The Second Part

 

The Essence of Eloquence

 

 

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.

Eternity and all dominion is God’s, and from Him are all blessings and benedictions; and blessings be upon His Prophet.

 

In this Part, a few matters concerning the essence of eloquence will be explained.

 

First Matter

 

(The miraculousness of the Qur’an, which is the greatest and enduring miracle of Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, lies primarily in its eloquence. This aspect has been the most important factor in the preservation of the Qur’an without the least change, and implies that, particularly towards the end of time, eloquence will be the most creditable means to convince people.)

As a result of many other peoples having mixed with the Arabs in the early centuries of Islam, the Mudari dialect, which was the most developed and refined dialect of Arabic and the language used in the Qur’an, became changed. In addition, eloquence came to be pursued more in the wording than in the meaning, in which the rivers of thoughts flow.

The rivers of thoughts and feelings find their natural course in the composition or arrangement of meanings. Composition of meanings is based on the principles of logic. Logic has its source in truths that are based on and corroborate one another, as well as in the thoughts that lead to these truths. The thoughts that lead to such truths penetrate the most subtle points of the natures of existent things. The most subtle points of natures are the links in the chain of the perfect order of the universe. The perfect order of the universe has a whole, abstract beauty which is the source of all the beauty of existence. This abstract beauty is the “natural” park of eloquence called literary merit and style. This park is constituted in the tunes of the nightingales—called poets—who travel in the gardens of creation and are the lovers of flowers. What gives a spiritual, effective tone to the tunes or songs of the nightingales is the composition of meanings.

Unfortunately, some non-Arabs, aspiring to be included among Arab men of letters, caused confusion. For, as the temperament of a people is the source of their feelings, in the same way, a language reflects those feelings and sentiments. Every people has a temperament particular to itself. Likewise, every language has a capacity for eloquence that is different from others. This is especially true for Arabic because it is based on strict grammatical rules. Its capacity for eloquence thus is highly different from languages that are not like it. As those who, although not Arab in origin, aspired to being counted among the Arab literary men attached greater importance to the wording than the meaning, and attachment to wording does not allow thoughts to flow along their normal course or for the flowers of eloquence to open, in this way the eloquence lost its essential purity.

The foreigners mentioned felt a greater need to write and speak beautifully and learn the literal meanings of words. Wording seems to be easier and more attractive to superficial views, and more in tune with populism; thus these foreigners concentrated their efforts on wording. Concentrating on meaning requires greater and deeper care and study. It is for this reason that the foreigners who were unable to do this became preoccupied with wording.

The meaning was left in the stage of conception, then dragged in after the wording. This caused conflicting ideas to arise. In the end, the wording received greater attention than the meaning and although wording should serve meaning, the situation became reversed with wording subjecting meaning to itself. The greater importance that was attached to wording and the more knowledge that was feigned through artificial styles, the more people became distanced from meaning. For example, you can enter the Maqamat by al-Hariri,46 and see how his title of literary genius arose from his fascination with wording; the result was that he encouraged those who were fond of wording. In order to be able to offer a cure for this disease, the illustrious scholar of eloquence, ‘Abd al-Qahir, filled one-third of his Dala’il al-‘Ijaz (“Intimations of Inimitability”) and Asrar al-Balaqha (“Secrets of Eloquence”) with treatment. Focusing on wording is a disease, but those who suffer from it do not know that they suffer from it.

 

A REMINDER

Just as a fondness for wording is a disease, so also is over-concentration on form, style, simile, and rhyme a disease; and for the sake of all of these meaning is sacrificed. In our time, many literary people have written about bizarre things for the sake of a fine point or rhyme. I admit that there should be artistry in wording, but only in a manner that serves the meaning. Styles should be as attractive as possible, but remain within the frame of the meaning and the purpose of the speech or writing. Literary arts should certainly be used, but on condition that they support the truth and not damage it.

 

Said Nursi

46 Abu Muhammad Qasim ibn ‘Ali al-Hariri (1024–1122) lived in Basra, Iraq. He was a scholar of Arabic language and literature. He is primarily known for the refined style and wit of his collection of tales, the Maqamat (“Assemblies”). (Trans.)