Allāh and Universal Instantiation

Dr. Kai Borrmann, Berlin

25. März 2024

The wāw l-isti’nāf or ”wāw of commencement” is often understood to in-

dicate the beginning of a new sentence which is wholly independent from the
sentence which prededes it, either grammatically, semantically or even logical-
ly. Unsecure as to what ”and”, ie. ”wāw” could mean here, many translators of
the Qur’ān choose to omit it altogether.1 However, as Augustus de Morgan has
demonstrated, the junctors ∧ i.e. ”and” and ∨ i.e. ”or” stand in the following
relation to each other:
A ∧ B ≡ ¬(¬A ∨ ¬B)
”A and B” is equivalent to ”it is not the case that not-A or not-B.”
In other words: ”A and B” means that A just won’t go without a B (and vice
versa). So there still may be a hidden connection between B, the fās.ila, the ap-
pendix of a verse, and A, that what is preceeding it. In verse 4:147, a semantical
connection is established by the root š-k-r, ”to be grateful”. Using the Universal
quantifier ∀ to write ∀xP(x) ”for all x: the x has property P”, the ”being grate-
ful” is taken to be a relation between two individuals. Verse 4:147 can then be
formalized in the following way:

4:147: mā yaf֒al-u llāh-u bi-֒adābikum ’in šakartum wa ā֓mantum

¯
wa-kāna llāh-u šākiran ֒alı̄man
”If you were grateful, then why would Allāh punish you? Allāh is the
grateful, the knowing.”
G: y is gracious towards x
a: Allāh
m: Man
∀xG(a,x)
⇒ G(a,m)
”Allāh is gracious towards everyone. Therefore, Allāh is gracious to-
wards any man.”
1 Dror, Yehudit: Is Each Particle in the Qur’ān Translatable? The Case of wāw l-isti’nāf

Preceding the fawās.il. In: Babel, Vol. 61.1 (2015) pp. 22-42.

1
In verse 4:158, the semantical connection is weaker. However, we can interpret
Jesus’ ascension as one of so many examples of what Allāh is capable of:
4:158: bal rafa֒ahu llāh-u ’ilayhi wa-kāna llāh-u ֒azı̄zan h.akı̄man
”It is rather that he (Allāh) took him (Jesus) to Heaven. Allāh is the
powerful, the judging.”
P: y has the power to do x
a: Allāh
j: Jesus is taken to Heaven
∀xP(a,x)
⇒ P(a,j)
”Allāh has the power to do everything. Therefore, Allāh has the
power to take Jesus to Heaven.”
Verse 33:40 can also be read as an argument: if property P applies to each and
everyone, then everything is just an example of what P applies to, turning it
into what is called a Substitution Instance of property P:
33:40: mā kāna muh.ammadun ’abā ’ah.adin min riǧālikum wa-lākin
rasūla llāhi wahātama n-nabiyyı̄na wa-kāna llāh-u bi-kulli šay’in
֒alı̄man ¯

”Muh.ammad is not anyone’s father of your people but messenger of

Allāh and the seal of the prophets and Allāh knows it all.” 2
K: y knows of x
a: Allāh
s: Muh.ammad is the seal of the prophets
∀xK(a,x)
⇒ K(a,s)
”Allāh knows everything. Therefore, Allāh knows that Muh.ammad
is the seal of the prophets.”
Universal Instantiation is an argument form; the verses cited above are by them-
selfes Substitution Instances of this argument form, because we would find many
more of them in the Qur’ān. Their multitude seems to make a point: that peo-
ple, prophets and what happens to them are just so many examples of what
takes place according to a pre-established order of things.-

2 Compare: David Stephan Powers: "Muhammad is not the father of any of your Men".
.
The Making of the Last Prophet. Pennsylvania 2009.