I Eloquence & Style (الاساليب
و البلاغة)
1. The أَلَمْ
تَرَ form of Address
About this form of address, Ghamidi
writes (note 1): ‘This style of address in which plural entities are actually
addressed by referring to a single entity is used when each member of the group
is meant to be addressed separately’.
Other examples of this form can be seen
in the following verses:
أَلَمْ
تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَآجَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ فِي رِبِّهِ أَنْ آتَاهُ اللّهُ الْمُلْكَ
(٢٥٨:٢)
Have you not
seen him who argued with Abraham about his Lord because God had bestowed
sovereignty upon him?
أَلَمْ
تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ بَدَّلُواْ نِعْمَةَ اللّهِ كُفْرًا وَأَحَلُّواْ قَوْمَهُمْ
دَارَ الْبَوَارِ (٢٨:١٤)
Have you not seen those who repaid
the grace of God with disbelief and drive their people into the abode of
perdition? (14:28)
أَلَمْ
تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِعَادٍ (٦:٨٩)
Have you not seen how your Lord dealt
with the ‘Ad? (89:6)
أَلَمْ
تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَابِ الْفِيلِ (١٠٥:١)
Have you not
seen how God dealt with the people of the elephants? (105:1)
2. Figurative
Use of مَوْت and
حَيَاة
In verse 243, Ghamidi has translated the
words مَوْت and
حَيَاة figuratively – implying that
the death and restoration to life refer to the states of moral and political
degeneration of the Israelites and to their moral and political revival
respectively.
In the other verses of the Qur’an also,
this figurative use can be seen. In the first four verses quoted below, the word
مَوْت has been used
figuratively, while in the fourth and fifth verses, the word
حَيَاة has been used figuratively:
اللَّهُ يَتَوَفَّى الْأَنفُسَ حِينَ مَوْتِهَا (٤٢:٣٩)
God takes away men’s souls during
their sleep. (39:42)
ثُمَّ بَعَثْنَاكُم مِّن بَعْدِ مَوْتِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ
تَشْكُرُونَ (٥٦:٢)
Then We
revived you from your stupor, so that you might be grateful. (2:56)
إِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ الْمَوْتَى وَلَا تُسْمِعُ الصُّمَّ
الدُّعَاء إِذَا وَلَّوْا مُدْبِرِينَ (٨٠:٢٧)
You cannot make the dead at heart you
nor can you make the deaf hear your call if they turn their backs and pay no
heed. (27: 80)
أَوَ مَن كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ
نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ كَمَن مَّثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ لَيْسَ
بِخَارِجٍ مِّنْهَا (١٢٢:٦)
Can the dead at heart man whom We
have raised to life, and given a light to walk with among men, be compared to
him who is in darkness from which he will never emerge? (6:122)
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَجِيبُواْ لِلّهِ
وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُم لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ (٢٤:٨)
Believers, obey God and the Prophet
when he calls you to that which gives you life. (8:24)
III Scriptures and
Testaments (العهود و الصحف)
1. The Test mentioned in the Bible
The Qur’an (2:249) mentions a test
through which the Israelites were put before the battle. The Bible does not
mention this test, although it does mention a similar one:
Now the men of Israel were in
distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying,
“Cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged
myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food. The entire army
entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground. When they went into the
woods, they saw the honey oozing out, yet no one put his hand to his mouth,
because they feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard that his father had
bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was
in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth,
and his eyes brightened. Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound
the army under a strict oath, saying, ‘Cursed be any man who eats food today!’
That is why the men are faint.” Jonathan said, “My father has made trouble for
the country. See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little of this honey.
How much better it would have been if the men had eaten today some of the
plunder they took from their enemies … They pounced on the plunder and, taking
sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground and ate them,
together with the blood. (1 Samuel 14:24-33)
As pointed out by Islahi,
the above account differs from the Qur’an in the following aspects:
1. According the Bible, this test took
place when the battle had begun, and the purpose of the test was that people
should not indulge in eating until the enemy was totally routed. On the other
hand, it is evident from the Qur’an that this test took place before the battle,
and the purpose was to ascertain the true companions who would fight by David’s
side.
2. It is evident from the Bible that as
part of the test, the Israelite army was asked to refrain from food. The Qur’an,
on the other hand, says that the forbiddance was regarding tasting the water of
a rivulet which the marching army of Saul encountered.
3. In the Biblical version, every person
of the Israelite army including David’s son Jonathan failed the test. However,
the Qur’an says that there was a group, albeit small, who were successful.
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