Qur'an 33:4 Quranic Arabic v. Classical Arabic and is the Qur'an a Kitab Mubeen?

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Oct 25, 2021 at 15:02

Dr. Pipes and Prashant,

I very much agree with Dr. Pipes. However, this verse is a gold mine for anyone studying Quranic Arabic v Classical Arabic.

I will start with my favorite translation and that is Ghali's translation and here is a link:

https://www.alquranenglish.com/quran-surah-al-ahzab-4-qs-33-4-in-arabic-and-english-translation#Dr.-Ghali

Notice that Ghali had to provide tafsir because this verse if read in isolation, and by the standards of 3rd century Arabic, as you shall see, is not very clear.

This is what al-Tabari wrote:

http://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/tabary/sura33-aya4.html

Now, I will concentrate on the first 2/3 of the aya:

1. ماجعل الله لرجل من قلبين في جوفه

This can be rendered as: Allah did not make for a man from (read this as with) two hearts inside him (Jawf means cavity)

al-Tabari starts his tafsir by reminding the reader اختلف أهل التأويل في المراد من قول الله or al-Mufasereen disagreed about what Allah meant by this part of the verse (read this as no one has a clue what this part of the verse really means). Now, al-Mufasereen come to the rescue and we are told that: There was indeed a man with
ذا القلبين or: He who has two hearts! and that this really pertains to ليس ابن اخر ابنك or: The son of another man is not your son and only Allahu 'Alam.

2. وَمَا جَعَلَ أَزْوَاجَكُمُ اللَّائِي تُظَاهِرُونَ مِنْهُنَّ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ

Or: And (He) did not make your husbands (sic) that (f.) you declare: "Back" (notice that al-Tabari must be assuming that this is from the pre-Islamic so called divorce by Dhihar) from among them (f.) your mothers

Here is per al-Tabari the correct 3rd century classical Arabic:

ولم يجعل الله أيها الرجال نساءكم اللائي تقولون لهنّ: أنتنّ علينا كظهور أمهاتنا أمهاتكم

This can be rendered as: And Allah did not make (notice that Yaj'al is present tense and not past tense as in the verse) O you men YOUR WOMEN (he corrects the mistake in gender of Your husbands) that you say to them (f.): You (f.) upon us same as the backs of our mother (or al-Dhihar) your mothers.

And yes, Zahr (also Dhahr) means back

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