Zajʿ

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Saj ( Arabic سجع, DMG saǧʿ ) is a form of Arabic rhyming prose that is mainly used in the Koran . It has the use of rhyme in common with poetry, although it is not subject to the strict criteria of meter. As early as the beginning of the 9th century, rhyming prose was a popular literary style in the writing of letters, sermons ( chutba ), speeches and in the forewords of literary works. It is also characteristic of the style of medieval adab literature and the makame . It also became popular in Persian and Ottoman literature.

Rhyming prose is rare in post-classical and modern Arabic literature . A last significant example of the literary style are primarily the band verses of the 19th century.

Sajʿ in the Koran

Above all, the Koran text with its short verses, which originated in the Meccan period of Muhammad , is characterized by this form of language. But all in all, all suras and parts of suras are written in rhyming prose. The sound effect of the Koranic rhyming prose is illustrated by the Koran translation by Friedrich Rückert . Sura 90 , verses 1-16 reads:

“Should I swear by this city? By the sower and his seed! We created man for hard action. Does he mean that no one has power over him? He says: O how much good I trampled on! Does he think nobody saw him? Who prepared his eyes? And widened his lips? And guided him to the crossroads. But he does not climb the high edge. Do you know what is the high rim? To loosen the prisoner's tape; To dine when the hunger in the country, The orphans who are related to you, The poor who are unknown to you. "

The verses of sura 96 , which in the Islamic tradition are understood as the framework for the first epiphany of Muhammad, are as follows in the translation of the orientalist Hubert Grimme :

“In the name of the Lord, Who made you from bloody seed! Carry forward! He is the honored one, who taught with the pen, what no human ear has heard. But man is stubborn, disregarding that he is watching him. But the journey will one day lead to God. "

According to the new findings of Koran research, the Koran text occupies a "middle position between poetry and prose", because the suras are understood on the one hand as a series of verses, on the other hand as a series of sentences.

The German orientalist Theodor Nöldeke wrote about the language of the Korān in his still groundbreaking study . I. The Korān and the 'Arabija presented the stylistic peculiarities of the Koranic rhetoric with the help of numerous examples and represented the view that Muhammad's handling of the Sajjʿ was deficient in many respects and often did not reach the level of contemporary or early Islamic poets. The often observed repetitions of rhyming words, the closing clauses of the verses therefore "often only served to fill in the rhyme or at least to round it off". And: “Because of the rhyme, no matter how imperfect, the speech had to be subjected to a lot of pressure [...]. Muhammad certainly meditated a lot on the content of his revelation before he revealed it, but little on its form. "

Mohammed was often referred to as a “poet” by his opponents, as the linguistic form of the Koran was perceived as a poetic form. In contrast to poetry, however, one changes the rhyme frequently in rhyming prose; this can also be observed in the Koran. Most of the rhymes in the language of the Qur'an are based on a closed syllable with a long vowel (-ūn, -īn, -ād, -ār, etc.). In the Koran exegesis, the Koranic language is not regarded as poetry and only occasionally as rhetorical rhyming prose; rather, one speaks of separating units of the verses, which also correspond to the function of the rhymes in general.

Stylistic devices of rhetoric

In the foreign Koranic literature Saǧʿ has become the “characteristic form of all eloquence” and was considered “a kind of poetic expression”. In Islam, rhyming prose is used in salvation sayings and even protective prayers ascribed to the prophet Mohammed. The latter also found their way into the canonical collections of hadith literature . How to let Muhammad speak:

"Allāhumma innī aʿūḏu bik min ʿilmin lā yanfaʿ
wa-min qalbin lā yaḫšaʿ
wa-ʿainin lā tadmaʿ"

"Lord God, I seek refuge with you from knowledge that is of no use
from (the) heart, that is not humble in
front of (who) shed no tears"

- Mohammed

At the same time, religious doctrine warns against making intercessions in Saǧʿ, since its origins lie in pagan antiquity .

The different forms of curse of enemies and political rivals have also been recited in rhyming prose. The famous al-Muḫtār ibn Abī ʿUbaid aṯ-Ṯaqafī , leader of the Alid revolt between 685 and 687, Lord of Kufa often spoke in rhyming prose; his dreaded sayings are mainly transmitted from at-Tabarī and al-Balādhurī . He formulated the curse directed against his enemy Asmāʾ ibn Ḫāriǧa in powerful words, which, as an example of the Arabic Saǧʿ in profane literature, are as follows:

"La-tanzilanna nārun mina s-samāʾ
tasūquhā rīḥun ḥālikatun dahmāʾ
ḥattā taḥriqa dāra Asmāʾ wa-āl Asmāʾ"

"Verily, fire will come down from heaven
accompanied by a pitch-black, dark wind
until it burns the house of Asmāʾ and his family."

- al-Muḫtār ibn Abī ʿUbaid aṯ-Ṯaqafī

Characteristic of this form of speech, it is that they are not the strict rules of the metric is subject, but impressed as prose, here as a curse by the rhymes that by the omission of the grammatical endings in the final sound caused the last word at the end of lines. When Asmāʾ heard of this curse, he said: “It is not possible to stay when the lion has roared.” Then he left his home Kufa and emigrated to Syria.

It should be noted that rhyming prose - like the poetic form of Raǧaz - was also considered an expression of religious testimony in pre-Islamic times . These forms of language were condemned as the (primitive) language of the Bedouins as early as the Umayyad period ; because in an episode recorded by al-Balādhurī, the governor Al-Hajjaj ibn Yūsuf († 714), who was feared in Iraq, is told about an Arab speaking in this style - here Raǧaz -: “I heard al-Ḥaǧǧāg when he was on the minbar von Wasit said: Damn this slave of B. Hudhail! By God, he has not read a word of what God had revealed to Muhammad. What he says is none other than Raǧaz the Bedouin. By God, if I had caught him, I would have soaked the earth with his blood. ”He insults the Iraqis with words that end with the rhyme -āq from the word Irāq:

"Yā ahla ʾl-Irāq
wa-ahl aš-šiqāq
wa-ahl an-nifāq
wa-masāwiʾ ʾl-aḫlāq"

"Citizens of Iraq,
people of duality,
people of hypocrisy
and mean character type."

- Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf

literature

  • P. Freimark: The preface as a literary form in Arabic literature . Dissertation Münster 1967.
  • Ignaz Goldziher : Treatises on Arabic Philology. Brill, Leiden 1896, pp. 59–71.
  • Klaus Kreiser, Werner Diem , Hans Georg Majer (Ed.): Lexicon of the Islamic World . Vol. 3, p. 67, Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne, Mainz 1974. ISBN 3-17-002162-1 .
  • Angelika Neuwirth : Koran . In: Helmut Gätje (Ed.): Outline of Arabic Philology. Vol. II. Literary Studies. Dr. Ludwig Reichert Publishing House. Wiesbaden. 1987. pp. 96-135; esp. 117–119 (structure and types of suras).
  • Theodor Nöldeke: History of the Qorāns . 2nd edition edited by Friedrich Schwally . Part One: On the Origin of the Qorān. Leipzig 1909. pp. 34-44
  • Theodor Nöldeke: New Contributions to Semitic Linguistics . Strasbourg 1910. pp. 1-30.
  • Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 8, p. 732.

Individual evidence

  1. After: Rudi Paret: Mohammed and the Koran 8th edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne 2001. pp. 54-55.
  2. Angelika Neuwirth: Koran . P. 117.
  3. ^ In: Theodor Nöldeke: New contributions to Semitic linguistics . Strasbourg 1910. pp. 1-30.
  4. ^ Theodor Nöldeke: New Contributions to Semitic Linguistics , p. 6
  5. ^ Theodor Nöldeke: Geschichte des Qorāns , Vol. 1, p. 36
  6. Theodor Nöldeke: Geschichte des Qorāns , p. 39
  7. ^ Theodor Nöldeke, Geschichte des Qorāns , p. 37
  8. Ignaz Goldziher (1896), pp. 59–60
  9. Text in Arabic by Ignaz Goldziher (1896), p. 68. Note 4 (translation with variants)
  10. ^ Ignaz Goldziher (1896), p. 68 and note 5
  11. Claude Cahen: Islam I. From the origin to the beginnings of the Ottoman Empire . Fischer world history. Volume 14. 1968. pp. 40-41
  12. ^ Text in Arabic by Ignaz Goldziher (1896), p. 73
  13. Ignaz Goldziher (1896), p. 73
  14. HAR Gibb: Arabic Literature. Oxford 1963. pp. 14-15; 34-35; MJ Kister: Labbayka, Allahumma, Labbayka ... . In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (JSAI), 2 (1980, pp. 41–42)
  15. The tribe of B. Hudhail mentioned here refers to the poetic songs cultivated and famous in their circles. See: Julius Wellhausen : Sketches and preliminary work . First issue. 2: Songs of the Hudhailites, Arabic and German. Berlin 1884. pp. 104ff. [1]
  16. MJ Kister (1980), p. 42. Note 61 with the transcription of the Arabic original; on the “simple-minded” Raǧaz poems of the camel drivers see: Ignaz Goldziher (1896), p. 95. Note 2
  17. Ignaz Goldziher (1896), p. 64. Note 3 (in Arabic)