An Atheist Explores the Qur'an Part 106: A Waste Of Good Poetry (The Chargers (al-‘Adiyat))
The Chargers (al-‘Adiyat)
A Waste Of Good Poetry.
Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Qur’an version).
In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Qur’an, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.
For more detail, see the introductory post https://bit.ly/2ApLDy0
For the online Qur’an that I use, see here http://al-quran.info and http://quran.com
The Chargers (al-‘Adiyat) 1-11
“By the snorting chargers,
by the strikers of sparks [with their hoofs],
by the raiders at dawn,
raising therein a trail of dust,
and cleaving therein a host!”
In this part of the Qur’an there’s a by-now familiar pattern of surahs beginning with a sworn oath against something, followed by the declaration being sworn to. This one departs from the common theme of heavenly bodies and instead paints a striking image of charging horses. This, I’m sure, would have been a recognisable image to the Prophet’s Arabic audience, given that the Arabs of the time were nomads and mercenary cavalry.
I decided again to look at the transliteration of the Arabic, and here, as before, you can see more clearly that this was written with rhyme and scansion:
“wa-l-ʿādiyāti ḍabḥa
fa-l-mūriyāti qadḥa
fa-l-mughīrāti ṣubḥa
fa-ʾatharna bihī naqʿa
fa-wasaṭna bihī jamʿa”
There’s almost a rhythm of galloping hooves to it, like Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade, a kind of tri-meter. I was disappointed though, on listening to the spoken version of these lines, that they’re delivered like all the other Quranic verses; in a kind of droning Gregorian chant style. For something that’ supposedly more beautiful when you hear it than when you read it, I feel a bit of drama could have been injected. Oh well. Maybe there are sound theological reasons for making it less exciting than it looks.
After this dramatic and evocative opening, the statement that is sworn to is relatively mundane.
“Indeed man is ungrateful to his Lord,
and indeed he is [himself] witness to that!
He is indeed avid in the love of wealth.
Does he not know, when what is in the graves is turned over,
and what is in the breasts is divulged,
indeed their Lord will be best aware of them on that day?”
It doesn’t preserve any of the imagery of the cavalry that has been conjured up in the first half, neither in the language used or the things attested to. Well, I suppose “love of wealth” could refer to owning pedigree horses and associated finery, or the plunder you get after a raid, so maybe that’s where we’re meant to be led with this. But otherwise there’s nothing in this part that hasn’t been done before. I’d chalk this up as a missed opportunity. It’s a shame, because I really like the beginning.
A Waste Of Good Poetry.
Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Qur’an version).
In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Qur’an, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.
For more detail, see the introductory post https://bit.ly/2ApLDy0
For the online Qur’an that I use, see here http://al-quran.info and http://quran.com
The Chargers (al-‘Adiyat) 1-11
“By the snorting chargers,
by the strikers of sparks [with their hoofs],
by the raiders at dawn,
raising therein a trail of dust,
and cleaving therein a host!”
In this part of the Qur’an there’s a by-now familiar pattern of surahs beginning with a sworn oath against something, followed by the declaration being sworn to. This one departs from the common theme of heavenly bodies and instead paints a striking image of charging horses. This, I’m sure, would have been a recognisable image to the Prophet’s Arabic audience, given that the Arabs of the time were nomads and mercenary cavalry.
I decided again to look at the transliteration of the Arabic, and here, as before, you can see more clearly that this was written with rhyme and scansion:
“wa-l-ʿādiyāti ḍabḥa
fa-l-mūriyāti qadḥa
fa-l-mughīrāti ṣubḥa
fa-ʾatharna bihī naqʿa
fa-wasaṭna bihī jamʿa”
There’s almost a rhythm of galloping hooves to it, like Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade, a kind of tri-meter. I was disappointed though, on listening to the spoken version of these lines, that they’re delivered like all the other Quranic verses; in a kind of droning Gregorian chant style. For something that’ supposedly more beautiful when you hear it than when you read it, I feel a bit of drama could have been injected. Oh well. Maybe there are sound theological reasons for making it less exciting than it looks.
After this dramatic and evocative opening, the statement that is sworn to is relatively mundane.
“Indeed man is ungrateful to his Lord,
and indeed he is [himself] witness to that!
He is indeed avid in the love of wealth.
Does he not know, when what is in the graves is turned over,
and what is in the breasts is divulged,
indeed their Lord will be best aware of them on that day?”
It doesn’t preserve any of the imagery of the cavalry that has been conjured up in the first half, neither in the language used or the things attested to. Well, I suppose “love of wealth” could refer to owning pedigree horses and associated finery, or the plunder you get after a raid, so maybe that’s where we’re meant to be led with this. But otherwise there’s nothing in this part that hasn’t been done before. I’d chalk this up as a missed opportunity. It’s a shame, because I really like the beginning.
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