Did you say The “Qur’an is poetry?”

Salaam alykum,

When I wrote that, I meant that as a reference to the complexity and the linguistic structures (of Arabic) utilized within The Qur’an.

The “poetry” that you are referring to is very different to what I am referring to when I say “poetry,” which could have been gleaned by reading the rest of my statement, which was directed towards the use of metaphor in The Qur’an (which is a technique affirmed in 3:7 and 24:35).

The rest of the paragraph, is as follows:

“… its usage of ‘the garden’ as a metaphor for heaven would not be odd, rather, it would be expected, as it would utilize the metaphoric lexicon of the Bedouin Arabs, and indeed many other traditions, so that it could express, in poetic language, the beauty of the hereafter for believers.”

There is, without a doubt, the utilization of linguistic themes that make the Arabic language so beautiful, and the Arabic language is notorious for its verbose and vivid characteristics.

Take, for instance, the opening ayah to Surah Az-Zalzala:

إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ ٱلْأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَا

The use of the onomatopoeia, “zulzilati,” in my mind, is “poetic.” This ayah is literally one of my favorites. It expresses so much in such a simple word.

Or, another favorite Surah of mine, At-Tin, begins with the following:

وَٱلتِّينِ وَٱلزَّيْتُونِ

This translates into “Consider the fig and the olive.”

Muhammad Asad, in his tafseer, writes the following about this ayah:

“The “fig” and the “olive” symbolize, in this context, the lands in which these trees predominate: i.e., the countries bordering on the eastern part of the Mediterranean, especially Palestine and Syria. As it was in these lands that most of the Abrahamic prophets mentioned in the Qur’an lived and preached, these two species of tree may be taken as metonyms for the religious teachings voiced by the long line of those God-inspired men, culminating in the person of the last Judaic prophet, Jesus.“

The point is, I think you misunderstood what I meant by referring to “poetry,” because within 26:225 of The Qur’an, we get the following:

“Art thou not aware that they roam confusedly through all the valleys [of words and thoughts],” Muhammad Asad

In this ayah, the phrase “hama fi widyan”–which literally means “he wandered through valleys”–is used to make a sharp distinction between the use of aimless and contradictory words (poetry as you mentioned) and the precision of The Qur’an, which is free from all contradictions.

Obviously, with this point, I agree completely. I think you just misunderstood what I was trying to communicate, and I thank you for your efforts and concern, but I ask that you please take my statement in its entirety because it best explains my position, and that, yes, out of context, it would seem I am advocating something very different to what I intended.

I pray this reaches you and your families in the best of health and Iman, insha Allah.