@article{article_331016, title={‘Alī b. ‘Īsā al-Rummānī (d. 384/994) and His Understanding of I‘jaz}, journal={Journal of Istanbul University Faculty of Theology}, pages={7–54}, year={2016}, author={Divlekci, Celalettin}, keywords={balagha,al-Rummānī,i‘jaz,al-Nukat fī i‘jāz al-Qur’ān}, abstract={<p class="MsoNormal"> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">While its
readers and listeners accepted the unparalleled literary power and beauty of
the Qur’an at the time of its revelation,
several theologians and philologists have begun to discuss its <i>i‘jaz </i>
beginning from the early third century of the Islamic calendar. Abū’l- </span> <span lang="en-us" style="font-family:’Cambria Math’, serif;" xml:lang="en-us">Ḥ </span> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">asan ‘Alī b. ‘Īsā al-Rummānī, a leading authority in Arabic grammar,
philology, and <i>tafsīr </i> as well as a
scholar of rational sciences, was one of the Mu‘tazilite authors who wrote a
treatise ( <i>risāle </i>) on the topic. </span> </p> <p> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">In his <i>al-Nukat fī I‘jāz al-Qur’ān, </i> al-Rummānī listed
seven features to demonstrate the miraculous nature of the Qur’an: its
rhetorical beauty, its challenge with respect to Arabic proce and poetry, the
inability of the Arabs to produce a similar text, the general extent of the
challenge, its <i>sarf </i>, its prophecy of future events, the use of words and
letters in a harmonious way, and comparison with other miracles. </span> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">In the most
part of his work, al-Rummānī discoursed on <i>balagha </i> or the aesthetic effectiveness of the Qur’an on the verbal level
and showed how it contributed to its <i>i’jaz </i>. While discussing the <i>balagha </i>,
the author analyzed the internal and external structures of the Qur’an as well
as its style and expression. In his analysis of the internal structure, he put
the emphasis on <i>tashbih </i> (analogy), <i>isti‘arah </i> (metaphor), and <i>mubalaghah </i>
(hyperbole). In defining the external structure, he highlighted <i>i‘jaz,
telâum, jinas </i> (paranomasia) <i>, </i>and <i> fasila ( </i> </span> <i>Qur </i> <i> <span style="font-family:’Cambria Math’, serif;">ʾ </span>ānic </i>
rhyme) <i> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">. </span> </i> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us"> As for the
style and expression, he considered <i>tasrîf,
tadmîn, </i>and <i> beyan. </i> For each of these literary arts, al-Rummānī brought
examples from the Qur’anic verses and compared them with profone speech of the Arabs at the time of the
revelation to demonstrate the inimitability and stylistic unsurpassedneds of the Holy Book. </span> </p> <p> </p>}, number={35}, publisher={Istanbul University}