Linguistic Armament

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Dr. Abdul-Baqi Al-Khazraji / College of Islamic Sciences – University of Karbala

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Praise be to Allah, the Creator and Giver of blessings, and peace and blessings upon the noblest of humans, the most perfect proof, and upon his family, the best interpreters of the Qur’an. Afterward:

The first reading of this title may raise questions about the possibility of being armed with language, where its fields lie, how it is done, when it is realized, and what its tools are…

This brief research aims to reveal practical fields that have occurred and from which answers to those questions can be drawn, and this is the intended goal.

Language, among all the social phenomena in human societies, is one of the strongest human relationships that organize the connection between humans, ensuring their survival and being the best tool for their development. Human beings are called “humans” because they find comfort in their fellow human beings.

Since language is the greatest social phenomenon and the element of human unity, reflecting the images of nations and peoples, the Arabic language represents the conscience of the nation. It is, in fact, the nation itself, expressing its thoughts, feelings, hopes, and pains. It is the most suitable vessel that contains its culture, civilization, heritage, and human contributions. It is also the means by which the nation recognizes its wisdom, happiness, and the most essential elements of its survival, continuity, and unity. Therefore, being armed with it and strengthened by its teachings is one of the greatest forms of armament in general.

A practical evidence of this concept is that Arabic became the first miracle of the Qur’an, and indeed the most prominent of its many miracles. Whether when it was revealed, at a time when Arabic was at the peak of its power, vitality, and brilliance, or even today, it will remain so as long as it remains the vessel for the Qur’an and its language. It rises as it rises, for nothing can surpass it. This miracle could not have been realized had it not been for the widespread high level of understanding, absorption, appreciation, and eloquent performance of the Arabic language, which reached the level of perfection (instinctive grasp). The Arabs mastered its eloquence, fluency, literature, purity, and vitality, and it became a symbol of their pride, the hallmark of their glory, and the source of their pride and nobility. No other people have taken pride in their language as the Arabs have in theirs, for they armed themselves with it in the most profound way.

Had this not been the case for Arabic, how could the challenge of the Qur’an to the Arabic-speaking Arabs have been understood? They were challenged with a unique weapon of their own, stronger and more distinct than what they had known, mastered, and practiced, and they proudly challenged to bring forth something like it, then ten surahs like it, and then just one surah like it, asserting that they held the material of the challenge, or else the miracle would not have been realized. Thus, the Arabs believed in the Qur’an initially through a striking admiration of its language, as poet Ahmad Al-Safi Al-Najafi, the great Iraqi poet, pointed out.

The Arabs believed in the Qur’an through its literary style
And they became its champions, spreading the religion as knights.

It is truly sacred, to the one with good character
No matter his religion, if he describes his feelings.

Whoever has not tasted the miracle of the Qur’an’s literature,
Has fallen short in faith.

Religion is not something we simply teach

But conviction that establishes reason as evidence.

Thus, we stand in deep contemplation over the victory of the Qur’an in its first arena of victories, the arena of its Arabic language and its vessel.

Through our experience in Algeria, contemporary history has recorded a remarkable victory for the weapon of Arabic in its triumph during the Algerian revolution in the past two centuries, where Arabic confronted the French colonizer, who targeted it in its infancy and, by extension, the existence of the nation represented by the Qur’an and its principles. A group of Arabic-speaking patriots rose, having memorized the Qur’an with knowledge and care, foremost among them the great scholar, Muhammad Bashir Al-Ibrahimi, who was known for his many talents, but his Arabic language, eloquence, and fluency stood out. He wielded it as a weapon against the colonizer, in the face of hardship, helplessness, and the cruelty of the enemy. He armed himself with it and took it as a weapon, traveling with it between villages, cities, mountains, and valleys, creating a relentless resistance rooted in the language. It became the foundation of his cultural and educational project, thanks to his deep understanding of the literature of the Qur’an and the culture of Arabic. This arming ultimately led to the liberation of the country from colonial dominance and the freeing of the nation from the slavery of its language and culture.

This vital subject was the focus of an international conference in the year 2000, organized by the Arabic Language Cultural Center in Geneva, which we established two decades ago to promote the Arabic of the Qur’an and its culture. The conference was attended by thinkers, writers, and intellectuals, and it had a significant impact, serving as a concrete representation of the idea of “linguistic arming.”

Arabic has faced major challenges without being deterred. Just as it absorbed and recorded human civilizations and cultures, preserving them in its beautiful letters and movements, with its exquisite script that is a pride unto it, it never complained or weakened under the weight. Similarly, it embraced the divine revelation in its transparent vessel without flaw. It has never been accused of weakness, except by those who, out of ignorance, defamed it, and in their ignorance, led others astray.

The weakness we find in our Arabic language today is a reflection of the condition of the nation’s youth, who, unfortunately, grew up with a flawed belief in their language, which is one of the greatest dangers and misfortunes. Crimes were committed against Arabic that cannot be forgiven by those who perpetrated them, nor by those who were associated with them. The task of teaching it was entrusted to a group (and not a small one) who neither understood it, nor appreciated it, nor conveyed it correctly. How could they then communicate it to those who received it from them? A person who lacks something cannot give it. They distorted its image, creating a version that even the learner fled from, and the lover of the language shrank from. This pushed the youth away from its global potential and made them turn their backs on it, especially its grammatical foundations, which are the primary and strongest support for proving the purity of its vessel, its beautiful and radiant face, and consequently achieving the noble human goal of understanding the true and precise meanings of sentences, which are thoughts shaped into words, phrases, and sentences that carry meaning. The function of grammar is to regulate the relationships between the components of a sentence and its structure.

The grammatical rule is derived and discovered through the study of the texts that are read, heard, and written, not imposed arbitrarily.

To delve deeper into this important issue would require another subject of research and study.

I conclude my article with a line from the great poet Al-Safi Al-Najfi:

“I gathered in my approach both religion and literature,
And in that, the Qur’an guides me.”

Whoever adopts the Qur’an as a method for both language and thought has armed himself and succeeded.