A Comment
One of the online friends has sent me a helpful comment which I publish here with thanks:
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First of all the word ‘ألقى’ is the literary equivalent of ‘throw’, not
literal equivalent. In fact, it is closer to ‘cast’ than ‘throw’ in English.
Now just like cast means throw in a literary manner, it also means ‘cause
something to appear somewhere’ or ‘put or place somebody or something
somewhere’. Just consult a dictionary on ‘cast’, and you’ll understand that
‘ألقى’ can be used in its place in most of the instances.
Also in the dictionary, ‘ألقى’ doesn’t only equate to ‘throw’. For example,
the Lane’s Arabic Lexicon gives a number of meanings and usages, some of
which are as follows:
1. ‘القيت المتاع على الدابة’: I put OR placed the goods upon the
beast.
2. ‘ألقت ولدها’: She cast her young one.
3. ‘القيت إليه خيراً’: I did good to him.
4. ‘القيت إليه القول’: I told or communicated it to him.
…..so you can realize that the word has many literary connotations. Herein
the connotation of the verb is clearly in the 1st sense enumerated above.
Secondly, there is a tendency in commoners like us, who not only aren’t
familiar with literary pieces in Arabic language, but rather many a times,
are completely unfamiliar with literary style of depicting things in even
their own language, to expect a certain crude depiction of things, void of
any literary embellishment, and only focusing on the scientific aspect of
the phenomenon being discussed. This is not the style of literary pieces in
general, much less the style of the Quran. Would you expect a master
sculptor who is also a poet and a playwright, to always use the verb
‘sculpt’ when describing his work?
Just like that, Quran is the composition of our Lord, who not only is the
creator, but also the one who taught us literature. The mainstay of the His
Book ‘Quran’ is literature, not science. Even while discussing scientific
phenomenon, the style adopted for depiction is literary and picturesque.
While discussing day and night, you’ll find herein expressions such as ‘he
rubbed off or obliterated the sign of the night so that it became dark so
that you may rest in it, and made the sign of the day illuminated so that
you may seek the bounties of your Lord ’. You may say that day and night are
the result of mere rotation of the Earth and therefore God didn’t have to
‘erase’ anything, but go and ask any literary aficionado and he’ll tell you
that it is one of the most beautiful depictions in literature. In fact, it
highlights the process that we adopt so beautifully. Just like before
sculpting or fabricating a device we draw its prototype on paper, God using
a process we are most familiar with has just described the conception stages
of day and night in an ornate manner, just as if He was sitting there
drawing things on paper and rubbing them off.
But the Quran also ensures to correctly identify a scientific phenomenon at
one or more places so that people may know where it stands in principle. On
all the other places, the phenomenon is depicted for certain literary
effects. For example, your contention is addressed in this Sign 41.10: ‘And
He made therein bulges (i.e. mountains) from its upper part…..’. See how
correctly does the Quran identify their creation as per science. Not only do
we because of this depiction come to know that the mountains were formed
from within, but also that they were formed from the upper crust of the
Earth, that Geologists may call tectonic plates these days.
رب راكها
Adnan Ejaz
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First of all the word ‘ألقى’ is the literary equivalent of ‘throw’, not
literal equivalent. In fact, it is closer to ‘cast’ than ‘throw’ in English.
Now just like cast means throw in a literary manner, it also means ‘cause
something to appear somewhere’ or ‘put or place somebody or something
somewhere’. Just consult a dictionary on ‘cast’, and you’ll understand that
‘ألقى’ can be used in its place in most of the instances.
Also in the dictionary, ‘ألقى’ doesn’t only equate to ‘throw’. For example,
the Lane’s Arabic Lexicon gives a number of meanings and usages, some of
which are as follows:
1. ‘القيت المتاع على الدابة’: I put OR placed the goods upon the
beast.
2. ‘ألقت ولدها’: She cast her young one.
3. ‘القيت إليه خيراً’: I did good to him.
4. ‘القيت إليه القول’: I told or communicated it to him.
…..so you can realize that the word has many literary connotations. Herein
the connotation of the verb is clearly in the 1st sense enumerated above.
Secondly, there is a tendency in commoners like us, who not only aren’t
familiar with literary pieces in Arabic language, but rather many a times,
are completely unfamiliar with literary style of depicting things in even
their own language, to expect a certain crude depiction of things, void of
any literary embellishment, and only focusing on the scientific aspect of
the phenomenon being discussed. This is not the style of literary pieces in
general, much less the style of the Quran. Would you expect a master
sculptor who is also a poet and a playwright, to always use the verb
‘sculpt’ when describing his work?
Just like that, Quran is the composition of our Lord, who not only is the
creator, but also the one who taught us literature. The mainstay of the His
Book ‘Quran’ is literature, not science. Even while discussing scientific
phenomenon, the style adopted for depiction is literary and picturesque.
While discussing day and night, you’ll find herein expressions such as ‘he
rubbed off or obliterated the sign of the night so that it became dark so
that you may rest in it, and made the sign of the day illuminated so that
you may seek the bounties of your Lord ’. You may say that day and night are
the result of mere rotation of the Earth and therefore God didn’t have to
‘erase’ anything, but go and ask any literary aficionado and he’ll tell you
that it is one of the most beautiful depictions in literature. In fact, it
highlights the process that we adopt so beautifully. Just like before
sculpting or fabricating a device we draw its prototype on paper, God using
a process we are most familiar with has just described the conception stages
of day and night in an ornate manner, just as if He was sitting there
drawing things on paper and rubbing them off.
But the Quran also ensures to correctly identify a scientific phenomenon at
one or more places so that people may know where it stands in principle. On
all the other places, the phenomenon is depicted for certain literary
effects. For example, your contention is addressed in this Sign 41.10: ‘And
He made therein bulges (i.e. mountains) from its upper part…..’. See how
correctly does the Quran identify their creation as per science. Not only do
we because of this depiction come to know that the mountains were formed
from within, but also that they were formed from the upper crust of the
Earth, that Geologists may call tectonic plates these days.
رب راكها
Adnan Ejaz
