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Formulas and refrains 1 / 17
The repeated formula: same Arabic, same translation
Some formulas return word for word, or nearly, from one sura to another. This return is an intended refrain, not a coincidence of style; the translation makes it visible by giving the formula the same rendering everywhere.
Founding examples:
- « قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ » opens suras 113 and 114 identically;
- « وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا لَعِبٌۭ وَلَهْوٌۭ », "the present life is nothing but play and distraction", recurs in six suras (6:32, 6:70, 7:51, 29:64, 47:36, 57:20);
- « يَبْدَؤُا۟ ٱلْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُۥ », "He initiates creation then repeats it", recurs in five suras (10:4, 10:34, 27:64, 30:11, 30:27, 85:13).
This phenomenon is not grammatical in the classical sense: it is a fact of the composition of the text itself, invisible to one who reads root by root, and revealed only by comparative reading.
It is one of the rules that most guide the translation. The formulas that call for their own demonstration each have their own page, under the theme "Formulas and refrains".
In the text
وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا لَعِبٌۭ وَلَهْوٌۭ“The present life is nothing but play and distraction”
One of the six occurrences of the formula.
أَنَّمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌۭ وَلَهْوٌۭ“the present life is but play, distraction”
The same formula, extended: "play, distraction, adornment…".