Signs & Miracles · The Language Argument in Full
Particles Carry the Argument
Handle with care. These readings come from the exegetical 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
Function words are the strongest evidence in this part of the treatise precisely because they are the easiest place for a human author to be careless. Al-Khattabi notes that even the demonstrative can be doing work: dhalika al-kitab at the opening of al-Baqarah uses the far demonstrative of a book present to the listener, which the exegetes read as conferring elevation and remoteness of rank rather than physical distance. Similarly the pair uq'ud and ijlis are both 'sit', but the first is addressed to one standing and the second to one lying down — a distinction embedded in the roots rather than added by context. These are the details that vanish entirely 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
Qur'an 2:2
ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْكِتَٰبُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ
That is the Book, in which there is no doubt — using the far demonstrative for a text immediately present.
Qur'an 42:25
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى يَقْبَلُ ٱلتَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِۦ
And it is He who accepts repentance from ('an) His servants — the particle of removal, matching the removal of sin.
Sources
Al-Khattabi, Bayan I'jaz al-Qur'an · Sibawayh, al-Kitab · al-Zamakhshari, al-Kashshaf · Ibn Hisham al-Ansari, Mughni al-Labib · Al-Khattabi, The Miracle of the Qur'an (Sapience Publishing, 2022), on particles and demonstratives
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