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Lahn in the Qur'an

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 LaÍn in the Qur’ān and its Literatures:

Issues and Meanings in Textual Analysis and Recitational

Discourse*

by
Amidu Sanni, Lagos State University Nigeria

Introduction
Had we wished, we would have shown them to you, and
you would have known them by their marks, but you will
certainly know them by the laÍn of their speech (Qur’ān
47:30)

* I am obliged to the kindness of the Alexander von

Humboldt Foundation for a fellowship through which
most of this study was conducted and for sponsoring my
participation in the 2004 DOT Conference in Halle­Saale,
Germany. I acknowledge with thanks the hospitality of
Professors Tilman Nagel and Peter Bachmann (Göttingen­
Germany) during the fall of 1998 when this study was
started. Professor Stefan Reichmuth and the staff of the
Seminar für Orientalistik und Indologie at Bochum
Universität equally provided an appreciable assistance
during a later visit to Germany.
 21

I have decided not to give an equivalent to the word laÍn in

my translation of this verse, and this for a purpose. What
does the word denote or connote in the idiom of the Qur’ān
and indeed in its affiliate literatures? Proceeding from the
semiotic of the scriptural language of the Qur’ān, it will be
reasonable to suggest that the word sīmāhum (marks) in this
verse is intended to refer to outward, visible signs, while the
word laḥn is meant to signify an ideational motif with a less
than perceptible value, or at least, an abstruse and
allegorical concept. By using this as a premise, will rendering
the word laÍn as tone, manner, import of speech, “burden of
talk,” to quote Khan,1 adequately convey the intended
meaning? What other shades of meanings or nuances are
demonstrable from the use and interpretation of the term in
the scriptural and philological discourse of early Islam? I
have discussed elsewhere in some detail the various
conceptual referents associated with the term as a linguistic
phenomenon until it eventually assumed an additional value
as a rhetorical schema. In the two studies, I also analyzed
such other significations of the term as are demonstrable
from the Arabic literary corpus and routine speech but which

1 Muid Khan, Die exegetischen Teile des Kitāb al­‘yn: Zur

ältesten philologischen Koranexegese (Berlin, 1994), 276.
22

Fück and Ullmann did not consider in their monumental

studies on the subject.2

Inchoate Stage of Interpretation: Between laḥn and

laḥan
The interpretation of the word laḥn by the early generation
of Qur’ānic exegetes betrays some element of flexibility in
the understanding of the term as it is used in the verse cited
above. For example, Muqātil (d. 150/766) explains sīmāhum
as “odious marks,” and laḥn as “falsehood of statement.” 3

2 See my Laḥn and its Traditions in Arabic Philological and

Literary Discourse, forthcoming; "Beyond Fück and
Ullmann: the Discourse on laḥn in Arabic Philological and
Literary Traditions, forthcoming. Cf. Johann Fück, "Die
Würzel l­ḥ­n­ und ihre Ableitungen", in Johann Fück
Arabiyya­Untersuchungen zur arabischen Sprach und
Stilgeschichte (Berlin, 1950), 128­35; Manfred Ullmann, Wa­
Khairu l­ḥadīði mā kāna laḥnan: Beiträge zur Lexikographie

des Klassischen Arabisch Nr. 1 (München, 1979); idem, "l­ḥ­

n", Wörterbücher der klassischen arabischen Sprache, ed.
Manfred Ullmann (Wiesbaden, 1983), Band II, no 2, 377a–
392b.
3 Muqātil b. Sulaymān, Tafsīr, ed. ‘Abd Allāh Maḥmūd
 23

This confirms my postulation that there is some element of

contrasting semantic values involving the visible and the
perceptible in regard to this Qur’ānic verse. Al­Farrā’ (d.
207/822) interprets the expression containing laḥn as “naḥw
al­qawl” (import) and “ma‘nā al­qawl” (meaning/thought
content).4 Abū Jarīr at­Ùabarī’s (d. 310/921) interpretation
of the verse is also similar to Muqātil’s; sīmāhum is given to
mean “the palpable signs of hypocrisy as evidenced by their
actions and statements,” while laḥn is interpreted as “the
underlining import of their statement” (ma‘nā qawlihim).5
From the interpretation of these early authorities, it is safe to

Shaḥḥāta, 5 vols (Cairo, 1979­89), IV (1988), 50. Qur’ān

2:273, 48:29 for a similar use of "sīmāhum".
4 Yaḥyā b. Zayyād al­Farrā’, Ma‘āni al­Qur’ān, ed. Aḥmad
Yūsuf Najāti & Muḥammad ‘Alī al­Najjār, 3 vols (Cairo,
1955­72), III (1972), 63. Cf. Abū Bakr Ibn Durayd, al­
Malāḥin, ed. Ibrāhīm Ùafāyyish al­Jazarī, (Cairo,
1347/1928), 7.
5 Muḥammad b. Jarīr aÏ­Ṭabarī, Jāmi‘ al­bayān ‘an ta’wīl
al­qur’ān, 30 vols (Cairo, 1954­57), XXIX (1957), 60­61.
See also al­Khalīl b. Aḥmad, Kitāb al­‘ayn, ed. Mahdī al­
Makhzūmī & Ibrāhīm al­Samarrā’ī, 8 vols (Baghdad,
1980­85), III (1981), 229, s.v. 'l­ḥ­n­'.
24

assume that the early understanding of the term is in the

sense of a level of meaning that is beyond the ordinary.6 The
philosophical theory of the scriptural language, and this also
applies to other formal types, suggests that an expression
may have two levels of meaning, viz. the denotational which
is directly related to the semiotic of a language type, and the
connotational which is demonstrable only as an ekphrastic
moment in the context of the intellectual and linguistic
variables associated with the culture to which the language
belongs.7 With regard to any analysis of the Qur’ān at
whatever level, language and literary formulations, being the
main factors, are interrelated, as are issues of idioms and

6 Cf. Jalāl al­Dīn as­Suyūṭī, Mu‘tarak al­aqrān fī i‘jāz al­

qur’ān, ed. ‘Alī Muḥammad al­Bijāwī, 3 vols (Cairo,
1970), II (1970), 218, s.v. 'laḥn'.
7 Akiko M. Sumi, Description in Classical Arabic Poetry ­
wasf, Ekphrasis, and Interarts Theory (Leiden, 2004), 61
et seqqf. Cf. Gian Biagio Conte, The Rhetoric of Imitation:
Genre and Poetic Memory in Virgil and Other Latin
Poets, translated and edited by Charles Segal (Ithaca/New
York, 1986), 38. I. B. T. Daouk, The Koran from
Vernacular Perspective –Vocabulary Strings and
Composition Strata (Erlangen, 2005), 11.
 25

philological niceties. This will be demonstrated as the

following analysis unfolds.
One significant fact that can be established from
available reports and anecdotes is that the lemma 'l­ḥ­n'
could have in fact referred to a variety of ideas in the
scriptural and religious register of early Islam, depending on
whether the medial radical is read as a quiescent, thus, laḥn;
or with a vowel, that is, as laḥan. In the latter reading, it
would mean a particular style of rendition of the text, either
in reading, as the following ḥadīth will support, or in writing,
as I intend to show later. Ibn ‘Abbās quotes ‘Umar (d.
23/634) as saying:8

Ubaī [b. Ka‘b] is the best reader [of the Qur’ān] amongst us,
yet we reject some of the laḥan of Ubaī while he argues “I
received this from (the mouth of) the Messenger of Allah
(P.B.U.H), and I will never abandon it for anything else.”

That the word laḥan here refers to a particular reading of

specific expressions or texts can be further established from

8 MuÍammad b. Ismā‘īl al­Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al­Bukhārī, ed.

Muḥammad Muḥsin Khan, 9 vols, (Beirut, 1985), vol VI
(1985), 489. Cf. Imām Aḥmad b. Muḥammad Ibn Ḥanbal,
al­Musnad, Ed. Samīr Ṭāhā al­Majdhūb, 10 vols (Beirut &
Co, 1993), V (1993), 152.
26

a variant of this ḥadīth in which the word “qawl” occurs in

place of laḥan.9 ‘Abd Allāh b. Mas‘ūd reported about a man
who was reading a verse of the Qur’ān in a way other than
the one he (‘Abd Allāh) had received from the Prophet
Muḥammad. Ibn Mas‘ūd dragged the man before the
Prophet who declared: “you are both correct [in your
reading], do not disagree; those before you perished on
account of engaging in such controversies.”10 A similar
endorsement of two variant readings in the canonical prayer
involving ‘Umar and Hishām b. Ḥakīm is also reported by al­
Bukhārī.11 The variety of renditions of the Qur’ānic text
having met with a stamp of authority is supported by yet
another report. A group of curious inquirers had sought to
know from Ibn Mas‘ūd if the Qur’ān was actually revealed to
the Prophet in seven reading patterns (sab‘at aḥruf),
whereas any of the previous scriptures was revealed through

9 al­Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al­Bukhārī, vol. VI, 10: “aqra’unā Ubaī

wa­aqḍānā ‘Aliyyu, wa­innā la­nada‘u min qawli
Ubaī...”
10 Ibn Ḥanbal, al­Musnad, ed. & commentary Aḥmad
Muḥammad Shākir, (Cairo, 1958) VI (1958), 5.
11 al­Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al­Bukhārī, vol. VI, 482. Cf. I. B. T.
Daouk, op.cit, 15.
 27

a single medium and in only one reading style. Ibn Mas‘ūd

did not deny their observation.12 According to Juynboll, the
highly formalized seven different readings of the Qur’ān are
to be interpreted as a number of ways of placing, or deleting
variable diacritics and vowels in verbs and nouns, especially
in their endings, or the metathesis of letters, whole words, or
phrases.13 It may be added here, in parenthesis, that the
variant readings of the Qur’ān do no detract from its textual
integrity, but rather, they reinforce it.14 The variety of issues
related to orality and the writing of the Holy Scripture of
Islam has been brilliantly discussed by Schoeler in the larger

12 Ibn Ḥanbal, al­Musnad, Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir’s

edition, (1958, VI (1958), 126­27. Cf. al­Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al­,
BukhārÊ , vol. VI, 481­82.
13
Gualtherus H. A. Juynboll, “Qur’Én and ×adÊth”, in
Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān, ed. Jane D. McAuliffe, 6 vols
(Leiden, 2001­06) II (2002), 385­86.
14 See Aḥmad ‘Alī al­Imām, Variant Readings of the
Qur’ān: a Critical Study of their Historical and
Linguistic Origins (Hendon, Virginia, 2000).
28

context of the Arabic intellectual experience, and this need

not detain us here.15
From the foregoing, it may be safe to argue that laḥan was
used to refer to any of the canonized reading patterns of the
Qur’ānic text in respect of which there was no lack of
objection. Perhaps the most striking support for this
meaning of laḥan is provided by another piece of evidence.
As the need arose for a standard copy of the Qur’ān to be
made from the variant readings then extant, caliph ‘Uthmān
decreed that in the event of any disagreement over the
reading text, the idiom of the Quraysh must prevail, for the
Qur’ān was revealed in the laÍan of the Quraysh; “…anna l­
Qur’āna nazala bi­laḥani Qurayshin”16. The preference
given to the Quraysh “tongue” over other dialects, derived
not only from its scriptural antecedent, but also from its

15
See Gregor Schoeler. The Oral and the Written in Early Islam,
translated by Uwe Vagelpohl, ed. James E. Montgomery (London
& New York, 2006), pp. 73­82.
16 Ibn al­Athīr Majd al­Dīn al­Jazarī, an­Nihāya fī gharīb
al­ḥadīth, ed. Maḥmūd Muḥammad al­Tannāhī, 5 vols
(Cairo, 1963), IV (1963), 241, s.v 'laḥn.' Compare Ṣaḥīḥ al­
Bukhārī (IV), 475: “fa­'ktubūhā bi­lisāni Qurayshin, fa­
inna 'l­Qur’āna unzila bi­lisānihim, fa­fa‘alū”.
 29

distance from non­Arabic speaking settlements to which

other dialects were exposed.17 It may be added here that the
introduction of the ‘Uthmanic vulgate did not instantly
eliminate other variant readings which ‘Uthman himself was
quoted to have described as a matter of laÍan.18 Thus, laḥan
is used in the statement made by ‘UthmÉn above used as an
alternate term for lisān/lugha in the sense of an accent, a
peculiar tribal idiom within a larger linguistic family; and
qawl is employed in the sense of an idiosyncratic and
peculiar pattern of articulation of scriptural vocables or
lexemes in the context of many available reading formulae.
This can be illustrated with the report of ‘Umar’s complaint
against Ubaī’s peculiar reading of certain texts as earlier
related. It is also in the latter sense of particularistic

17
Claude Gilliot and Pierre Larcher, “Language and Style of the
Qur’ān”, Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān, ed. Jane D. McAuliffe, 6
vols (Leiden/Boston, 2001­06), III (2003), 112.
18 Frederik Leemhuis, “Readings of the Qur’Én”, in
Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān, ed. Jane D. McAuliffe, 6 vols
(Leiden/Boston, 2001­06), IV (2004), 355­56. See also,
Ramzi Baalabaki, “The Treatment of the QirÉ’Ét by the
Second and Third Century Grammarians”, Zeitschrift für
arabische Linguistik (1985), vol 15, no 1, 11­32.
30

expression that an evidential example of the lemma, as given

by Abū Zaid al­Anṣārī (d. 215/830), is to be understood.19

The Lemma l­ḥ­n as Incorrect Idiom and Other

Significations
Perhaps it may not be inappropriate to mention here that
the distinction, if not the confusion, arising from whether
the medial radical of l­ḥ­n was quiescent or vocalised was not
altogether definitive. As the word assumed an additional
meaning related to incorrect usage,20 namely, as an
antithesis of normative or correct idiom, the term laḥn came
to be applied simultaneously to the phenomenon of
correctness and incorrectness of usage by some authorities,
as long as the word was considered to belong to the aḍdād
group of terms. Moreover, the majority of the scholars

19 Ibn Durayd, op. cit., 7: “Qāla Abū Zayd: ‘laḥana 'l­rajulu­

idhā takallama bi­l­lughatihi’."
20
See my “Arabic Grammar: an Islamic Philological Science in
New Lights”, Islamic Studies (1991), vol. 30, no 3, 403­12. See
also Pierre Larcher, “Les origins de la grammaire Arabè selon la
tradition: distribution, interpretation, discussion”, in Everhard
Ditters and Harald Motzki (eds). Approaches to Arabic Linguistics
(Leiden/Boston, 2007), 113­134.
 31

applied the term, if the medial radical is quiescent, to

incorrect usage; and to cleverness and quick witticism
(fiṭna), if the medial radical carries a fatḥa, except Ibn al­
A‘rābī (d. 230/844) who argues that the word refers to both
ideas if the medial radical is quiescent.21
Evidence of other significations of the lemma l­ḥ­n in the
scriptural and juridical discourse of early Islam abounds.
The following statement is credited to ‘Umar b. al­Khatṭ̣āb:
“ta‘allamū l­farÉ’iÌa wa­'s­sunana wa­l­laÍna kamā
ta‘allamū l­Qur’āna.”22 (Learn the science of inheritance,
the Prophetic traditions, and the laÍn as you learn the
Qur’ān). Since the word is mentioned alongside other
subjects recommended for study, it must be something other
than any of them; its only possible interpretation in this
context is that it refers to the standard Arabic with its formal
semiotic rules. A similar sense is discernible in the following
statement by Ubaī: “ta‘allamū l­laÍna fī l­Qur’āni ka­mā

21 Ibn al­Athīr, loc. cit.

22 ‘Abd Allāh ‘Abd al­Raḥmān ad­Dārimī, Sunan, ed. Fu’ād
Aḥmad Zamarlī & Khālid as­Sabu‘ al­‘Alamī, 2 vols (Cairo
& Beirut, 1987), II (1987), 441; MaÍmūd b ‘Umar az­
Zamakhsharī, Asās al­balāghah (Beirut, 1965), 562, s.v.
'laḥana’.
32

ta‘allamūnahu” (learn the [standard] language from the

Qur’ān as you learn (the text of) the Qur’ān)23. Al­Azharī (d.
370/981) interprets this to be a directive that encourages the
study of the language of the Arabs as used in the Qur’ān and
of the peculiar meanings of the scriptural idioms.24
The ability to better articulate an idea especially in
disputation, legal argumentation, and in the giving of
evidence, is also one of the senses in which the term laÍn
was used in the classical Islamic discourse. The Prophet was
quoted as saying “…wa­la‘alla ba‘Ìakum an yakūna alÍana
bi­Íujjatihi…”25 (Perchance one of you might be more
efficient in the presentation of his evidence­ in consequence
of which such a person might have an undue advantage over
his less than articulate opponent). A later extrapolation of
this signification is found in Qudāma b. Ja‘far (d. after

23 ‘Abd al­Wāḥid b. ‘Umar, Akhbār an­naḥwiyyīn, ed.

Muḥammad Ibrāhīm al­Banā, (Cairo, 1981), 26.
24 See his Tahdhīb al­lugha, ed. ‘Abd Allāh al­Darwīsh &
Muḥammad ‘Alī al­Najjār, 15 vols (Cairo, 1964­67), V
(1965), 60­63, s.v. 'laḥn.'
25 al­Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al­Bukhārī IX, 212; ibid.:III, 380; ‘Abd
al­Badī‘ Ṣaqr, Mukhtār al­Ị́asan wa­ṣ­ṣaḥīḥ, 256. See
also Ibn Durayd, op. cit., 4.
 33

320/932), the 208th chapter of whose Jawāhir is headed

with the rubric balāghat al­manÏiq (linguistic eloquence).
Here, the word “laÍinun” occurs as an attribute of someone
who is given to linguistic efficiency within the realm of
speech eloquence.26 Yet another signification of the term in
the classical Islamic milieu can be identified in the following.
As the Prophet MuÍammad wanted to verify the authenticity
of an intelligence report to the effect that the enemies were
planning an attack against him, he dispatched two
companions with the instruction: “idhā 'nÎaraftumā, fa­
lÍanā­lī laÍnan” (when you return, report [your findings] to
me allusively).27 In this expression, the word laÍn is used in
the sense in which an expression or a symbol has an allusive
rather than an open and routine communicative value, such
that its full import is comprehensible only to the parties
sharing a common ideational or strategic experience. One
other use of the term laÍn in the early Islamic discourse was
in respect to the text and content of Íadīth. The companions
of the Prophet are reported to have endorsed variation in the
phraseology of the text of Íadīth insofar as its thought

26 Qudāma b. Ja‘far, Jawāhir al­alfāẓ, ed. MuÍammad

Muḥyī ad­Dīn ‘Abd al­Ḥamīd, (Beirut, 1979), 312.
27 Ibn al­Athīr, loc. cit.
34

content, as originally expressed by the Prophet, was

maintained. Ad­Dārimī (d. 251/869) heads the 31st chapter
of the introduction to his Sunan with the title “bābu man
rakhkhaÎa fī l­Íadīth idhā aÎāba l­ma‘nā”, and quotes one
Abū Mu‘mir as saying: “I used to hear a Íadīth in [a
particular] wording, and would then express it to convey the
meaning of what I have heard.”28
From the foregoing, it is clear that the lemma l­Í­n was
used for a variety of concepts and ideas in the scriptural,
juridical, and general discourse of early Islam: an ideational
motif with a less than palpable value, the thought content of
a statement, the particular pattern(s) of aural/oral rendition
of the scriptural text, the standard idiom of Arabic in the
Saussurean concept of langue, efficiency in the articulation
of proof or evidence, a veiled allusion or symbolic
cryptology, expressing a Íadīth in a wording other than the
one in which it was originally transmitted, all are covered by
the term. But that was not all. The practice of reading the
verses of the Qur’ān with particular lowering or elevation of
the voice in the manner of poetry chanting developed from

28 “...innī la­asma‘u 'l­ḥadītha laḥnan fa­alḥanu, ittibā‘an

limā sami‘tu.” ad­Dārimī, Sunan, I (1987), 106, with
many references cited.
 35

early Islam and, before long, the term laÍn became

associated with it.

The Lemma l­ḥ­n as Recitation Style and Tune

Poetry and singing have been closely linked from the earliest
moment of literary culture. ×assān b. Thābit (d. 53/674)
explicitly states the centrality of singing to poetry.29 Even the
proto­Arabic verse, rajaz, is believed to have developed from
Íudā’ (song of the camel driver), the simple songs of
boatman, weaver and water carrier.30 According to Ibn al­
A‘rābī, the Bedouin Arabs used to chant a kind of poetry
known as ar­rukbānī when travelling on animal backs or
when seated; the Prophet MuÍammad thus wanted them to
substitute the chanting of the Qur’an for the chanting of the

29 He said. “taghannā bi­'sh­shiri amā kunta qā’ilahū/inna

'l­ghinā’a bi­hādhā 'sh­shi‘ri miḍmāru.” “Sing poetry
whenever you render it/certainly, singing is a race track
for poetry”, Ḥassān b. Thābit, Dīwān, ed. as­Sayyid.
Ḥanafī Ḥasanain, (Cairo, 1974), 280.
30 See Willem Stoetzer, "Rajaz", in Encyclopaedia of Arabic
Literature, ed. Julie. S. Meisami & Paul. Starkey, 2 vols
(London & New York, 1998), II (1998), 645­646.
36

poetry.31 There are several anecdotal evidences from the

Íadīth praising Abū Mūsā al­Ash‘arī (d. 44/665), a
prominent companion of the Prophet and an outstanding
reciter of the book, for using tunes (yatalaÍÍanu) in the
reading of the Qur’ān; his voice was said to be pleasanter
than any tanbūr (stringed instrument), Îinja (harp), or
mizmār (reed pipe).32 There is also an expressed injunction
possibly by Ibn ‘AbbÉs (d. 68/680), encouraging the use of
sober tunes and voices in the recitation of the Qur’an.33
“Iqra’Ë l­Qur’Éna bi­luÍËni l­‘Arabi wa­aÎwÉtihÉ, wa­

31 See Jamāl ad­Dīn Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al­‘Arab, 20 vols

(Cairo, n.d), V (n.d.), 3308­11, s.v “ghanna”, MurtaÌā az­
Zabīdī, Tāj al­‘arūs, 10 vols (Cairo, 1888­90), X (1890),
22, s.v. “ghannā”.
32 Lamyā’ al­Fārūqī, “Tartīl al­Qur’ān al­Karīm”, in: Islamic
Perspectives: Studies in Honour of Mawlānā Sayyid Abū
l­‘Alā’ al­Mawdūdī, ed. Khurshid Ahmad & Zafar I.
Ansari (Leicester, 1979), 110.
33
Ibn al­Athīr, an­ Nihāya, IV (1963), 242, s.v “laḥn". See a
similar ÍadÊth quoted by Asma Afsaruddin, “The Excellencies of
the Qur’Én: Textual Sacrality and the Organization of Early
Islamic Society”, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol
122, No 1 (January­March 2002), 1­24 (p. 10).
 37

iyyÉkum wa­luÍËni ahli l‐‘ishqi wa‐luÍËni ahli l‐kitÉb” (Read

the Qur’ān with the tunes of the Arabs and their pitches (lit.
voices), and beware of the tunes of people of amorous
passion and those of the people of the Book). So the Arabic
tradition did not have to wait until the third/ninth century
contact with the Greek cultural heritage before the word laÍn
could signify melody or musical tune, as Ullmann seems to
be suggesting.34 As a matter of fact, al­Khalīl b. AÍmad (d.
175/791) had already given a signification of the word in the
sense of invented musical tunes.35
According to available sources, the first to recite the
Qur’ān with tunes (alÍan, sing. laÍn) was the black ‘Ubayd
Allāh b. Abī Bakra al­Thaqafī (d. 79/698), son of the
companion Nāfi‘ b. al­×ārith. The tunes employed by him
and passed on to one ‘Ubayd Allāh b. ‘Umar were later
popularized by the latter, after whom the recitation of the

34 M. Ullmann, Wa­khayru l­ḥadÊði, 24.

35 See AÍmad b. al­Khalīl, Kitāb al­‘ayn, ed. Mahdī al­
Makhzūmī & Ibrāhīm as­Sāmarrāī, 8 vols (Baghdad, 1980­85),
III (1981), 229, s.v. 'l­Í­n'; Abū ManÎūr al­Azharī, Tahdhīb
al­lugha ed. ‘Abd Allāh al­Darwīsh & Muḥammad ‘Alī al­
Najjār, 15 vols (Cairo, 1964­67), V (1965), 60­63 (p. 63).
38

Qur’ān in those specific tunes came to be known.36

Nevertheless, those tunes, according to Ibn Qutayba (d.
276/889), are neither similar to musical tunes (alÍān al­
ghinā’) nor to the camel driver’s melodies (Íudā’) but
rather, are sober and tranquil (Íazīn).37 There is also a
strong ground to hazard the conjecture that the Prophet
himself may have read the Qur’ān with some melodious
tunes, which are nonetheless dissimilar to musical cadences
and popular melodies. He is reported to have chanted,
presumably with some peculiar tune, the 48th chapter (Sūrat
al­FatÍ) of the Qur’ān while on the back of his camel on the
day of the conquest of Mecca. A companion, Abū Iyās, who
was apparently fascinated by the tune, also employed it but
later abandoned it and said: “were it not that the people
would adopt this as a model from me, I would have been
reading [the Qur’ān] with this laÍn (tune).38 Similarly, the
Prophet is reported to have expressed his pleasure with
Sālim, a client of Abū ×udhayfa, for reading the Qur’ān with

36 Lisān al­‘Arab, loc. cit.

37 Khayr ad­Dīn az­Ziriklī, al­A‘lām, 4th ed. 11 vols (Beirut,
1979), IV (1979), 191­2, s.v. ‘‘Ubayd Allāh b. Abī Bakra'.
See also, Lamyā’ al­Fārūqī, loc. cit.
38 Ibn Ḥanbal, al­Musnad (1993), V, 74 , (1895), V, 55.
 39

melody (yataghannā bi­l­Qur’ān), and there is a specific

instruction of the Prophet, narrated by ‘Ubaydah al­Mulaykī,
encouraging the “people of the Qur’ān” to recite the Qur’ān
with tune.39 One Abū al­‘Āliya argues that Ibn ‘Abbās was
teaching him how to recite the Qur’ān with tune while both
were performing the Ùawāf (circumambulation) round the
ka‘bah.40 The foregoing pieces of anecdotal evidence
strongly indicate that there was a demonstrable
understanding and use of the word laÍn in the sense of
peculiar and melodious tunes in respect to the recitation of
the Qur’ān whose tunes may be similar, albeit not
necessarily identical, with those identified with popular
singing. However, the early generation of Islamic scholars
exhibited a variety of attitudes towards the use of tune in the
recitation of the Qur’ān; the Prophet’s drawing of parallels
between certain musical instruments and beautiful rendition

39 “...yā ahla 'l­Qur’ān, lā tatawassadū 'l­Qur’āna...wa­

taghannawhu”, see ‘Abd al­Badī‘ Ṣaqr, Mukhtār al­
ḥasan wa 'l­ṣaḥīḥ, 154. Another report quotes the Prophet
as saying: “zayyinū 'l­Qur’āna bi­aṣwātikum”, ibid. ad­
Dārimī, Sunan, II, 565.
40 Ibn al­Athīr, an­Nihāya IV (1963), 242, s.v “laḥn”. Cf. al­
Azharī, Tahdhīb al­lugha, IV (1964), 62, s.v. “l­ḥ­n”.
40

of the Qur’ān notwithstanding.41 Imām Mālik (d. 179/795) is

reported to have disapproved of it while ash­Shāfi‘ī (d.
204/820) endorsed it.42 The overriding consideration that
determined this contrariety of attitudes seems to have been
the desire to distance the Scripture from poetry and profane
music. But if some of the anecdotal materials belonging to
the early Islamic period are anything to go by, it will not be
unreasonable to suggest that by the close of the first/seventh
century, the practice of reading the Qur’ān with alÍān was
having a toehold among the nascent community and may
have in fact reached a crescendo by the end of the
third/ninth century. The concluding chapter in the Íadīth
collection of ad­Dārīmī is headed by the title: “Bāb

41 As can be exemplified with the ḥadīth: “la­llāhu ashaddu

udhunan ilā 'l­rajuli 'l­ḥasani al­ṣawti min ṣāḥibi al­
qainati ilā qainatihi”, see ‘Abd al­Badī‘ Ṣaqr, Mukhtār al­
ḥasan wa 'l­ṣaḥīḥ, 154, cf. ad­Dārimī, Sunan, II, 563;
AÍmad b. al­Khalīl, Kitāb al­‘ayn, VIII (1985), 450 s.v.
“ghanna”; Abū ManÎūr al­Azharī, Tahdhīb al­lugha, VIII
(1965), 200­203, s.v. “ghanna.”
42 Ibn Khaldūn, The Muqaddimah­ an Introduction to
History, translated by Franz Rosenthal, 3 vols (London,
1958), II (1958), 399.
 41

karāhiyyati 'l­alÍāni fī 'l­Qur’ān” (The Chapter on the

Disapproval of Reading the Qur’ān with Tunes). One of the
two Íadīths quoted here reported Anas b. Mālik as detesting
a man’s reading of the Qur’ān with a tune in his presence,
while the other Íadīth argues that the use of alÍān in the
recitation of the Qur’ān was considered an unwelcome
innovation (muÍdatha).43 If another report, traceable to
AÍmad b. MuÍammad, otherwise known as Abū ‘Ubayd
Allāh al­Harawī (d. 401/1011), is anything to go by, it will not
be unreasonable to conclude that the penchant for reciting
the Qur’ān with such tunes as were identified with profane
songs and the Psalters of the Jews and the Christians was
becoming commonplace. “Read the Qur’ān with the tunes
and voices of the Arabs, and beware of the tunes of the
people of passion and those of the people of the book.”44
Further insights into the phenomenon of reading the
Qur’ān with tunes that were disapproved of are provided by
as­SuyūÏī (d. 911/1506). From the tenor of his discussion, it
is possible to infer that the practice had in fact started from
the time of the Prophet MuÍammad who may have

43 ad­Dārimī, Sunan, II, 566.

44 Ibn al­Athīr, an­Nihāya, s.v “laḥn”, 242­3, quoting from
al­Harawī’s Gharībayi 'l­qur’ān wa­'l­ḥadīth.
42

upbraided those who were immodestly fascinated by it. He

characterized them “as a people whose hearts and the hearts
of whose admirers had been afflicted with trial.” As­SuyūÏī
goes further to characterize, in specific terms, the various
renditions of the Qur’ān with (disapproved) tunes. Those he
listed and defined are at­tar‘īd, at­tarqīÎ, at­taÏrīb, at­
taÍzīn, and at­taÍrīf, the last probably being the most
objectionable of all.45 Furthermore, he goes on to designate
as laÍn, the recitation of the Qur’ān without regard to the
canons of tajwīd. This type of laÍn is divided into the
manifest (jalī) and the hidden (khafī).46 To a medieval
author, ‘Alī b. Ja‘far b. MuÍammad ar­Rāzī otherwise known
as as­Sa‘īdī (fl. 410/1019), is attributed a work by the title:
Kitāb al­tanbīh ‘alā 'l­laÍni al­jalī wa­'l­laÍni al­khafī.47 It

45 as­Suyuṭ̣ī, al­Itqān fī ‘ulūm al­qur’ān, 2 vols (Cairo,

1935), I (1935), 102.
46 Ibn al­Jazarī (d. 833/1492) is cited as the source to as­
Suyūṭī on this. See Willem Stoetzer, “Stress in Koranic
Arabic”, in Rudolph Peter, ed. Proceedings of the Ninth
Congress of the Union Européenne des Arabisans et
Islamisants Amsterdam 1978 (Leiden, 1981), 267.
47 Otto Pretzel, „Die Wissenschaft der Koranlesung“ ­‘ilm al­
qirā’a­,' Studia Islamica, 1934, VI, no 2, 230­46 (p. 233).
 43

should be noted, however, that non­observance of the

grammatical rules in routine speech or in the reading of the
Qur’ān had already been designated as laÍn in the early
Islamic discourse. “Whoever recites the Koran and reads
with i‘rāb, the whole of it, shall have for every letter 40
recompenses. Whoever reads with i‘rāb, a part of it, and
uses laÍn in a part shall have 20 recompenses…”48 The fact
that the Íadīth neither carries any isnād nor is found in any
of the canonical collections underpins the strong scepticism
about its genuineness. The high probability of its
spuriousness notwithstanding, evidence abounds that laÍn,
as the antithesis of i‘rāb, has an early history, even in the
Íadīth literature. One al­Qāsim, the son of a freed slave, was
described to ‘Ā’isha, the Prophet’s wife, as laÍÍāna, that is,
one who is spectacularly remarkable for commission of

See also Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen

Schrifttums, Vol 1 (Leiden, 1967), 17, where the title is
also mentioned.
48 Quoted by Paul Kahle, “The Arabic Readers of the Koran”,
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1949, VII, 2, 1949, 65­71
(p. 68). The source of the ḥadīth is said to be the Kitāb at­
tamhīd fī ma‘rifat at­tajwīd by al­Mālikī (d. 438/1046).
44

grammatical errors.49 Caliph ‘Abd al­Malik b. Marwān (d.

87/705) attributed his early hoariness to his regular
mounting of the pulpit to deliver sermons and to the fear of
committing mistakes (laÍn) in the process.50 But the
designation of breaking the rules of tajwīd as laÍn was a
later development, and this must have taken place
presumably after the Qur’ān started to be read with tunes. In
any case, one remarkable feature on which the Scripture
prides itself is that it is a "text for recitation".51 So much is
obvious.

Consonantal Variations as laḥn

I highlighted above the directive by ‘Uthmān that in the
event of a disagreement over the reading text, the dialect

49 Muslim b. al­Ḥajjāj, Ṣaḥīh Muslim , ed. Muḥammad Fu’ād

‘Abd al­Bāqī, 10 vols (1955­65), I (1955), 393.“Kitāb al­
Masājid wa­mawāḍi‘ aṣ­ṣalāt”.
50 See Aḥmad Zakī Ṣafwat, Jamharat khuṭab al­‘Arab, 3
vols (Cairo, 1962), III (1962), 360.
51
Angelika Neuwirth, "Some Remarks on the Special Linguistic
and Literary Character of the Qur'an", in The Qur’ān: Style and
Contents, ed. Andrew Rippin (Aldershort, 2001), 253­57 (p. 253).
 45

(laÍan) of the Quraysh must be adopted.52 This was when

the consonantal text of the Qur’ān was to be standardized.
As this exercise was concluded, another facet of the
phenomenon of laÍn, in regard to the discourse on the
scripture, emerged. It was reported that once the
standardized text was completed and handed over to
‘Uthman, he looked into it and noted some infelicities, in
reaction to which he said: “inna fī 'l­muÎÍafi laÍnan wa­
satuqīmuhu 'l­‘Arabu [bi­alsinatihā]” (indeed there are
errors in the codex, but the Arabs will correct them [through
their idioms]).53 A similar account related by Hishām quotes
his father, ‘Urwa B. Zubayr, as enquiring from ‘Ā’isha
concerning the occurrence of laÍn in the Qur’ān as

52 See Supra, fn 16.

53 al­Farrā’, Ma‘āni al­Qur’ān, II, 183. The addition is from
al­Bāqillānī, al­Intiṣār li­'l­Qur’ān, ed. Fuat Sezgin
(Frankfurt, 1986), I, 362. For an elaboration of the report
see Naphtali Kinberg, A Lexicon of al­Farrā’s
Terminology in his Qur’ān Commentary (Leiden, 1996),
741. See also, ‘Abd Allāh Sālim Mukram & Aḥmad
Mukhtār ‘Umar, Mu‘jam al­qirā’āt al­qur’āniyya ma‘a
muqaddimah fī 'l­qirā’āt wa­ash’har al­qurrā’, 2 vols
(Kuwait, 1982), I (1982), 54.
46

demonstrable in the following verse: “inna hādhāni la­

sāÍirāni” (Qur’ān 20:63); “lākini ‘r­rāsikhūna fī 'l­
‘ilmi…wa­'l­muqīmīna 'έÎalāta…”(Qurān 4:16); and “inna
'lladhīna āmanū…wa­'έÎābi’ūna…”(Qur’ān 5:72). ‘Ā’isha
responded and said “O my nephew, this was the work [fault]
of the scribes, they made mistakes in copying.”54 A more
remarkable instance is the one attributed to Ibn ‘Abbās (d.
68/688).55 In the reading of Qur’ān 24:27, he is reported to
have argued that “tasta’nisū” is a scribal error for
“tasta’dhinū” as found in the “Uthmanic vulgate”, to borrow
from Brunschvig.56 The earliest evidence of a variation in the

54 A. Mukram & A. ‘Umar, Mu‘jam, I, 54­55. See also, al­

Farrā’, Ma‘ānī al­qur’ān, II, 183. al­Bāqillānī, al­Intiṣār
li­'l­qur’ān, I, 362. John Burton, “The Reading of Q20:63:
Qālū inna hādhāni la­sāḥirāni”, Zeitschrift für arabische
Linguistik, 1988, vol 19, no 1, 7­26 (p. 7).
55 Frederik Leehmuis, “Codices of the Qur’ān” in
Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān, ed. Jane D. McAuliffe, 6 vols
(Leiden/Boston, 2001­06), I (2001), 347­51 (p. 349).
56 Robert Brunschvig, “Simple Negative Remarks on the
Vocabulary of the Qur’ān”, in Andrew Rippin, ed. The
Qur’ān: Style and Contents (Aldershort, 2001), 285­95
(p. 285).
 47

text and the reading of the Qur’ān is provided by Abū

‘Ubayda (d. 210/825) while commenting on Qur’ān 20:63.
He argues that whereas one recites “hādhāini” one writes
“hādhāni”57. According to al­Farrā’, some people reading
“in” in place of “inna”, while ‘Abd Allah [Ibn ‘Abbas] read
“an hādhāni sāÍirāni”, and Ubaī read “in dhāni illā sāÍirāni”,
whereas the majority of the qurrā’, (viz. Nāfi‘, Ibn ‘Āmir,
Abū Bakr, ×amza, al­Kisā’ī, Abū Ja‘far, Ya‘qūb, and Khalaf)
read “inna” with long alif in “dhāni” and “sāÍirāni.”58 It is
precisely this variation and divergence in recitational or
transcriptional rendition that would be characterized as laÍn
in the context of other alternative forms as were endorsed in
the scriptural tradition. Nevertheless, some of the early
grammarians are inclined to portray such variations in the
Qur’ān and in the routine speech in the negative light of

57 Ma‘mar b. al­Muthannā Abū ‘Ubayda, Majāz al­qur’ān,

ed. Muḥammad Fu’ād Sezgin, 2 vols (Cairo, 1962), II
(1962), 21­22. Cf. ‘Abd Allāh b. Abī Dā’ūd as­Sijistānī,
Kitāb al­masāḥif, ed. Arthur Jeffrey (Cairo, 1936), 104.
58 al­Farrā’, Ma‘āni al­qur’ān, II, 184. Abū Bakr Aḥmad b.
Mūsā, commonly called Ibn Mujāhid (d. 334/945)
provides further explanation. See his Kitāb as­sab‘ fī 'l­
qirā’āt, ed. Shawqī Ḍayf (Cairo, 1972), 419.
48

error.59 On the other hand, theologians and scholars of

Qur’ānic studies rebutted the suggestion of laÍn in the
consonantal text of the Qur’ān. Al­BāqillānÊ (d. 403/1013)
with his al­IntiÎār, and ‘Uthman b. Sa‘īd ad­Dānī (d.
444/1053) with his al­Muqni‘, among such scholars, stand
out. I intend to make the theses of both scholars on the issue
the subject of an independent investigation at a later date.
Suffice it to say, however, that a number of factors combined
to promote the discourse on laÍn as it relates to the textual
Qur’ān. These include: the readings invented by later
theologians and grammarians and foisted upon earlier
authorities; the promotion of rare and unfamiliar renditions
of the Qur’ānic text; and the highly imperfect state of the
Arabic script at the time of the codification of the standard
text at the instance of ‘Uthmān.60 That was not all, from an

59 Cf. Kees Versteegh, Arabic Grammar and Qur’ānic

Exegesis in Early Islam (Leiden, 1993), 37­38.
60 Alan Jones, “The Qur’Én II”, in The Cambridge History of
Arabic Literature ed. Alfred F.L. Beeston et al (Cambridge,
1983), pp. 239­44. See also Beatrice Gruendler, “Arabic
Script”, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān, ed. Jane D.
McAuliffe, 6 vols (Leiden/Boston, 2001­06), I (2001), 135­
44.
 49

early period, the term laÍn also extended to include

infelicities in the orthography of the Arabic and indeed to the
technical fields of calligraphy, which was intended to service
the Qur’ān anyway. This can be established from a statement
by Sulaimān b. Wahb (d. 272/884) which reads:
“inappropriate use of ligature or elongation is a form of laÍn
in writing.”61

Conclusion
In this study, I have attempted to chart the trajectory of the
conceptual development of the term laÍn from its early and
only occurrence in the Qur’ān62 to its other usages and
meanings as reflected in the scriptural and scholarly
discourse of early Islam. The various interpretations and use
of the term and its cognates by scholars demonstrate the
tortuous character of analytical speculation in the textual
archaeology and dissection of Qur’ānic materials and

61 "al­Madd fī 'l­khaṭṭ fī ghayri mawḍi‘ihi laḥnun fī 'l­

khạtṭ." See Qudāma b. Ja‘far (attributed
to), Naqd an­nathr, ed. Ṭāhā Ḥusain & ‘Abd al­Ḥamīd al­
‘Abbādī (Beirut, 1982), 113.
62
El­Said Badawi and M. Haleem, Arabic­English Dictionary of
Qur'anic Usage (Leiden/Boston, 2008) p. 838, s. v. ‘l­Í­n’.
50

history. That the word could signify such a wide variety of

ideas and concepts is ultimately to be attributed to the
flexibility of the Arabic language (ittisā‘ al­lugha) and its
ability to accommodate new meanings and ideational
referents within the context of the dynamics of language
usage. If any evidence of this is needed, the story of laÍn as
illustrated in this essay offers one.

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