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Reading rules
55 established rules · 17 hypotheses set aside
The Qur'an has its regularities: one construction always says the same thing, a rare word is never there by chance, a formula returns identically. Each page states a rule, shows it in the text, and says what it changes for the reading. Hypotheses the text does not confirm are published too, with the reason they were set aside.
Where to begin
Established ruleProof by subtractionA word that occurs only once can be defined without any point of comparison, when a series of negations surrounds it: each negation removes a possible meaning, and what remains after all the subtractions is its meaning.Read Established ruleNo synonyms: the rare word has a reasonWhen the Qur'an has a common word for a thing and chooses, at a precise point, a rare word, the choice is never a mere matter of style: the rare word carries a nuance that the contrast with the common word makes it possible to…Read Established ruleWhen, if, if only: the three conditionsThe Qur'an has three conditional particles, and each says how real the condition is: إذا sets what will happen ("when"), إن sets an open hypothesis ("if"), لو sets what is not and will not be ("if …", counterfactual).Read
- The statement: the rule, in a few lines.
- The text: the verses that show it, in Arabic and in translation.
- In brief: what to remember.
God and oneness
How the text says what God is, and above all what He is not. 8 pages
Established ruleThe double negation « لم … ولم يكن له »To say what God is not, the Qur'an uses a fixed formula in two steps: « لَمْ » + verb (what He has not done), then « وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ » + noun (what He does not have). The first step denies a child, the second denies any…Read Established ruleProof by subtractionA word that occurs only once can be defined without any point of comparison, when a series of negations surrounds it: each negation removes a possible meaning, and what remains after all the subtractions is its meaning.Read Established ruleNo deity but Him: three pieces, one mechanismThe formula لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ works in three steps: لا negates every deity, إلا withdraws a single exception from that negation, and هو designates what remains. It is proof by subtraction applied to oneness.Read Established rule"Besides God": a recourse always denied or denouncedThe construction من دون الله always designates something or someone taken as a recourse besides God: what is invoked, what is obeyed, an ally, a helper. This recourse is always denounced, or denied.Read Established ruleThe formula of refugeWhenever the Qur'an speaks of refuge ("take refuge", form I; "seek refuge", form X), the sentence has the same shape: a verb from the root عوذ, then بـ before the One in whom refuge is sought, then the threat. The threat takes…Read Established ruleThe two "We": God and a human groupThe pronoun نَحْنُ ("we") has two uses that nothing distinguishes in form: God speaking of Himself in the plural, and a truly plural human group. Only the identity of the speaker and the nature of the act decide.Read Established rule"Has glorified" and "glorifies": the aspect of the openings in سبّحFive neighbouring suras open with the glorification of God by all that is in the heavens and on the earth. Three use the perfect سَبَّحَ (57, 59, 61), two the imperfect يُسَبِّحُ (62, 64). The translation keeps the difference…Read
Time, condition, question
When, if, if only; the questions that dismantle a claim; the moment when it is too late. 12 pages
Established ruleWhen, if, if only: the three conditionsThe Qur'an has three conditional particles, and each says how real the condition is: إذا sets what will happen ("when"), إن sets an open hypothesis ("if"), لو sets what is not and will not be ("if …", counterfactual).Read Established ruleThe particle إذا for what will happen, إن for a hypothesisThe particle إِذَا introduces an event the text holds as certain ("when"); إِنْ introduces a mere hypothesis ("if"). The choice of particle tells whether the thing will happen or only might.Read Established ruleThe cosmic series of « إِذَا » end in the SelfThree suras open with a series of clauses in إِذَا describing the upheaval of the world (the sun, the stars, the seas, the graves). The series never ends in the world, but in a being: "a Self will know what it has …" (81:14…Read Established ruleThe question أَلَمْ covers every verb that follows itWhen a question begins with أَلَمْ ("Did … not …?") and other verbs are coordinated with it by وَ or فَ, the question does not stop at the first verb: it covers each of them. The translation therefore repeats the question before…Read Established rule« أَلَمْ تَرَ »: "Have you not seen"The question « أَلَمْ تَرَ » is in the perfect: it is always translated "Have you not seen", whether followed by أَنَّ (a fact: "Have you not seen that …") or by إِلَىٰ (a group of people: "Have you not seen those …").Read Established rule"And what will make you know what … is?": the question that announces a definitionThe formula « وَمَآ أَدْرَىٰكَ مَا … » asks about a word the reader thinks he knows, to tell him he does not know it yet. In most cases the answer follows at once: the next verse defines the word. The formula is translated…Read Established ruleThe series in أم: "Or … ?"When the Qur'an strings together questions opened by أم, each one dismantles a claim of the addressee. Each أم that opens a question is rendered "Or … ?", always in the same way, so that the series remains visible.Read Established rule"Is it you who … or are We …?": the same root on both sidesIn sura 56, four questions confront the human being with what he believes he does himself: « أَأَنتُمْ تَـX أَمْ نَحْنُ ٱلـX-ونَ ». The verb attributed to man and the agent noun given to God come from the same root; the…Read Established rule"Now?!": faith declared too lateThe formula « ءَآلْـَٰٔنَ وَقَدْ … », "Now?! when …", refuses a faith declared at the moment punishment arrives. It is spoken twice in sura 10 and receives the same rendering; the people of Younes are the exception, because their…Read Established rule"Now?!": the question that reproaches the delayWhen the interrogative hamza is placed on a word of time, such as ثُمَّ ("then") or ٱلْـَٰٔنَ ("now"), the question asks nothing: it reproaches the belated moment at which a belief is finally declared.Read
Hypotheses examined and set aside (2)
Hypothesis set asideThe particles سوف and لن are not a pairThe proposed rule made سوف (affirmed future) and لن (negated future) a symmetrical pair, used preferably to announce a punishment. Neither the symmetry nor the preference stands up to the corpus.Read Hypothesis set asideNo "global modal system"Hypothesis examined: three sets of particles (the conditionals, the affirmed or negated future, and the pair كي / لعل) would form a single system graded by certainty. The grouping adds nothing to what is already established, and…Read
One word, one meaning
No synonyms: each word, each preposition carries a nuance the translation must keep. 18 pages
Established ruleNo synonyms: the rare word has a reasonWhen the Qur'an has a common word for a thing and chooses, at a precise point, a rare word, the choice is never a mere matter of style: the rare word carries a nuance that the contrast with the common word makes it possible to…Read Established ruleOne Arabic term, one word per languageEach Arabic term receives a single rendering in each language, and two distinct roots never share the same word. No compound doublet ("deny-disown") for a single Arabic word, no word shared by two different roots.Read Established ruleThe system "testing": four roots, four wordsFour roots express testing in the Qur'an: ابتلى ("test"), فتنة ("trial", "put to trial"), بلاء ("a testing") and امتحن ("examine"). In each of the six languages they receive four distinct words, and no word is shared. It is a…Read Established ruleThe names of the Hour: each says what it doesThe Qur'an names the Hour with feminine active participles used on their own: الحاقة, القارعة, الواقعة, الطامة, الصاخة, الغاشية. Each designates it by what it does, and each keeps its own rendering, never shared with another.Read Established rule"That is because they are a people who do not …": a faculty namedThe formula « ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌۭ لَّا + verb » traces a behaviour back to an absent faculty. Three verbs enter it, each with its own rendering: لَا يَعْقِلُونَ "do not reason", لَا يَفْقَهُونَ "do not understand", لَا…Read Established ruleAffirming as true, the opposite of denyingWhen the verb صدّق has as its object a word, a person or the Day, it is rendered "affirm" (declare true). It is the exact opposite of كذّب, "deny", with which the text often contrasts it.Read Established ruleBelieving "in" and giving credit "to"The verb آمَنَ changes meaning with its preposition. آمَنَ بِـ is to believe in something or someone: God, the Last Day, what escapes the senses. آمَنَ لِـ is to give credit to a person: to accept his word, to take his side.Read Established ruleGuiding "along" the path or guiding "to" itThe verb هَدَى is construed in two ways with "the path" (صِرَاط). With a direct object (« ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ »), it means leading someone along the path itself: the translation says "guide along / on". With إِلَىٰ («…Read Established ruleThe Contact: making it, maintaining it, being in contact withThe root صلو is always rendered with "contact", but the construction decides the verb: the verb صلّى used alone is rendered "make contact"; the phrase أقام الصلاة is rendered "maintain the Contact"; the verb followed by على and a…Read Established ruleThe preposition before "their Contact" tells the relationshipIn the phrase « ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ … صَلَاتِهِمْ » ("those who, toward their Contact, …"), the preposition before صَلَاتِهِمْ tells what relationship the person has with the Contact: عَلَىٰ marks constancy, فِى inward humility within…Read Established ruleSending "upon": what comes down, and the guardiansConstrued with عَلَىٰ, the verb أَرْسَلَ ("to send") describes something coming down upon a target: rain, a wind, a cry, stones. With the same construction, guardians are sent "upon" human beings by God alone; whenever it is a…Read Established ruleThe verb تَوَلَّىٰ: turning away, or taking as an allyThe verb تَوَلَّىٰ (form V of the root ولي) has two meanings, and the construction decides. Without a complement it means "to turn away"; with a direct object (a noun or an attached pronoun) it means "to take as an ally".Read Established ruleSame spelling, different wordsSeveral words of the Qur'an share the same skeleton of letters yet have neither the same meaning nor the same function. Only vocalisation and context tell them apart; reader and translator must therefore always identify them…Read
Hypotheses examined and set aside (5)
Hypothesis set asideThe verb آمن has more than one prepositionHypothesis examined: the verb آمن would always be construed with ب, never with another preposition. This is false: the corpus also uses it with لِ, and the change of preposition changes the meaning.Read Hypothesis set asideThe verb ألقى: إلى for "offer", على for "cast"Hypothesis examined: the preposition would fix the meaning of the verb أَلْقَىٰ: with إِلَىٰ and an object, "offer"; with عَلَىٰ, "cast".Read Hypothesis set asideThe intensive form فَعَّال as a constant identityHypothesis examined: nouns of the intensive form (فَعَّال, فَعَّالَة) would denote a constant identity, something done ceaselessly, and the translation should always mark this intensity.Read Hypothesis set aside"Measuring": human pretended measure against divine measureHypothesis examined: the verb قَدَّرَ ("to measure, to determine") would denote a pretended, vain measure when its subject is human, and the real measure when its subject is God.Read Hypothesis set asideThe rare verb defined by the clause that follows itHypothesis examined: when a rare verb is followed, without "and", by a clause detailing its content, that clause defines it; the translation links them with a colon.Read
Pronouns, gender and number
What pronouns and agreement say, and what they do not. 9 pages
Established ruleThe feminine pronoun follows the gender of the word, not sexThe pronouns هِيَ ("she / it") and هُنَّ ("they", feminine) refer as much to women as to things whose noun is grammatically feminine: a cow, a staff, verses, idols. Agreement follows the gender of the word referred to, never an…Read Established ruleThe dual pronoun does not mark genderThe dual pronoun هُمَا ("the two of them") is the same whether the two persons are two men, two women, or a man and a woman. In the plural, by contrast, Arabic distinguishes هُمْ (masculine or mixed) and هُنَّ (feminine).Read Established ruleDemonstrative and address pronoun fused: ذَٰلِكُمْ, تِلْكُمْ, تِلْكُمَاThe demonstrative of distance (ذَٰلِكَ, تِلْكَ) can agree, through its suffix, with the people being addressed: ذَٰلِكُمْ ("that, O you [pl.]"), تِلْكُمْ (feminine, to several), تِلْكُمَا (feminine, to two). The gender of the…Read
Hypotheses examined and set aside (6)
Hypothesis set asideThe masculine as default form of the relative and demonstrativeHypothesis examined: the imbalance between masculine and feminine forms (ٱلَّذِى / ٱلَّتِى, ذَٰلِكَ / تِلْكَ) would be so strong and so regular that it proves the masculine serves as the default form for every generic use.Read Hypothesis set asideA gradient of gender neutralisation by numberHypothesis examined: the further from the singular, the more gender fades: marked in the singular, partially neutralised in the dual, fully neutralised in the plural.Read Hypothesis set asideThe repeated noun instead of a pronounHypothesis examined: when the Qur'an repeats a noun where a pronoun would do, it would be to isolate each occurrence and give it its own weight.Read Hypothesis set asideVerbal voice and responsibility for the actHypothesis examined: the Qur'an would use the active voice to attribute an act to its author and the passive to remove that responsibility by erasing the agent.Read Hypothesis set asideVerbal aspect carries meaningHypothesis examined: in the Qur'an the finite verb would express an act, the participle a state, and the perfect always the past; the translation should therefore render every perfect by a past tense.Read Hypothesis set aside"Or" against "then" in lists of penaltiesHypothesis examined: in series of measures, the Qur'an would use أَوْ ("or") to leave a choice between them, and ثُمَّ or وَ ("then", "and") to combine them, and this opposition would be a rule of the corpus.Read
Formulas and refrains
Words that return identically, and why the translation renders them identically. 17 pages
Established ruleThe repeated formula: same Arabic, same translationSome 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.Read Established ruleThe imperative قل at the opening of a suraFive suras open with the imperative قُلْ ("Say"): 72, 109, 112, 113 and 114. Everything that follows is speech the reciter must utter himself; the translation therefore always keeps "Say:" at the head.Read Established ruleOaths on feminine participles: "by those that …"Five suras open with a series of oaths on feminine plural participles standing without a noun: وَٱلْعَٰدِيَٰتِ, وَٱلْمُرْسَلَٰتِ, وَٱلنَّٰزِعَٰتِ, وَٱلذَّٰرِيَٰتِ, وَٱلصَّٰٓفَّٰتِ. The text does not say who they are; the…Read Established rule« لَآ أُقْسِمُ »: "No! I swear"The formula « لَآ أُقْسِمُ » opens an oath by first rejecting what the opponents say. It does not mean "I do not swear": the لَا is a "No!" dismissing their claim, and then comes the oath. It is rendered everywhere "No! I swear…Read Established ruleThe imprecation « قُتِلَ »: "May … perish!"When the verb قُتِلَ (passive perfect, "he was killed") opens a clause with no narrative around it, it does not report a killing: it is an imprecation. The translation renders it everywhere as "May … perish!".Read Established rule« نَقَمَ … إِلَّآ أَن »: the only grievance is a blessingThe construction « مَا نَقَمَ … إِلَّآ أَن … » ("they reproached nothing, except …") states a reproach whose only object is something good: having believed, or having been enriched. The reproach turns back on those who make it.…Read Established ruleThe formula "his goods avail him nothing"One formula recurs six times: the verb أَغْنَىٰ عَنْ, negated, with goods (مَال, أَمْوَال) as subject: one's goods "avail nothing" to their owner, before God or on the Day of judgment. It is translated the same way everywhere.Read Established ruleThe formula "Have you not seen how your Guardian dealt with …"The formula « أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِـ » opens two accounts of punishment (89:6, 105:1). It is translated word for word the same way in both: "Have you not seen how your Guardian dealt with …".Read Established rule"Those who have believed and done righteous deeds"The formula « ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ » recurs 50 times. Both its verbs are in the perfect: the translation says "those who have believed and done righteous deeds", in the present perfect, and always…Read Established rule« إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ » placed first: the end where everything arrivesWhen « إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ » ("to your Guardian") is placed at the head of the sentence, before a noun expressing an end (the place of settlement, the drive, the final boundary, the return), Arabic insists: to Him, and to no other.…Read Established rule« فَمَن شَآءَ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِۦ »: the choice left to the human beingThe formula « فَمَن شَآءَ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِۦ … » closes a reminder by leaving the choice to the reader: "So whoever wills may take, toward his Guardian, …". It recurs three times and receives the same rendering everywhere.Read Established ruleThe refrain "Woe, that Day, to the deniers!"The sentence « وَيْلٌۭ يَوْمَئِذٍۢ لِّلْمُكَذِّبِينَ » recurs twelve times, ten of them in sura 77 alone. It falls like a verdict after each proof, and receives exactly the same rendering everywhere: "Woe, that Day, to the…Read Established rule"Thus do We recompense those who do good"The formula « كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ » closes nine accounts or passages by recalling that good done receives its recompense. It is translated everywhere "Thus do We recompense those who do good".Read Established rule« يَوْمُ ٱلْفَصْلِ »: the Day of SeparationThe name « يَوْمُ ٱلْفَصْلِ » recurs six times and denotes the Day when what was mixed is separated: truth from falsehood, those who believed from those who denied. It is rendered everywhere "the Day of Separation".Read Established rule« ذَرْنِى وَ… »: "Leave Me with …"The formula « ذَرْنِى وَ… » ("Leave Me, and …") is God's word to the Prophet: it lifts from him the burden of an opponent by taking it upon Himself. The وَ that follows is not "and" but "with"; the formula is rendered everywhere…Read Established ruleThe refrain "And whoever guards himself toward God, He …"In sura 65, each measure of divorce is followed by the same refrain: « وَمَن يَتَّقِ ٱللَّهَ », "And whoever guards himself toward God", then by what God grants him. The refrain is rendered identically in its three occurrences.Read
Hypotheses examined and set aside (1)
Suras and narratives
How narratives and suras are built: patterns, ruptures, rhymes. 8 pages
Established ruleThe template of the prophets' accountsIn suras 7, 11 and 26, each account of a prophet follows the same template: the sending (« وَإِلَىٰ X أَخَاهُمْ Y »), the call (« ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُۥ »), the proof, the refusal of a wage, the…Read Established rulePunishment compared to plant debrisFour accounts of punishment follow the same three-step pattern: a sending "upon them" (a wind, a cry, birds), then the result introduced by فَـ, then a comparison of the bodies to plant debris: palm trunks, dry twigs, devoured…Read Established ruleEvery order to fight has its cause and its limitIn the Qur'an, no order to fight is given on its own. In the neighbouring sentences, the text always gives its cause (broken oaths, a first aggression, fighting suffered) and its limit or exception (a pact kept, peace offered…Read Established ruleSura 19: the rhyme of the accounts of gift, and the child attributed to GodIn sura 19, the rhyme in ـيًّا carries the accounts in which a child is given (Zakariya, Yahya, Maryam, Issa, Ibrahim, Moussa, Ismail, Idris). It breaks twice, in 19:34-40 and in 19:75-98: these are the only passages where the…Read Established ruleThe opening letters: an identical rasm in every traditionTwenty-nine suras open with isolated letters (14 combinations: الم, الر, حم, طسم, كهيعص…). In every reading tradition compared, these letters have exactly the same rasm, whereas verse numbering and added signs differ. The…Read Established ruleSura 72: the speech of the Occulted and the revealed speechIn sura 72, a long series of sentences begins with وَأَنَّهُۥ / وَأَنَّا. The reading of Hafs has أَنَّ ("that"), which makes everything that follows the content of "It has been revealed to me that"; the reading of Warsh has…Read
Hypotheses examined and set aside (2)
Hypothesis set asideThe name that becomes a sentenceHypothesis examined: the Qur'an would sometimes take up a person's name and turn it into the sentence that strikes him, and this device would be a reading rule.Read Hypothesis set asideThe address "O you who are wrapped up! Stand"Hypothesis examined: when the Qur'an addresses someone with a participle of wrapping ("O you who are wrapped up", "O you who are covered in a cloak") followed by the order « قُمْ » ("Stand / Arise"), the state named would be…Read
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