., Don't go out) — the prohibition is violated — the villain seeks something. (Johnstone 2001:263) Labov's model was established after analyzing a corpus of hundreds of stories that were told in the course of everyday conversation by common people from various backgrounds. Labov's analysis pointed out six components of (short) literary narratives. The model is related more properly to the discourse structure than to the plot, but it has brought together most of the notions of structure and function developed under formalist and structuralist approaches. To better understand Labov's model, his definition of the term narrative should be presented first. He says that it is “one method of recapitulating past experience by matching a verbal sequence of clauses to the sequence of events which (it is inferred) actually occurred (…) with this conception of narrative, we can define a minimal narrative as a sequence of two clauses which are temporally-ordered (…) in alternative terminology, there is a temporal juncture between the two clauses, and a minimal narrative is defined as one containing a single temporal juncture” (Labov 1972:359-360). Thus, according to Labov, two or more clauses cannot be considered narrative if, for example, the first clause contains an event that

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

takes place simultaneously with the event presented in the following clause. 5 Clauses that are not temporally-ordered are called by Labov narrative clauses, while all other clauses such as, for instance, clauses containing the verbs used to or would, are called free clauses and they cannot support a narrative (Labov 1972:361). Labov argues that the narrative structure consists of six elements that have a certain function in the narrative: abstract, orientation, complicating action, evaluation, resolution and coda. Abstract: This is a short summary used by the narrator to reveal the point of the story by giving the reader/ listener general terms about the topic of the story. Orientation: This term refers to the information in the text that helps to identify the time, place, persons, and their activity or situations. The orientation has the function of orienting the reader/listener to when and where the story takes place — information that the reader or listener requires in order to follow the narrated events. Complicating action: This term refers to the core of the story, which sets up a narrative, i.e., it is the set of events that compose the story or, more precisely, the plot. The temporally-ordered events that constitute the story might include information other than events; however, without these events a story would not have a plot and simply be a description. Evaluation: This is the storyteller’s commentary on why the story should be told, the point of view or the primary message or purpose of the story. The narrator indicates this by using various methods to insert evaluative comments. Resolution: This is the final action of the story, answering the question: ʻWhat finally happened?’ Resolution is usually found in the final part of the complicating action. Coda: This is the closure, which returns the narrative to the present time. It is one of the options used by the narrator to signal the end of the story. (Labov 1972:363-364,366) Labov recognizes that the six elements of the story are achieved by using various syntactic elements. This connection is presented clearly in the following table introduced by Afsar (2006:500-501):

5

Afsar (2006:496) illustrates the difference between a minimal narrative and non-narrative text using the following example: As he stood up, he picked up his gun in his hand; here the two actions are simultaneous. However, in as he stood up, he picked up his gun in his hand, and then he fired at the enemy, there is a series of temporally-ordered events, and therefore these connected clauses can be considered a narrative.

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

Category Abstract

Form Normally a short summarizing statement provided before the narrative commences.

Orientation

Often characterized by the past continuous verb forms and adverbs of time, manner and place.

Complicating actions

Realized by narrative clauses that are temporally-ordered and normally have a verb in the simple past. Usually time markers (such as now, then, after, before) indicate one set of the complicating events. Comprises the last of the narrative clauses that began the complicating action. Marked by a number of different linguistic forms. Includes: evaluative commentary; embedded speech; comparisons with unrealized events; departures from basic narrative grammar (such as, intensifiers6, comparators7 and explicatives). No specific linguistic features, although frequently a generalized statement that is timeless in character.

Resolution Evaluation

Coda

7

Function Signals that a story is about to begin and catches the reader’s attention; it provides some idea of what the story is going to be about. Helps the reader/ listener to identify the time, place, persons, activity and situation (i.e., the when, where, who, what, and how of the story). The core narrative category providing the “What happened?” element of a story.

Recapitulates the final events of a story (i.e. the “What finally happened?” element). Functions to make the point of the story clear, to ward off responses such as ʻSo what?ʼ

Signals that a story has ended; brings listener back to the point at which he or she entered the narrative.

1.3 The Qurʼānic Narratives in Light of Labov's Model In a previous section, the narrative was defined as “the semiotic representation of a series of events meaningfully connected in a temporal and causal way” (Onega and Landa 1996:3). The connection of at least two actions arranged temporally was also mentioned by Labov as a fundamental feature of narrative. Based on this information, it seems that the list of Qurʼānic narratives presented by Gilliot (2003) must be re-examined to establish a more specific corpus that will be analyzed in this work. The problematic of Gilliot's classification becomes clear when considering the following examples: 6

A narrative consists of a linear series of events that are organized in the story as they occurred. An intensifier selects one of these events and strengthens or intensifies it. (Labov 1972:378) 7 Comparators move away from the line of narrative events to consider unrealized possibilities and compare them with the events that occur. (Labov 1972:381, 387)

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49 wa-ʼiḏ naǧǧaynākum min ʼāli firʻawna yasūmūnakum sūʼa l-ʻaḏābi yuḏabbiḥūna ʼabnā’akum wa-yastaḥyūna nisāʼakum wa-fī ḏālikum balāʼun min rabbikum ʻaẓīmun 50 wa-ʼiḏ faraqnā bikumu l-baḥra fa-ʼanǧaynākum wa-ʼaġraqnā ʻāla firʻawna wa-ʼantum tanẓurūna 51 wa-ʼiḏ wāʻadnā mūsā ʼarbaʿīna laylatan ṯumma ttaḫaḏtumu l-ʻiǧla min baʻdihī wa-ʼantum ẓālimūna 52 ṯumma ʻafawnā ʻankum min baʻdi ḏālika laʻallakum taškurūna 53 wa-ʼiḏ ʼātaynā mūsā l-kitāba wa-l-furqāna laʻallakum tahtadūna 54 wa-ʼiḏ qāla mūsā li-qawmihī yā-qawmi ʼinnakum ẓalamtum ʼanfusakum bi-ttiḫāḏikumu l-ʻiǧla fa-tūbū ʼilā bāriʼikum fa-qtulū ʼanfusakum ḏālikum ḫayrun lakum ʻinda bāriʼikum fa-tāba ʻalaykum ʼinnahū huwa t-tawwābu r-raḥīmu (Q 2:49-54) “(49) And when we delivered you from the people of Pharaoh who were visiting you with evil chastisement, slaughtering your sons, and sparing your women: and in that was a grievous trial from your Lord. (50) And when we divided for you the sea and delivered you, and drowned Pharaoh's people while you were watching (51) And when we made an appointment with Moses for forty nights then you took to yourselves the Calf after him and you were evildoers (52) then we forgave you after that, so perhaps you would be thankful. (53) And when we gave Moses the Book and the salvation, that perhaps you would be guided. (54) And when Moses said to his people, my people, you have done wrong against yourselves by your taking the Calf; now turn to your Creator and kill one another. That will be better for you in your Creator's sight, and He will turn to you; truly He turns, and is All-compassionate.”8 According to Gilliot (2003:521), sūra 2 contains several stories or legends, as, for instance, that of Adam (Q 2:30-39), and Moses (Q 2:49-79). He therefore classifies these narratives as “passages that are composed entirely of several stories, or which are built around a core of stories.” The example mentioned above, (Q 2:49-54), is an incomplete quotation of the complete story told about Moses. However, each verse or, in some cases, two verses, constitutes a short story according to Gilliot. Each story can be identified since the stories are divided by the ʼiḏ-clauses considered one of the prominent formalistic features of the Qurʼānic narrative (Gilliot 2003:523). When 8

The translations of the Qurʼānic verses are taken from Arberry (1964), though a few changes have been made to them.

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each of these short stories is examined, however, it seems that the narrative's components do not fully exist in these stories. According to the definition of the term narrative presented above, the core of a narrative is the story or the fabula, i.e., a series of logically- and chronologically-related events. However, no such series is to be found in the supposedly short stories in Q 2:49-93. Moreover, these stories do not include all six elements presented by Labov; in most cases, they include the abstract and the orientation, while the rest of the elements are missing. For this reason, it would be incorrect to argue that Q 2:49-93 consists of several stories but, rather, Q 2:49-93 is itself one narrative, while the sequenced events are implied by the ʼiḏ-clauses. The next example is Q 26:141-159: 141 kaḏḏabat ṯamūdu l-mursalīna 142 ʼiḏ qāla lahum ʼaḫūhum ṣāliḥun ʼa-lā tattaqūna 143 ʼinnī lakum rasūlun ʼamīnun 144 fa-ttaqū llāha wa-ʼaṭīʻūni 145 wa-mā ʼasʼalukum ʻalayhi min ʼaǧrin ʼin ʼaǧriya ʼillā ʻalā rabbi lʻālamīna 146 ʼa-tutrakūna fī mā hāhunā ʼāminīna 147 fī ǧannātin wa-ʻuyūnin 148 wa-zurūʻin wa-naḫlin ṭalʻuhā haḍīmun 149 wa-tanḥitūna mina l-ǧibāli buyūtan fārihīna 150 fa-ttaqū llāha wa-ʼaṭīʻūni 151 wa-lā tuṭīʻū ʼamra l-musrifīna 152 allaḏīna yufsidūna fī l-ʼarḍi wa-lā yuṣliḥūna 153 qālū ʼinnamā ʼanta mina l-musaḥḥarīna 154 mā ʼanta ʼillā bašarun miṯlunā fa-ʼti bi-ʼāyatin ʼin kunta mina ṣṣādiqīna 155 qāla hāḏihī nāqatun lahā širbun wa-lakum širbu yawmin maʻlūmin 156 wa-lā tamassūhā bi-sūʼin fa-yaʼḫuḏakum ʻaḏābu yawmin ʻaẓīmin 157 fa-ʻaqarūhā fa-ʼaṣbaḥū nādimīna

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

158 fa-ʼaḫaḏahumu l-ʻaḏābu ʼinna fī ḏālika la-ʼāyatan wa-mā kāna ʼakṯaruhum muʼminīna 159 wa-ʼinna rabbaka la-huwa l-ʻazīzu r-raḥīmu “(141) Thamood cried lies to the envoys (142) when their brother Salih said to them, Will you not be godfearing?ʼ (143) I am for you a faithful messenger (144) so fear you God, and obey you me. (145) I ask you for no payment for this; our payment is only from the Lord of all being. (146) Will you be left secure in this here, (147) among gardens and fountains, (148) sown fields, and palms with softened fruit? (149) Will you still skillfully hew houses out of the mountains? (150) So fear you God and obey you me, (151) and obey not the commandment of the prodigal (152) who do corruption in the earth, and set not things aright. (153) They said, thou art merely one of those that are bewitched; (154) Thou art naught but a mortal, like us; then produce a sign, if thou art one of the truthful (155) He said, ʻThis is a she-camel; to her a drink and to you a drink, on a day appointed, (156) and do not touch her with malice so that there seize you the chastisement of a dreadful day.ʼ (157) But they hamstrung her, (158) and in the morning they were remorseful, and the chastisement seized them. Surely in that is a sign, yet most of them are not believers. (159) Surely thy Lord, He is the All-mighty, the All-compassionate.” As he does with Q 2:49-54, Gilliot (2003) classifies Q 26:141-159 in the same group, i.e., the story of Ṯamūd is one of the stories constituting Q 26. The main problem of Q 26:141-159 is to identify the core of the story, i.e., the so-called complicating actions. The remainder of the narrative's elements presented by Labov is easily recovered:  Abstract: Verse 141 (Indication that the story is about Ṯamūd)  Orientation: Verse 142 (The focus on Ṣāliḥ)  Evaluation: Verses 143-152 (Ṣāliḥ preaches Ṯamūd)  Complicating actions: Verses 155, 157-158 (The she-camel test)  Resolution: Verse 157 (The punishment of Ṯamūd)  Coda: Verse 159 (Praising God) This division shows first that the evaluation occupies a significant part of the story. As for the complicating actions, there are four verbs expressing an action: qālū (verse 153), qāla (verse 155), ʻaqarū (verse 157) and ʼaḫaḏa (verse 158). The question is whether the verb qāla can be regarded as an action or is merely a dialogue or direct speech indicator. If this is the case, then the story consists only of two temporally-organized events presented in verse 157-158. If chronological and sequential events are to be considered as the basis of a story, how can a case such as Q 26:141-159 be explained?

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The last example is Q 69:4-8: 4 kaḏḏabat ṯamūdu wa-ʻādun bi-l-qāriʻati 5 fa-ʼammā ṯamūdu fa-ʼuhlikū bi-ṭ-ṭāġiyati 6 wa-ʼammā ʻādun fa-ʼuhlikū bi-rīḥin ṣarṣarin ʻātiyatin 7 saḫḫarahā ʻalayhim sabʻa layālin wa-ṯamāniyata ʼayyāmin ḥusūman fa-tarā l-qawma fīhā ṣarʻā ka-ʼannahum ʼaʻǧāzu naḫlin ḫāwiyatin 8 fa-hal tarā lahum min bāqiyatin “(4) Thamud and Ad denied the calamity (5) As for (the people of) Thamud, they were destroyed by the screamer (6) And as for Ad, they were destroyed by a wind clamorous, violent (7) that he imposed upon them seven nights and eight days, uninterruptedly, and thou might see the people laid prostrate as if they were the stumps of fallen palm-trees. (8) Now dost thou see any remnant of them?” In Q 69:4-8, four elements out of six exist in this story: Abstract and Orientation (verse 4), Resolution and Coda (verse 8). The complicating actions are not identifiable; this passage, therefore, is more descriptive than narrative. The examples above show that to determine whether a specific Qurʼānic passage is indeed a narrative, it is not sufficient to refer only to its content/theme. A narrative should also contain some basic elements, as suggested by Labov. Furthermore, it will be shown later that there are four different models of the Qurʼānic narratives. The distinction between these models is based on whether they contain all the basic elements of a narrative and their linguistic features. 1.4 Discussions of Qurʼānic Narratives in the Research Literature The Qurʼānic narratives have received a considerable amount of attention in the research literature. As general works dealing with the content of the Qur’ānic narratives, several books can be considered. al-Ḫālidī (1998) collected all prophetic narratives and summarized each story by referring to the primary themes of the story. Thus, for instance, when referring to Moses, al-Ḫālidī discusses the following themes: the birth and childhood of Moses, his departure from Egypt, Moses in Midian, Moses the prophet, Moses' miracles, Moses and Pharaoh, the exodus from Egypt, and Moses and the Israelites and their wandering in the desert.9

9

A similar division of the episodes of the narrative describing Moses is found in Wheeler (2006).

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

A similar work -- but more limited in scope -- is the book, qaṣaṣ l-Qurʼān, (2000) written by al-Mawlā et al., which summarizes the stories of ʼĀdam, Nūḥ, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, ’Ibrāhīm, ’Ismāʻīl, ’Isḥāq, Lūṭ, Yaʻqūb, Yūsuf, Šuʻayb, Mūsā, Qārūn, Ṭālūt, Dāwūd, Sulaymān, ʻAzīz, ʼAyyūb, Yūnis, Zakaryā and Yaḥyā, Maryam, ʻIsā, Ḏū l-Qarnayni, ʼaṣḥāb l-kahf and ʼaṣḥāb l-ʼaḫdūd. 10 In his book, manāhiğ l-baḥṯ wa-t-taʼlīf fī l-qaṣaṣ l-qurʼāniyy, Nawfal (2007) collected several prominent books dealing with the narrative in the Qurʼān. In his introduction, Nawfal explains that there are three approaches in the research literature regarding the investigation of Qurʼānic narratives. The narrative approach (al-minhağ s-sardiyy) is the first to be mentioned by Nawfal, simply because numerically most of the books are devoted to describing the content of these narratives. Two examples of such works were presented at the beginning of this review. 11 The text-analysis approach (al-minhağ t-taḥlīliyy) is a modern approach that is less familiar in the research. The third approach tries to combine the first and the second approaches and hence is called by Nawfal the narrative-analysis approach (al-minhağ s-sardiyy t-taḥlīliyy), an approach that is even less common than the text-analysis approach. The narrative approach focuses more on the content of each narrative, while the text-analysis approach focuses on different aspects of the text, such as, for example, the psychological, historical, philosophical and geographical aspects of the narratives. Among his various examples of books following this approach, Nawfal mentions the book of al-Qāsim (1994) min ğuġrāfiyyat l-qaṣaṣ l-qur’āniyy: Miṣr laysat Miṣr. The title of this book indicates that the author focuses on the geographical information mentioned in the text which needs further investigation. Thus, for example, al-Qāsim refers to madyan, saying that the agriculture of this city is based mostly on grazing. He also refers to other sources as muʻğam l-buldān, according to which madyan was actually part of Egypt. One example mentioned by Nawfal for the narrative-analysis approach is the book of Ẓawāhirī (1991), badāʼiʻ l-ʼiḍmār l-qaṣaṣiyy fī l-Qurʼān. The author of this book introduces grammatical issues that appear in the narratives, such as instances of deletion and abbrevation. Nāyif (2011) is not mentioned by Nawfal. His work, however, is worth mentioning because he examines the issue of time in the Qurʼānic narratives, an issue that has not been investigated much in modern literature, a point which the author mentions in his introduction. 12 In his book, Nāyif presents the flashback 10 Additional works dealing with the content of the narratives are: Ṭanṭāwī (1992) and al-Ḥumṣī (1995). 11 The work of Mawlā et al. is mentioned together with eighteen additional examples by Nawfal as examples of the narrative approach. 12 Ḫaṭīb (1974) introduces the main characteristics of the Qurʼānic narratives referring, inter alia, to the concept of time in these narratives. In his abbreviated discussion, he claims that each narrative has its unique time system. Thus, for example, in the narrative of Joseph, most of the

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

13

and flash-forward techniques in the Qurʼānic narratives. A flashback is a technique that involves inserting a scene from the past into the narrative. By using this technique, the author can refer back in time to an earlier period. Flashbacks can be either internal or external. An internal flashback takes the reader to a point that happened earlier in the story. External flashbacks indicate the time or, more precisely, an event that took place before the narrative began. The main goal of Nāyif is to demonstrate these techniques in the Qurʼān. Šaḥrūr (2012), whose book is entitled al-qaṣaṣ l-qurʼāniyyi: qirāʼa muʻāṣira, refers (like the others) to the content of the narratives; however, he also explains words, terms and historical events by referring to historical and archeological information found in modern Western literature. Thus, for example, when he discusses the story of Noah and the flood, he mentions in this context the Sumerian flood myth, the Babylonian flood story, as well as the Biblical narrative of the flood. Another central study is the book by Horovitz (1926). The first part of this book is devoted to the narrative passages in the Qurʼān. Horovitz first classifies the narratives (see above − Gilliot's classification, which is based on Horovitz) and then presents the prominent formalistic features of the narratives, particularly the opening and closing verses of the narratives. He then focuses on two narrative types; the “punishment narratives” such as, for instance, the story of Lot, and the prophetic narratives, describing their content and purpose. There are various articles restricted to the analysis of one narrative. Neuwirth (1980) wrote her article about the structure of sūrat Yūsuf, while the core of the article is the complete transliteration of this sūra, dividing it into colons 13; the colometric analysis enables one to isolate and study the smallest units. Sometimes this unit includes one clause and, in other cases, less than a clause (sees p. 142 in the article). Afterwards, Neuwirth refers to the composition of sūra 12, saying that it has three main parts: verses 1-3 (the opening part), verses 4-101 (the story that can be divided into several scenes) and verses 102-111 (the closure, consisting of a polemical speech, an eschatological speech and prophetic utterances.) The syntactic structure occupies an additional part in the article. events are described as having taken place in the past; however, we find circumstantial clauses describing the participants’ situation or a time gap which the hearer/reader is not able to complete based on the narrated events. 13 Cola/Colon: “Cola are to be defined as breath units of speech, the number of syllables which can be encompassed in a single breath. The colon does not always correspond to the grammatical sentence, for some sentences are composed of more than one colon and some cola consist of more than one sentence. Colometric analysis pays special attention to the relationships of semantic units within a verse, laying out the structure of the verse as a succession of cola.” See: Zahniser (1991:86)

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

Among the syntactic features mentioned by Neuwirth are circumstantial clauses, lammā-clauses, ʼiḏ-clauses, direct speech, ḥattā-clauses and imperative verbs. In the final part of the article, the types of the final clause of each verse (i.e., the fawāṣil) are presented as one parenthetical final clause or clauses praising God. Hermansen (1988) explores the Qurʼānic narratives of Adam by analyzing the semiotic, structural and narratological techniques of these narratives. There are hints regarding the representation of time, repetitions and the function of these narratives. The discussion of these issues is very limited, compared to the discussion of the oppositional themes of these narratives, such as death vs. life, punishment vs. reward and straight path vs. error. According to Hermansen, the oppositional structures in the narratives of Adam are distinctive not only in their emphasis, repetition and clarity, but also because their primary role is to mediate the concepts of guidance and choice. Neuwirth’s colometric analysis is the basis for Zahniser's (1991) analysis of Q3:33-62, and focuses his attention on the function of deictic elements and parallels. He first looks at the thematic division of Q 3:33-62, presenting the detailed structure of each section using the colometric analysis. The presentation of the text, arranged according to verses and cola, makes it easier to notice certain important structural narrative features. Among these features, Zahniser mentions the deictic elements ʼiḏ, hunālika and ḏālika, explaining their function in the structure of Q 3:33-62. Johns (2004) devotes his article to the Qurʼānic presentation of the story of Joseph, while looking in particular at the relation between the speaker, the words expressed and the situation in which they are expressed. To investigate the speech style, Johns divides the story of Joseph into scenes. Thus, for example, the third scene analyzed by Johns includes verses 11-14, where there is a dialogue between Jacob and his sons. According to Johns, one can easily detect in their speech a whining tone implicit in their complaints to the father. Jacob's words, on the other hand, are appropriate to his status as a father, elder and a prophet. Thus, there is a contrast between the dignified speech style of the father and that of the sons. 14 Sakaedani (2004) has two goals in his article: the first is to examine when and why there is a shift of topic, and the second is to examine whether there is any correlation between a definite noun-phrase and the verb forms used in the Qur’ānic narratives. It seems that Sakaedani focuses more on the shift of topic, and exemplifies it by several examples, such as Q 18:60-62, where the two topics, Moses and his servant, are mentioned; in verse 62, Moses is referred to by 14

Mir’s study (1986) also analyzes the story of Joseph and, as the title indicates, three elements are discussed: the plot, themes and the participants (characters). Notes about his article are found in the short article by Rendsburg (1988).

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zero anaphora (qāla) and by oblique case pronouns (li-fatāhu). Regarding the correlation between the noun-phrase and the verb form, Sakaedani does not sufficiently develop this concept. To explain the correlation between the verb form and the noun-phrase type, he chooses to refer to two examples in which a verb in the passive and a verb in the imperfect (in the active voice) are involved. Thus, in Q 11:25 Noah is introduced with his name and later is referred to by the zero anaphora; however, there is a gap in the text when a dialogue between Muḥammad and the unbelievers is introduced. After this gap, the text returns to Noah, while his proper name is mentioned in Q 11:36 preceded by a verb in passive. And after a time-lag once again the name of Noah is mentioned in Q 11:42, followed by a verb in the imperfect. We conclude our review with the article of Afsar (2006), who finds that the most useful method of analyzing the Qurʼānic narratives is that presented by Labov (see above). Thus, after introducing Labov's model of narrative specifically and clearly, he implements this model with some selected narratives (Q 12, 20, 37, 39) − namely, he indicates the six narrative elements existing in these verses: abstract, coda, orientation, complicating action, resolution and evaluation. It should be acknowledged that the current work cannot take into account all the works dealing with the Qurʼānic narratives. Moreover, it lacks any suggestions regarding the relation between the Qurʼānic narratives and the Biblical Hebrew narratives. However, this bird’s-eye-view displays the two approaches that have already been recognized by Nawfal. On the one hand, there are works dealing with the narrative as it is, i.e., each work is arranged thematically according to the information mentioned in the narrative. On the other hand, there are works that try to explore other aspects of the narrative, such as structure analysis and linguistic features. Nawfal states that the analytic approach of the Qurʼānic narrative rarely has been found in earlier and even in modern literature, but he is not the only researcher who holds this opinion. Hermansen (1988) says that the use of semiotic, structural and narratological techniques is not nearly as developed in Qurʼānic studies as it is in Biblical analysis. Zahniser (1991) claims that at the present time an examination of the literary structure of a complete sūra and of the narrative portions of it appears to be quite rare in either traditional or modern Muslim tafsīr literature. In the introduction to his article, Afsar (2006) says that he hopes that his approach will help not only to better understand the structure and unity of Qurʼānic narrative but also shed some fresh light on those aspects of Biblical and Qurʼānic narrative that have not yet been sufficiently explored.

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

1.5 Objectives of the Study The literature review has revealed several approaches to the study of Qurʼānic narrative. The primary aim of this monograph is to provide insight into how the Qurʼānic narratives are structured from a linguistic point of view. It investigates the linguistic structure not only within the scope of the sentences constituting the narrative, but also within larger textual units. To explain this objective more clearly, some issues should be further developed. First, what is meant by narrative analysis and what is the importance and contribution of such analysis? Second, what are the linguistic features analyzed in this study? Narrative analysis or, more precisely, syntactic analysis belongs to the field of discourse analysis. Analyzing narratives as a genre has became one of the central areas of inquiry within the broad field of discourse analysis. Narrative analysis has been approached from a variety of analytical perspectives and methodologies, depending on the discipline and focus of the researchers. (Thornborrow 2012:51) As one conceptual approach for narrative analysis, Thornborrow refers to the model presented by Labov, where he also succeeds in merging the structure and identifiable syntactic features of the narratives (See Section 1.2, the table presented by Afsar). Discourse analysis usually involves analysis of one or a small number of texts, trying to investigate a specific aspect of the text, such as its structure or the relation between the writer and the reader. Discourse analysis, however, offers an additional approach which is illustrated in this book and that is corpus-assisted discourse analysis. This approach is unique in that it allows the researcher to go beyond looking at a small number of texts: it makes possible the opportunity to test theories on a large corpus of data and to find grammatical and lexical patterns that specify a particular kind of text. Recently, grammar has been included in discourse analysis due to the recognition that linguistic items can have a different pattern and function when seen from a discourse perspective, rather than from a sentence perspective. (Paltridge 2012:113) The various works on discourse analysis help us to understand the notion of narrative analysis and its methods. It seems, however, that the main sources that exemplify how to analyze the narratives are the diversified works on Biblical Hebrew. The analysis of issues such as time and aspect, structure, coherence and participants reference and other narratological techniques is not nearly as developed in Qurʼānic studies as it is in Biblical studies. 15 Some of the issues discussed in this study are based on the findings taken from different Biblical studies; hence these studies will be introduced later and are not reviewed in this section. However, it is worth noting one scholar whose works helped us in shaping the concept of this study. In his article, “Discourse Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew Grammar,” Van der Merwe (1994) presents, inter alia, two sections 15

Hermansen (1988:41) raises the same argument regarding the scope of Qurʼānic narratives.

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that concern this study. He presents the main lines of thought in the modern linguistic descriptions of Biblical Hebrew, and in other sections he presents the problematic aspects of Biblical Hebrew, which are the verbal system, word order, participant reference and particles ― aspects rarely discussed in Qurʼānic studies, and therefore should be further investigated. Thus, this work has the following goals: a. Corpus: As the literature review indicates, scholars provide a new look at the Qurʼānic narratives by taking different perspectives and methods in their studies. However, these studies are restricted to one or a small number of narratives, while this study has been motivated to present findings taken from a larger corpus — all Qurʼānic narratives. A study which is based on a large corpus might establish or reject some of the theories that are presented in Qurʼānic studies and identify some new aspects in this field. b. Linguistic analysis: in addition to what was said above, each study focuses on a specific aspect of narrative analysis. This work tries to investigate the prominent linguistic features of the Qurʼānic narratives, which are broadly discussed in Chapters Three to Six. c. Narrative divisions: It seems that the scholars divide the Qurʼānic narratives according to their length and theme. In the first chapter, different models of the Qurʼānic narratives are suggested ― models which affect the structural analysis of the narratives and their elements such as, for example, the function of the verb qāla, which, in our opinion, provides the skeleton for one of the narrative's models. d. Structure and syntactic features: Labov's narrative model plays a crucial part in this study. It is not our intention to show whether this model can be illustrated for each narrative, but to investigate what are the linguistic features characterizing each element. Some of the linguistic features have already been recognized in the research literature, while others have not been developed. This study is organized as follows: In the second chapter, three models of the Qurʼānic narratives are introduced. As will be shown, some of the narratives mentioned in the research literature do not meet the basic requirements of a narrative, i.e., a sequence of events. We go on to establish the four prominent features of the Qurʼānic narratives which were discovered after collecting and analyzing these narratives. Chapter Three investigates the markers of a new section/unit/ theme of the narratives. These markers include the ʼiḏ-structures, along with less familiar structures, such as OVS structures. In Chapter Four we consider the references made to participants in the narrative or, more precisely, why and when names are mentioned in the story. Chapter Five is devoted to the features of the background and foreground information in the narrative. Chapter Six provides a look at the connective particles and their functions in the narrative.

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

Chapter Two: Four Models of the Qurʼānic Narratives In the introduction we mentioned Horovitz (1926:2-4) and Gilliot (2003). It may be argued that their classification is primarily based on the length of and the position that the narrative occupies in a specific sūra. Thus, they classify sūra 105 and sūra 12 within one group, in which the narrative occupies the whole sūra or, alternatively, is the main focus of the sūra. As well as such narratives, there are several short stories that follow one another, such as, for example, in sūra 38; there, verses 1-10 are considered as the starting point of the sūra, mentioning the unbelievers such as Ṯamūd, the people of Noah and the people of Lot. Verses 11-15, 16-28, 29-39, 40, 44 and 45-49 focus on the story of figures such as David, Solomon and Job. There are several narratives that are integrated into the sūra; these might sometimes interrupt the sequence of the sūra, as does sūra 17, verses 61-65, which refer to the story of the devil who refused to bow before Adam. An alternative way of classifying the narratives is suggested by Nāyif (2011:3540), who finds a close connection between the representation of time and the structure of the narrative. Nāyif distinguishes six structures of the Qurʼānic narratives: a. The sequential structure (al-bināʼ l-mutatābiʻ l-mutasalsil) ‒ A structure in which the events are sequences and logically arranged. The narrative in this case has a starting point and proceeds without returning to previous events that might interrupt the progress of the plot. This structure characterizes the historical narratives, and sūra 12 exemplifies this structure. b. The integrated structure (al-bināʼ l-mutadāḫil): If, in the first structure, the reader/ listener could easily follow the sequence of the events, this is not the case in the second structure. The integrated structure requires the reader to rearrange the events in order to better understand the plot. The story of Noah presented in sūra 11 exhibits this structure; in verses 42-43, Noah calls his son to come on board with him but his son says that he will take refuge on a mountain to protect him from the water; then the water subsided and the boat came to rest on the mountain of al-Ğudiyy. Noah called to God, saying that his son is part of his family, and asked God to save him. The Qurʼān commentators disagree about the sequence of the events because it is hard to determine whether the call of Noah to God about his son came before or after the flood that had drowned everything. Thus, according to Nāyif, the sequence of the events can be schematized as follows: a → e → f → b → c → d. c. The parallel structure (al-bināʼ l-mutawāzī): Narratives that have this type of structure contains two or more simultaneous stories. There is, for example, sūra 51, which contains the parallel stories of Abraham and Lot. When the angels come to Abraham to announce the birth of his son, Isaac, Lot suffers at the hands of his people.

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d. The recurrent structure (al-bināʼ l-mukarrir): This refers to narratives that repeat themselves several times in the Qurʼān, while each time some new information is added to the story. An example of this structure is the story of Moses. e. Mixture of stories (taḍmīn): Like Horovitz and Gilliot, Nāyif indicates a collection of short stories that together comprise one narrative. Thus, there is usually a thematic connection between these stories, as in Q 3:35-36 (the story of Maryam), and 37, 38-41 (the story of Zakariyyā). f. The circular structure (al-bināʼ d-dāʼiriyy): The audience reaches the end of the story and returns to the point from where they started. In Q 2:67-72 Muḥammad asks the people to slaughter a cow, while the last verse (67) explains the reason for this request. Nāyif explains that this request comes after a rich man was killed by his only successor, who threw his body onto the doorstep of one of the people in order to blame an innocent man. This event reached the ears of Moses, who asked the people to slaughter a cow and then to hit the dead man and then God would revive him. The diversity of the Qur’ānic narratives led the scholars to classify them in various categories. Yet, we would like to suggest an additional classification, but before launching into our classification, it should be noticed that any classification of narratives in general is not an easy task and one of the scholars who describes accurately the difficulties is Propp, who analyzed and classified folktales. He claims that “fairy tales possess a quite particular structure which is immediately felt and which determines their category, even though we may not be aware of it (…) If a division into categories is unsuccessful, the division according to theme leads to total chaos. We shall not even speak about the fact that such complex, indefinite concepts as ʻthemes’ are either left completely undefined or are defined by every author in his own way. 16 Jumping ahead, we shall state that the division of fairy tales according to themes is, in general, impossible. Like the division into categories, it must also be placed on a new track. Tales possess a special characteristic: components of one tale can, without any alteration whatsoever, be transferred to another” (Propp 1968:6-7). As Propp said, classification of narratives can lead to complete chaos; therefore, our classification into four models is a result of the integration of two approaches. The first is to look at the obvious linguistic features or the immediately-identifiable features of the narratives. The second is to adopt the existing model of Labov, and to try to apply it to the Qur’ānic narratives.

For example, Ḫalafallāh (1999:153-210) distinguishes seven types of stories (parables, historical narratives, didactic narratives, psychological narratives, symbolic narratives, eschatological narratives and preaching narratives), while Quṭub (2002:263-391) identifies only three types of narrative (parables, historical narratives and legends). 16

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

2.1 Narratives composed of dialogues Mir (2004:195-198) defines the Qurʼānic dialogues as follows: “By dialogue I mean a significant verbal exchange that takes place between two or more parties in a given situation. The stipulation of a ‘significant verbal exchange’ excludes exchanges that are all too brief or are only of incidental importance in a given context (…). The dialogues are used to advance the plot of the story and therefore they have a significant role in maintaining the continuity and coherence.” What concerns us most about Mir's definition is his recognition that the Qurʼānic dialogues have a role in achieving continuity and coherence in the Qurʼānic composition. He explains that if one recognizes the formulaic structure of a dialogue, there should be no difficulty in understanding the relevance of the dialogue in the context, i.e., one will not interpret the dialogue as a break in the discourse but vice versa, as an integral part of the discourse. 17As for the structure of the dialogues − they may stand alone, they can be embedded in another dialogue, or they may be juxtaposed with one or more dialogues, with which they may or may not be causally connected (Mir 2004:203). Mir argues that the narrative plot advances through the dialogues; however, it is still not clear how they are being advanced. The following Qurʼānic passages are composed of dialogues and classified in the research literature as narratives: Q 2:246-248; Q 2:258-260; Q 11:25-49; Q 11:69-83; Q 11:84-95; Q 14:5-18; Q 15:28-49; Q 17:61-65; Q 20:9-37; Q 20:38-55; Q 29:28-35; Q 38:21-25; Q 38:71-84; Q 40:23-40; Q 71:1-28. When examining these narratives, one cannot avoid asking what are the sequences of events in these narratives? The following example might clarify the structure of these Qurʼānic narratives: 65 wa-ʼilā ʻādin ʼaḫāhum hūdan qāla yā-qawmi ʻbudū llāha mā lakum min ʼilāhin ġayruhū ʼa-fa-lā tattaqūna 66 qāla l-malaʼu llaḏīna kafarū min qawmihī ʼinnā la-narāka fī safāhatin wa-ʼinnā la-naẓunnuka mina l-kāḏibīna 67 qāla yā-qawmi laysa bī safāhatun wa-lākinnī rasūlun min rabbi lʻālamīna 68 ʼuballiġukum risālāti rabbī wa-ʼana lakum nāṣiḥun ʼamīnun

17

Cf. Ḫalafallāh (1999:321-322)

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

11

69 ʼa-wa-ʻaǧibtum ʼan ǧāʼakum ḏikrun min rabbikum ʻalā raǧulin minkum li-yunḏirakum wa-ḏkurū ʼiḏ ǧaʻalakum ḫulafāʼa min baʻdi qawmi nūḥin wa-zādakum fī l-ḫalqi basṭatan fa-ḏkurū ʼālāʼa llāhi laʻallakum tufliḥūna 70 qālū ʼa-ǧiʼtanā li-naʻbuda llāha waḥdahu wa-naḏara mā kāna yaʻbudu ʼābāʼunā fa-ʼtinā bi-mā taʻidunā ʼin kunta mina ṣ-ṣādiqīna 71 qāla qad waqaʻa ʻalaykum min rabbikum riǧsun wa-ġaḍabun ʼatuǧādilūnanī fī ʼasmāʼin sammaytumūhā ʼantum wa-ʼābāʼukum mā nazzala llāhu bihā min sulṭānin fa-ntaẓirū ʼinnī maʻakum mina lmuntaẓirīna 72 fa-ʼanǧaynāhu wa-llaḏīna maʻahu bi-raḥmatin minnā wa-qaṭaʻnā dābira llaḏīna kaḏḏabū bi-ʼāyātinā wa-mā kānū muʼminīna (Q 7:65-72) “(65) And to Ad their brother Hood; he said: O my people, serve God! You have no other God than He; will you not be godfearing? (66) said the council of the unbelievers of his people, we see thee in folly, and we think that thou art one of the liars. (67) Said he: my people, there is no folly in me; but I am a messenger from the Lord of all being. (68) I deliver to you the messages of my Lord; I am your adviser sincere, faithful. (69) What, do you wonder that a reminder from your Lord should come to you by the lips of a man from among you? That He may warn you; and remember when he appointed you as successors after the people of Noah, and increased you in stature broadly; remember God's bounties; haply you will prosper. (70) They said: why hast thou come to us that we may serve God alone, and forsake that our fathers served? Then bring us what thou promised us, if thou speakest truly. (71) Said he: Anger and wrath from your Lord have fallen upon you. What, do you dispute with me regarding names you have named? You and your fathers, for whom God has not sent any authority? Then watch and wait: I shall be with you watching and waiting. (72) So we delivered him, and those with him, by a mercy from us; and we cut off the last remnant of those who cried lies to our signs and were not believers.” If we remove the verb qāla (“said”), which is the most prominent verb in this context, no sequences of events can be identified. Each verse includes one verb or even more than one verb; however, there is no logical, sequential or cohesive relation between the verbs, e.g., considering the verbs ʻbudū (verse 65), lanarāka (verse 66), laysa (verse 67) and ʼuballiġukum (verse 68) there is no sequential link between the events. The advance in the plot is made only through the verb qāla, which indicates the transfer from one participant to another. Furthermore, in Chapter Five we will discuss the verb system, focusing on the connection between time, foreground information and background information. It

22

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

will be shown that the perfect tense is used frequently to foreground a sequence of events which is temporally-ordered, while verbs in the imperfect or imperative form belong to the background information, which is usually considered descriptive. Following the division between foreground events and the background scenes, it might well be argued that the verb qāla should not be considered only as a feature of the dialogue but has a crucial role in moving the plot forward; these verbs, therefore, can be called the foreground events of the narrative. The dialogues in the Qurʼān can be also considered narratives because most of them fit the narrative model presented by Labov containing the six elements, as the analysis of the above example (Q 7:65-72) shows:  Abstract + Orientation: Verse 65 (Hūd was sent to ʻĀd)  Complicating actions: Verses 66-71 (the dialogue between the unbelievers and Hūd)  Resolution + Coda: Verse 72 (Elimination of the unbelievers). 2.2 Mixed narratives composed of dialogues/direct speech and sequences of events To this narrative model belong the following Qurʼānic passages: Q 2:30-39; Q 2:49-69; Q 2:249-252; Q 3:35-51; Q 5:27-32; Q 5:110-116; Q 7:59-72; Q 7:73-79; Q 7:85-94; Q 7:103-129; Q 7:130-145; Q 7:148-155; Q 10:71-92; Q 11:61-68: Q 12; Q 15:51-79; Q 17:101-104; Q 18:32-49; Q 18:6082; Q 18:83-100; Q 19:2-34; Q 20:77-98; Q 20:115-124; Q 26:11-83; Q 26:105122; Q 26:176-191; Q 27:15-44; Q 27: 45-53; Q 28:7-43; Q 29:36-37; Q 36:1324; Q 37:75-113; Q 51:25-37. The following example, Q 7:103-109 (an incomplete quotation from the complete narrative), demonstrates the structure of such a narrative. As can be seen, one can easily identify the series of sequences of events; however, unlike the first model, here the verb qāla appears several times, while the direct speech/dialogues are integrated into the foreground narrative line. 103 ṯumma baʻaṯnā min baʻdihim mūsā bi-ʼāyātinā ʼilā firʻawna wamalaʼihī fa-ẓalamū bihā fa-nẓur kayfa kāna ʻāqibatu l-mufsidīna 104 wa-qāla mūsā yā-firʻawnu ʼinnī rasūlun min rabbi l-ʻālamīna 105 ḥaqīqun ʻalā ʼan lā ʼaqūla ʻalā llāhi ʼillā l-ḥaqqa qad ǧiʼtukum bibayyinatin min rabbikum fa-ʼarsil maʻiya banī ʼisrāʼīla 106 qāla ʼin kunta ǧiʼta bi-ʼāyatin fa-ʼti bihā ʼin kunta mina ṣ-ṣādiqīna 107 fa-ʼalqā ʻaṣāhu fa-ʼiḏā hiya ṯuʻbānun mubīnun 108 wa-nazaʻa yadahū fa-ʼiḏā hiya bayḍāʼu li-n-nāẓirīna

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

13

109 qāla l-malaʼu min qawmi firʻawna ʼinna hāḏā la-sāḥirun ʻalīmun “(103) Then we sent, after them, Moses with our signs to Pharaoh and his council. But they did them wrong; so behold thou, what was the end of the workers of corruption! (104) Moses said: Pharaoh, I am a messenger from the Lord of all beings, (105) worthy to say nothing regarding God except the truth. I have brought a clear sign to you from your Lord; so send forth with me the children of Israel. (106) Said he: If thou hast brought a sign, produce it, if thou speakest truly. (107) So he cast his staff and behold, it was a serpent manifest. (108) And he drew forth his hand, and lo, it was white to the beholders. (109) Said the council of the people of Pharaoh: surely this man is a cunning sorcerer.” Q 7:103-129 is one narrative in a chain of stories presented in sūra 7. Examination of this narrative shows that, like the first model, it is possible to isolate the features that underpin a narrative:  Abstract + Orientation: Verse 103 (Moses meets Pharaoh)  Complicating actions: Verse 104-128 (Moses makes a sign and the response of the people of Pharaoh)  Resolution: Verse 128 (Showing the strength of God)  Coda: Verse 129 (God will destroy the enemy and grant the believers succession in the land) 2.3 Narratives composed of a few sequential events In this model, the following narratives are included: Q 7:81-84; Q 8:159-163; Q 9:25-26; Q 10:23; Q 15:16-27; Q 15:80-85; Q 21:83-86; Q 21:87-88; Q 21:89-90; Q 23:12-22; Q 23:31-52; Q 29:14-15; Q 37:114-126; Q 45:16-17; Q 51:38-46; Q 54:9-17; Q 57:26-27; Q 105. These passages can be called narratives because they describe an historical event and, more importantly, consist of a series of at least two events, none of which contains the verb qāla. However, unlike the narratives of the second model, the plots in these narratives are not strongly developed, as is shown in the following example (Q 21:76-77): 76 wa-nūḥan ʼiḏ nādā min qablu fa-staǧabnā lahū fa-naǧǧaynāhu waʼahlahū mina l-karbi l-ʻaẓīmi 77 wa-naṣarnāhu mina l-qawmi llaḏīna kaḏḏabū bi-ʼāyātinā ʼinnahum kānū qawma sawʼin fa-ʼaġraqnāhum ʼaǧmaʻīna “(76) And Noah —when he called before, and we answered him, and delivered him and his people from the great distress, (77) and we helped him against the people who cried lies to our signs; surely they were an evil people, so we drowned them all together.”

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

It is quite clear that the story of Noah is being narrated concisely, emphasizing the most important events, which are nādā, fa-staǧabnā, fa-naǧǧaynāhu, wanaṣarnāhu. Noah asks for God's help, God answers him, God saves him, God helps him against the unbelievers. There is much missing information that the audience should complete. The brevity in these narratives focuses on the main events; it can therefore be said that the element of complicating action is the most emphasized, while the other elements such as resolution and coda are missing from these narratives. 2.4 Narratives without sequences of events Included in the last model are the following narratives: Q 2:87-92; Q 2:124-133; Q 6:74-83; Q 7:164-167; Q 7:171-175; Q 9:70; Q 11:50-60; Q 18:10-24; Q 25:35-38; Q 26:123-140; Q 26:141-159; Q 27:7-13; Q 27:54-59; Q 29:16-19; Q 31:12-14; Q 34:10-12; Q 38:26-37; Q 40:5-6; Q 40:78-85; Q 43:26-60; Q 44:17-35; Q 50:12-14: Q 54:18-49; Q 61:5-6; Q 66:11-12; Q 68:4-8; Q 89:6-14. As the following example shows, no sequences of events are found in this narrative. It seems that this narrative -- like the others -- is classified in the research literature as narrative simply because it includes names of prophets. As previously explained, narratives are distinguished from other texts by the logical, temporal and sequential organization of the events. Such organization is missing from these passages and hence the fundamental element which Labov calls complicating action (i.e., fabula) and considers to be the core of the narrative is also missing. 12 kaḏḏabat qablahum qawmu nūḥin wa-ʼaṣḥābu r-rassi wa-ṯamūdu 13 wa-ʻādun wa-firʻawnu wa-ʼiḫwānu lūṭin 14 wa-ʼaṣhābu l-ʼaykati wa-qawmu tubbaʻin kullun kaḏḏaba r-rusula faḥaqqa waʻīdi (Q 50:12-14) “(12) Cried lies before them the people of Noah and the men of ar-Rass and Thamood, (3) and Ad and Pharaoh, the brothers of Lot, (13) the men of Thicket, the people of Tubba. Every one cried lies to the Messengers, and my threat came true.” We turn now to describe the prominent linguistic features shared by the four models.

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

15

Chapter Three: Discourse Markers Indicating the Beginning of a New Narrative or a New Section The Qurʼānic narratives are usually introduced by a specific formula; the audience, therefore, can immediately recognize when a new narrative is started. The most typical formulae are wa-ʼiḏ followed by a verb and ʼa-lam tara (Neuwirth 2002:259). Gilliot (2003:523-524) adds that the wa-ʼiḏ formula not only stands in the initial position of the narrative, 18 but also introduces something new in the development of the plot, indicating that something has happened or will happen. Another formula that introduces a new narrative is the interrogative expression hal ʼatāka ḥadīṯu “Have you received/heard the story” or ʼa-lam yaʼtika naba’u “Have the tidings not come to you?” Another formula is wa-ḍrib lahum maṯalan “Propose to them the parable/example of.” This chapter intends to re-examine the function of the formula wa-ʼiḏ + verb and to introduce some new structures indicating the beginning of a narrative or a new thematic unit in the narrative. We begin our discussion with the most prominent structure. 3.1 wa-ʼiḏ The particle ʼiḏ is usually discussed together with ʼiḏā, as both of them are considered temporal adverbs. The main difference between them, however, is that while the particle ʼiḏā can be followed by both nominal and verbal clauses, the particle ʼiḏ can be followed only by a verbal clause (Reckendorf 1921:309). Zarkašī (1957:vol. 4, 207) (745-794H) defines ʼiḏ as a time adverb (ẓarf zamān) usually indicating the past tense annexed to two clauses,19 e.g., wa-ḏkurū ʼiḏ ʼantum qalīlun (Q 8:26) “and remember when you were few.” The particle ʼiḏ has several meanings and functions in the Qurʼān: 1. It has the meaning of ḥīna “at the time when”, e.g. wa-lā taʻmalūna min ʻamalin ʼillā kunnā ʻalaykum šuhūdan ʼiḏ tufīḍūna fīhi (Q 10:61) “Do not do any work unless we are witnesses to you when you press on it.” 2. It can function as a particle of causality (ḥarf taʻlīl)20, as in: wa-lan yanfaʻakumu l-yawma ʼiḏ ẓalamtum (Q 43:39) “It shall not profit you today since you did evil.” 3. ʼiḏ may be considered as redundant (zāʼida), e.g. 18

Cf. Horovitz (1926:4); Neuwirth (1980:147). Cf. Ibn Yaʻīš (2001:vol. 3, 120); Ibn Hišām (1998:vol. 1, 166) ’Astarābāḏī (1998:vol. 3, 285). 20 See: Ibn Hišām (1998:vol. 1, 168); ’Astarābāḏī (1998:vol. 3, 285). 19

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

wa-ʼiḏ qāla rabbuka li-l-malāʼikati (Q 2:30) “And when thy Lord said to the angels.” Zarkašī says that in Q 2:30 ʼiḏ can be replaced with the particle qad. As for the position of ʼiḏ in the narratives − it appears in all four models of the Qurʼānic narratives; it may appear only once in the entire narrative21 or it can appear several times during the narrative. The function of ʼiḏ is determined according to its position in the narrative, as the following examples show: a. ʼiḏ appears one time in the discourse-initial position: wa-ʼiḏ qāla ʼibrāhīmu li-ʼabīhi wa-qawmihī ʼinnanī barāʼun mimmā taʻbudūna (Q 43:26) “And when Abraham said to his father and his people: Surely I am quit of that you serve.” In Q 43:26, ʼiḏ is the first word in the opening verse of the narrative. It functions as an indicator of the beginning of a new story. In this case, ʼiḏ might be compared with the use of the introductory wayhī (‫“ )ויהי‬and it came about”, which often is employed in the Biblical Hebrew. The differences between wayhī and wa-ʼiḏ is that the latter is directly followed by a verb in the perfect tense, while wayhī is usually followed by an adverbial element followed by a connective clause introduced by wa-yiqtol, e.g., wayhī bayyōm haššǝbīʻī wayyōʼmǝrū (Judges 14:15) “On the seventh day they said.” Just as ʼiḏ has several functions, wayhī functions not only as an initial-narrative marker, but sometimes has the force of a predicate verb, as in, for example, wayhī rāʻāb bǝkol-haʼarāṣōt (Genesis 41:54) “There was famine in all the territories.” (Eskhult 1990:31) 22 In the following example, ʼiḏ stands in an initial position, but is preceded by another introductory verse: 9 wa-hal ʼatāka ḥadīṯu mūsā 10 ʼiḏ raʼā nāran fa-qāla li-ʼahlihi mkuṯū ʼinnī ʼānastu nāran laʻallī ʼātīkum minhā bi-qabasin ʼaw ʼaǧidu ʻalā n-nāri hudan (Q 20:9-10) “(9) Hast thou received the story of Moses? (10) When he saw a fire, and said to his family: Tarry you here; I see a fire. Perhaps I shall bring you a brand from it, or I shall find guidance at the fire.” 21

Examples: Q 2:246; Q 5:27; Q 6:74; Q 17:61; Q 18:16; Q 18:61; Q 19:3; Q 20:10; Q 27:7; Q 36:13; Q 38:22; Q 38:71; Q 51:25 22 Cf. Cohen (2013:113-114).

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

17

Both verse 9 and 10 belong to the introductory section of the narrative. It might be argued, however, that verse 9 functions as an abstract, i.e., a clause that summarizes the complete story or, as we can see in verse 9 it announces the theme of the narrative. Verse 10, however, might be considered as the orientation, which, according to Labov, presents the characters, the time/period and location. Verse 10 indeed provides more detail about the story of Moses or, more precisely, it focuses on a specific event that happened to Moses from among the many events narrated in the Qurʼān. Another difference between Q 43:26 and Q 20:9-10 is the missing particle wāw before ʼiḏ. In Q 43:26, wāw serves as wāw l-istiʼnāf23, i.e., it is used as a particle with which a speech begins, or the sentence that followed it is completely independent in meaning from the sentence that precedes it (Bābitī 1992:1161). The particle wāw in Q 20:9-10 is missing because there is a semantic connection between the two clauses — a connection that might be broken by adding the particle wāw. This argument could be reinforced by some of the Qurʼān commentators who refer to the function of ʼiḏ in Q 20:9-10, as, for example, Zamaḫšarī (1947:vol. 3,53) (d. 580H) or Rāzī (2000:vol. 21-22,14) (d. 606H), who explain the function of ʼiḏ by replacing it with the adverb ḥīna, i.e., wa-hal ʼatāka ḥadīṯu mūsā ḥīna raʼā nāran “And has there come to you the story of Moses when he saw a fire?” The clause after ʼiḏ completes the idea of the clause that precedes it. An additional example with a structure similar to that of Q 20:9-10 is: 141 kaḏḏabat ṯamūdu l-mursalīna 142 ʼiḏ qāla lahum ʼaḫūhum ṣāliḥun ʼa-lā tattaqūna (Q 26:141-142) “(141) Thamood cried lies to the envoys (142) when their brother Salih said to them: Will you not be godfearing?” Both verses 141 and 142 consist of clauses that are syntactically and semantically completed, and therefore both can be read independently of each other. However, it seems that verse 142 completes verse 141, since it explains why and when Ṯamūd deceived the messenger. b. ʼiḏ appears several times in a narrative consisting of short stories: As the following example exhibits ʼiḏ introducing each time a new story, yet in the introduction it was indicated that it would be problematic to call these sections narratives, since they do not consist of at least two sequential actions. 49 wa-ʼiḏ naǧǧaynākum min ʼāli firʻawna yasūmūnakum sūʼa l-ʻaḏābi yuḏabbiḥūna ʼabnāʼakum wa-yastaḥyūna nisāʼakum wa-fī ḏālikum balāʼun min rabbikum ʻaẓīmun

23

This function of the particle wāw is mentioned in several books of morpho-syntactic analysis of the Qurʼān, e.g., Ṣāfī (1988:vol. 11, 329); Daḥdāḥ (1999:250).

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

50 wa-ʼiḏ faraqnā bikumu l-baḥra fa-ʼanǧaynākum wa-ʼaġraqnā ʼāla firʻawna wa-ʼantum tanẓurūna 51 wa-ʼiḏ wāʻadnā mūsā ʼarbaʻīna laylatan ṯumma ttaḫaḏtumu l-ʻiǧla min baʻdihī wa-ʼantum ẓālimūna 52 ṯumma ʻafawnā ʻankum min baʻdi ḏālika laʻallakum taškurūna 53 wa-ʼiḏ ʼātaynā mūsā l-kitāba wa-l-furqāna laʻallakum tahtadūna 54 wa-ʼiḏ qāla mūsā li-qawmihī yā-qawmi ʼinnakum ẓalamtum ʼanfusakum bi-ttiḫāḏikumu l-ʻiǧla fa-tūbū ʼilā bāriʼikum fa-qtulū ʼanfusakum ḏālikum ḫayrun lakum ʻinda bāriʼikum fa-tāba ʻalaykum ʼinnahū huwa t-tawwābu r-raḥīmu 55 wa-ʼiḏ qultum yā-mūsā lan nuʼmina laka ḥattā narā llāha ǧahratan fa-ʼaḫaḏatkumu ṣ-ṣāʻiqatu wa-ʼantum tanẓurūna (Q 2:49-55)24 “(49) And when we delivered you from the people of Pharaoh, who were visiting you with evil chastisement, slaughtering your sons, and sparing your women; and in that was a grievous trial from your Lord. (50) And when we divided for you the sea and delivered you, and drowned Pharaoh's people while you were watching. (51) And when we appointed for Moses forty nights then you took to yourselves the calf after him and you were evildoers; (52) then we pardoned you after that, so that you may be grateful. (53) And when we gave to Moses the book and the salvation, so that you may be guided. (54) And when Moses said to his people: My people, you have done wrong against yourselves by your taking the calf; now turn to your creator and slay one another. That will be better for you in your creator's sight, and he will turn to you; truly he turns, and is Allcompassionate. (55) And when you said: Moses, we will not believe thee until we see God openly; and the thunderbolt took you while you were watching.” Q 2:49-55 and other examples 25 have been categorized in the research literature as passages that are composed of several stories but revolve around the same theme. This argument can be rejected since it might be argued that the so-called stories should be considered as the sequences of events in a linear narrative, i.e., a narrative that follows a straight line — starting at the beginning, moving to the middle and proceeding to the end of the story. Thus, when we re-examine Q 2:49-69, it can be observed that the starting point of the narrative is verse 49, describing the situation of the people of Israel under Pharaoh's rule, and then the audience directly moves to another event, which is the separation of the sea, and 24 25

This is an incomplete quotation of the narrative. The narrative ends with verse 69. Additional examples categorized in this group are: Q 2:124-133; Q 5:110-116.

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

19

so on. The events are syntactically connected to each other by the connective wāw26 that precedes the adverb ʼiḏ. All events marked by initial ʼiḏ are chronologically-organized and, as will be shown later in Chapter Five, the structure of ʼiḏ followed by a verb in the perfect belongs to the foreground information in the narrative. c. ʼiḏ appears two to three times in the narrative: in the initial position and in the middle:27 35 ʼiḏ qālati mraʼatu ʻimrāna rabbi ʼinnī naḏartu laka mā fī baṭnī muḥarraran fa-taqabbal minnī ʼinnaka ʼanta s-samīʻu l-ʻalīmu (…) 41 qāla rabbi ǧʻal lī ʼāyatan qāla ʼāyatuka ʼallā tukallima n-nāsa ṯalāṯata ʼayyāmin ʼillā ramzan wa-ḏkur rabbaka kaṯīran wa-sabbiḥ bi-lʻašiyyi wa-l-ʼibkāri 42 wa-ʼiḏ qālati l-malāʼikatu yā-maryamu ʼinna llāha ṣṭafāki waṭahharaki wa-ṣṭafāki ʻalā nisā’i l-ʻālamīna 43 yā-maryamu qnutī li-rabbiki wa-sǧudī wa-rkaʻī maʻa r-rākiʻīna 44 ḏālika min ʼanbāʼi l-ġaybi nūḥīhi ʼilayka wa-mā kunta ladayhim ʼiḏ yulqūna ʼaqlāmahum ʼayyuhum yakfulu maryama wa-mā kunta ladayhim ʼiḏ yaḫtaṣimūna 45 ʼiḏ qālati l-malā’ikatu yā-maryamu ʼinna llāha yubašširuki bikalimatin minhu smuhu l-masīḥu ʻīsā bnu maryama waǧīhan fī d-dunyā wa-l-ʼāḫirati wa-mina l-muqarrabīna (Q 3:35, 45-51)28 “(35) When the wife of Imran said: Lord, I have vowed to Thee, in dedication, that which is within my womb. Receive thou this from me. Thou hearest and knowest. (…) (41) He said (Zachariah): Lord, appoint me a sign. Thy sign, God said, is that thou shalt not speak, save by tokens, to men for three days. And mention thy Lord oft, and give glory at evening and dawn. (42) And when the angels said: Mary, God has chosen thee, and purified thee above all woman. (43) Mary, be obedient to thy Lord, prostrating and bowing before him. (44) That is the tidings of the unseen, that we reveal to thee; for you were not with them, when they were casting lots, which of them should be charged with the care of Mary; thou 26

This function of the particle wāw is mentioned in books of morpho-syntactic analysis of the Qurʼān (ʼiʻrāb l-Qurʼān), as in Ṣāfī (1988:vol. 1, 93-94), and in the Qurʼānic exegeses, as in: Ṭabarī (1992:vol. 1, 314-315). 27 Additional examples are: Q 2:87-92; Q 2:258-260; Q 14:5-14; Q 18:9-25; Q 20:38-41; Q 21:4873; Q 26:11:83. 28 The narrative is only partially quoted.

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were not with them, when they were disputing. (45) When the angels said: Mary, God gives thee good tidings of a word from Him whose name is Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, highly honored shall He be in this world and the next, stationed next to God.” Q 3:35-51 can be considered as one narrative divided into three sections, in which ʼiḏ marks the beginning of each section: verses 35-41 discuss the birth of Mary and that Zachariah addresses God, asking Him to grant him a child. In verses 42-44 the angels ask Mary to submit herself obediently to God. In verses 45-52 the angels bring the news about the birth of Jesus, and that Jesus is a messenger sent to the Children of Israel. The central theme of Q 3:35-52 is Mary; at the beginning of the story, however, the audience is informed about the birth of Jesus. Then there is a turning point in the story, when a reference to Zachariah is made and his desire for the birth of a child. It seems that the passage on Zachariah interrupts the progress of the story about Mary and the birth of Jesus. It might therefore be argued that the adverb ʼiḏ which begins verse 42 not only indicates the beginning of a new unit, but also indicates the return to the main theme of the story, which is Mary. An additional example is the following: 130 wa-la-qad ʼaḫaḏnā ʼāla firʻawna bi-s-sinīna wa-naqṣin mina ṯṯamarāti laʻallahum yaḏḏakkarūna (…) 141 wa-ʼiḏ ʼanǧaynākum min ʼāli firʻawna yasūmūnakum sūʼa l-ʻaḏābi yuqattilūna ʼabnāʼakum wa-yastaḥyūna nisāʼakum wa-fī ḏālikum balāʼun min rabbikum ʻaẓīmun (Q 7:130,141) “(130) Then seized we Pharaoh's people with years of dearth, and scarcity of fruits, that perhaps they might remember (…) (141) And when we delivered you from the people of Pharaoh who were visiting you with evil chastisements, slaying your sons, and sparing your women — and in that was a grievous trial from your Lord.” Verses 130 and 141 belong to the story of Moses, which begins with verse 103 and ends with verse 157. Both verses 130 and 141 introduce a new thematic unit in the story. Pharaoh, who ruled Egypt, was a tyrant who used his power to demean and disgrace the children of Israel. Verse 130 starts the unit that describes how God saves the Children of Israel from Pharaoh by afflicting Egypt with the flood and the locusts and the lice and the frogs and the blood. Verse 141 begins the unit that describes what happened after the children of Israel were saved and were released from the authoritarian rule of Pharaoh, e.g., the story of the golden calf. Q 12:4-8 is an additional example of ʼiḏ marking a new thematic unit: 4 ʼiḏ qāla yūsufu li-ʼabīhi yā-ʼabati ʼinnī raʼaytu ʼaḥada ʻašara kawkaban wa-š-šamsa wa-l-qamara raʼaytuhum lī sāǧidīna

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5 qāla yā-bunayya lā taqṣuṣ ruʼyāka ʻalā ʼiḫwatika fa-yakīdū laka kaydan ʼinna š-šayṭāna li-l-ʼinsāni ʻaduwwun mubīnun 6 wa-ka-ḏālika yaǧtabīka rabbuka wa-yuʻallimuka min taʼwīli l-ʼaḥādīṯi wa-yutimmu niʻmatahu ʻalayka wa-ʻalā ʼāli yaʻqūba ka-mā ʼatammahā ʻalā ʼabawayka min qablu ʼibrāhīma wa-ʼisḥāqa ʼinna rabbaka ʻalīmun ḥakīmun 7 la-qad kāna fī yūsufa wa-ʼiḫwatihī ʼāyātun li-s-sāʼilīna 8 ʼiḏ qālū la-yūsufu wa-ʼaḫūhu ʼaḥabbu ʼilā ʼabīnā minnā wa-naḥnu ʻuṣbatun ʼinna ʼabānā la-fī ḍalālin mubīnin (Q 12:4-8) “(4) When Joseph said to his father: Father, I saw eleven stars, and the sun and the moon; I saw them bowing down before me. (5) He said: O my son, relate not thy vision to thy brothers, lest they devise against thee some guile. Surely Satan is to man a manifest enemy. (6) So will thy Lord choose thee, and teach thee the interpratation of tales, and perfect his blessing upon thee and upon the house of Jacob, as he perfected it formerly on thy fathers Abraham and Isaac; surely the Lord is Allknowing, All-wise. (7) In Joseph and his brethren were signs for those who ask questions. (8) When they said: Surely Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than we are, though we are a band. Surely our father is in manifest error.” Verses 4-7 in sūra 12 function as the opening passage of sūra 12 or, in accordance with Labov's model, these verses function both as the abstract and the orientation of the narrative, where Joseph has a dream and he narrates his dream to his father; his father understands the meaning of this dream and hence he asks Joseph as a prophet not to tell his brothers about his dream to prevent any harm. Verse 8 starts the unit that is actually the trigger that activates the plot, i.e., Joseph’s brothers are jealous of him, and they conceive a plot in an effort to get rid of him. Starting from verse 9, the progress in the story is primarily achieved by VS clauses while the actions expressed by verbs in the perfect tense are shown to be in sequence. 3.2 wa-la-qad Michalski (2011:101-105) addresses the function of la-qad in modern standard Arabic, saying that from an aspectual point of view, qad and la-qad are employed to indicate the termination or the completion of the action. The particle la-qad has also an emphatic function, i.e., it emphasizes, stresses and confirms the occurrence of an action. This function is usually referred to in the research literature as qad li-taḥqīq “qad for emphasis, reinforcement.” Reckendorf (1921:300-301) says that qad followed by a verb in the perfect indicates a resultative meaning and never historical meaning and emphasis.

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The Qurʼānic commentators do not usually refer to the function of la-qad; however, an examination of the morpho-syntactic analysis of this particle shows that the particle wāw preceding la-qad can be analyzed as wāw l-istiʼnāf, 29 as wāw l-ʻaṭf 30 or as wāw l-qasm/ḥarf ğarr wa-qasm. The particle la is analyzed as lām l-qasm li-qasmin muqaddarin “lām of oath, of an intended (expression) of oath”, while qad is considered as ḥarf taḥqīq “emphatic/assertion particle”.31 Examination of the particle la-qad appearing in the Qurʼānic narratives shows that this particle has the same functions asʼiḏ. It appears in the initial position, starting the story, as in: la-qad ʼarsalnā nūḥan ʼilā qawmihī fa-qāla (Q 7:59) “And we sent Noah to his people and he said.” Similar to ʼiḏ, the particle la-qad appears several times in the narrative, indicating the beginning of a new thematic section. For instance, the story of Moses in sūra 20 has a non-linear structure, i.e., it does not have a beginning, a middle and an ending. In verses 10-37 Moses sees the fire and decides to go to the source of the fire to find guidance there. When he reaches the place, a voice calls out to him: it is the voice of God urging him to go to Pharaoh. God shows Moses his support for him by turning his staff into a snake. Verses 37-55 begin with the clause wa-la-qad manannā ʻalayka marratan ʼuḫrā “already another time we favored thee” which is completed in verse 38, ʼiḏ ʼawḥaynā ʼilā ʼummika mā yūḥā “when we revealed what was revealed unto thy mother.” Section 37-55 begins when Moses was a baby and to save him his mother put him in a box in the river, hoping that someone would pick him up and save him. There are many gaps in this section, because in verse 42 there is a jump to the days when God asked Moses to go to Pharaoh. The next section, from verses 56-76, starts with the clause wa-la-qad ʼāraynāhu ʼāyātinā kullahā fa-kaḏḏaba wa-ʼabā “so we showed Pharaoh all our signs but he cried lies” describes how Moses succeeded in releasing his people. Verses 77-89 begin with the clause wa-la-qad ʼawḥaynā ʼilā mūsā ʼan ʼasri bi-ʻibādī fa-ḍrib lahum ṭarīqan fī lbaḥri yabasan lā taḫāfu darakan wa-lā taḫšā “also we revealed unto Moses: Go with my servant by night; strike for them a dry path in the sea, fearing not overtaking, neither be afraid.” The section starts with the drowning of Pharaoh and ends with the worship of the golden calf. The last section, consisting of verses 90-98, begins with the clause wa-la-qad qāla lahum hārūnu min qablu yāqawmi ʼinnamā futintum bihī “Yet Aaron had previously said to them: my peo-

29

See: Ṣāfī (1988:vol.1, 156) Q 2:87. Cf. Zarkašī (1958:vol. 4, 306) see his explanation of Q 7:59. The same uses of the particle wāw can be found in the Hebrew Bible, where the conversive wāw stands at the beginning or in the middle of the story, signaling the beginning of a new twist in the plot. See: Junger (1989:86-87) 30 See: Ṣāfī (1988:vol.1, 166) Q 2:92. 31 See: ʻUlwān et al. (2006:vol. 1:73); Daḥdāḥ (2003:551).

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ple, you have been tempted by this thing.” This section describes what Aaron's reaction was when he discovered the golden calf. In this context, it is worth mentioning the article of Sarig (1995), who argues that la-qad and wa-la-qad function as discourse markers in modern standard Arabic or, more precisely, as indicators of topic-shifting. As she explains: “The marker la-qad indicates, as mentioned earlier, a shift in the topic of discourse, or points out the speaker's wish to highlight the proposition, either due to its importance, or else because of the speaker's emotional stand on the topic of discourse. (…) In its role as a shift-marker la-qad cannot, of course, appear in the initial position of the opening paragraph of a text, but it can take the initial position in other parts of the text, such as at the head of the main part of the text, or at the head of the closing paragraph” (Sarig 1995:14). There is no doubt that in some cases in the Qurʼānic narratives there are clauses starting with wa-la-qad that not only mark the beginning of a new theme, but also mark a shift in the topic; see, for example, Q 27:15. In verses 7-14 the story of Moses is narrated, while in verse 15 the new topics of David and Solomon are introduced by a clause in which wa-la-qad is in the initial position. However, one can find various cases in the Qurʼān where clauses starting with wa-la-qad do not mark any topic shift, i.e., the narrative deals with the same topic, while wa-la-qad clauses mark the introduction of a new event in the main topic. An example of this is Q 2:87,92, where there is one main topic in the narrative, and that is Moses. Additional examples are: Q 2:87-92; Q 7:130; Q 9:25; Q 10:13; Q 11:25, 96; Q 14:5; Q 15:16, 24, 26, 80, 87; Q 16:63; Q 17:101; Q 20:115; Q 21:48, 51; Q 23:12, 23; Q 25:35; Q 27:15, 45; Q 29:14; Q 31:12; Q 34:10; Q 37:75, 114; Q 28:34; Q 40:23, 34, 78; Q 44:17; Q 45:16; Q 57:25, 26. 3.3 Word order OVS/OSV/SVO A marked order in the Qurʼān is also typical of discourse-initial position.32 In the following example, a direct object stands at the head of the clause: wa-lūṭan ʼiḏ qāla li-qawmihī (Q 29:28) “And Lot, when he said to his people.” The Qurʼān commentators explain the appearance of a direct object in the initial position due to the deletion of the verb ʼuḏkur “remember”.33 In Q 29:36 a prepositional phrase is positioned initially, followed by a direct object, while the commentators suggest that the verb ʼarsalnā “we sent” has been deleted:34 32

See Bandstra (1992:116-117). He mentions the marked word order SVO, MVSO (M=temporal prepositional phrase) VMO and VMSO as a typical order of discourse initial position. 33 (Tafsīr) Ğalālayn (1994:399). 34 Ğalālayn, (1994:400).

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wa-ʼilā madyana ʼaḫāhum šuʻayban (Q 29:36) “And to Midian their brother Shuaib.” Both verses could have been paraphrased with an unmarked word order, such as Q 29:28 wa-ʼiḏ qāla lūṭan li-qawmihī or Q 29:36 wa-ʼarsalnā ʼaḫāhum šuʻayban ʼilā madyana. The marked word order can be considered as an additional stylistic feature signaling the beginning of a new narrative or a new section that is used together with the features mentioned in this section. Additional examples are: Q 7:37, 80, 85, 159; Q 11:50, 61, 84; Q 21:74, 76, 83, 87, 90; Q 27:54; Q 29:16; Q 51:38, 43; Q 71:1. 3.4 Miscellaneous Additional structures occupying the discourse-initial position are: a. Vocative: wa-yā-ʼādamu skun ʼanta wa-zawǧuka l-ǧannata (Q 7:19) “O Adam, inherit, thou and thy wife, the garden.” b. Verb in imperative: wa-tlu ʻalayhim nabaʼa nūḥin (Q 10:71) “And recite to them the story of Noah.” Additional examples: Q 18:32; Q 36:13 c. lammā: wa-lammā ǧāʼat rusulunā lūṭan sīʼa bihim (Q 11:77) “And when our messengers came to Lot, he was troubled on their account.” d. wāw l-istiʼnāf followed by a VS clause: wa-ʼawḥaynā ʼilā ʼummi mūsā ʼan ʼarḍiʻīhi (Q 28:7) “So we revealed to Moses’ mother: Suckle him.” An additional example Q 43:51.

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

e. Interrogative particle: hal ʼatāka ḥadīṯu ḍayfi ʼibrāhīma l-mukramīna (Q 51:24) “Hast thou heard the story of the honored guests of Abraham?” Additional examples: Q 38:21; Q 89:6; Q 105:1.

35

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Chapter Four: Topic References For a brief glimpse into the issue of topic references in Qurʼānic narratives, let us consider the following examples: 51 wa-nabbiʼhum ʻan ḍayfi ʼibrāhīma 52 ʼiḏ daḫalū ʻalayhi fa-qālū salāman qāla ʼinnā minkum waǧilūna 53 qālū lā tawǧal ʼinnā nubašširuka bi-ġulāmin ʻalīmin 54 qāla ʼa-baššartumūnī ʻalā ʼan massaniya l-kibaru fa-bi-ma tubašširūna 55 qālū baššarnāka bi-l-ḥaqqi fa-lā takun mina l-qāniṭīna 56 qāla wa-man yaqnaṭu min raḥmati rabbihī ʼillā ḍ-ḍāllūna 57 qāla fa-mā ḫaṭbukum ʼayyuhā l-mursalūna 58 qālū ʼinnā ʼursilnā ʼilā qawmin muǧrimīna 59 ʼillā ʼāla lūṭin ʼinnā la-munaǧǧūhum ʼaǧmaʿīna 60 ʼillā mraʼatahū qaddarnā ʼinnahā la-mina l-ġābirīna (Q 15:51-60) “(51) And tell them of the guests of Abraham, (52) when they entered unto him, saying: Peace. He said: Behold, we are afraid of you. (53) They said: Be not afraid; behold, we bring thee good tidings of a charming boy. (54) He said: Of what do you bring me good tidings; though old age has smitten me? Of what do you give me good tidings? (55) They said: We bring thee good tidings of truth. Be not of those that despair. (56) He said: And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord, except those that have gone astray? (57) He said: And what is your business, envoy? (58) They said: We have been sent unto a people of sinners, (59) except the people of Lot; them we shall deliver all together, (60) except his wife —we have decreed, she shall surely be of those that tarry.” Two parties take part in the story narrated in Q 15:51-60: Abraham and his guests. Both are introduced in the opening verse of the story, which, together with verse 52, are considered to be the abstract and the orientation sections of the narrative. Q 15:51-60 belongs to the first model of Qurʼānic narratives, i.e., it consists of a dialogue. Thus, the participants are mentioned explicitly only once, while during the dialogue they are implicitly indicated through the verbal conjugation — qāla refers to Abraham, while qālū refers to the guests of Abraham. There are additional references to the topic, such as suffixed pronouns and other conjugated verbs. In this narrative model the transition from one partici-

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pant to the other is smooth and clear. However, in the following narrative, which also consists of dialogue, the references are expressed explicitly: 59 la-qad ʼarsalnā nūḥan ʼilā qawmihī fa-qāla yā-qawmi ʻbudū llāha mā lakum min ʼilāhin ġayruhū ʼinnī ʼaḫāfu ʻalaykum ʻaḏāba yawmin ʻaẓīmin 60 qāla l-malaʼu min qawmihi ʼinnā la-narāka fī ḍalālin mubīnin (Q 7:59-60) “And we sent Noah to his people; and he said: O my people, serve God! You have no god other than Him; truly, I fear for you the chastisement of a dreadful day. Said the council of his people: We see thee in manifest error.” In the opening verse, two parties are mentioned: Noah and his people. Thus the readers/listeners expect to hear a dialogue in which the shift between the two sides in the dialogue will be referred to by the conjugation of the verbs qāla and qālū. Verse 60, however, does not start with qāla l-qawm or just qālū, but with qāla l-malaʼu min qawmihi. The reason for such a reference to the topic is explained later in section 4.6. The third example represents narratives of the third model, i.e., narratives consisting of sequential events. As with the previous examples, the participants are introduced in the opening verse of the narrative. They are the two sons of Adam, though their names are not mentioned: 27 wa-tlu ʻalayhim nabaʼa bnay ʼādama bi-l-ḥaqqi ʼiḏ qarrabā qurbānan fa-tuqubbila min ʼaḥadihimā wa-lam yutaqabbal mina l-ʼāḫari qāla la ʼaqtulannaka qāla ʼinnamā yataqabbalu llāhu mina l-muttaqīna 28 la-ʼin basaṭta ʼilayya yadaka li-taqtulanī mā ʼanā bi-bāsiṭin yadiya ʼilayka li-ʼaqtulaka ʼinnī ʼaḫāfu llāha rabba l-ʻālamīna 29 ʼinnī ʼurīdu ʼan tabūʼa bi-ʼiṯmī wa-ʼiṯmika fa-takūna min ʼaṣḥābi nnāri wa-ḏālika ǧazāʼu ẓ-ẓālimīna 30 fa-ṭawwaʻat lahū nafsuhū qatla ʼaḫīhi fa-qatalahu fa-ʼaṣbaḥa mina lḫāsirīna 31 fa-baʻaṯa llāhu ġurāban yabḥaṯu fī l-ʼarḍi li-yuriyahū kayfa yuwārī sawʼata ʼaḫīhi qāla yā-waylatā ʼa-ʻaǧaztu ʼan ʼakūna miṯla hāḏā l-ġurābi fa-ʼuwāriya sawʼata ʼaḫī fa-ʼaṣbaḥa mina n-nādimīna (Q 5:27-31) “(27) And recite thou to them the story of the two sons of Adam truthfully, when they offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted of one of them, and not accepted of the other. I will surely slay thee, said one. Go, accept only of the godfearing, said the other. (28) Yet if thou stretch out thy hand

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against me, to slay me, I will not stretch out my hand against thee, to slay thee; I fear God, the Lord of all being. (29) I desire that thou should be laden with my sin and thy sin, and so become an inhabitant of the fire; that is the recompense of the evildoers. (30) Then his soul permitted him to murder his brother, and he killed him, and became among the losers. (31) Then God sent forth a raven, scratching into the earth to show him how he might conceal the vile body of his brother. He said: Woe is me! Am I unable to be as this raven, and so conceal my brother's vile body? And he became one of the remorseful.” Although the names of the sons are omitted, the sequence of the incidents is quite clear. In verse 31 God is introduced as a new topic, while the two participants are God and the brother who killed his own brother. This chapter seeks to clarify the cases in which an explicit topic is introduced. The term “explicit topic” means the mention of a full name (a proper name or other nouns such as, qawm “people”), while “implicit topic” refers to topics expressed by a zero anaphora, an anaphoric pronoun that is suffixed to a verb or noun or by verbal conjugation. Before turning to these cases, however, an explanation of the term topic should be provided. The existence of a topic in the discourse may help in identifying the boundaries of units in the discourse, because each unit has a particular topic, i.e., it speaks about something specific, while the next unit speaks about something else. To define the term topic, one should first distinguish between a sentential topic and a discourse topic. The notion topic is associated with the description of a sentence structure typically mentioned with the term comment. Topic usually refers to the grammatical subject of the sentence, while comment is the predicate which gives information about the subject. In discourse analysis, the use of the term topic to identify a particular sentential constituent does not concern us. Our primary interest in discourse analysis is determining the topic, i.e., ʻwhat is being talked about in the discourse’ (Brown and Yule 1983:69-71).35 There are, however, two problems with this definition. First, the course of a discourse usually concerns a single topic or a single individual. Yet it would be wrong to claim that all discourses are about one topic because we may find several topics in one discourse. The second problem concerns the identification of the topic; namely, that there are specific features of the topic (Brown and Yule 1983:8182). To identify the topic in the discourse, it is not only the content that should be considered, but also how the discourse is structured. “Structure” means the way the discourse is divided into paragraphs and units, and how the topic-shifts in the discourse are marked. One example of such markers given by Brown and Yule (1983:97-99) is the use of adverbial expressions indicating temporal sequence. As for the term unit, this is the content or “what it says” that makes each statement in the narrative sequence into a functional unit, i.e., a unit of in35

Cf. Heimerdinger (1999:101-103).

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formation that contributes to the development of the story. The manner in which this information is transmitted has no importance in the division of the units (Barthes 1996:49). Khan (1998) defines the term topic as follows: “The term topic refers to an individual or any entity which occupies a central position in a stretch of discourse. Impressionistically it may be said that a topic is a referent which a stretch of discourse is ʻaboutʼ. A topic span is a stretch of discourse in which a certain referent has topic status. Often one topic span is integrated into another ʻhigher levelʼ topic span. In such cases the topic of the higher level span is referred to as the primary topic and that of the shorter ʻembeddedʼ span as the secondary topic.” According to Khan (1988:31-32), one of the syntactic markers of the boundaries of discourse span and especially topic span is SV clauses. These clauses attract the attention of the listener or the reader. The concept of a topic was a subject of research in Biblical Hebrew. Van der Merwe (1994:34-36) uses the term participant reference, explaining how the reference is accomplished in Biblical Hebrew. First, he mentions the explicit references, which are the proper names normally associated with paragraph borders, as in (for example) Genesis 28:10, where the proper names, Naomi and Ruth, are mentioned. Second, he notes the ways of referring to participants, including the withholding of full reference to a participant. This kind of reference has a stylistic effect in which the persona is developed first and the name is mentioned only at the end. An additional reference marker is repetition. A repeated proper name may serve as the climactic point in the text, as in Gen 37:28, where the name Joseph is mentioned three times: first, when the Midianite merchants drew Joseph up out of the well, then when they sold Joseph, and, finally, when the Ishmaelites took Joseph to Egypt. The repetition of the proper name may indicate that the words of the participants are important, surprising or unexpected. In some cases the use of a proper noun may be redundant because the pronouns suffixed to the verbs already include the pronominal reference, such as in Gen 42:8 using the name Joseph is superfluous because it is clear from the context that the verb “recognize” can refer only to Joseph. As for the Qurʼānic narratives, the question of topic and topic-shift has not been the subject of detailed research. One of the few works dealing with this issue is Sakaedani’s article (2004). Before analyzing the topic in various Qurʼānic narratives, we would like to refer to Sakaedani, who explains the reasons for and the effect of topic-shifting in narratives. In his view, when speaking about the topic we need to take into account two further concepts: camera angle and staging, concepts that are taken from the studies of the Japanese scholar Kuno, who analyzed where a speaker sets his ʻcameraʼ when he describes an event. For example, if the speaker says John hit Mary his camera is placed at some distance from both John and Mary, while if he says John hit his wife the camera is placed closer to John than to Mary (his wife). In contrast, if he says Mary's husband hit

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her or Mary was hit by John the camera is placed closer to Mary than John. (Sakaedani 2004:57) Sakaedani intends to clarify two points. First, when and why is the topic maintenance rule broken in Qur’ānic narrative texts? Secondly, what is the correlation between noun phrase forms and verb forms at the boundaries of discourse spans? Sakaedani found that the majority of the Qurʼānic stories, particularly those about the prophets, are usually introduced with definite noun phrases or, more precisely, with their proper names. Thus, in this paper he focuses on the phrases that come after the participants have been initially topicalized: “Once participants have been topicalized they must be expressed with zero anaphora or oblique case pronouns, according to the topic maintenance rule. This can be seen, for example, in Qarun's story (Q 28:76-82), in which Qarun continues to function as the topic by being referred to with zero anaphora or oblique case pronouns. Thus, in the text, his people said to the arrogant Qarun ʻDo not gloat, for God does not like people who gloat’ (Q 28:76), warning him, to which he spat out the response, ʻThis wealth was given to me on account of the knowledge I possess’ (Q 28:78). Immediately after this, an expression which conveys disgust at his haughtiness is inserted, but Qarun continues to be referred to with zero anaphora even after this apparent break in topic maintenance” (Sakaedani 2004:62). Sakaedani continues presenting the ways of topic maintenance and cases of topic shift in Q 18:60-71, Q 19:16-34 and Q 3:33-44, while integrating into his explanation the idea of camera position as, for example, in Q 18:60 he says that both Moses and his servant are introduced at the beginning of the story, and then they are referred to by dual pronouns, yet the camera angle is always close to Moses. In contrast to Sakaedani, this chapter does not focus on the different methods of topic maintenance, but it attempts to consider a more complicated question regarding the topic, which occurs when a full name is used as a topic in the Qurʼānic narratives. It is worth mentioning that, in this chapter, the terms topic or reference topic refer to the actors in the narratives, i.e., the participants who perform an action and hence affect the development of the plot. Such topics do not necessarily function as the subject of the clause, i.e., in the nominative case, but can also be in the accusative or the genitive case, functioning as the direct object or following a prepositional phrase. There are six cases in which introducing a full name is obligatory in the Qurʼānic narratives: 4.1 Topic in initial position in the narrative According to Labov's model, the first obligatory element is the introduction, which presents concisely the main lines of the plot. Most of the Qurʼānic narratives have a heading presenting the narrative briefly, as is shown in the following example:

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

11

2 ḏikru raḥmati rabbika ʻabdahū zakariyyā 3 ʼiḏ nādā rabbahū nidāʼan ḫafiyyan (Q 19:2-3) “The mention of thy Lord's mercy unto his servant Zachariah; when he called upon his Lord secretly.” The heading of the narrative (verses 2-3) announces the two topic participants of the story, Zachariah and Allāh. Heimerdinger (1999:106) explains that though such headings are used in the Hebrew Bible, the participants “are assigned the highest degree of topical importance and it is expected that such a feature should be reflected at clause level.”Additional examples: Q 2:30; Q 2:124: Q 3:35; Q 5:27; Q 6:74; Q 7:59,73,80,85, Q 7:103-104; Q 7:130; Q 7:148; Q 7:159; Q 9:70; Q 10:13; Q 11:25; Q 11:61; Q 11:69: Q 11:77; Q 11:96-97; Q 14:5,6; Q 15:28; Q 15:51; Q 15:80; Q 16:63; Q 17:61; Q 17:101; Q 18:32; Q 18:60; Q 18:83; Q 19:2; Q 19:16; Q 20:9; Q 20:115; Q 21:48; Q 23:23; Q 25:35; Q 26:10; Q 26:70; Q 26:105; Q 26:123-124; Q 26:141-142; Q 26:160-161; Q 26:176-177; Q 27:7; Q 27:15; Q 27:45; Q 27:54; Q 28:7; Q 29:14; Q 29:28; Q 29:37; Q 34:10; Q 36:13; Q 37:75; Q 37:114; Q 38:71; Q 40:23-24; Q 40:78; Q 43:26; Q 44:17; Q 50:12-14; Q 51:25; Q 51:38,42,43,46; Q 54:9; Q 57:26; Q 61:5; Q 69:3-6,9; Q 89:7; Q 105:1. 4.2 New topic introduction 4.2.1 Introducing a new topic in the plot Goutsos (1997:56) argues that topic introduction is an obligatory sequential technique associated with the strategy of topic shift because without topic introduction no shift can be established, particularly because the new topic involves starting a continuation span. In the following example, verse 19 serves as the heading of the narrative which presents three topic participants: Adam, his wife, and God, who allowed Adam and his wife to dwell in Paradise, commanding them not to come near the tree: 19 wa-yā-ʼādamu skun ʼanta wa-zawǧuka l-ǧannata fa-kulā min ḥayṯu šiʼtumā wa-lā taqrabā hāḏihi š-šaǧarata fa-takūnā mina ẓ-ẓālimīna 20 fa-waswasa lahumā š-šayṭānu li-yubdiya lahumā mā wūriya ʻanhumā min sawʼātihimā wa-qāla mā nahākumā rabbukumā ʻan hāḏihi š-šaǧarati ʼillā ʼan takūnā malakayni ʼaw takūnā mina l-ḫālidīna (Q 7:19-20) “(19) O Adam, inherit, thou and thy wife, the Garden, and eat what you will, but come not nigh this tree, lest you be of the evildoers. (20) Then Satan whispered to them, to reveal to them that which was hidden from them of their shameful parts. He said: Your Lord has only prohibited you from this tree lest you become angels, or lest you become immortals.”

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Verse 20 presents the fourth participant in the narrative, which is the devil, who seduces Adam and his wife to violate God's prohibition regarding the tree. Verse 20 indicates the beginning of a new paragraph, but not the beginning of a new unit or a new theme in the narrative. The sequentiality between the paragraphs is preserved by the fact that verse 20 begins with the connective particle fa- followed by a VS clause. Thus, verse 20, which signals an additional event, contributes to the development of the story in which a new character appears. It should also be mentioned that the additional topic that is introduced later in the story is no less important than the initial topics. Topical importance refers to the question as to which entities are the primary topics in the story, i.e., topical entities that have a central role in developing the discourse and so occur with greater frequency than less important ones. (Heimerdinger 1999:108) The devil appearing in sūra 20 is mentioned five times − the first time with the full name šayṭān. He is referred to three times by the verb conjugation qāla, qāsama and dalla and once by a suffixed pronoun ʼinnī. Without doubt, the references to the devil are less frequent than the references to God, Adam and his wife, but it cannot be argued that the devil is less important in this story. The devil is the character who advances the plot and affects the future of Adam and Eve. Additional examples: Q 5:31; Q 7:109,113; Q 7:150; Q 10:22; Q 10:75,80: Q 11:71: Q 11:78; Q 14:10; Q 15:31; Q 15:67; Q 20:12; Q 20:40; Q 20:60; Q 20:90; Q 20:113,120; Q 27:18,23; Q 27:39,40; Q 28:8,9; Q 28:20,23; Q 28:28,39; Q 29:31; Q 39:20; Q 38:21-22; Q 40:28; Q 43:51; Q 51:29. 4.2.2 Introducing a new topic to mark a new unit In contrast to the cases mentioned in Section 4.2.1, where a new topic is introduced, section 4.2.2 discusses cases in which the topic with its full name is mentioned several times in the narratives. As shown in the following example, two topics are mentioned in the heading, David and Solomon, while the proper name, Solomon, is mentioned again in verse 16 and 17: 15 wa-la-qad ʼātaynā dāwūda wa-sulaymāna ʻilman wa-qālā l-ḥamdu lillāhi llaḏī faḍḍalanā ʻalā kaṯīrin min ʻibādihi l-muʼminīna 16 wa-wariṯa sulaymānu dāwūda wa-qāla yā-ʼayyuhā n-nāsu ʻullimnā manṭiqa ṭ-ṭayri wa-ʼūtīnā min kulli šayʼin ʼinna hāḏā la-huwa l-faḍlu lmubīnu 17 wa-ḥušira li-sulaymāna ǧunūduhū mina l-ǧinni wa-l-ʼinsi wa-ṭ-ṭayri fa-hum yūzaʻūna (Q 27:15-17) “(15) And we gave David and Solomon knowledge and they said: Praise belongs to God who has preferred us over many of his believing servants. (16) And Solomon was David's heir, and he said: Men, we have been taught the speech of the birds, and we have been given everything; surely

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this is indeed the manifest bounty (17) and his hosts were gathered to Solomon, jinn, men and birds, duly disposed.” The name, Solomon, is first mentioned in verse 15, which serves as the opening verse, introducing the cast of characters. In verse 16 Solomon is mentioned as the heir of David and verse 17 begins the units about the ants whose conversation was understood by Solomon. Allegedly, there is a connection between verses 15-17 because each verse indicates a new event in the plot, and the events are chronologically organized. However, a reexamination of verses 1517 shows that verses 15 and 16 can be considered as one short thematic unit, while verse 17 starts a longer unit. Furthermore, the name, Solomon, which is mentioned again in verse 17, raises a question regarding its function. It seems that mentioning this name is redundant because it could have been replaced with an anaphoric pronoun by saying wa-ḥušira lahu “(the hosts) were mustered to him”. A possible explanation for repeating the name Solomon is that if an anaphoric pronoun had been used rather than the name, verse 17 would have been understood as a continuation of verse 16, while introducing the name Solomon serves as separation device between the thematic units. Additional examples: Q 2:31; Q 2:49-55,60,67;87;92; Q 2:126,127; Q 2:249,250; Q 2:260; Q 3:37-38; Q 3:37,45; Q 5:110-113; Q 5:116; Q 15:61; Q 20:38; Q 20:42: Q 20:77; Q 21:51; Q 21:74,76,78,83,87,89; Q 25:37; Q 26:26; Q 27:36; Q 28:26,36; Q 40:36. 4.3 Topic reference due to gaps in the narratives Givóv (1983:11) explains this factor as follows: “If a topic is indefinite and thus introduced for the first time, it is maximally difficult to process, by definition, since a new file has to be opened for it. If a topic is definite and returns to the register after a long gap of absence, it is difficult to process. The shorter the gap of absence, the easier is topic identification; so that a topic that was there in the preceding clause is by definition easiest to identify and file correctly.” Using a full name reference after a gap of topic absence is seen in the following example: qāla nūḥun rabbi ʼinnahum ʻaṣawnī wa-ttabaʻū man lam yazidhu māluhū wa-waladuhū ʼillā ḫasāran (Q 71:21) “Noah said: My Lord, they have rebelled against me, and followed him whose wealth and children only increase him loss.” Verse 21 belongs to the story of Noah, which begins with the heading ʼinnā ʼarsalnā nūḥan ʼilā qawmihī “We sent Noah to his people.” As the heading indicates, there are two topic participants, Noah and his people, and the narrative can be divided as follows: In verses 2-3 Noah addresses his people asking them to worship God and to obey him and God will forgive them on the Day of

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Judgment. In verses 4-8 Noah addresses God, saying that he had called his people day and night but with no success. In verses 10-20, Noah describes God’s might to his people, saying that he sends rain in abundance, gives you increase, creates your gardens and rivers, he created the seven heavens, he is your creator and made the earth widespread for you. Verse 21 returns the listener to the main theme of the story, which is the dialogue between Noah and God. The description of God in verses 10-20 belongs to the so-called background information, a term that is discussed further in Chapter Five. Introducing background information in the narrative might divert the narrative plot from its course. Deviation from the main line of the plot might affect the memory of the audience, i.e., after a long description of God, the audience might forget who are the participants in the story and what is the story-line; thus mentioning again who are the participants in the story can help the audience to follow the plot. Repeated reference to the topic should not necessarily be used after a referential gap exceeding a certain range, i.e., a large gap between the references. In the following example, two topic characters are taking part in the dialogue − the council of the children of Israel and one of their prophets. In verse 246 there is only one reference to the prophet, which is expressed by the verbs qāla, while the council is referred to twelve times; four times by using a verb conjugation (1st person plural, masculine; and 2nd person plural, masculine) and eight times by using a suffixed pronoun (1st person masculine, plural; and 3rd person masculine, plural.): 246 ʼa-lam tara ʼilā l-malaʼi min banī ʼisrāʼīla min baʻdi mūsā ’iḏ qālū li-nabiyyin lahumu bʻaṯ lanā malikan nuqātil fī sabīli llāhi qāla hal ʻasaytum ʼin kutiba ʻalaykumu l-qitālu ʼallā tuqātilū qālū wa-mā lanā ʼallā nuqātila fī sabīli llāhi wa-qad ʼuḫriǧnā min diyārinā wa-ʼabnāʼinā fa-lammā kutiba ʻalayhimu l-qitālu tawallaw ʼillā qalīlan minhum wallāhu ʻalīmun bi-ẓ-ẓālimīna 247 wa-qāla lahum nabiyyuhum ʼinna llāha qad baʻaṯa lakum ṭālūta malikan qālū ʼannā yakūnu lahu l-mulku ʻalaynā wa-naḥnu ʼaḥaqqu bi-lmulki minhu wa-lam yuʼta saʻatan mina l-māli qāla ʼinna llāha ṣṭafāhu ʻalaykum wa-zādahu basṭatan fī l-ʻilmi wa-l-ǧismi wa-llāhu yuʼtī mulkahū man yašāʼu wa-llāhu wāsiʻun ʻalīmun 248 wa-qāla lahum nabiyyuhum (…) (Q 2:246-248) “(246) Hast thou not regarded the council of the children of Israel, after Moses, when they said to a prophet of theirs: Raise up for us a king, and we will fight in God's way. He said: Might it be that, if fighting is prescribed for you, you will not fight? They said: Why should we not fight in God's way, we who have been expelled from our habitations and our children? Yet when fighting was prescribed for them, they turned their backs except a few of them; and God has knowledge of the evildoers. (247) Then their prophet said to them: Verily God has raised up Saul for

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

15

you as king. They said: How should he be king over us, we who have better right than he to kingship, seeing that he has not been given amplitude of wealth? He said: God has chosen him over you and increased him broadly in knowledge and body. God gives the kingship to whom He will; and God is All-embracing, All-Knowing. (248) And their prophet said to them (…).” The ratio of 1:12 in the references to the two topics might explain why in verse 247 the prophet is referred to by his full title (wa-qāla lahum nabiyyuhum), while the council is referred to by a suffixed pronoun (lahum and nabiyyuhum). The number of references to the council of the Children of Israel helps the audience maintain their attention and to follow the action of this particular topic. The prophet, however, is referenced only once in the opening part of verse 246, while after this reference the focus is on the council or, more precisely, on its reaction after the prophet had asked them why they do not fight in God's way. The answer of the council can be classified as background information, hence when returning to the foreground information in verse 247, the prophet must be referred to with his full title. The same explanation holds for verse 248, where the prophet is referenced with his full title, while the council is referred to by a suffixed pronoun. Additional examples: Q 5:114-115; Q 7:123,127,128; Q 7:154; Q 9:26; Q 11:42, 45; Q 11:59; Q 14:8; Q 15:30; Q 20:69: Q 20:86: Q 26:43; Q 26:53; Q 40:30; Q 71:21, 26. 4.4 Topic reference to prevent ambiguity In some cases, the topics share the same syntactic feature. When, for example, both topics are in the masculine singular person, referring to them with an anaphoric pronoun might confuse the audience, insofar as it is not clear to which topic it refers. According to Givón (1983:14), if a topic occupies a dominant position and has an unambiguous identification within the last three clauses in the register, then other potential topics do not interfere with the topic identification. However, additional topics in the register might interfere with topic identification if the other topics are semantically compatible, as when all topics are human or non-human or if they all function as objects or subjects. An example of preventing ambiguity or, as Givón calls it, preventing potential interference in topic identification, is Q 6:74-75. Two topics are mentioned: Abraham and his father Azar. Thus, if verse 75 had been expressed as wa-kaḏālika nurīhi “so we will show him”, the readers/listeners might understand that the reference is made either to Abraham or to his father Azar. Abraham asks his father whether he takes idols for gods. If verse 75 had included an anaphoric pronoun (nurīhi) instead of a full name, the readers/listeners might have interpreted verse 75 as an action of God which aims to prove to Azar that there is only one all-mighty God. Introducing the name Abraham in verse 75 prevents such ambiguity.

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74 wa-ʼiḏ qāla ʼibrāhīmu li-ʼabīhi ʼāzara ʼa-tattaḫiḏu ʼaṣnāman ʼālihatan ʼinnī ʼarāka wa-qawmaka fī ḍalālin mubīnin 75 wa-ka-ḏālika nurī ʼibrāhīma malakūta s-samāwāti wa-l-ʼarḍi wa-liyakūna mina l-mūqinīna (Q 6:74-75) “(74) And when Abraham said to his father, Azar: Take thou idols for gods? I see thee, and thy people, in manifest error. (75) So we were showing Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and earth that he might be of those having sure faith.” In the following example, Moses is caught in a situation in which two men are fighting: wa-daḫala l-madīnata ʻalā ḥīni ġaflatin raǧulayni yaqtatilāni hāḏā min šīʻatihi staġāṯahu llaḏī min šīʻatihi ʻalā llaḏī min fa-qaḍā ʻalayhi qāla hāḏā min ʻamali muḍillun mubīnun (Q 28:15)

min ʼahlihā fa-waǧada fīhā wa-hāḏā min ʻaduwwihi faʻaduwwihi fa-wakazahu mūsā š-šayṭāni ʼinnahū ʻaduwwun

“And he entered the city, at a time when its people were unheeding, and found there two men fighting: the one of his own party, and the other was of his enemies. Then the one that was of his party cried to him to aid him against the other that was of his enemies; so Moses struck him, and dispatched him, and said: This is of Satan's doing; he is surely an enemy misleading, manifest.” After seeing that a man of his party, i.e. the Children of Israel, was attacked, Moses struck him with his fist and killed him. Without mentioning explicitly the name of Moses, one could understand that the man of Moses’ party was the one who struck his enemy and killed him and it was not Moses, who was asked by this man to help him. Additional examples: Q 2:258; Q 10:77,79,84,88; Q 14:11; Q 18:66; Q 26:38; Q 26:41; Q 28:18; Q 40:26,27. 4.5 Addressing the topic A vocative structure is an expression of direct speech in which someone is being addressed. In the following example, the vocative particle is followed by the noun qawm, which is one of the topics introduced in verse 84, while in verse 86 the second topic šuʻaybu is addressed. 84 wa-ʼilā madyana ʼaḫāhum šuʻayban qāla yā-qawmi ʻbudū llāha mā lakum min ʼilāhin ġayruhū (…) 85 wa-yā-qawmi ʼawfū l-mikyāla wa-l-mīzāna bi-l-qisṭi wa-lā tabḫasū nnāsa ʼašyāʼahum wa-lā taʻṯaw fī l-ʼarḍi mufsidīna

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

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86 baqiyyatu llāhi ḫayrun lakum ʼin kuntum muʼminīna wa-mā ʼanā ʻalaykum bi-ḥafīẓin 87 qālū yā-šuʻaybu ʼa-ṣalātuka taʼmuruka ʼan natruka mā yaʻbudu ʼābāʼunā ʼaw ʼan nafʻala fī ʼamwālinā mā našāʼu (Q 11:84-87) “(84) And to Midian (we sent) their brother Shuaib; he said: O my people, serve God! You have no god other than Him. (…) (85). O my people, fill up the measure and the balance justly, and do not diminish the goods of the people, and do no mischief in the land, working corruption. (86) That which is left by God for you is better for you, if you are believers. And I am not a guardian over you. (87) They said: Shuaib, does thy prayer command thee that we should leave that our father served, or to do as we will with our goods?” Additional examples: Q 2:33,35; Q 7:19; Q 7:115; Q 7:134, 138; Q 11:28,32; Q 11:46,48; Q 11:53: Q 11:81; Q 11:84,87,88,91,92; Q 15:33; Q 18:93; Q 19:7,8,10; Q 20:11,19; Q 20:65; Q 20:92; Q 20:117; Q 28:19,20; Q 38:26. 4.6 Topic specification In Q 7:59 Noah addresses his people, asking them to worship God. In response to his request, a group of his people shouts at him that he is the one who is found in grievous error: 59 la-qad ʼarsalnā nūḥan ʼilā qawmihi fa-qāla yā-qawmi ʻbudū llāha mā lakum min ʼilāhin ġayruhū ʼinnī ʼaḫāfu ʻalaykum ʻaḏāba yawmin ʻaẓīmin 60 qāla l-malaʼu min qawmihi ʼinnā la-narāka fī ḍalālin mubīnin (Q 7:59-60) “(59) And we sent Noah to his people; and he said: O my people, serve God! You have no god other than Him. Truly I fear for you the chastisement of a dreadful day. (60) Said the council of his people: We see thee in grievous error.” After the introduction of these two topics, it was expected that verse 60 would begin with the verb qālū, referring to the people of Noah. Instead, we find another full name l-malaʼu min qawmihi, which refers to a small group of his people. Thus, topic specification might be identified as moving from a general entity to a specific entity— a move that requires a full topic reference. The following example can also be classified in this category, because the topic ʼiḥdāhumā refers to a specific woman of the two women who came to Moses: fa-ǧāʼathu ʼiḥdāhumā tamšī ʻalā stiḥyāʼin qālat ʼinna ʼabī yadʻūka (Q 28:25)

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“Then came one of the two women to him, walking modestly, and said: My father invites thee.” Additional examples: Q 7:75-76, 88, 90; Q 7:162; Q 11:27; Q 14:13: Q 23:24; Q 27:16; Q 28:10: Q 28:26. 4.7 Miscellaneous 4.7.1 Redundant reference In the following cases an appropriate explanation for the topic reference was not found, while it seems that using a full name could be considered redundant. In the following example, the name Moses is mentioned twice in verse 143, while the second use of the name Moses is redundant. After Moses was mentioned at the beginning of verse 143, he was referred to five times, which makes it easy to follow his actions as described in the paragraph. For these reasons, mentioning his name again later in the verse is not necessary, and the clause without his name (wa-ḫarra ṣaʻiqan fa-lammā ʼafāqa) does not affect the identification of Moses as the topic in this clause. 142 wa-wāʻadnā mūsā ṯalāṯīna laylatan wa-ʼatmamnāhā bi-ʻašrin fatamma mīqātu rabbihī ʼarbaʻīna laylatan wa-qāla mūsā li-ʼaḫīhi hārūna ḫlufnī fī qawmī wa-ʼaṣliḥ wa-lā tattabiʻ sabīla l-mufsidīna 143 wa-lammā ǧāʼa mūsā li-mīqātinā wa-kallamahu rabbuhu qāla rabbi ʼarinī ʼanẓur ʼilayka qāla lan tarānī wa-lākini nẓur ʼilā l-ǧabali fa-ʼini staqarra makānahū fa-sawfa tarānī fa-lammā taǧallā rabbuhū li-l-ǧabali ǧaʻalahu dakkan wa-ḫarra mūsā ṣaʻiqan fa-lammā ʼafāqa qāla subḥānaka tubtu ʼilayka wa-ʼana ʼawwalu l-muʼminīna (Q 7:142-143) “(142) And we made an appointment with Moses for thirty nights and we added ten, so the appointed time of his Lord was forty nights; and Moses said to his brother, Aaron: Be my successor among my people, and put things right, and do not follow the way of the workers of corruption. (143) And when Moses came to our appointed time and his Lord spoke with him, he said: O my Lord, show me, that I may behold thee! He said: Thou shalt not see me; but behold the mountain—if it stays fast in its place, then thou shalt see me. And when his Lord revealed himself to the mountain he made it crumble to dust; and Moses fell down swooning. So when he awoke, he said: Glory be to thee! I am first of the believers.” Additional examples of redundant topics are: Q 7:155: Q 26:45,46; Q 26:65.

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4.7.2 Emphatic reference The introduction of the name Abraham could be explained as a device to prevent ambiguity because by using an anaphoric pronoun the audience might think that this pronoun refers to Lot, who is mentioned at the end of verse 74, and not to Abraham. However, verse 75 provides no new information, but emphasizes Abraham’s virtues. 74 fa-lammā ḏahaba ʻan ʼibrāhīma r-rawʻu wa-ǧāʻathu l-bušrā yuǧādilunā fī qawmi lūṭin 75 ʼinna ʼibrāhīma la-ḥalīmun ʼawwāhun munībun (Q 11:74-75) “(74) So, when the awe departed from Abraham and the good tidings came to him, he was disputing with us concerning the people of Lot; (75) Abraham was merciful, compassionate, penitent.” In Q 20:78-79 it seems that the second reference to Pharaoh is redundant, because verse 79 is the completion of verse 78, i.e., Pharaoh followed the children of Israel but he and his army drowned, and therefore he led his people astray. Mentioning again the name Pharaoh in verse 79 emphasizes the idea that Pharaoh himself is the only one who is responsible for his defeat: 78 fa-ʼatbaʻahum firʻawnu bi-ǧunūdihī fa-ġašiyahum mina l-yammi mā ġašiyahum 79 wa-ʼaḍalla firʻawnu qawmahū wa-mā hadā (Q 20:78-79) “Pharaoh followed them with his hosts, but they were overwhelmed by the sea; so Pharaoh had led his people astray, and was no guide to them.” Additional examples of emphatic reference are: Q 20:14; Q 20:78-79; Q 37:79; Q 26:52. To conclude this chapter, an analysis of the topic references (only full names) in sūra 12 is presented. The choice of sūra 12 was made particularly because of its length and structure. Sūra 12 belongs to narratives of the second model, consisting of dialogues/direct speech and sequential events. In addition, Joseph’s story can be divided into several units in which various participants take part in developing the plot. For this reason, sūra 12 is of great importance for understanding when and how a topic reference with a full name is made in the story.

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Topic reference Joseph and his father Joseph addresses his father (yā-ʼabati) His father addresses Joseph (yā-bunayya) Joseph and his brothers

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

4

Reason for mentioning the reference Introducing the primary topics at the beginning of the narrative. Vocative

5

Vocative

7

Beginning of a new unit: The brothers’ plot against Joseph. Verse 8 functions as the summary of the story, hence the primary participants are presented. Preventing ambiguity. The brothers want to kill Joseph and not Benjamin, who is mentioned in the previous verse. Specification of the topic. Only one brother spoke. Redundant reference Vocative

4

Verse

Joseph and his brother Benjamin Joseph

8

One of the brothers (qāla qāʼilun minhum) Joseph The father (yā-ʼabānā) Joseph

10

The father (yā-ʼabānā) Joseph

17

A caravan of travelers (sayyāratun) Potiphar and his wife (llaḏī štarāhu min miṣra) Joseph

19

Gap in the narrative. Joseph is not mentioned in verse 16. Introducing a new topic

21

Introducing new topics

21

Potiphar's wife (llatī huwa fī baytihā) Joseph

23

Women in the city (niswatun fī l-madīnati)

30

Emphasizing God's might; Thus (by bringing him to Egypt) God established him, Joseph, in this land. Beginning of a new unit: Potiphar's wife tries to seduce Joseph. Vocative. Potiphar addresses Joseph after hearing what happened to his wife. Introducing new topic

9

10 11 11

17

29

Preventing ambiguity. The brothers are asking their father why he does not trust them with Joseph. Without mentioning Joseph’s name explicitly, it might be understood that they are referring to Benjamin. Vocative

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

Potiphar's wife

30

Two young men (fatayāni) One of the young men (ʼaḥaduhumā) And the other one (l-ʼāḫaru) The young men (yā-ṣāḥibayi s-siǧni) The king The young man who was saved Joseph The king

36

51

36

The women mentioning her name emphasizes that she is the one who tried to seduce Joseph and not vice versa. Beginning of a new unit: Joseph in the prison solving dreams. Specification of the topic

39, 40

Vocative

43 45

Introducing a new topic Preventing ambiguity

46 50

Vocative Gap in the narrative. The king was previously mentioned in verse 43.

The women who cut their hands

50

Joseph

51

The King

54

Joseph

56

Joseph’s brothers

58

The father The brothers (yā-baniyya) Joseph

63, 65 67

Gap in the narrative. Mentioning or returning to a previous event in which these women were involved. The king asks the women what was their plan when they tried to seduce Joseph. Turning back to this event requires in this context mentioning Joseph, i.e., the king mentions to the women a specific event in which Joseph is involved. Gap in the narrative. The king was previously mentioned in verse 50. Emphasizing God's might; thus (by helping him to solve the dreams) God gave him authority in the land. Beginning of a new unit: Joseph's brothers came to Egypt. Vocative Vocative

Joseph

76

Joseph

77

Joseph (the ruler) (l-ʻazīzu)

78

69

Gap in the narrative. Joseph was previously mentioned in verse 59. Emphasizing God's might. God planned the coming of Joseph's brothers. Preventing ambiguity. Without mentioning Joseph’s name, one understands that one of the brothers stole something and he (the brother) kept it secret. Vocative

52

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

The oldest brother (qāla kabīruhum)

80

Specification of the topic. Only the oldest brother spoke.

The father and Joseph

80, 85

The brothers (yā-baniyya)

87

The oldest brother mentions previous events in which their father and Joseph were involved. Vocative

Joseph and his brother

87

Joseph (l-ʻazīzu) Joseph and his brother

88

Joseph

90

Joseph

90

Emphasis. Joseph answers by saying: I am Joseph.

The father

94

Joseph

94

The father Joseph

97 99

Gap in the narrative. The father was previously mentioned in verse 81. Gap in the narrative. The father says: I sense the smell of Joseph, while the name Joseph was previously mentioned in verse 90. Vocative Gap in the narrative. The brothers enter into the presence of Joseph. Joseph was previously mentioned in verse 94.

89

Gap in the narrative. Joseph was previously mentioned in verse 85. Vocative Joseph himself asks his brothers if they know what they did with himself and his brother. Joseph's brother asks him directly: Are you Joseph?

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

53

Chapter Five: Foreground and Background Information Theories of narrative structure distinguish between two notions that make up a narrative − foregrounding and backgrounding. The term foregrounding has a linguistic sense referring to the new information in the sentence, while the background information represents previously-mentioned information. From this point of view, these two terms are parallel to other concepts in linguistics, such as rheme/theme or given/new information. In the field of textual linguistics, foregrounding is not used to indicate new information in the text. It covers several meanings, inter alia, indicating a process in the reading when something is given special prominence. It may also indicate the specific devices used by the author in the text itself (Van Peer 1994:vol. 3, 1272-1273). Hopper (1979:213) explains that in a narrative discourse there is an overt distinction between the language of the actual story line and the language of the supportive material36. The former information belongs to the story line. It has a relation to the main events of the narrative which, according to Hopper, belongs to the skeleton of the narrative and thus is referred to by him as foreground. The supportive information he refers to as the background. The same distinction is made by Labov (1972:363), who calls the main story line information the complicating action. (Couper-Kuhlen 1987:vol. 2, 7)37 As for the primary goal of the narratives − which is to transfer information − this involves two tasks; the first is telling the events in the story and the second is monitoring of the telling. Monitoring ensures that the story is clearly structured and thus well understood. The clarity of a narrative can be achieved if there is enough background knowledge that explains the main given information. This background information, which includes feelings and opinions, is known in the research literature as a point of view, perspective and focalization. Labov calls this storytelling dimension evaluation, saying that without this element a narrative that contains only informative material cannot be considered a complete narrative, because it lacks significance. As previously explained, the information presented in the evaluation is usually categorized in narrative studies as the background information, while Heimerdinger argues that foregrounding should not refer only to the main information in the event-line structure. Foregrounding must be considered in its connection with evaluative material as well, or, in other words, evaluative material should be considered as well as foregrounding material (Heimerdinger 1999:241). Labov did not use the terms foreground and background information in his study; these notions were used by scholars who discussed narrative structure and established the terms on the 36

Khan (1988:37) says that background material “is the part of a discourse which does not immediately and crucially contribute to the speaker's goal, but which merely assists, amplifies or comments on it.” The backgrounds consist of scene-setting descriptions, circumstantial events, flashbacks, evaluative comments, etc. (see his introduction, xxxvi) 37 Cf. Hatav (1989:488).

54

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

basis of his theory. Furthermore, Labov's approach to the information structure of the narrative differs from the prevailing view in narrative studies, according to which there is a link between foreground and background information and tense. (Vetters 1992:369) To distinguish between foreground information and background information, we should first refer to the features of this information, i.e., signs by which the information can be encoded in the text. The features can be divided into four aspects: 1. Sequentiality: The events described in the foreground, i.e., the main events of the story, follow one another in the same order as they do in the real world. Background events, however, are not sequential to the events of the foreground but concurrent with them. Background information supports, amplifies and comments on the main events of the story line. (Hopper 1979: 215) 2. Tense and Aspect: In the foreground information the clauses include verbs denoting discrete and measured events; therefore, these verbs are usually complete or, in other words, they can be defined as telic verbs, and not iterative or durative. The completion of the action expressed by the verbs is necessary for the performance of a subsequent event. Thus, the verbs indicating the completion of an action are in the perfect tense, while iterativity and durativity are expressed by verbs in the imperfect tense. (Hopper 1979: 215, 216) 3. Word order: Foreground sentences have a strong tendency to use an unmarked word order, i.e., VS word order. The new events of the story line are introduced by a verbal predicate and the subject tends to be the central character in the story. SV word order, on the other hand, characterizes the sentences of the background information (Hopper 1979:220-222). Myhill (1992:265) says that in all languages with over 60% VS word order, it is evident that the VS clauses are correlated with temporally-sequential clauses, while SV clauses are associated with unsequenced clauses. A temporally-sequenced event refers to foreground clauses that advance the time reference of a narrative. 4. Type of clauses: Labov (1972:387) claims that only independent clauses can function as narrative clauses, i.e., function as foregrounded clauses. Subordinate clauses, however, do not serve as narrative clauses because, according to him, “once a clause is subordinated to another, it is not possible to disturb the original semantic interpretation by reversing it.” We began our discussion by listing the familiar features of foreground and background clauses. The next step is to examine whether these features are indeed exhibited in the Qurʼānic narratives; therefore, we first consider the following example: 148 wa-ttaḫaḏa qawmu mūsā min baʻdihi min ḥuliyyihim ʻiǧlan ǧasadan lahū ḫuwārun ʼa-lam yaraw ’annahu lā yukallimuhum wa-lā yahdīhim sabīlan-i ittaḫaḏūhu wa-kānū ẓālimīna

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

149 wa-lammā suqiṭa fī ʼaydīhim wa-raʼaw ʼannahum qad ḍallū qālū laʼin lam yarḥamnā rabbunā wa-yaġfir lanā la-nakūnanna mina l-ḫāsirīna 150 wa-lammā raǧaʻa mūsā ʼilā qawmihī ġaḍbāna ’asifan qāla biʼsamā ḫalaftumūnī min baʻdī ʼa-ʻaǧiltum ʼamra rabbikum wa-ʼalqā l-ʼalwāḥa wa-ʼaḫaḏa bi-raʼsi ʼaḫīhi yaǧurruhu ʼilayhi qāla bna ʼumma ʼinna lqawma staḍʻafūnī wa-kādū yaqtulūnanī fa-lā tušmit biya l-ʼaʻdāʼa wa-lā taǧʻalnī maʻa l-qawmi ẓ-ẓālimīna 151 qāla rabbi ġfir lī wa-li-ʼaḫī wa-ʼadḫilnā fī raḥmatika wa-ʼanta ʼarḥamu r-rāḥimīna 152 ʼinna llaḏīna ttaḫaḏū l-ʻiǧla sa-yanāluhum ġaḍabun min rabbihim wa-ḏillatun fī l-ḥayāti d-dunyā wa-ka-ḏālika naǧzī l-muftarīna 153 wa-llaḏīna ʻamilū s-sayyiʼāti ṯumma tābū min baʻdihā wa-ʼāmanū ʼinna rabbaka min baʻdihā la-ġafūrun raḥīmun 154 wa-lammā sakata ʻan mūsā l-ġaḍabu ʼaḫaḏa l-ʼalwāḥa wa-fī nusḫatihā hudan wa-raḥmatun li-llaḏīna hum li-rabbihim yarhabūna 155 wa-ḫtāra mūsā qawmahū sabʻīna raǧulan li-mīqātinā fa-lammā ʼaḫaḏathumu r-raǧfatu qāla rabbi law šiʼta ʼahlaktahum min qablu waʼiyyāya ʼa-tuhlikunā bi-mā faʻala s-sufahā’u minnā ʼin hiya ʼillā fitnatuka tuḍillu bihā man tašāʼu wa-tahdī man tašā’u ʼanta waliyyunā fa-ġfir lanā wa-rḥamnā wa-ʼanta ḫayru l-ġāfirīna (Q 7:148-155) “(148) And the people of Moses took to them, after him, of their ornaments a calf—a mere body that lowed. Did they not see that it spoke not to them, nor guided them upon any way? (149) Yet they took it to them, and were evildoers. And when they smote their hands, and saw that they had gone astray, they said: If our Lord has not mercy on us, and forgives us not, surely we shall be of the lost. (150) And when Moses returned to his people, angry and sorrowful, he said: Evilly have you done in my place, after me; why have you outstripped your Lord's commandment? And he cast down the tablets, and laid hold of his brother's head, dragging him to himself. He said: Son of my mother, surely the people have abased me, and nearly slain me. Make not my enemies to gloat over me, and put me not among the people of the evildoers. (151) He said: O my Lord, forgive me and my brother and enter us into Thy mercy; Thou art the most merciful of the merciful. (152) Surely those who took to themselves the calf—anger shall overtake them from their Lord, and abasement in this present life; so we recompense those who are forgers. (153) And those who do evil deeds, then repent thereafter and believe, surely thereafter thy Lord is All-forgiving, All-compassionate. (154) And when Moses’ anger abated, he took the tablets; and in the inscription of them

55

56

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

was guidance, and mercy unto all those who hold their Lord in awe. (155) And Moses chose of his people seventy men for our appointment; and when the earthquake seized them he said: My Lord, if Thou had wanted thou would have destroyed them before, and me (as well). Would Thou destroy us for what the foolish ones of us have done? It is only Thy trial, whereby Thou leads astray whom You will, and guides whom You will. Thou art our protector; so forgive us, and have mercy on us, for Thou art the best forgiver.” It seems that even in a brief reference to Q 7:148-155, it is easy to identify what are the sequenced events in this story which consist of the main events that compose the narrative (they are also marked in bold in the text): wa-ttaḫaḏa, suqiṭa, wa-raʼaw, qālū, raǧaʻa, qāla, wa-ʼalqā, wa-ʼaḫaḏa, qāla, qāla, sakata, ʼaḫaḏa, wa-ḫtāra, ʼaḫaḏathumu and qāla. Each of these actions advances the reference time38 and thus pushes forward the plot. These events are expressed by verbs in the perfect tense, indicating a singular and completed action. It is not only that these events are temporally organized; they also appear in VS clauses. As for the background information, it can also be easily identified in the narrative. For example, in verse 148 the clause ʼa-lam yaraw ’annahu lā yukallimuhum wa-lā yahdīhim sabīlan-i ittaḫaḏūhu wa-kānū ẓālimīna is considered as background information for several reasons: a. It includes no verb in the perfect tense that may succeed the other, sequenced events, while the three verbs that are included in the foreground do not advance the reference time. b. The background information in verse 148 is considered to be supportive because it describes the features of the golden calf. By giving this explanation, it becomes clear why making the golden calf is wrong. Furthermore, these characteristics stand in contrast to those of God, and thus it cannot replace God. In the description of the golden calf, two verbs are mentioned; lā yukallimuhum “not speaks” and lā yahdīhim “not guides” – these are both durative and iterative and atelic verbs, whereas such verbs do not appear in the foreground. There are, however, two verbs in the perfect tense: the first is the modal verb lam yaraw and the second is kānū. The problem with these verbs is that it is difficult to determine the time axis because they do not express events situated in the past (flashbacks), the present or in the future. It might be argued that this difficulty arises from the fact that they appear in interrogative clauses and not in declarative clauses, which usually express an action or a state, and therefore their time of reference can be easily identified. Modal verbs such as lam yaraw, however, 38

Reference time (R-time) is “a temporal unit that encompasses the event and is included in the state”, for example: John got up, went to the window, and raised the blind. It was light outside. See: Cohen (2013:17) e1 e2 e3 s1 (state)

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

57

express the speaker’s attitude toward the action given in the text, which, in our case, is God's attitude toward the people who made the golden calf. The verb kānū is not a modal verb but because it indicates the state of the people after making the golden calf, it cannot be placed on the time axis of the narrative. Both verses 152 and 153 belong to the evaluation element existing in the narratives, because they present the main purpose of the story, which is to show that taking idols and thinking that they can replace God is wrong. In these verses it is stated that those who made the golden calf will be humiliated in the life of this world. Yet those who did evil and then became believers, they will be forgiven by God. As was shown, the distinction between foreground and background information is usually not a complicated task; there are, however, two problems regarding this distinction that should be discussed. The first concerns the boundaries of the foreground information; to clarify this issue, let us consider Q 7:150: wa-lammā raǧaʻa mūsā ʼilā qawmihi ġaḍbāna ʼasifan qāla biʼsamā ḫalaftumūnī min baʻdī ʼa-ʻaǧiltum ʼamra rabbikum wa-ʼalqā l-ʼalwāḥa wa-ʼaḫaḏa bi-raʼsi ʼaḫīhi yaǧurruhū ʼilayhi qāla bna ʼumma ʼinna lqawma staḍʻafūnī wa-kādū yaqtulūnanī fa-lā tušmit biya l-ʼaʻdāʼa wa-lā taǧʻalnī maʻa l-qawmi ẓ-ẓālimīna The first foreground sentence begins with wa-lammā and ends with ʼasifan. It is clear that the verb raǧaʻa followed by its topic, mūsā, form the kernel of the foreground information, but the question is how to refer to the remaining complements in the sentence. Each verb has also its complement elements, such as, for example, the direct object, adjectives and adverbs. Furthermore, one cannot ignore the fact that the foreground sentence includes a circumstantial clause ġaḍbāna ʼasifan. Thus, it would be correct to restrict the foreground information only to the verb, or to the topic, the verb and its complements, while the rest of the information in the same sentence is considered as background information. This argument might draw support from Niccacci (1997:203), who provides an analysis of Exodus 19-24, where he establishes three levels of the text: the main narrative line, the secondary line (antecedent information, or setting of the story), and direct speech. In the main line are found clauses that include sequenced verbs in past tense, such as Exodus 19:17:39 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain,

39

‫ ִמן‬,‫ֹלהים‬ ִ ֱ‫וַ ּיוֹצֵ א מ ֶֹׁשה אֶׁ ת הָ עָ ם לִ ְק ַראת הָ א‬ ‫הַ מַ חֲ נֶׁה‬ ‫ בְ תַ ְח ִתית הָ הָ ר‬,‫וַ ּיִ ְתיַצְ בּו‬

This example is quoted in the same way as it is presented in Niccacci's analysis. He uses the arrow ↑ to mark background constructions.

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

while Mount Sinai was smoking—all of it,

,‫ עָ ַשן כֻּּל ֹו‬,‫↑וְ הַ ר ִסינַי‬

because the Lord had come down upon it with fire,

‫ בָ אֵ ש‬,‫↑ ִמפְ נֵי אֲ ֶׁשר י ַָרד עָ לָיו יְהוָה‬

This analysis shows us that the main line, i.e., foreground information, includes a verb, topic and other syntactic elements. Background information can appear in the same verse, including, for example, circumstantial verses (Mount Sinai was smoking) and explanatory information (the mountain was smoking because the Lord came down with fire). Following this analysis, Q 7:150 can be schematized as follows:40 wa-lammā raǧaʻa mūsā ʼilā qawmihī ↑ġaḍbāna ʼasifan qāla biʼsamā ḫalaftumūnī min baʻdī ʼa-ʻaǧiltum ʼamra rabbikum wa-ʼalqā l-ʼalwāḥa wa-ʼaḫaḏa bi-raʼsi ʼaḫīhi ↑yaǧurruhū ʼilayhi qāla bna ʼumma ʼinna l-qawma staḍʻafūnī wa-kādū yaqtulūnanī fa-lā tušmit biya l-ʼaʻdāʼa wa-lā taǧʻalnī maʻa l-qawmi ẓ-ẓālimīna The second problem concerns the clauses that begin with the verb qāla or qālū, an issue that leads us to discuss a more complicated issue, which is what might be considered as foreground information in narratives of the first model and the second model. The first model includes narrative composed of dialogues, while the second model includes mixed narratives, i.e., dialogues/direct speech with sequenced verbs. In Chapter two it was mentioned that Mir (2004:198) stated that the dialogues in the Qurʼān are used to advance the plot of the story and therefore they have a significant role in maintaining continuity and coherence. As in the Qurʼān, in Biblical Hebrew reported speech that portrays dialogues often provides the central framework for the plot (Miller 1994:199). Dialogue directs the attention of the audience back to the speakers, to emphasize their response. Very often in the Biblical Hebrew narratives a dialogue has the effect of bringing the speech-act into the foreground. Alter (1981:65, 67) 40

Main line verb forms are placed on the left margin of the page, when direct speech is intended, and background information is marked with the arrow. (see: Niccacci 1997:203).

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

59

Reported speech appearing outside of a dialogue has several functions and purposes, such as to introduce characters or to provide background information for the narrative. An indication of reported speech in Biblical Hebrew (and also in the Qurʼān) is composed of two parts: the quotation, which represents the original locution without paraphrase by the speaker, and the quotative frame, i.e., the report that introduces the quotation. (Miller 1994:199) It was mentioned earlier that Niccacci distinguishes between three levels of communication: the first two levels are the main line and the secondary line, while the third level is direct speech. Niccacci says that the third level requires a different approach because the verbs belonging to this level of communication are used differently from historical narratives. In narratives, the axis of the past is used as the main level of communication, while in direct speech the three time axes are involved: past, present and future (Niccacci 1997:214). Niccacci's analysis of Exodus 19-24 helps us in the analysis of direct speech in the Qurʼānic narratives from foreground and background perspectives. Niccacci sets the entire quotative frame in the main narrative line, while the quotations are positioned separately and are marked in his analysis as direct speech, not as the story line or background information. Here, for example, is the analysis of Exodus 19:15:41 And he said unto the people, “Be ready against the third day; Come not to your wives.”

‫ אֶל ָה ָעם‬,‫וַי ֹּאמֶר‬ ‫ ִלשְֹלשֶת יָמִים‬,‫הֱיּו נְכ ֹּנִים‬ .‫ אֶל ִאשָה‬,‫ַאל תִ גְשּו‬

The foreground in a narrative is usually associated with a set of clauses describing sequenced events. The temporally-organized events are typically expressed by verbs that are lexically different from each other. In narratives that consist of or include dialogue/direct speech, the temporally-sequenced events are expressed by the same verb qāla “he said” in different forms: qāla, qālū and qālat. To reach a better understanding of the real function of these verbs, the following example is considered: 90 wa-la-qad qāla lahum hārūnu min qablu yā-qawmi ʼinnamā futintum bihī wa-ʼinna rabbakumu r-raḥmānu fa-ttabiʻūnī wa-ʼaṭīʻū ʼamrī 91 qālū lan nabraḥa ʻalayhi ʻākifīna ḥattā yarǧiʻa ʼilaynā mūsā 92 qāla yā-hārūnu mā manaʻaka ʼiḏ raʼaytahum ḍallū 93 ʼallā tattabiʻani ʼa-fa-ʻaṣayta ʼamrī

41

See: Niccacci (1997:205).

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The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

94 qāla ya-bna-ʼumma lā taʼḫuḏ bi-liḥyatī wa-lā bi-raʼsī ʼinnī ḫašītu ʼan taqūla farraqta bayna banī ’isrā’īla wa-lam tarqub qawlī 95 qāla fa-mā ḫaṭbuka yā-sāmiriyyu 96 qāla baṣurtu bi-mā lam yabṣurū bihī fa-qabaḍtu qabḍatan min ʼaṯari r-rasūli fa-nabaḏtuhā wa-ka-ḏālika sawwalat lī nafsī 97 qāla fa-ḏhab (…) (Q 20:90-97) “(90) Yet Aaron had previously said to them: My people, you have been tempted by this thing, no more; surely your Lord is the All-merciful; therefore follow me, and obey my commandment! (91) We will not cease, they said: to cleave to it, until Moses returns us. (92) Moses said: What prevented thee, Aaron, when thou saw them in error, (93) so that thou didst not follow after me? Didst thou then disobey my commandment? (94) Son of my mother, Aaron said, take me not by the beard, of the head! I was fearful that thou wouldst say: Thou hast divided the children of Israel, and thou hast not observed my word. (95) Moses said: And thou, Samaritan, what was thy business? (96) I beheld what they beheld not, he said: and I took a handful of dust from the messenger's trace, and threw (it into the fire). So my soul prompted me. (97) Depart! Said Moses.” There are three topic participants in this dialogue: Aaron, Moses and the Children of Israel. If the verb saying (qāla and qālū) had been deleted, it would have been difficult to follow the dialogue because the use of these verbs helps the audience in “navigating” the dialogue, i.e., each time the verb of saying appears in the dialogue it focuses the attention of the listener/reader to one of the participant’s reactions. Furthermore, the verbs of saying act like any other verbs in the main line of the story: they advance the plot. In the example above, the dialogue begins with the address of Aaron to his people after the making of the golden calf and ends with the exile of the Samaritan, and Moses chastises his brother, Aaron, for allowing the people to worship the golden calf. From the perspective of the plot described in the dialogue, the events reported after the verbs of saying are not marginal; this information, therefore, cannot be classified as background information. Background information is supportive information: the narrative plot can be understood without this information. In dialogues/direct speech, however, the quotation is the kernel of the plot and is crucial for the plot: deletion of this information would mean deletion of the plot. For this reason, Niccacci classified dialogues or, more precisely, the quotations, as a separate category, which he calls direct speech. Also when direct speech is integrated in a narrative with temporally-sequenced events, the quotations are considered as direct speech and not as background information. To conclude the

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

11

analysis of foreground and background information, we present an analysis of a part of a unit taken from the story of Moses presented in Q 28: wa-lammā balaġa ʼašuddahū wa- And when he was fully grown and in stawā the perfection of his strength ʼātaynāhu ḥukman wa-ʻilman We gave him judgment and knowledge wa-ka-ḏālika naǧzī l-muḥsinīna (14) Even so we recompense the gooddoers. wa-daḫala l-madīnata ʻalā ḥīni ġaflatin min ʼahlihā fa-waǧada fīhā raǧulayni ↑yaqtatilāni ↑hāḏā min šīʻatihī wa-hāḏā min ʻaduwwihī fa-staġāṯahu llaḏī min šīʻatihī ʻalā llaḏī min ʻaduwwihī fa-wakazahū mūsā fa-qaḍā ʻalayhi qāla hāḏā min ʻamali š-šayṭāni ʼinnahū ʻaduwwun muḍillun mubīnun (15) qāla rabbi ʼinnī ẓalamtu nafsī faġfir lī fa-ġafara lahū ↑ʼinnahū huwa l-ġafūru r-raḥīmu (16) qāla rabbi bi-mā ʼanʻamta ʻalayya fa-lan ʼakūna ẓahīran li-l-muǧrimīna (17) Main Narrative line Direct Speech ↑Background information

And he entered the city, at a time when its people were unheeding, and found there two men fighting; the one was of his own party, and the other was of his enemies Then the one that was of his party cried out to him to aid him against the other that was of his enemies so Moses struck him and dispatched him Saying This is of Satan's doing; He is surely a misleading enemy. He said: God, I have wronged myself, forgive me! So God forgave him, for He is the all-forgiving, the allcompassionate. He said: My Lord, insofar as Thou hast blessed me, I will never be a partisan of the sinners.

62

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

fa-ʼaṣbaḥa fī l-madīnati ↑ḫāʼifan yataraqqabu fa-ʼiḏā llaḏī stanṣarahū bi-l-ʼamsi yastaṣriḫuhū42 qāla lahū mūsā ʼinnaka la-ġawiyyun mubīnun (18) Main Narrative line Direct Speech ↑Background information

Now in the morning he was in the city, fearful and vigilant And behold, the man who had sought his succor on the day before cried out to him again. Moses said to him: Clearly thou art a quarreler.

In the introduction of this study, the problematic of classification of Q 2:49-54 as a narrative was discussed. Gilliot (2003:521) argues that sūra 2 contains several stories or legends, and classifies these narratives as “passages that are composed entirely of several stories, or which are built around a core of stories.” We argue that such a definition is not accurate because the concept of a story is based on at least two sequenced events. It might be argued, however, that each unit that is called by Gilliot ‘a story’ contains one of the sequenced events. When connecting all these events the main line of the narrative is realized and the background information can be identified. Thus, Q 2:49-54 might be analyzed as follows: wa-ʼiḏ naǧǧaynākum min ʼāli firʻawna ↑yasūmūnakum sūʼa l-ʻaḏābi ↑yuḏabbiḥūna ʼabnā’akum ↑wa-yastaḥyūna nisāʼakum ↑wa-fī ḏālikum balāʼun min rabbikum ʻaẓīmun (49) wa-ʼiḏ faraqnā bikumu l-baḥra fa-ʼanǧaynākum wa-ʼaġraqnā ʻāla firʻawna ↑wa-ʼantum tanẓurūna (50) wa-ʼiḏ wāʻadnā mūsā ʼarbaʿīna laylatan ṯumma ttaḫaḏtumu l-ʻiǧla min baʻdihī

42

And when we delivered you from the people of Pharaoh who were visiting you with evil chastisement slaughtering your sons, and sparing your women and in that was a grievous trial from your Lord. And when we divided for you the sea and delivered you, and drowned the people of Pharaoh while you were watching And when we made an appointment with Moses for forty nights then you took to yourselves the calf after him

This clause does not include a verb in the perfect tense; however, it was categorized as foreground information. Nöldeke (1963:68) mentions that in some cases in Classical Arabic where a durative action happened in the past, this is expressed by the structure of the ʼiḏā of surprise followed by a verb in the imperfect instead of one in the perfect tense. Thus, the structure fa-ʼiḏā llaḏī stanṣarahu yastaṣriḫuhu indicates a perfective action.

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

↑wa-ʼantum ẓālimūna (51) ṯumma ʻafawnā ʻankum min baʻdi ḏālika ↑laʻallakum taškurūna (52) wa-ʼiḏ ʼātaynā mūsā l-kitāba wa-lfurqāna ↑ laʻallakum tahtadūna (53) wa-ʼiḏ qāla mūsā li-qawmihī yā-qawmi ʼinnakum ẓalamtum ʼanfusakum (...) (54) Main Narrative line Direct Speech ↑Background information

13

and you were evildoers then we pardoned you after that that you might be thankful And when we gave Moses the Book and the salvation that maybe you would be guided And when Moses said to his people my people, you have done wrong against yourselves

As a final issue in this chapter, it is worth mentioning the exceptional case of Q 11:39: 37 wa-ṣnaʻi l-fulka bi-ʼaʻyuninā wa-waḥyinā wa-lā tuḫāṭibnī fī llaḏīna ẓalamū ʼinnahum muġraqūna 38 wa-yaṣnaʻu l-fulka wa-kullamā marra ʻalayhi malaʼun min qawmihī saḫirū minhu qāla ʼin tasḫarū minnā fa-ʼinnā nasḫaru minkum ka-mā tasḫarūna “Make thou the ark under our eyes, and as we reveal; and address me not concerning those who have done evil; they shall be drowned. (38) So he was making the ark; and whenever a council of his people passed by him they scoffed at him. He said: If you scoff at us, we shall surely scoff at you, as you scoff.” The verb wa-yaṣnaʻu belongs to the foreground information, where all verbs in the Qurʼānic narratives are in the perfect tense. The Qurʼān commentators provide some explanations for this phenomenon, as is shown in Rāzī's (1149-1209 H) exegesis (2000:vol. 17-18,178): ʼammā qawluhu taʻālā: (wa-yaṣnaʻu l-fulka) fa-fīhi masʼalatāni: l-masʼalatu l-ʼūlā: fī qawlihi (wa-yaṣnaʻu l-fulka) qawlāni: l-ʼawwalu: ʼannahu ḥikāyat ḥāl māḍiya43ʼay fī ḏālika l-waqti kāna yuṣaddaqu ʻalayhi ʼannahu yaṣnaʻu l-fulka. ṯ-ṯānī: t-taqdīru wa-ʼaqbala yaṣnaʻu faqtaṣara ʻalā qawlihi: (wa-yaṣnaʻu l-fulka) “as for the words of God sublime (he was making the ark), there are two issues [concerning the verb form]: the first issue: in God's words (he was 43 Cf. See: Zamaḫšarī (1947: vol.2, 393), Ğalālayni (1994:226), Bayḍāwī (1996:vol.3, 232) and Šawkānī (1964:vol. 2,497).

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making the ark) there are two explanations: The first [explanation] is that the verb is in the historic present,44 i.e., at that time it was verified that he was indeed making the ark.45 The second [explanation] is construction of elided element, [i.e. which is the verb] ’aqbala that means begin [and thus the utterance should be] begin to make. These words were abbreviated and it was said (he was making the ark).” Like Rāzī, Šawkānī (1229-1250 H) gives the same explanation for the use of the imperfect verb; however, he provides another explanation for the term ḥikāyat ḥāl māḍiya: (wa-yaṣnaʻu l-fulka): ʼay, wa-ṭafiqa yaṣnaʻu l-fulka, ʼaw wa-ʼaḫaḏa yaṣnaʻu l-fulka. wa-qīla: huwa ḥikāyat ḥāl māḍiya li-stiḥḍāri ṣ-ṣūrati. “(he was making the ark): meaning: he began to make the ark.46 It was said that [the verb is a case of] historic present for visualizing the scene.” Another possible explanation for the form wa-yaṣnaʻu concerns the Hebrew biblical form wayyiqtol, which is the common narrative verb, because it is the only one indicating the main line of communication. The qatal form, on the contrary, indicates a secondary line of communication in historical narrative, i.e., background information for a preceding wayyiqtol (Niccacci 1997:176). With regard to the term waw-conversive, it would be rather misleading to define it only as a waw that changes the aspect of the verb, i.e., from the imperfect to the perfect tense. It is used in the biblical Hebrew narratives as a cohesion marker connecting several actions, events or states and hence establishes a chronological and logical sequence between actions, events and states. In this function it also has the effect of reversing the aspect of the verb. Furthermore, adding the waw before a verb has the effect of focusing the listener/reader’s attention on the verbs − that is, foregrounding them. (Junger 1989:86, 90)

44

Schiffrin (1981:46) defines the term historical imperfect as follows: “Traditional analyses suggest that it is a stylistic device used in narrative to report past events which are vivid and exciting. Several discussions suggest that the HP is used to increase the dramatic impact of the story by making the audience feel as if it had been present at the time of the actual experience, seeing events as they actually happened. Others suggest that the speaker becomes so involved in the telling of the story that he narrates events as if they were being relived, and as if they were occurring simultaneously with their retelling.” 45 This statement might be clarified by the explanation of Junger (1989:74), who says that in Biblical Hebrew narratives the present tense in direct narration is used to express an action that is in process but the speaker expresses his certainty about accomplishing this action as if it had been already accomplished. Q 11:38 is found in direct speech; therefore, Junger's explanation might be accepted in this case. 46 Both clauses wa-ṭafiqa yaṣnaʻu l-fulka and wa-ʼaḫaḏa yaṣnaʻu l-fulka have the same translation. The only difference between them is the use of different verbs of beginning, which in Arabic are called ʼafʻāl l-ʼinšāʼ.

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15

According to Nöldeke (1964:68) waw-conversive is rarely used in Classical Arabic and indeed we found only one occurrence of a verb in the imperfect in the foreground information.

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Chapter Six: Cohesion and Conjunction Particles The term cohesion refers to different links that exist between diverse items in various parts of the text, holding them together (Christiansen 2011:17). Halliday and Hasan (1976:4) explain cohesion as follows: “The concept of cohesion is a semantic one; it refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text, and that define it as text. Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another. The one presupposes the other, in the sense that it cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it. When it happens, a relation of cohesion is set up, and the two elements, the presupposing and the presupposed, are thereby at least potentially integrated into a text.” A paradigmatic example of such a cohesive relationship existing in the Qurʼānic narratives is Q 54:9-15: 9 kaḏḏabat qablahum qawmu nūḥin fa-kaḏḏabū ʻabdanā wa-qālū maǧnūnun wa-zduǧira 10 fa-daʻā rabbahu ʼannī maġlūbun fa-ntaṣir 11 fa-fataḥnā ʼabwāba s-samāʼi bi-māʼin munhamirin 12 wa-faǧǧarnā l-ʼarḍa ʻuyūnan fa-ltaqā l-māʼu ʻalā ʼamrin qad qudira 13 wa-ḥamalnāhu ʻalā ḏāti ʼalwāḥin wa-dusurin 14 taǧrī bi-ʼaʻyuninā ǧazāʼan li-man kāna kufira 15 wa-la-qad taraknāhā ʼāyatan fa-hal min muddakirin (Q 54:9-15) “(9) The people of Noah cried lies before them; they cried lies to our servant and said: A man possessed! And he was rejected. (10) And so he called unto his Lord, saying: I am vanquished; do thou help me! (11) Then we opened the gates of heaven unto water torrential, (12) and made the earth to gush with fountains and the waters met as decreed. (13) And we bore him upon a well-planked vessel well-caulked (14) running before our eyes—a recompense for him denied. (15) And we left it for a sign, then is there any that will remember?” In this short narrative the main participants are introduced in the first verse: Noah, his people and God. Thus, it is clear that the verb daʻā and the anaphoric pronoun in rabbahū refer back to Noah. Following Noah’s call comes God's reaction, and thus in verses 11-15 we read about His actions, which are connected to each other through connective particles: fa-fataḥnā ʼabwāba s-samāʼi wa-faǧǧarnā l-ʼarḍa ʻuyūnan fa-ltaqā l-māʼu wa-ḥamalnāhu ʻalā ḏāti ʼalwāḥin.

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

17

The topic reference in verse 9, the anaphoric pronoun and the connective particles are all types of cohesive relationship that bind the text together. These cohesive relationships can be set and clarified in the text but only when the interpretation of some element depends on other elements. In Q 54:9-15, understanding the reference of the suffixed pronoun in rabbahū depends on the topics that were previously mentioned. Furthermore, the appearance of the series of actions performed by God can be understood only when the audience hears the opening part of this narrative. When the interpretation of the relation between the elements lies within the text, such a relationship is called endophoric. This term means relations that can be interpreted only by looking back in the text, such as the suffixed pronoun rabbahū, which can be interpreted when we look at the topic that was previously mentioned in the text. Halliday and Hasan call this an anaphoric relation. When one looks forward in the text to interpret the relation, then this kind is called a cataphoric relation. (Halliday and Hasan 1976:18)47 There are various devices that are used to achieve cohesion. Reference is one of the most obvious. There are different ways to refer to items in the text, and these include: personal reference (personal pronouns), demonstrative reference, adverbial references and pronominal references. 48 The issue of topic reference was already discussed in Chapter Four; however, it should be emphasized again in this context that the aim of Chapter Two was to investigate a more complicated issue regarding the topic reference, which is when and why a full name is used as topic in the narrative. When the topic in the speech is mentioned by a full name, it is normally referred to by means of pronouns or pronominal suffix, i.e., the listener/reader has no trouble in understanding to whom this refers. Introducing a topic by a full name, however, requires more attention from the listener/reader to understand the purpose of introducing this reference. This chapter discusses the conjunctions as cohesion devices, focusing on the conjunctions that connect the foregrounding sentences, and not between items within the same clause or within the background information. Since this study aims to outline the main linguistic features of the Qurʼānic narrative, one cannot ignore the fact that, even in rapid reading, there are two very prominent features: the use of verbs in the perfect tense and the use of the particles wa and fa and the adverb lammā. Cohesive conjunctions are not restricted only to what are called conjunctions in conventional sentence-based grammar, such as and, but and so, but also include word forms from other categories, such as prepositional phrases, e.g., in addition, in this way, with reference to this and other expressions such as it follows or that is to say. In the case of the connective particle and, it is not always cohesive, because when it joins two or more elements in a noun phrase, it is not a cohesive device, as in the expressions honor and cherish

47 48

Cf. Brown and Yule (1983:192). See: Christiansen (2011:71-78). Cf. Halliday and Hasan (1976:37-38).

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or slowly and surely (Christiansen 2011:162, 165). Halliday and Hasan (1976) distinguish between four kinds of conjunctive relation: a. Additive: The following conjunctives indicate various relations, such as:  Simple additive (addition or supplement of new information), e.g., and, also, as well as.  Emphatic additive, e.g., further, furthermore, in addition, besides, additionally, add to this, moreover.  Negative, e.g., nor, and (…) not, neither, not (…) either.  Alternative, e.g., or, or else, nor.  Emphatic alternative, e.g., alternatively, in other words. (Halliday and Hasan 1976:244)49 b. Adversative: The following conjunctions express a relation that indicates that something is contrary to expectations, e.g., yet, though, only, but, nevertheless, however, despite this, on the other hand, as against that, rather, instead, on the contrary. (Halliday and Hasan 1976:250)50 c. Causal: a relation that is usually conveyed by expressions such as: so, thus, hence, therefore, because of that, for this reason, on account of this, as a result of this, for this purpose. (Halliday and Hasan 1976:256)51 d. Temporal: Temporal conjunctions express various relations:  Sequential, e.g., then, next, afterwards, first (…) second (…).  Simultaneous, e.g., at the moment.  Conclusive, e.g., at the end, at last, finally.  Durative, e.g., meanwhile, all this time. (Halliday and Hasan 1976:261)52 Turning now to the cohesive relations expressed by the connectives wa and fa in the Qurʼānic narratives, the study of Shizuka (1999) should be considered first. In an article based on his M.A. thesis, he examines the functions of the connectives wa and fa in narrative text, including some Qurʼānic narratives. In his introduction, he presents the main uses of these particles presented by Western scholars.53

49

Cf. Christiansen (2011:169) Cf. Ibid., (2011:175) 51 Cf. Ibid., (2011:183) 52 Cf. Ibid., (2011:191). 53 The author relies on the books of Wright (1896/1898) A Grammar of the Arabic Language; Beeston (1970) The Arabic Language Today; and Holes (1995) Modern Arabic: Language, Structure and Varieties. See: Shizuka (1999:224) 50

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19

The particle wa is used for expressing:54 a. Descriptive addition (x and y) 55, e.g., zaydun ṭālibun wa-ʻamrun ʻāmilun “Zaid is a student and ʻAmr is a worker.”56 b. Temporal sequence (x and then y), e.g., sallamtu ʻalayhi wa-nṣaraftu “I greeted him and left.” c. Simultaneity (x at the same time as y), e.g., qāla wa-qaḥqaḥa “He said, coughing.” d. Adversative relation (x but y), e.g., ḥāwaltu muqābalatahu kaṯīran wa-lam ʼastaṭiʻ “I tried to meet him many times but I couldn’t.” e. Circumstance (x in circumstance y), e.g., sāfara ʼaḫī ʼilā ʼamrīkā wa-huwa ṣaġīrun “My brother went to America when he was young (and he is a young boy).”57 f. Parenthesis (x –y–)58, e.g., balaġa r-rağulu wa-smuhu muḥammadun ʼilā lbilādi “The man –his name is Muḥammad– arrived in the country. The particle fa is used for expressing: a. Temporal sequence (x and then y),59 e.g., daʻawtuhu ʼilā ḥaflati ʻīdi mīlādī faqabila d-daʻwata “I invited him to my birthday party and then he accepted the invitation.” b. Cause-result relation (x so y),60 e.g., mariḍa l-ʼustāḏu fa-ʼulġiyat lmuḥāḍaratu “The professor became sick so the lecture was canceled.” c. Fact reason relation (x, for y), e.g., yuʻtabaru raʼīsan ʻaẓīman fa-qad ʼashama li-taqaddumi bilādihi “He is regarded as a great president for he contributed to the development of his country.” d. Adversative relation (x but y), e.g., saʼala l-ʼustaḏu suʼālan fa-lam yuğibhu ʼaḥadun “The professor asked a question but no one answered.”

54

The following review does not present all functions of wa and fa. The discussion does not include cases in which these particles affect the case marks in the nouns, as in wāw l-maʻiyya or wāw l-qasm. 55 Cf. Zarkašī (1957: vol. 4, 436), who explains that even when the particle wa is used as a connective (wāw l-ʻaṭf) it may also indicate sequentiality, as in: ʼiḏā zulzilati l-ʼarḍu zilzālahā waʼaḫraǧati l-ʼarḍu ʼaṯqālahā (Q 99:1-2) “When the earth is shaken with a mighty shaking and the earth brings forth her burdens.” It is clear that the earthquake comes before the bringing forth of the dead. However, as Zarkašī explains, this sequence is a well- known fact and is not necessarily indicated by the particle. Brown and Yule (1983:195) call this relation a meaning relation, i.e., it is the underlying semantic relation which actually has the cohesive power, and not the cohesion markers. 56 Cf. Reckendorf (1921:320), Fischer (2002:154). 57 Cf. Zarkašī (1958: vol. 4, 437). 58 According to Reckendorf (1921:319) the particle fa has the same function, e.g., laysa lahum falā yaḫšawna nāran “they don't have –and they should not fear- fire.” Zarkašī (1958: vol. 4, 440) calls this function (wāw) z-ziyāda wa-t-taʼkīd “wāw, indicating addition and emphasis” as in: waʻasā ʼan takrahū šayʼan wa-huwa ḫayrun lakum (Q 2:216) “you might hate something –and/while he is good for you–.” 59 Cf. Fischer (2002:155). 60 Cf. Gai (1981:294).

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e. Specification of the verb, e.g., sakata saktatan fa-ʼaṭālahā “he was silent for a long time.”61 f. The particle fa precedes a verb of saying (usually the verb qāla) which starts the direct speech, e.g., saʼala rasūla llāhi fa-qāla “he asked the prophet saying (with the words)62 (Reckendorf 1921:318). ’Astarābāḏī (1998:vol. 4, 408) calls this function tafṣīl l-muğmal ʻalā l-muğmal “particularization of the general concept” or ḏikr t-tafṣīl baʻda l-ʼiğmāl “mentioning the details after generalization”, as, for example, wa-nādā nūḥun rabbahū fa-qāla (Q 11:45) “and Noah called his Lord and said.” Noah calling is the first action, while the verb qāla and what follows it provides more detailed information about the reason that Noah addresses God. To conclude this section, the traditional Arab and the Western grammarians listing the particles wa and fa as connective particles (ḥurūf l-ʻaṭf).63 Thus, a sentence such as ğāʼanī zaydun wa-ʻamrun “Zayd and ʻAmr came to me” might be interpreted as follows: both Zayd and ʻAmr came to me at the same time, or first came to me Zayd and then ʻAmr or even as first came to me ʻAmr and then Zayd. The particle fa, however, is used for expressing the chronological organization of the actions or sequentiality (tartīb wa-taʻqīb). Thus in the sentence qāma zaydun fa-ʻamrun, the standing up of ʻAmr is sequential to Zayd's standing up, while it might be that there is no pause between the two actions. (’Astarābāḏī 1998:vol. 4, 405-408) As for the function of the connectives in the Qurʼān, we first refer to the findings of Shizuka's study. He analyzed the appearance of the connectives wa and fa and the following passages: Q 12:1-102; Q 18:10-25, 60-98; Q 19:1-98, 116127; Q 20:9-99 and Q 28. Shizuka shows not only the distribution of these connectives in these selected narratives, but he also classifies them according to their position, i.e., connectives between clauses, between sentences, within a sentence or a clause. His principal finding is that wa occurs more frequently than fa (198 vs. 108),64 particularly because the former occurs at all levels. Moreover, wa occurs frequently when it is connected to perfective verbs and declarative sentences. After presenting statistical data, Shizuka discusses additional functions of the particle fa in the Qurʼān: a. One action is motivated by another, as in: qāla ḏālika mā kunnā nabġi fa-rtaddā ʻalā ʼāṯārihimā (Q 18:65) “He (Moses) said: that is what we are seeking, then they turned away upon their tracks.” 61

See: Reckendorf (1921:317). Reckendorf translates the sentence as follows: “Er fragte den Boten Gottes mit den Worten…” 63 See: Sībawayhi (1999: vol. 4, 449); ’Astarābāḏī (1998: vol. 4, 404); Suhaylī (1984:249-250). 64 See in Shizuka's article: Table 3 on page 249. 62

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71

The action of their returning (Moses and his servant) is motivated by Moses’ words: “That is what we seek.” b. The process between one action and the other is omitted, as in, for example: wa-qāla l-maliku ʼtūnī bihī ʼastaḫliṣhu li-nafsī fa-lammā kallamahū qāla (Q 12:54) “The king said: Bring (Joseph) to me, I would attach him to my person, (then) when he (the king) had spoken to him he said (…) The possible transitional process between the king's order and the arrival of Joseph is omitted. c. The point of view is transferred from one action to another, e.g.: wa-ǧāʼat sayyāratun fa-ʼarsalū wāridahum fa-ʼadlā dalwahū (Q 12:19) “Then came a caravan (and then) they sent one of them, a water-drawer, (then) he let down his bucket.” The subject of the first clause is the caravan; in the second clause the focus is turned to the water-drawer, which serves as the grammatical subject of the third clause. d. One action is the unexpected result of the earlier event, e.g., wa-qāla li-llaḏī ẓanna ʼannahu nāǧin minhumā ḏkurnī ʻinda rabbika faʼansāhu š-šayṭānu ḏikra rabbihī fa-labiṯa fī s-siǧni biḍʻa sinīna (Q 12:42) “Then he (Joseph) said to the one he thought should be saved of the two: Mention me to your master, (but) Satan caused him to forget to mention Joseph to his master, so he remained in the prison for a number of years.” The particle fa introduces an event against Joseph's wishes, which should be realized as a natural consequence of his request. (Shizuka 1999:251-254) There is one important fact that Shizuka ignores in his discussion of the connectives wa and fa — they are primarily used to connect the sequential events of the main line in the narratives, i.e., they establish the logical and the chronological connection between the actions expressed in the main line. 65 For this reason, they are prefixed to verbs in the perfect tense. In providing background information, these particles, especially wa, are suffixed to nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs in the imperfect or the imperative and to particles that starts sub65

This usage is mentioned by Junger (1989:80) when he discusses the functions of the wawconversive in Biblical Hebrew narratives.

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ordinate clauses (e.g., wa-lākinna). Thus, when one examines the narrative presented in Q 54:9-15, one immediately notices the connective particles that connect the main line verbs (they are marked in bold): 9 kaḏḏabat qablahum qawmu nūḥin fa-kaḏḏabū ʻabdanā wa-qālū maǧnūnun wa-zduǧira 10 fa-daʻā rabbahu ʼannī maġlūbun fa-ntaṣir 11 fa-fataḥnā ʼabwāba s-samāʼi bi-māʼin munhamirin 12 wa-faǧǧarnā l-ʼarḍa ʻuyūnan fa-ltaqā l-māʼu ʻalā ʼamrin qad qudira 13 wa-ḥamalnāhu ʻalā ḏāti ʼalwāḥin wa-dusurin Once the connectives are identified, their additional function becomes clear: Verse 9 − the particle fa is used to indicate the transition from the general action (denied) to a more specific action (the people denied God's messenger). The particle wa, prefixed to the verb qālū, adds another action which the people of Noah performed, while the second wa, which is prefixed to the verb zduǧira, indicates the result of Noah’s peoples’ reaction — he was rejected. It is interesting to find the particle wa where the particle fa might be expected because it is used to express a resultative relation. Verse 10: The particle fa-, which is prefixed to the verb daʻā, not only follows the events chronologically described in verse 9 but also indicates a fact-reason relation, i.e., Noah was rejected and therefore he addresses God asking for His help. Verse 11: fa-fataḥnā, the particle indicates a cause-result relation, i.e., Noah addressed God, so he first opens the gate of heaven and made the earth gush with fountains (Verse 12 wafaǧǧarnā) and for this reason the waters met for a matter predestined (Verse12 fa-ltaqā). Verse 13: The particle wa- that is prefixed to the verb ḥamalnāhu adds another action performed by God. An additional example is Q 2:250-251: (250) wa-lammā barazū li-ǧālūta wa-ǧunūdihī qālū rabbanā ʼafriġ ʻalaynā ṣabran wa-ṯabbit ʼaqdāmanā wa-nṣurnā ʻalā l-qawmi l-kāfirīna 251 fa-hazamūhum bi-ʼiḏni llāhi wa-qatala dāwūdu ǧālūta wa-ʼātāhu llāhu l-mulka wa-l-ḥikmata wa-ʻallamahū mimmā yašā’u (…) “(250) So, when they went forth against Goliath and his hosts, they said: Our Lord, pour out upon us patience, and make firm our feet, and give us aid against the people of the unbelievers. (251) And they routed them, by the will of God, and David slew Goliath; and God gave him the kingship, and wisdom and He taught him such as He willed.” In this unit taken from the complete narrative in Q 2:246-252, the main action in verse 250 is the address of the Children of Israel, saying: God, help us to defeat

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the enemy. The result of this request is expressed by the particle fa prefixed to the verb hazamūhum, while two other actions are added: wa-qatala, i.e., David kills Goliath and for this reason God gives him the kingship (wa-ʼātāhu). In the above-mentioned examples there is a series of actions connected to one another by two particles, wa and fa; however, when considering the next example, one might notice that in narratives that consist of dialogues (first model) or mixed narrative, i.e., dialogue/direct speech and various actions (second model), these connectives are not always to be found. 85 ʼiḏ qāla li-ʼabīhi wa-qawmihī māḏā taʻbudūna 86 ʼa-ʼifkan ʼālihatan dūna llāhi turīdūna 87 fa-mā ẓannukum bi-rabbi l-ʻālamīna 88 fa-naẓara naẓratan fī n-nuǧūmi 89 fa-qāla ʼinnī saqīmun 90 fa-tawallaw ʻanhu mudbirīna 91 fa-rāġa ʼilā ʼālihatihim fa-qāla ʼa-lā taʼkulūna 92 mā lakum lā tanṭiqūna 93 fa-rāġa ʻalayhim ḍarban bi-l-yamīni 94 fa-ʼaqbalū ʼilayhi yaziffūna 95 qāla ʼa-taʻbudūna mā tanḥitūna 96 wa-llāhu ḫalaqakum wa-mā taʻmalūna 97 qālū bnū lahu bunyānan fa-ʼalqūhu fī l-ǧaḥīmi 98 fa-ʼarādū bihī kaydan fa-ǧaʻalnāhumu l-ʼasfalīna 99 wa-qāla ʼinnī ḏāhibun ʼilā rabbī sa-yahdīni 100 rabbi hab lī mina ṣ-ṣāliḥīna 101 fa-baššarnāhu bi-ġulāmin ḥalīmin 102 fa-lammā balaġa maʻahu s-saʻya qāla yā-bunayya ʼinnī ʼarā fī lmanāmi ʼannī ʼaḏbaḥuka fa-nẓur māḏā tarā qāla yā-ʼabati fʻal mā tuʼmaru sa-taǧidunī ʼin šāʼa (Q 37:85-102)

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“(85) When he (Abraham) said to his father and his people: What do you serve (86) Is it Falsehood, gods other than God, that you desire? (87) What think you then of the Lord of all Being? (88) And he cast a glance at the stars (89) and he said: Surely I am sick. (90) But they went away from him, turning their backs. (91) Then he turned to their gods, and said: What do you eat? (92) What ails you, that you speak not? (93) And he turned upon them smiting them with his right hand. (94) Then came the others to him, hastening. (95) He said: Do you serve what you hew, (96) and God created you and what you make? (97) They said: Build him a building, and cast him into the furnace! (98) They plotted a plot against him; so we made them the lowest. (99) He said: I am going to my Lord; He will guide me (100) My Lord, give me one of the righteous (101) Then we brought him the good tidings of a prudent boy (102) and when he had reached the age of running with him he said: My son, I see in a dream that I shall sacrifice thee; consider, what thinks thou? He said: My father, do as thou art bidden; thou shalt find me, God willing, one of the steadfast.” The particle fa occurs more frequently than the particle wa (9 vs. 1), and the primary function of fa is to organize the events in chronological and logical order. The most interesting thing in this context, however, is the two occurrences of fa before the verb qāla and the one occurrence of wa before qāla, while in the other cases no connective is suffixed to the verb qāla/qālū (e.g., verses 95, 102). A possible explanation for this might be the difference between direct speech and dialogue. In verses 88-89, for instance, the two verbs naẓara and qāla are two connected verbs “he looked and (simultaneously) said” belong to the main-line story, while the verb qāla is followed by the direct speech, i.e., the quotation. However, when a dialogue is integrated in the text, in which two sides are involved and one side responds to the other side, then the connective is omitted. In order to prove this assumption we examined all occurrences of the verb qāla. It was found when a dialogues is integrated in the narrative no connectives between the verbs of saying (qāla/qālū) were found, as in, for example: Q 11; Q 15:28-49, 52-86; Q 17:61-65; Q 18:62-82, 83-100; Q 19:3-34; Q 20:1055, 56-76, 77-98; Q 21:52-73; Q 26:10-77, 105-122, 61-175; Q 27:23-44, 4553; Q 28:1-41; Q 36:13-20; Q 38:71-88. However, when the verb qāla is used as a regular verb attached to another verb and both belong to the story-line, the particle wa or fa is suffixed to the verb qāla. The connective particle indicates an additive or sequential relation with the previous verb. The following table shows the type of relation existing between the verb qāla and the verb which precedes it:

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

Verse

Connective

Q 2:35

wa-qulnā

Q 2:60

fa-qulnā

Q 2:247,248

wa-qāla

Q 7:21

wa-qāla

Q 7:59

fa-qāla

Q 7:9066

wa-qāla

Q 7:104

wa-qāla

Q 7:127

wa-qāla

Q 7:132

wa-qālū

Q 10:79 Q 10:84,88 Q 10:85

wa-qāla wa-qāla fa-qālū

Q 11:27

fa-qāla

Q 11:41 Q 12:21

wa-qāla wa-qāla

Q 12:23

wa-qālat

Q 12:30

wa-qāla

Q 12:31

wa-qālat

Q 12:31

wa-qulnā

Q 12:36

wa-qāla

Q 12:42

wa-qāla

66

75

Relation indicated by the connective Additive; connected to the verb qulnā in verse 34. Additive and sequential Additive; connected to the previous two verbs qāla. Additive; connected to the verb waswasa. Simultaneous; We sent Noah to his people saying. - (The verb stands at the start of the first sentence in the main line).67 - (Same case as Q 7:90) Additive; connected to the verb qālū in verse 131. Sequentiality; Moses said…so they said… Sequentiality; God sent Noah, saying…and/so the unbelievers said… Additive; God said…and said… Sequentiality; Joseph was sold and the one who bought him said… Additive; Potiphar's wife seduced him, and locked the doors and said… (Introducing a new topic: the women of the city said). Additive; And when Potiphar's wife heard it she came and said. Additive; And when they saw Joseph they cut their hands and said… Additive: One of the prisoners said…and the other said… Additive; Joseph said…and said to the one who was saved.

Some references (l-malaʼu) appear in the direct speech in verses 75 and 76, but there is no connective before the verb qāla. 67 According to the morpho-syntactic analysis of Ṣāfī (1988:vol. 9, 24), the particle wa functions in verse 107 as wāw l-istiʼnāf.

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Q 12:43 Q 12:45 Q 12:50,54 Q 12:62 Q 12:84

wa-qāla wa-qāla wa-qāla wa-qāla wa-qāla

Q 14:8

wa-qāla

Q 14:9

wa-qālū

Q 14:13 Q 15:53

wa-qāla fa-qāla

Q 17:104

wa-qulnā

Q 18:34

fa-qāla

Q 20:10

fa-qāla

Q 21:65

wa-qālū

Q 23:23

fa-qāla

Q 23:24

fa-qālū

Q 25:36

fa-qulnā

Q 27:15

wa-qālā

Q 27:16

wa-qāla

Q 27:17

wa-qāla

Q 27:20, 22

fa-qāla

68

(Introducing a new topic). Additive: Joseph's father turned away and said… (The verb stands at the start of the first sentence of the main line).68 Additive/Simultaneity: The people of Noah put their hands in their mouths and said, biting them in anger. Sequentiality; The guests of Abraham entered and said… Additive: God drowned the Army of Pharaoh and said to the Children of Israel. Sequentiality/result; The owner of the garden was so successful and he said to his friend: I am more than you in wealth. Sequentiality/result: Moses saw the fire and told his family to wait; he would bring them a burning brand or he would find there a guidance. Additive: connected to the verb rağaʻū. Simultaneous; God sent Noah to his people saying… Resultative: Noah said…so the unbelievers said to him. Additive: God gave the book to Moses and his brother and he said… Resultative: God gave David and Solomon the knowledge so they said: All praise to God. Additive: Solomon succeeded David and said… Additive: Solomon was amused at the speech of the ant and said… Sequentiality

According to the morpho-syntactic analysis of Ṣāfī (1988:vol. 7, 128), the particle wa functions in verse 107 as wāw l-istiʼnāf.

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

Q 28:9

wa-qāla

Q 28:11

wa-qāla

Q 28:24

fa-qāla

Q 28:37,38 Q 29:36

wa-qāla fa-qāla

Q 37:89, 91 Q 38:24 Q 40:26,27,28,30 Q 40:36,37 Q 43:31, 49,58

fa-qāla fa-qāla wa-qāla

Q 51:25

fa-qālū

Q 51:29

wa-qāla

Q 54:9

wa-qālū

Q 71:23

wa-qālū

Q 71:27

wa-qāla

fa-qāla wa-qālū

77

(Introducing a new topic: the wife of Pharaoh). Additive; The heart of Moses’ mother became empty and she said… Additive/sequentiality: Moses took water, then he turned back to the shadow and said… Simultaneous: God sent Šuʻayb and he said… Sequentiality - (In each verse a new topic is introduced after wa-). Additive: When the truth came to the people of Abraham, they said…and said… Simultaneous: The guests of Abraham entered, saying… Additive: The wife came and smote her face and said… Additive: The people of Noah denied God's messenger and said… Additive: The people of Noah have plotted and said… -

The connectives wa and fa are one of the most prominent cohesive devices found in the Qur’ānic narratives. An additional cohesive device is the temporal adverb lammā “when”, which is followed by a verb in the perfect tense and occurring in the following verses: Q 2:259; Q 3:36; Q 6:76-78; Q 7:22; Q 7:134-135; Q7:143; Q 7:149; Q 7:150; Q 7:154,155; Q 10:23; Q 10:76; Q 10:80,81; Q 11:70,74,82; Q 12:15,22,28,31, 50,59,63,68,69,70,80,88,94,99; Q 26:41,62; Q 27:8,13,36; Q 28:14,22,23,29, 30,36; Q 29:31,33; Q 37:102; Q 40:25; Q 43:30,50,55,57. lammā, according to traditional Arab grammarians, consists of the jussive particle lam and mā z-zāʼida, while the difference between lam and lammā is that the structure of lam yafʻal is the negation of faʻala, while lammā yafʻalu is the negation of qad faʻala, as, for example, lammā yaḏūqū ʻaḏābī (Q 38:8) means that they have not yet tasted God's torment, i.e., the action of tasting the torment is still expected, while lam yaḏūqū means that they had not tasted the torment and no expectation is involved here (Suyūṭī 1979:vol. 4, 314).69 In the above cases, 69

Cf. Ibn Yaʻīš (2001:vol. 5, 35-36).

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the particle lammā is followed by a verb in the perfect tense and called lammā lwūğūdiyya “lammā of existence” because the action expressed by this structure is considered as already realized (Reckendorf 1921:474).70 The structure of lammā followed by a verb in the perfect tense is one of the features characterizing the foreground information. However, the function of this structure in the Qurʼānic narratives is not discussed in the grammatical descriptions. An examination of all cases containing the particle lammā shows that it is primarily used when there is a temporal and informational gap between the verb that follows lammā and the verb that precedes it, as is shown in the following examples: 35 ʼiḏ qālati mraʼatu ʻimrāna rabbi ʼinnī naḏartu laka mā fī baṭnī muḥarraran fa-taqabbal minnī ʼinnaka ʼanta s-samīʿu l-ʻalīmu 36 fa-lammā waḍaʻathā qālat rabbi ʼinnī waḍaʻtuhā ʼunṯā (Q 3:35-36) “(35) When the wife of Imran said: Lord I have vowed to thee, in dedication, what is within my womb. Receive thou this from me; thou hearest, and knowest. (36) and when she gave birth to her she said: Lord, I have given birth to her, a female.” In verse 35 the audience learns of the vow of the wife of Imran, who says that if she becomes pregnant she will dedicate her child to him. Verse 36 informs us that she gave birth to a girl. Doubtlessly, the described events are temporally and logically ordered; many questions, however, regarding the plot are not answered. Thus, for example, it is not clear how long the wife of Imran had to wait until she became pregnant, or how she felt when she first found out that she was pregnant. The next example is taken from the story of Joseph, in which there are fourteen occurrences of lammā followed by a verb in the perfect tense: wa-lammā balaġa ʼašuddahū ʼātaynāhu ḥukman wa-ʻilman (Q 12:22) “And when he was fully grown, we gave him judgment and knowledge.” Verse 22 is preceded by a thematic unit which begins with the caravan of travelers who find Joseph after he was thrown into a well and ends when Joseph was sold to Potiphar. The audience expects to hear what happened to Joseph or how he felt when he understood that he was being sold and kept in Egypt, or what was the relationship between Joseph and Potiphar. Instead of bridging this informative gap, we jump in time to the moment when Joseph attained his full manhood, i.e., he was brought to Egypt when he was young man and spent some time there until he became a man. This period of time is omitted in the text, and therefore a temporal and informational gap was created in the story 70

Cf. Zarkašī (1958:vol. 7, 383).

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and it should be bridged. The relatively large number of occurrences of lammā in the story of Joseph might be explained by the need to abbreviate. The story of Joseph spans the entire sūra covering a long period in the life of Joseph; the story therefore includes a large amount of information. Reviewing all events (both the mentioned and the omitted) could lead to a loss of interest; furthermore, the narrated information serves the objectives of the narrative, and thus adds superfluous information that might cause a deviation from the main objectives of the story.71 The following example is taken from Q 28: wa-lammā tawaǧǧaha tilqāʼa madyana qāla ʻasā rabbī ʼan yahdiyanī sawāʼa s-sabīli (Q 28:22) “And when he turned his face toward Midian, he said: It may be that my Lord will guide me on the right way.” In Q 28:7-43 the story of Moses is narrated, while verses 15-21 describe one specific event according to which Moses killed a man who fought with another man belonging to the Children of Israel. This thematic unit ends with verse 21, when Moses runs away from the city where he killed the man, asking God to help keep him from the wrongdoers who are searching for him. In verse 22 the reader/listener is informed that his refuge is Midian, while once again there is an informative and temporal gap between verse 21 and 22. Questions such as: “Why did Moses decide to run away to Midian?”, “How did he prepare himself for this journey?” and “What happened between the moment that he left the city and made his way toward Midian?” remain unanswered. In several verses, however, lammā does not indicate jumps in time but rather indicates a causal relation or sequential relation between two actions. See, for example: 133 fa-ʼarsalnā ʻalayhimu ṭ-ṭūfāna wa-l-ǧarāda wa-l-qummala wa-ḍḍafādiʻa wa-d-dama ʼāyātin mufaṣṣalātin fa-stakbarū wa-kānū qawman muǧrimīna 134 wa-lammā waqaʻa ʻalayhimu r-riǧzu qālū yā-mūsā dʻu lanā rabbaka (Q 7:135-136) “(133) So we let loose upon them the flood and the locusts, the lice and the frogs, the blood, distinct signs; but they waxed proud and were a sinful people. (134) And when the wrath fell upon them, they said: Moses invoke your Lord for us.”

71

For the purposes of mentioning the Joseph story, see: Mir (1986:5-10).

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The verb waqaʻa in verse 134 does not chronologically follow the event of sending the signs. The relation between the two verses might be understood as follows: God punished Pharaoh’s people by sending them several signs, then only after they are punished they ask Moses for help. In the following example, lammā is followed by a verb in the perfect (which is followed by imperative) but there is no informative and temporal gap between the actions because the relation is between a command and its immediate fulfillment: Pharaoh requests his people to bring him all the sorcerers — the sorcerers come and Moses requests the sorcerers to cast down what they want to cast down — the sorcerers cast it down: 79 wa-qāla firʻawnu ʼtūnī bi-kulli sāḥirin ʻalīmin 80 fa-lammā ǧāʼa s-saḥaratu qāla lahum mūsā ʼalqū mā ʼantum mulqūna 81 fa-lammā ʼalqaw qāla mūsā mā ǧiʼtum bihī s-siḥru (Q 10:79-80) “Pharaoh said: Bring me every cunning sorcerer. Then, when the sorcerers came, Moses said to them: Cast you down what you will cast. Then, when they had cast, Moses said: What you have brought is sorcery.” An additional example is Q 27:10: wa-ʼalqi ʻaṣāka fa-lammā raʼāhā tahtazzu ka-ʼannahā ǧānnun wallā mudbiran wa-lam yuʻaqqib yā-mūsā lā taḫaf ʼinnī lā yaḫāfu ladayya lmursalūna (Q 27:10) “Cast down thy staff. And when he saw it quivering like a serpent he turned about, retreating, and turned not back. Moses: fear not; surely the envoys do not fear in my presence.” God commands Moses to cast down his staff—Moses casts down his staff—the staff starts to move, i.e., no gap is recorded in this case.

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

11

Conclusions The research literature that investigates the narratives in the Qurʼān starts with the assumption that the reader knows what a narrative is. Sūra 12, for instance, is defined by the scholars as the story of Joseph, while it is analyzed from different perspectives, including its stylistic language (Johns 2004) or its structure (Neuwirth 1980). In spite of the numerous works written on Q 12 it still unclear why sūra 12 is considered to be a narrative. What makes this sūra or its contents into a narrative? And what differentiates the narratives from other thematic units in the Qurʼān? In the introduction we presented the concepts associated with the term narrative, i.e., a text can be called a narrative only if it fulfills the following principles: (a). A narrative consists of a series of events connected in a logical and temporal way. The term, event, means the transition from one state to another. (b). Every narrative has its own actors, i.e., the characters who perform the actions. (c). A narrative is told by the narrator, who can be external, i.e., he is found outside of the story, or internal, i.e., one of the participants is the narrator. (d). Each narrative has a vision, an objective that the story aims to convey. Thus, if we examine sūra 105, which is classified in the research literature as a narrative (Gilliot (2003), for example), it shows that sūra 105 has all the elements of the story: bi-smi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi 1 ʼa-lam tara kayfa faʻala rabbuka bi-ʼaṣḥābi l-fīli 2 ʼa-lam yaǧʻal kaydahum fī taḍlīlin 3 wa-ʼarsala ʻalayhim ṭayran ʼabābīla 4 tarmīhim bi-ḥiǧāratin min siǧǧīlin 5 fa-ǧaʿalahum ka-ʻaṣfin maʼkūlin “In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. (1) Hast thou not seen what thy Lord did with the men of the elephant? (2) Hast thou not made their guile go astray? (3) And he loosed upon them birds in flight (4) hurling against them stones of baked clay (5) and he made them like green blades of grass devoured.” (Q 105:1-5) As for the events, there are two events in a logical and temporal organization: ʼarsala and ǧaʿalahum. According to Labov, a narrative should consist of at least two events in order to be called a narrative. The events are expressed by verbs in the perfect tense, an indication that they have occurred in the past and

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that they have been completed. The participants are God and the men of the elephant, while God is also the narrator who tells the story from a superior point of view. Regarding the vision of the story, it refers to an historical event that took place when Mecca was attacked by Abraham, while his army was accompanied by elephants. Although the historical events are described quite briefly, it is clear that the main message of this narrative is to emphasize that Mecca was protected by none other than God all-mighty, and therefore the people should worship none but Him. A further question which has scarcely been discussed in the research literature is: Do all narratives in the Qurʼān have the same structure? This study shows that one should distinguish between a narrative model and narrative structures. There are four models of narrative in the Qurʼān, and the distinction between them is based primarily on the type of the verb: 1. Narratives consisting of dialogues, in which the events of the story are expressed by the verbs qāla and qālū. 2. Narratives consisting of dialogues/direct speech and various verbs. 3. Narratives consisting of various verbs other than qāla. 4. Short narratives in which no sequenced events are registered because of the occurrence of one verb only. Despite the distinction between the four models, it was found that much of the narrative has the same structure. Several scholars, such as Propp (1968), suggest different narrative structures, while the structure adopted in this study is the one that Labov (1974) suggested. According to Labov, a narrative should include six elements that have a specific location in the narrative: 1. Abstract: This is the opening part of the story, which summarizes the whole story. 2. Orientation: This includes the information that helps us to identify time, place, persons and situation; this information is therefore usually located at the beginning of the story. 3. Complicating actions: This is the set of the sequential events that create the story. 4. Evaluation: This is the information indicating the point of view, the message or the objective of the story. Such information might be integrated throughout the story. 5. Resolution: This is the final part of the story, where the plot comes to an end. 6. Coda: This is the closure, the final part of the narrative, which brings us back to the starting point.

The Linguistic Features of the Qur’ānic Narratives

13

In light of Labov's paradigm, sūra 105 could be analyzed as follows: ʼa-lam tara kayfa faʻala rabbuka Abstract: God defeated the owners of bi-ʼaṣḥābi l-fīli the elephants. + Orientation: The verse indicates time and persons. ʼa-lam yaǧʻal kaydahum fī taḍlīlin

Evaluation: God is the only one who has the power to make a plot go astray (and hence to save whom He wants).

wa-ʼarsala ʻalayhim ṭayran ʼabābīla tarmīhim bi-ḥiǧāratin min siǧǧīlin

Complicating action: The first event.

fa-ǧaʿalahum ka-ʻaṣfin maʼkūlin

Complicating action: The second action + Resolution. This is also the final event that brings the plot to its end.

Background information

If all narratives in the Qurʼān have a similar structure, does this mean that they also share the same linguistic features? The answer to this question would be that four elements out of six (abstract, orientation, complicating action and evaluation) can be identified according to their linguistic features, while the resolution and the coda cannot be identified because they differ from story to story in content and syntactic structure. The abstract, which is usually connected to or includes the orientation, is characterized by three patterns: sentences beginning with ʼiḏ or la-qad or by OVS/OSV/SVO clauses. These three patterns can also appear in the core of the narrative, indicating the transition to a new thematic unit in the narrative. In addition, there are patterns with fewer occurrences which are placed at the start of the opening sentence in the narratives: the vocative particle yā is followed by a proper name; the verb is in the imperative form (usually ʼutlu “tell”) and, finally, there is the pattern that includes the interrogative particle hal ʼatāka ḥadīṯu. The abstract and the orientation also introduce the participants or, as they are also called, the topics. At the beginning of the story, the reference to the participants is obligatory and made by mentioning their full names, while later in the story they are referred to by anaphoric pronouns, pronouns or zero reference. It was the aim of this study to investigate why proper names (or other nouns) -- which were already introduced -- are mentioned again later in the story. It was found that full names are used for six reasons : first, to indicate a new thematic unit in the story; second, the full name should be mentioned after a gap, i.e., when background information is introduced it might cause a deviation from the main line of the story, thus returning back to the main line is made by re-mentioning the participants in the story;

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third, when two participants of the same gender and number appear in the story referring to them with anaphoric pronouns or independent pronouns might be confusing because the listener/reader would not know to whom exactly the name is referring. Using a full name prevents such ambiguity; fourth, a proper name appears in vocative structures, i.e., such a structure involves the addressing of a specific person or persons; fifth, mentioning a proper name can be redundant, i.e., deletion of the name would not harm the text semantically; and sixth; a proper name or any other full name is used as an emphatic device particularly when it occurs after the particle ʼinna. This structure emphasizes the good or the bad characteristics of the referenced person or persons. The complicating action which is the core of the narrative refers to the series of events organized in temporal, chronological and logical order. The most prominent feature of these events is that they are expressed by verbs in the perfect tense connected to one another with the connective particles wa and fa and this structure advances the plot. It has been shown that the complicating actions are not only expressed by various verbs. In narratives of the first model, the verb of saying qāla/qālū is the only verb in the perfect tense that also advances the plot or, in this case, the dialogue. A complicating action is also called foreground information, while the background information is parallel to what Labov calls evaluation. Background information generally includes verbs in the imperfect and imperative forms, interrogatives, circumstantial clauses, as well as comments on God the All-mighty, and His reward for the believers and punishment for the unbelievers.

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