26:195 Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

(بِلِسَانٍ عَرَبِيٍّ) وهو أفضل الألسنة, بلغة من بعث إليهم, وباشر دعوتهم أصلا اللسان البين الواضح. وتأمل كيف اجتمعت هذه الفضائل الفاخرة في هذا الكتاب الكريم، فإنه أفضل الكتب, نزل به أفضل الملائكة, على أفضل الخلق, على أفضل بضعة فيه وهي قلبه، على أفضل أمة أخرجت للناس, بأفضل الألسنة وأفصحها, وأوسعها, وهو: اللسان العربي المبين.

وقوله تعالى: "بلسان عربي مبين" أي هذا القرآن الذي أنزلناه إليك أنزلناه باللسان العربي الفصيح الكامل الشامل ليكون بينا واضحا ظاهرا قاطعا للعذر مقيما للحجة دليلا إلى المحجة قال ابن أبي حاتم حدثنا أبي حدثنا عبد الله بن أبي بكر العتكي حدثنا عباد بن عباد المهلبي عن موسى بن محمد عن إبراهيم التيمي عن أبيه قال: بينما رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم مع أصحابه في يوم دجن إذ قال لهم "كيف ترون بواسقها؟" قالوا ما أحسنها وأشد تراكمها قال: "فكيف ترون قواعدها؟" قالوا ما أحسنها وأشد تمكنها قال "فكيف ترون جريها" ؟ قالوا ما أحسنه وأشد سواده قال "فكيف ترون رحاها استدارت ؟" قالوا ما أحسنها وأشد استدارتها قال: "فكيف ترون برقها أو ميض أم خفق أم يشق شقا؟" قالوا بل يشق شقا ؟ قال: "الحياء الحياء إن شاء الله" قال فقال رجل يا رسول الله بأبي وأمي ما أفصحك ما رأيت الذي هو أعرب منك قال فقال: حق لي وإنما أنزل القرآن بلساني والله يقول:"بلسان عربي مبين" وقال سفيان الثوري لم ينزل وحي إلا بالعربية ثم ترجم كل نبي لقومه واللسان يوم القيامة بالسريانية فمن دخل الجنة تكلم بالعربية رواه ابن أبي حاتم.

The Qur'an was revealed by Allah

Here Allah tells us about the Book which He revealed to His servant and Messenger Muhammad ﷺ.

وَأَنَّهُ

(And truly, this) refers to the Qur'an, which at the beginning of the Surah was described as

وَمَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن ذِكْرٍ مِّنَ الرَّحْمَـنِ مُحْدَثٍ

(and never comes there unto them a Reminder as a recent revelation from the Most Gracious...) (26:5).

لَتَنزِيلُ رَبِّ الْعَـلَمِينَ

(is a revelation from the Lord of Al-`Alamin.) means, Allah has sent it down to you and revealed it to you.

نَزَلَ بِهِ الرُّوحُ الاٌّمِينُ

(Which the trustworthy Ruh has brought down.) This refers to Jibril, peace be upon him. This was the view of more than one of the Salaf: Ibn `Abbas, Muhammad bin Ka`b, Qatadah, `Atiyyah Al-`Awfi, As-Suddi, Ad-Dahhak, Az-Zuhri and Ibn Jurayj. This is an issue concerning which there is no dispute. Az-Zuhri said, "This is like the Ayah:

قُلْ مَن كَانَ عَدُوًّا لِّجِبْرِيلَ فَإِنَّهُ نَزَّلَهُ عَلَى قَلْبِكَ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ

(Say: "Whoever is an enemy to Jibril -- for indeed he has brought it down to your heart by Allah's permission, confirming what came before it...") (2:97).

عَلَى قَلْبِكَ

(Upon your heart) `O Muhammad, free from any contamination, with nothing added or taken away.'

لِتَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُنْذِرِينَ

(that you may be of the warners,) means, `so that you may warn people with it of the punishment of Allah for those who go against it and disbelieve in it, and so that you may give glad tidings with it to the believers who follow it.'

بِلِسَانٍ عَرَبِىٍّ مُّبِينٍ

(In the plain Arabic language.) meaning, `this Qur'an which We have revealed to you, We have revealed in perfect and eloquent Arabic, so that it may be quite clear, leaving no room for excuses and establishing clear proof, showing the straight path.'

وَإِنَّهُ لَفِى زُبُرِ الاٌّوَّلِينَ أَوَلَمْيَكُن لَّهُمْ ءَايَةً أَن يَعْلَمَهُ عُلَمَاءُ بَنِى إِسْرَءِيلَوَلَوْ نَزَّلْنَـهُ عَلَى بَعْضِ الاٌّعْجَمِينَ

in a clear Arabic tongue a variant reading for nazala ‘he brought down’ verse 193 has nuzzila ‘was sent down’ and al-rūha ‘the Spirit’ in the accusative the subject of the verb being God.

Commentary

Qur’ an is the name of the collection of its words and meanings

نَزَلَ بِهِ الرُّ‌وحُ الْأَمِينُ ﴿193﴾ عَلَىٰ قَلْبِكَ لِتَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُنذِرِ‌ينَ ﴿194﴾ بِلِسَانٍ عَرَ‌بِيٍّ مُّبِينٍ ﴿195﴾ وَإِنَّهُ لَفِي زُبُرِ‌ الْأَوَّلِينَ ﴿196﴾

It is brought by the Trusted Spirit down [ 193] to your heart, so that you become one of the warners [ 194] in plain Arabic language. [ 195] And of course, it is (mentioned) in the scriptures of the former people. [ 196]

The words بِلِسَانٍ عَرَ‌بِيٍّ مُّبِينٍ (in plain Arabic language - 195) in these verses makes it clear that Qur'an is only that which is in Arabic language. Any translation of a passage or the whole of Qur'an in any language cannot be called Qur'an. But the next sentence وَإِنَّهُ لَفِي زُبُرِ‌ الْأَوَّلِينَ (And of course, it is [ mentioned ] in the scriptures of the former people - 196) does not seem to be in consonance with it, because the pronoun 'it' is apparently refers to the Qur'an and means that the Qur'an was also in the earlier scriptures, i.e. in Torah, Injil and Zabur. It is also well known that the earlier books, namely Torah, Injil and Zabur, were not in the Arabic language. Hence the inclusion of the meanings of Qur’ an in them is referred in this verse as ` Qur'an'. Answer to this apparent contradiction is that according to majority of the Ummah, sometimes even the subject matter of the Qur’ an is called Qur'an in a general sense, because the real purpose of a book is the subjects it deals with. The statement that earlier books also contained Qur'an is in this sense only that they included some Qur'anic subjects. This statement is also endorsed by many narrations of hadith.

Sayyidna Maquil ibn Yasar ؓ has reported a Hadith in Mustadrak of Hakim that the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said that Surah Al-Baqarah was given to him from ` adh-dhikr al-'awwal', and Surah Taha, Tawasin طوسین all Surahs starting from Tasin) and Hawamim حَوَامیم (all Surahs beginning with Ha) were given from the tablets of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) ، while Surah Al-Fatihah was given to him from under the Arsh عَرش (the great Throne). Tabarani, Hakim, Baihaqi etc. have reported on the authority of Sayyidna Abdullah ibn Masud ؓ that Surah Al-Mulk is present in Torah as well. (Al-Hadith). The Surah سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَ‌بِّكَ الْأَعْلَى has itself said, إِنَّ هَـٰذَا لَفِي الصُّحُفِ الْأُولَىٰ صُحُفِ إِبْرَ‌اهِيمَ وَمُوسَىٰ (87:18, 19) that is these subjects have also appeared in the books of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) and Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) .

The gist of all these verses and narrations is that many a subjects of the Qur'an were also covered in the earlier books as well. But it does not jean that those parts of the earlier books in which the Qur'anic subjects were covered are given the name of Qur'an. No one in the Ummah is of the opinion that those parts of the earlier books, be called Qur'an. Instead the majority of Ummah believes that Qur'an is the name not only of its wordings but also of its meanings. If someone picks up some of the Quranic words from different places and put them together to make a passage like الحمد للہ العزیز الرّحیم الَّذی لہ ملک السَّمٰوٰت و ھو رَبّ العٰلمین خالق کُلّ شیٔ وھو الْمُسْتَعَانُ , it will not be called Qur'an, despite the fact that all these words are taken from the Qur'an. Likewise, only the meanings of Qur'an, irrespective of the language they are rendered in, cannot be regarded as Qur'an.

Reciting translation of Qur’ an in prayers is not allowed by consensus of Ummah

The whole Ummah is unanimous on the rule that reciting the translation of the Qur'an in any other language like Urdu, Persian, English etc. is not sufficient for discharging the obligation of recitation in Sala, except in a case of extreme necessity. The jurists who are reported to have relaxed this rule have, later on, changed their view.

Urdu translation of Qur’ an is not allowed to be called Urdu Qur’ an

If only the translation of the Qur'an is written in any language without the Arabic text, it cannot be called the Qur'an. Some people call the Urdu translation of the Qur'an as Urdu Qur'an, or the English translation of the Qur'an as English Qur'an. It is not right and amounts to disrespect of the Holy Book. Printing, calling or trading of something in the name of Qur'an, without the Arabic text of the Qur'an, is not permitted. This subject is dealt with in detail in my treatise (تحذیر الاخوان عن تغییر رسم القرآن)