{"id":133,"date":"2009-09-29T09:26:03","date_gmt":"2009-09-29T07:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=133"},"modified":"2010-02-25T12:03:47","modified_gmt":"2010-02-25T10:03:47","slug":"consonance-in-the-qur%e2%80%99an-a-conceptual-intertextual-and-linguistic-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=133","title":{"rendered":"Consonance in the Qur\u2019an: A conceptual, intertextual and linguistic analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"
Consonance in the Qur\u2019an: <\/strong>A conceptual, intertextual and linguistic analysis<\/strong>. <\/span><\/strong>By Hussein Abdul-Raof<\/strong>. (Languages of the world 34.) Munich: LINCOM Europa, 2005. Pp. 339. ISBN 3895868019<\/a>. $204.12.<\/div>\n

Reviewed by \u2020 Alan S. Kaye,<\/strong> California State University, Fullerton<\/em><\/p>\n

This interesting, well-researched volume uses the framework of text linguistics, largely following Teun A. van Dijk\u2019s Text and context<\/em> (London: Longman, 1977) and M. A. K. Halliday and Ruqaiya Hasan\u2019s Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in social-semiotic perspective<\/em> (Victoria: Deakin University Press, 1997) to analyze the Qur\u2019an in Arabic. It focuses on consonance (translated inconsistently by the author as Arabic nasq<\/em> (22), but also as munaasabah<\/em> (25)), which is defined as a \u2018text linguistic term that refers to the sequentiality and connectivity of propositions\u2019 (16). This phenomenon refers to the cohesion and coherence of the sentences of the text of the Arabic Qur\u2019an, the holy book for Muslims no matter what the native language of the Muslim happens to be. A significant point for non-Muslims to realize is that the faithful believe that the Qur\u2019an is kalaamu llaah<\/em> \u2018God\u2019s word\u2019, and thus it cannot be translated into any other language (but paraphrases in another language are possible). The author is correct in his observation that although the Qur\u2019anic text was revealed in both Mecca and Medina over a period of approximately a quarter of a century, there are conceptual and intertextual connections of ideas that have influenced consonance throughout the tome \u2018at both micro and macro levels\u2019 (16). The author has found the following types of consonance: between chapters; within one chapter; and at parable level, word level, phrase level, letter level, semantic level, phonetic level, and so on (17).<\/p>\n

As illustrative of the methodology of text linguistics employed, the author compares two Qur\u2019anic verses (ayahs<\/em>) with identical lexical and semantic content (37): Q6:102 reads laa \u2019ilaaha \u2019illaa huwa xaaliqu kulli shay<\/em>\u2019in<\/em> \u2018There is no deity [\u2018god\u2019\u2014ASK<\/em>] except Him, the Creator of all things\u2019, and Q 40:62 has the reverse word order, xaaliqu kulli shay<\/em>\u2019in laa <\/em>\u2019ilaaha <\/em>\u2019illaa huwa<\/em> \u2018The Creator of all things, there is no deity [\u2018god\u2019\u2014ASK<\/em>] except Him\u2019. The first verse is embedded in a context of monotheism as major theme. Therefore, \u2019ilaaha<\/em> \u2018god\u2019 occurs in first position (the author\u2019s wording is: \u2018made communicatively more salient in terms of information output\u2019). The latter ayah<\/em> has a \u2018context of situation\u2019 dealing with creation. Thus, xaaliqu<\/em> \u2018Creator\u2019 occurs initially. Then the author adds the following explanation: \u2018These variations are deliberately made for good communicative functions [sic]\u2019 (37).<\/p>\n

The tome is wordy in many places, and thus difficult and frustrating to read. Consider the following not untypical example: at the beginning of a section entitled \u2018Consonance in text linguistics\u2019 (25) we read: \u2018In Arabic, the expression [sic] consonance<\/em> means al-munasabah<\/em> [sic] which is one of the derivative forms of the verb nasaba<\/em> meaning \u201crelated or linked to someone or something\u201d \u2019 (25). The next section, entitled \u2018Consonance in Qur\u2019anic studies\u2019, begins: \u2018The notion of consonance in Qur\u2019anic studies is called al-munasabah<\/em> [sic]. This word is derived from the verb yunaasibu<\/em> \u201cto be a relative to someone, to have a resemblance to someone, like two brothers, a cousin, a brother-in-law\u201d \u2019 (25).<\/p>\n

Occasionally, the author\u2019s English is ungrammatical or awkward. Consider but two examples. He says that his book consists of seven chapters: \u2018The book falls into seven chapters\u2019 (17). And he writes: \u2018The findings of this work is [sic] highly vital for text analysts as well as for those interested in text linguistics\u2019 (20).<\/p>\n

Finally, it should be noted that the bibliography lacks the diacritics necessary for an accurate Arabic transcription. Hopefully, these types of stylistic infelicities will be corrected in a subsequent edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consonance in the Qur\u2019an: A conceptual, intertextual and linguistic analysis. By Hussein Abdul-Raof. (Languages of the world 34.) Munich: LINCOM Europa, 2005. Pp. 339. ISBN 3895868019. $204.12. Reviewed by \u2020 Alan S. Kaye, California State University, Fullerton This interesting, well-researched volume uses the framework of text linguistics, largely following Teun A. van Dijk\u2019s Text and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions\/150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}