Grammatical Shifts in the glorious Qur’an and Their Renderings into English

Abstract

The glorious Qur’an is abundant in rhetorical devices. One of these devices that are frequently used in the glorious Qur’an is the grammatical shift. It is employed in Arabic poetry, but in the Qur’an it is used more variently, as stated by Haleem (1992):It (the glorious Qur’an) employs thisfeature far more extensively and in morevariation than does Arabic poetry. It istherefore natural to find no one seems toquote reference other than from the Qur’an.Besides, it is a very effective rhetorical device (Robinson, 2004). So, it is not strange that the feature has been of interest to Arab scholars, rhetoricians in particular, over centuries. As a rhetorical device, it is studied under the science of rhetoric (Suleiman, 1988: 13). But the place of this feature in Arabic rhetoric is a matter of debate. Functionally, this feature is studied under the science of al-Badiic Adopters of this approach include al-Halabi (n.d.: 117) and al-Zamalkani (1964: 173-174). Formally, it is treated under Ilm al-Ma for example, by al-Sakkaki (n.d.: 87). Alternatively, Ibn-alAthir (1960, Vol.2: 170) put grammatical shift under the science of al-Bayan. The feature also drew the attention of grammarians. Abu Ubaida, al-Farra, al-Mubarrad, Ibn Qutaiba and Ibn Faris touched upon this feature (see Khulaifat, 2008). Many terms have been used to refer to grammatical shift. It was referred to as al-Sarf by Ibn Wahb, al-Insiraf by Ibn Munqidh, al-Ictiradh by al-San cani, alcUdool by alZamalkani, and al-Talween by al-Qurtubi (See Suleiman, 1988: 15-20). The term that covers the basic types of grammatical shifts is called Iltifat.

Keywords

Quran, sentence, meaning