Signs & Miracles · The Language Argument in Full
Particles Carry the Argument
Handle with care. These readings come from the tradition and are interpretive. Do not assert a single meaning for a particle where the commentators offer several.
In short
- 1.Min indicates origin or partition; 'an indicates distance, removal or on-behalf-of.
- 2.Substituting one for the other changes who is doing what to whom.
- 3.Demonstratives grade distance: dhaka nearer, dhalika further — used for emphasis and reverence.
- 4.Verb pairs like uq'ud and ijlis differ in what preceded the sitting: rising or lying down.
The claim being examined
Prepositions and small function words are usually invisible in translation, but in Arabic they shift agency, scope and direction of meaning.
The Islamic position
Al-Khattabi shows that min and 'an, and demonstratives like dhaka and dhalika, are chosen for effect, not filled in at random.
Analysis
The small connecting words are the strongest evidence in this part of the treatise, precisely because they are the easiest place for a human writer to be careless. Al-Khattabi notes that even a pointing word can be doing work: dhalika al-kitab at the start of al-Baqarah uses the "that" of distance for a book right in front of the listener, which the commentators read as height of rank rather than distance in space. In the same way uq'ud and ijlis both mean "sit", but the first is said to someone standing and the second to someone lying down — a difference built into the roots, not supplied by the sentence around them. These are the details that disappear in every translation.
Side by side
| min | from (origin) | Marks source or partition — where something comes out of. |
|---|---|---|
| 'an | from (away from) | Marks removal or distance — used at Q 42:25 of repentance being lifted away from the servant. |
| uq'ud | sit (from standing) | Addressed to someone who is standing. |
| ijlis | sit (from lying) | Addressed to someone who is lying down. |
From the Qur'an
ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ
dhālika l-kitābu lā rayba fīhi
That is the Book, in which there is no doubt — using the far demonstrative for a text immediately present.
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى يَقْبَلُ ٱلتَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِۦ
wahuwa alladhī yaqbalu l-tawbata ʿan ʿibādihi
And it is He who accepts repentance from ('an) His servants — the particle of removal, matching the removal of sin.
Sources
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