The Qur’an and AdabThe Shaping of Literary Traditions

in Classical Islam

EDITED BY

Nuha Alshaar

3in association with

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Chapters previ ously published and appear ing here in a revised form are chapter 9 by Sarah R. bin Tyeer, from The Qur’an and the Aesthetics of Premodern Arabic Prose

(Palgrave, 2016); chapter 11 by Wadād al-Qā�ī, from Approaches to the Qur�ān, ed. G.R. Hawting and Abdul-Kader A. Shareef (Routledge, 1993); chapter 16 by

Denis McAuley, from Ibn �Arabī’s Mystical Poetics (Oxford University Press, 2012).

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Cover photo graphs (start ing from the top):1. Text of Sūrat al-Fāti�a (dated 723/1323) written in black naskh, with Persian inter lin ear

trans la tion in red ink. MS W.559 (fol. 2b), Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.2. Mu�allaqā (dated 16th/17th century CE) by the pre- and early Islamic poet Labīd b. Rabī�a

(d. c. 40/660). MS AP 6 (fol. 62v), Library of the Near East School of Theology, Beirut.

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ISBN 978-0-19-878718-1

315

10Qur’an Citation in Early Arabic Oration (Khut.ba): Mnemonic,

Liturgical and Testimonial Functions

TA H ER A QU TBU DDI N

Texts of Arabic orations (khu�bas) ascribed to early Muslim orators of the first/seventh and second/eighth centur ies are per -

meated with the Qur’anic ethos: they draw on Qur’anic struc tures, evoke Qur’anic images, make use of Qur’anic vocab u lary, preach Qur’anic themes and cite segments of the Qur’an. I have discussed else where the oration’s diffuse, non- cita tional infu sion of Qur’anic mater ial.1 In this chapter, I analyse its verbatim quota tion of Qur’anic verses, focus ing on the func tions of Qur’anic quota tion in the early Islamic oration.

The khu�ba is an early, essen tial and distinct genre of Arabic prose. I use the term in its initial, broad sense, to denote ‘an offi cial discourse (for various purposes and contain ing diverse themes) which was extem por an eously composed and orally delivered in formal language to a large, live, public audi ence, with the orator, with some excep-tions, stand ing facing the audi ence’2 – in other words, all kinds of speeches and sermons. (Later, the use of the term would be narrowed to signify largely the ritual sermons of the Friday and Eid prayers.) With its inclu sion of ethical and polit ical content along side the reli-gious in a verbally artistic frame, the early khu�ba may be considered a proto- genre of adab, partic u larly of its edific a tional and polit ic al vari et ies.3

In the follow ing pages, I present a taxonomy of Qur’anic quota-tions in the early khu�ba, categor ised under three simul tan eously oper at ing func tions: mnemonic, litur gical and testi mo nial. The

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mnemonic func tion includes a musical role, the litur gical func tion encom passes an indi vidual prayer utility and the testi mo nial func-tion incor por ates an evoc at ive mode. I situate these func tions in the oral culture of the early Arabian Muslims, their society’s dynamic inter face of reli gion, polit ics and liter at ure, and their orator’s goal of persua sion.

The Mnemonic Function

Early Islamic society was largely oral. Writing was not unknown, but its use was sparse and sporadic, and became wide spread only after the intro duc tion of paper mak ing tech niques in the middle of the second/eighth century. The orality of the society has two inter-linked implic a tions for my study: the ques tion it raises about the authen ti city of orator ical mater i als ascribed to the early Muslims and the impetus this orality (among other cata lysts) provides for Qur’anic cita tion.

The orator ical mater i als preserved in the medi eval sources were for the most part trans mit ted orally for a century or more. Although we have reports of some mater i als being recor ded in writing in the first/seventh and early second/eighth centur ies, these were anom-alies rather than the norm. Moreover, even though oral trans mis-sion of early histor ical and liter ary mater ial was supple men ted by gradu ally increas ing amounts of schol arly note- taking (as Gregor Schoeler has ably demon strated),4 we have limited evid ence to show that orations were written down in any signi fic ant quant ity. Most orations – like their contem por ary genres of poetry, hadith and histor ical reports – were passed down by word of mouth through several gener a tions before being tran scribed in books of history and liter at ure in the late second/eighth and early third/ninth centur ies. The lengthy period of oral trans mis sion subjec ted early orations to the possib il ity of fabric a tion, erro neous commu nic a tion and incor rect ascrip tion. Nevertheless, the effect ive ness of continu ous oral trans mis sion should not be under es tim ated. As Mary Carruthers has shown, members of medi eval soci et ies are known to have had prodi gious memor ies, and they success fully trans-mit ted artistic verbal mater i als over long periods of time.5 Many

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of the orations that have come down to us could be the essence of what was said, occupy ing a middle ground between the mode of trans mit ting the gist of the piece (riwāya bi’l- ma�nā), common for histor ical reports, and the mode of verbatim trans mis sion (riwāya bi’l- laf�) used in trans mit ting poetry and the Qur’an. The thou sands of reports in the medi eval Arabic sources suggest that a vibrant genre of oratory existed in the early Islamic period. It is likely that the orator ical mater i als we have from these sources are remnants – albeit imper fect ones – from that era.

Walter Ong, in his book Orality and Literacy, has estab lished that in predom in antly oral soci et ies, all verbal expres sion is artic u lated in easily retriev able cadenced patterns. Key char ac ter ist ics of oral verbal produc tion, laid out in his book, include rhythm, short sentences, a pref er ence for addit ive rather than subor din at ive phrases, and graphic ‘life world’ imagery. What is import ant for the present topic is that among these char ac ter ist ics, Ong lists the cita tion of prover bial mater i als. Citation also takes place in soci et ies that use writing, of course, but for an oral society, it is an essen tial mnemonic compon ent.

Here is an example of orator ical Qur’anic cita tion serving a mnemonic func tion: Alī b. Abī �ālib (d. 40/661), in an ubi sunt themed sermon,6 focused on remind ing the audi ence about their approach ing death.

Servants of God: You, and all things with you in this world, are on the path of those who have gone before – people who lived longer than you, who had more pros per ous homes and longer lasting monu ments. Now their voices have become silent, their breath stilled, their bodies decayed, their homes emptied, and their monu ments effaced. In exchange for forti fied palaces and lavish thrones, they have been given rocks and stones and the crush ing shelter of dugout graves, whose court yards are built from ruins and whose edifices are shored up with dirt. The grave is at hand. Its resid ent is like a stranger. He is with those who live together in one domi cile and yet are lonely, who have all the time in the world yet are too preoc cu pied to be concerned about each other. They neither have the comfort of a home land nor do they

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asso ci ate as neigh bours. All this, despite their phys ical close ness and the prox im ity of their dwell ings. But how could they visit, when decay has crushed them, and stones and earth have eaten them up? It is as though you have arrived at their destin a tion. It is as though that bed has already claimed you as collat eral and that depos it ory has already envel oped you. How do you think it will be with you, when all affairs reach their end? When the contents of graves are scattered forth?7 In that place, each soul will be tried for what it did in past times: they will be returned to their true master, and they will not find the lies they had spun (hunā lika tablū kullu nafsin mā aslafat wa ruddū ilā’llāhi mawlāhumu’l-�aqqi wa alla �anhum mā kānū yaftarūn) (Sūrat Yūnus, Q. 10:30).8

The Qur’anic verse Alī cites at the end of this sermon – in addi tion to endors ing and substan ti at ing his points about death, the here-after and being account able for one’s actions – serves a mnemonic func tion. When a person heard an oration and relayed its contents later to another, inser tions such as this verse would help to anchor his trans mis sion, since he would have the Qur’anic phrase memor-ised even before he heard it in the oration. In Ong’s words, prover-bial mater i als are ‘constantly heard by every one so that they come to mind readily’ and what is more, they ‘them selves are patterned for reten tion and ready recall’.9 Qur’anic cita tion formed part of a larger mode of cita tion inher ent in the oral milieu of the early Islamic orator. Like poetry and proverbs, which were cited often in orations, and like proph etic hadiths, which were also cited from time to time, the Qur’an was orally conceived and produced, and constantly heard by the early Muslims in various contexts;10 cita tion of Qur’anic verses was thus an obvious mnemonic aid. The Qur’an itself contained numer ous mnemonic features which further strengthened the mnemonic base of those orations that cited its verses.

Furthermore, the mnemonic- groun ded rhythm of the early khu�ba was enhanced by the cadence of the Qur’anic cita tion. Oratorical rhythm was achieved through a range of aesthetic tech-niques includ ing prose rhyme, poetic repe ti tion, asson ance and

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parono masia, and most prom in ently, paral lel ism. The Qur’an’s rhythmic elements, being groun ded in the same oral milieu, were similar to the acous tic elements of the khu�ba. Being thus in har -mony with the melodic move ment of the oration, the music of the cited Qur’anic verse augmen ted the music of the khu�ba. In a battle oration, an Azraqī Khārijī commander named al-Zubayr b. Alī al-Salī�ī al-Tamīmī (d. 68/688) shored up his troops’ courage by citing the follow ing Qur’anic verse: If wounds afflict you, [know that] similar wounds afflict [your enemies]. We deal out such days in turn among people (in yamsaskum qar�un fa- qad massa’l- qawma qar�un mithluhu wa tilka’l- ayyāmu nudāwiluhā bayna’l- nāsi) (Sūrat Āl �Imrān, Q. 3:140).11 This verse contains two rhythmic elements, the parono masia (jinās ishtiqāq) between the words ‘yamsaskum’ and ‘massa’, and the poetic repe ti tion (takrār) of the word ‘qar�un’, which are also mnemonic agents, and which intensify the cadence of Zubayr’s oration.

The Liturgical Function

Orators frequently quoted Qur’anic verses in the intro duct ory praise section (ta�mīd) of an oration.12 We can categor ise the ta�mīd broadly into two types: generic and contex tu al ised.

Frequently, in a generic ta�mīd, the speaker beseeched God’s guid ance and followed the supplic a tion with Qur’anic quotes, modi-fied or verbatim, ascrib ing all guid ance to him. The stand ard ta�mīd often included the follow ing (modi fied) Qur’an- inspired line: Whomsoever God guides, no one can lead astray. Whomsoever God leads astray, no one can guide aright (man yahdi’llāhu fa- lā muilla lahu wa man yulili’llāhu fa- lā hādiya lahu).13 (Note that, as in this line, orators commonly restruc tured Qur’anic verses to fit the gram mat ical or rhythmic flow of their oration; in the ta�mīd and else where, they reworked word order or pronouns, dropped, altered or added conjunc tions, inter pol ated phras eo logy and changed gram-mat ical cases or moods.)14 In another custom ary ta�mīd, orators cited the Qur’anic verse verbatim: [God] sent His messen ger [to spread] right guid ance and the reli gion of truth in order to make it prevail over all [other] reli gions, despite the aver sion of those who

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ascribe part ners to God (arsala rasū lahu bi’l- hudā wa dīni’l-�aqqi li yu�hirahu �alā’l- dīni kullihī wa-law kariha’l- mushrikūn) (Sūrat al-�aff, Q. 61:9; Sūrat al-Tawba, Q. 9:33). These two sets of verses became fixed quite early on, with what appears to be their repeated usage in the orations of Prophet Muhammad and his Companions.15

In contex tu al ised ta�mīds, the formu laic litur gical aspect of Qur’anic cita tion was under pinned by a testi mo nial subtext. The choice of verses to quote in such a ta�mīd was direc ted by the religio- polit ical goal of the speech. A good example is a speech given by Alī’s Companion, Mālik al-Ashtar (d. 38/658), to his compat ri ots at the Battle of �iffīn (37/657). Ashtar began with a ta�mīd contain ing three consec ut ive Qur’an verses, assert ing the Creator’s control over all things and events: ‘All praise belongs to God who created the high heavens, the merci ful one (who) sat on the throne. To Him belong the skies, the earth, and that which is below the ground (al-�amdu li’llāhi’l- ladhī khalaqa’l- samāwāti’l-�ulā al- ra�mānu �alā’l-�arshi’stawā lahu mā fī’l- samāwāti wa mā fī’l- ari wa mā baynahumā wa mā ta�ta’l- tharā)’ (Sūrat �āhā, Q. 20:4–6).16 (The next lines of the speech, still within the ta�mīd, say, ‘I praise God for the trials [He has sent down], as well as His clear favours.’) Ashtar used the literal imagery of God’s creation in these verses to fortify in advance his coming declar a tion that this battle was destined for some myster i ous purpose by the all- wise divine will. Working through juxta pos i tion and implic a-tion, he prepared his audi ence with the Qur’an cita tions to accept his asser tion: ‘That which Almighty God decreed has come to pass, namely, that the fates drove us to the people of this land, and gathered us together with God’s enemies and ours.’17 After these lines, he went on to chron icle Alī’s excel lences. Since the oppos ing army was a Muslim army, many of the warri ors on Alī’s side were troubled about the legit im acy of their fight. By framing the conflict in Qur’anic verses emphas ising God’s owner ship of all things, combined with the affirm a tion that what God had written would inev it ably take place, and conjoined with praise of Alī, Ashtar care fully set up the two- part message of the sermon: It was God’s will that this battle should be fought and Alī was on the side of truth.

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In early orations (unlike late medi eval and modern ones), we do not see Qur’anic verses cited frequently in communal prayer outside of the ta�mīd intro duc tion. However, orators did some times quote verses from the Qur’an in indi vidual commu nion with God within the body of the speech, espe cially towards the end. On the day of Āshūrā� in Karbala, when the Umayyad army approached al-�usayn b. Alī (d. 61/680) for the final assault, which would end in their killing him and all his male family members and compan-ions, he delivered a speech from the back of his horse.18 In this speech, he attemp ted to dissuade the Umayyad army from their lethal purpose through a variety of urgent argu ments: He was their Prophet’s grand son, he had commit ted no crime, and they them-selves had invited him to Iraq. Finally, seeing that they were not being swayed, he ended with two verses from the Qur’an. Resignedly capping off his argu ments, and perhaps also taking comfort from divine words portray ing confront a tion between good and evil as inev it able, he quoted the prophet Noah’s furious words of chal lenge to his people: Let not your plan become darkly obscure to you; rather, carry it out against me, and give me no respite (thumma lā yakun amrukum �alaykum ghum matan thumma’qū ilayya wa- lā tun�irūn) (Sūrat Yūnus, Q. 10:71). Then, in response to this first verse, still address ing his attack ers, but turning simul tan eously to God, he quoted another Qur’anic verse, this one in the Prophet Muhammad’s voice address ing the poly the ists: Indeed, my friend is God, who sent down the Book; He befriends only the pious (inna waliyyiya’llāhu’l- ladhī nazzala’l- kitāba wa huwa yatawallā’l-�āli�īn) (Sūrat al-A�rāf, Q. 7:196). With these two verses, �usayn placed himself with God’s proph ets and he placed the Umayyads with God’s enemies, serving them warning. Also with these verses (espe cially the second one), he turned to God for succour.

In a way, all usages of Qur’anic verses in orations are litur gical. Since the Qur’an is the Islamic scrip ture whose recit a tion is believed to garner spir itual merit, recit a tion of it within any public context suggests a form of communal worship. It is a matter of degree. Either the litur gical func tion is fore groun ded or the testi mo nial. The fore ground ing depends largely on the place ment of the verse within the stand ard struc ture of the khu�ba. If it occurs within

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the formu laic ta�mīd section, the func tion that is high lighted is litur gical. If it occurs in the body of the oration, the func tion that is under scored is testi mo nial. The mnemonic (and musical) func-tions, in turn, apply equally to the formu laic verses in the opening and to the testi mo nial verses in the body of the text.

The Testimonial Function

As the word of God, the Qur’an wielded an author ity over Muslims unsur passed by any other verbal instru ment. As such, it was the obvious tool to shore up an argu ment in an Islamic milieu. Used by the orator as a testi mo nial rein for cing his asser tions, Qur’anic cita tion drove home his point, putting the weight of the divine word behind his own teach ings. In this sense, Qur’anic cita tion in orations func tioned as it did in texts of grammar and rhet oric, where authors brought in Qur’an verses as proof texts (shawāhid, sing. shāhid) to testify to the vera city of the rule they were expli cat ing.19 With some excep tions (more on this later), the orator did not inter pret the Qur’anic verses expli citly for the audi ence. Rather, through appos ite juxta pos i tion of Qur’anic verses with polit ical or theo lo gical declar a tions, he elicited from his audi ence an inter pret a tion of these verses that suppor ted his posi tion.

The testi mo nial aspect of Qur’anic cita tion worked partic u larly well for several reasons. Firstly, the Islamic khu�ba was imbued with the teach ings of the Qur’an. Early Muslim orators consist ently preached piety and exhor ted their audi ence to perform good deeds in prepar a tion for the immin ent here after. These themes, among many others, came directly from the Qur’an. (Conversely, it can also be said that the Qur’an co- opted many of the earlier modes of preach ing that asked in an ubi sunt rhet or ical style – as, for example, in the famous Ukā� sermon ascribed to the pre-Islamic Christian bishop of Najrān, Quss Ibn Sā ida (d. c. 600 CE) – where past gen -er a tions had gone.)20 Secondly, the oral rhythm- based style and the vivid nature- oriented imagery of the oration were paral lel to the style and imagery of the Qur’an. Finally, many sections of the Qur’an – which, when viewed from a liter ary perspect ive, is a con -glom er a tion of genres – are sermonic in form, display ing complex

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connec tions, over lap ping traits and concep tual paral lel isms with the khu�ba. Sections from several suras – such as Āl �Imrān (Q. 3), Yūnus (Q. 10), Hūd (Q. 11), al-Shu�arā� (Q. 26), Luqmān (Q. 31) and Nū� (Q. 71) – relate the reli gious and ethical teach ings of Biblical and Arabian proph ets in sermonic form. The Qur’an has the Arabian prophet �āli�, for example, preach thus to his fellow tribes men of Thamūd: O people! Worship God, for there is no god other than Him. He created you out of the earth and made you thrive therein. So ask Him for forgive ness and turn to Him in repent ance. Indeed, my Lord is near, He will answer [the prayer of one who calls out to Him] (yāqawmi �budū’l- lāha mā lakum min ilāhin ghayr uhū huwa ansha�akum mina’l- ari wa’sta�marakum fīhā fa’staghfirūhu thumma tūbū ilayhi inna rabbī qarībun mujīb) (Sūrat Hūd, Q. 11:61). This verse, and many similar verses of the Qur’an, meet the criteria I have earlier specified in the defin i tion of the khu�ba – formal language and an offi cial status, as well as extem por an eous compos i tion and oral deliv ery (by �āli� here, then Muhammad) in direct second- person address to a live, public audi-ence – and may be categor ised as a quasi-khu�ba. This complex generic, them atic and aesthetic rela tion ship between the khu�ba and the Qur’an under pinned and promoted the former’s testi mo-nial cita tion of Qur’anic verses.

In addi tion to the evid ence of the orator ical texts them selves, the testi mo nial nature of Qur’anic cita tion in orations is suppor ted by the contex tu al ising phrases surround ing it in the early sources, as well as by the medi eval critics. The prover bial func tion of the oration’s cita tion of poetry is emphas ised by the famil iar prefa cing phrase: ‘He cited as a testi mo nial’ (qāla mutamath thilan).21 The same evid en tiary object ive may be attrib uted to cita tions from the Qur’an, where orators frequently prefaced their cita tions with the expres sion ‘As Almighty God has said’ (kamā qāla’llāhu ta�ālā), or words to that effect. The medi eval critics do not expli citly dis -cuss the testi mo nial nature of Qur’anic cita tion, but they indic ate it impli citly nonethe less through their char ac ter isa tions of the ‘beau ti fy ing’ (tawashshu�) and ‘adorn ing’ (tazyīn) of khu�bas with Qur’anic verses. The famous Basran litter at eur of the third/ninth century, Abū Uthmān Amr b. Ba�r al-Jā�i� (d. 255/869), asser ted

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in al-Bayān wa’l- tabyīn (Eloquence and Explication) that the ‘pious early Muslims’ used the term ‘disfigured oration’ (khu�ba shawhā�) for the oration that was ‘not beau ti fied by cita tions from the Qur’an (and by bless ings on the Prophet)’.22 The medi eval scribe Is�āq b. Ibrāhīm al-Kātib (d. after 335/947) commen ted in his al-Burhān fī wujūh al- bayān (The Proof[-Book] about Various Aspects of Eloquence) on the posit ive audi ence recep tion of Qur’anic quota-tion, saying: ‘Among the neces sary attrib utes of oratory are begin-ning with praise of God, and beau ti fy ing with Qur’an[ic verses] and popular proverb[ial prose and verse]. These are among the things that adorn orations for listen ers.’23 If we extend this rationale of ‘adorn ment’, the func tion is still testi mo nial; as Richard Lanham has explained, artistic prose tacitly persuades.24 Beautifying a speech – by ‘adorn ing’ it with Qur’anic cita tions – implies making it more pleas ing to the audi ence, which, in turn, means that its message is more likely to be accep ted.

Within the body of the oration, Qur’anic verses were custom ar ily cited towards the conclu sion of the khu�ba, or at the end of a them atic section, retro act ively casting a seal of divine author ity on what the orator had just said. (We have mostly frag ments from this period rather than full sermons, so this obser va tion is tent at ive.) Since the point of Qur’an cita tion in the early khu�ba was typic ally not to explain the mean ings of the Qur’an directly, but rather to bring the author ity of the Qur’an to bear upon the orator’s message, the posterior place ment would be effect ive.

Different types of orations sourced differ ently themed scrip ture, orators singling out Qur’anic verses on subjects reson at ing with their own. Political and battle speeches quoted verses on polit ical and battle related issues, and pious counsel and ritual sermons quoted verses command ing godli ness. But orators char ac ter ist ic-ally combined reli gious and polit ical lead er ship roles – and their verbal effu sions were simil arly multi fa ceted – in a demon stra tion of the funda mental linkage between reli gion and polit ics in the early Islamic state.

Qur’anic cita tion was partic u larly wide spread in sermons of ritual prayer and pious counsel, and the sources provide numer ous examples. Urging his audi ence to be aware of the tran si ence of

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Qur’an Citation in Early Arabic Oration (Khut.ba)

life and exhort ing them to perform good deeds, the Prophet Muhammad recited in what is repor ted to be his first Friday sermon the follow ing Qur’anic verse: As for the one who is conscious of God and fears Him, God will erase his sins, and grant him a great reward (man yattaqi’l- lāha yukaffi r �anhu sayy i�ātihi wa yu��im lahu ajrā) (Sūrat al-�alāq, Q. 65:5). Towards the end of a sermon on the oneness of God, the near ness of death, and the import ance of prepar ing for the here after, the Mu tazilī leader Wā�il b. A�ā� (d. 131/748) coun selled his audi ence to be conscious of God, citing the verse Be conscious of God, O intel li gent people, and you will surely prosper (wa’ttaqū’l- lāha yā’ulī’l- albābi la�al lakum tufli�ūn) (Sūrat al-Mā�ida, Q. 5:100).25

Both these verses were frequently used by preach ers of all stripes; not only do they artic u late some of the most prom in ent teach ings of the Qur’an, their modes of direct address and match ing themes inter sect with the styl istic and them atic modes of the oration, facil i-tat ing smooth integ ra tion into the orator ical discourse. However, a marked pref er ence for partic u lar verses would only become mani fest after the crys tal lisa tion of sectarian denom in a tions and theo logical schools. In the early period – notwith stand ing the few commonly cited verses – the selec tion of cited verses appears to be ad hoc, the orator select ing ones that suppor ted his point from a pool of choices, such as the follow ing. During the early Muslims’ campaign to conquer Syria, the Companion Ubāda b. al-�āmit (d. c. 34/655) delivered an oration encour aging the people of Homs to be virtu ous, and he cited the verses Whosoever performs a mote’s worth of good shall see it. Whosoever performs a mote’s worth of evil shall see it (fa- man ya�mal mithqāla dhar ratin khayran yarahu; wa man ya�mal mithqāla dhar ratin sharran yarahu) (Sūrat al-Zalzala, Q. 99:7–8).26 In a Friday service in Kufa, imme di ately follow ing the Battle of the Camel, Alī enjoined his audi ence to fear God’s punish ment and perform good deeds, using a (modi fied) quote from the Qur’an to explain the reason for his injunc tion:

Perform virtu ous deeds without desir ing praise: Whosoever per -forms deeds for one other than God, God will hand him over to that other. Whosoever performs deeds sincerely for God, God

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will ensure for him a goodly reward. Fear God’s punish ment, for He has not created you without purpose, and has not left you, in any of your affairs, without direc tion, with loosened [reins] (fa’innahu lam yakhluqkum �abathan wa’lam yatruk shay�an min amrikum sudān).27

These pious injunc tions of Alī’s sermon segued into a char ac ter isa-tion of this world as the abode of death, and to emphas ise this point he quoted a second Qur’anic verse, this one verbatim, declar ing the here after to be the abode of life:

Do not be deceived by this world, for she is a great deceiver of her people. Whosoever is deceived by her is truly deluded. All things in her will perish. The here after is [true] life, if only they would realise it (wa-inna’l- dāra’l-ākhirata la- hiya’l-�ayawānu law kānū ya�lamūn) (Sūrat al-�Ankabūt, Q. 29:64).28

Citations from the Qur’an were also used to good effect as testi-mo ni als in speeches with a polit ical or milit ary agenda. Al-�ajjāj b. Yūsuf al-Thaqafī (d. 95/714), governor of Iraq for the Syrian Umayyads, often employed Qur’anic verses to strengthen his polit ical message. In one such speech, he began by chas tising his recal cit rant Iraqi subjects in a few lines of excor i at ing prose, then turned to praise the Syrians in his audi ence by quoting first a proverb, then two lines of poetry, and finally three verses from the Qur’an: ‘You, O people of Syria, are as Almighty God has said: We have given our word to Our servants, the messen gers. They will be aided. Indeed, Our army will triumph (wa- laqad sabaqat kalima t unā li-�ibādinā’l- murs alīn; innahum la- humu’l- man�ūrūn; wa- inna jundanā la- humu’l- ghālibūn)’ (Sūrat al-�āffāt, Q. 37:171–3).29 According to exegetes such as Abū Ja far Mu�ammad b. Jarīr al-�abarī (d. 310/923), Abū’l-Qāsim Ma�mūd b. Umar al- Zamakhsharī (d. 538/1144) and Ismā īl b. Umar Ibn Kathīr (d. 774/1373), these Qur’anic verses in their original context praise Muhammad and the early Muslims; �ajjāj uses them here to extol the Syrians, support ers of the Umayyads, compar ing them to the Prophet’s early follow ing. In the Qur’an, these verses follow upon ones chas tising the ‘dis believ ers’, that is, the Meccan Quraysh; by

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citing the later verses of praise, �ajjāj also clev erly evokes the earlier ones of condem na tion, asso ci at ing the Iraqis with the pagan Meccans and threat en ing them. In another example, the Khārijī commander �āli� b. Musarri� (d. 76/695) instruc ted his follow ers to ‘disas so ci ate them selves from sinners’ (al- fāsiqūn, presum ably the Umayyads, and perhaps more broadly all non-Khārijīs), and direc ted them to ‘bond with the believ ers’ (presum ably the Khārijīs), declar ing, ‘Indeed, disas so ci at ing from sinners is a require ment for believ ers’, and endors ing the injunc tion with the Qur’anic verse that says Do not pray the funeral prayer for any person among them who dies, and do not [pronounce bene dic tions] at his grave. Indeed, they disbe lieved in God and His messen ger, and they died as sinners (wa- lā tu�alli �alā a�adin minhum māta abadan wa- lā taqum �alā qabrihi innahum kafarū bi’llāhi wa rasū lihi wa mātū wa hum fāsiqūn) (Sūrat al-Tawba, Q. 9:84).30 This verse in its original his -torical context refers to the hypo crites (al- munāfiqūn) who held back from support ing the Prophet in the Battle of Tabūk; �āli� quotes it to shore up his message vis-à-vis his own group versus all other Muslims.

Full Qur’anic verses were quoted in the examples above, but many orations used only partial cita tions to evoke the rest of the verse. (A caveat: It should be noted that in the specific examples quoted, it is possible that the orator actu ally quoted a full verse and that the trun ca tion was enacted by a redactor who expec ted his listen ers or readers to know and fill in the rest.) In some cases, letting the audi ence supply the punch line was as effect ive, perhaps more effect ive, than spelling it out; it engaged the audi ence in a way that direct state ments could not. Towards the end of one of the first sermons that Alī is repor ted to have preached after becom ing caliph, he said:

Hasten to acknow ledge the affair that is common to all, but personal to each one of you: death. People have gone before you and the hour drives you onward from behind. Lighten your burden of sin so you can catch up. Those who have gone before await the arrival of those who are yet to come. Be conscious of God in your deal ings with His servants and His lands. For you

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are respons ible for your deeds, even those pertain ing to the earth and to cattle. Obey God. Do not disobey Him. If you see good, grasp it. If you see evil, shun it.31

He then closed the sermon with a section of a Qur’anic verse, remind ing the audi ence that they had not always been so pros-per ous: Remember the time when you were few in number and vulner able in the land (wa’dhkurū idh antum qalīlun musta�afūna fī’l- ari) (Sūrat al-Anfāl, Q. 8:26). The continu ation of the verse – which is not cited – is as follows: and were afraid that people would wipe you out, whereupon He gave you refuge, strengthened you with His aid, and provided you with goodly susten ance. Will you not be grate ful? (takhāfūna an yatakha��afakumu’l- nāsu fa-āwākum wa ayyadakum bi- na�rihi wa razaqakum mina’l-�ayyibāti la�al lakum tashkurūn). The audi ence, drawing on their own memor ies, would furnish this part them selves. Through evoc a tion, this unstated line – which reminded the audi ence that it was God who had given them support and provi sions – impli citly rein forced and took further the point of the cited section.

Evocative tech niques of cita tion included two more vari et ies: some times the cita tion of a verse from among a cluster of verses could call to mind the context of the full cluster, as in the speech of �ajjāj just discussed; and occa sion ally – since motifs and themes are expounded in the Qur’an piece meal in differ ent places – the cita tion of one verse could evoke for the audi ence the entire set of related Qur’anic motifs, as in Qur’anic verses enjoin ing piety, or verses remind ing the Muslims of the destruc tion of ungodly nations.

In contrast to the stand ard use of Qur’anic quota tion in early khu�bas for testi mo nial purposes, which we have been discuss ing, a handful of orator ical texts display two signi fic ant anom alies: hyper- quota tion and expos it ory explic a tion of the Qur’an.

In a single oration, orators usually cited one or, perhaps, two verses from the Qur’an. But a few speeches showed evid ence of hyper- quota tion; that is, they were laden with cita tions, relying almost wholly on the appos ite selec tion of Qur’anic verses to make their point. A most unusual case is a speech by Mu� ab b. al-Zubayr (d. 72/691) composed solely of a string of six Qur’an verses from

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Sūrat al-Qa�a� (Q. 28), narrat ing the down fall of the tyrant Pharaoh and telling of God’s compas sion for his victims.32 Mu� ab had been sent by his brother, the counter- caliph Abd Allāh b. al-Zubayr (d. 73/692) who was based in Mecca, to garner Iraqi support to fight the Umayyads in Damascus. As he recited verses in his oration about Pharaoh’s end, Mu� ab used hand gestures to point towards Syria, signalling its impend ing defeat. He then recited verses about God’s bene vol ence, motion ing towards the �ijāz, predict ing its approach ing triumph. A slightly less stark sample is a speech delivered by the Prophet Muhammad’s grand son al-�asan b. Alī (d. 50/670) during his short caliphate, where he quoted four Qur’anic verses in close succes sion, with a couple of his own lines between each verse. �asan used these verses to urge his follow ers to come to God, the Messenger and the ‘people in command’ (ūlū’l- amr, indic at ing the speaker himself) in matters of dispute, and to warn that belief and good deeds must precede death, the moment of final reck on ing, in order to have salvific value.33 In a more diffuse speci men, the Khārijī commander Qa�arī b. al-Fujā�a (d. 79/698) recited six verses from the Qur’an over the course of a long ubi sunt sermon to cap each of its six subthemes. In the penul tim ate section of the sermon, describ ing the dead, he said:

They were carried to their graves, but cannot be called riders. They were given places to alight, but cannot be called guests. They were given graves as cover ing, earth as a shroud, and decay ing bones as neigh bours – neigh bours who do not answer one who calls out to them, who do not protect from harm. If they get abund ant rain they do not rejoice. If they have drought they do not despair. They are all together, yet each one is alone. They are neigh bours, but far distant from one another. They are in the same assembly, but no one visits them, nor do they visit anyone . . . Mature leaders whose enmit ies have dissip ated . . . Rash youths whose hatreds have disap peared. Their blows are no longer feared. Their protec tion is no longer sought. As Almighty God has said: Here are their abodes, unin hab ited after them except for a short time. We, yes We, will inherit (fa- tilka masākinuhum lam

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tuskan min ba�di him illā qalīlan wa kunnā na�nu’l- wārithīn) (Sūrat al-Qa�a�, Q. 28:58).34

These three examples speak to the power of quota tion in this tradi tion; they also point to some thing unusual in the situ ation that neces sit ated hyper- quota tion. In the speeches of Mu� ab and Qa�arī, the import of the speech was danger ous. Mu� ab’s message in promot ing the counter- caliphate of his brother Abd Allāh was one of direct chal lenge to Umayyad author ity. Qa�arī’s posi tion, although indir ect and couched in verbiage of pious wisdom, was no less of a chal lenge to the ruling power. The speech of the Prophet’s grand son �asan aimed at convin cing the people of the divinely granted author ity of the family of the Prophet; his speech was made in the context of the Khārijī claim gener al ising such author ity to all Muslims, as well as the anti-Hāshimī char ac ter of Umayyad rule. All three orators relied on the author ity of the Qur’an to drive home a provoc at ive point.

An even rarer func tion of Qur’anic cita tion was expli cit inter-pret a tion by the orator to support a partic u lar point of view or to serve as a jumping off point for pious counsel. The afore -mentioned governor of Iraq, �ajjāj, cited and expli citly inter preted two Qur’anic verses to support the Umayyad govern ment in an oration which began as follows: ‘God said: Fear God as much as you can (ittaqū’llāha mā’sta�a�tum) [Sūrat al-Taghābun, Q. 64:16] – this refers to God. Then he said, Listen and obey (wa’sma�ū wa a�ī�ū) [Sūrat al-Taghābun, Q. 64:16] – this refers to the servant of God, the vice ger ent of God, the beloved of God, Abd al-Malik b. Marwān.’35 Here, the Qur’anic text was cited up front and then explained in a polit ical context. Elsewhere, two sermons, one ascribed to Alī and the other to al-�asan al-Ba�rī (d. 110/728), cite the first two verses of Sūrat al-Takāthur, Q. 102:1–2: You are engrossed with acquir ing more and more, until you visit the grave (alhākumu’l- takā thur, �attā zurtumu’l- maqābir) in an exhortat ory frame, follow ing up the cita tion with descrip tions of the dead, exhorta tions to be mindful of the immin ence of the grave and injunc tions to prepare for the here after.36 This format would become frequent in later Islamic teach ing sessions;37 it is also similar to certain kinds of Christian

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Protestant expos it ory preach ing,38 but was anom al ous in the early period of Islam. In the orations of Alī, �ajjāj and �asan al-Ba�rī, the cited Qur’anic verses expli citly set up the coming oration where, more typic ally in the early khu�ba, the Qur’anic verse impli citly and retro act ively direc ted the traject ory of the khu�ba, with the orator’s own words leading up to, and climax ing in, the cita tion.

Conclusion: Early, Medieval and Modern khut.bas

As we have seen, Qur’anic cita tion in orations of the first/seventh and second/eighth centur ies of Islam served mnemonic, litur gical and testi mo nial func tions – func tions that were rooted in the orator’s goal of persua sion, the oral context of early orator ical produc tion, and the dynamic rela tion ship between reli gion, polit ics and liter at ure in early Muslim society. These func tions oper ated simul tan eously, with the mnemonic func tion being present at all times, and either the litur gical or the testi mo nial func tions being concur rently fore groun ded.

As the society in which these orations were produced evolved, the three func tions developed in accord with the chan ging times.39 Although the mnemonic and testi mo nial func tions contin ued to operate at some level, Qur’anic cita tion in sermons gradu ally moved towards the litur gical func tion, becom ing more and more formu laic as time went by. In the early period, the cita tion of a verse or two from the Qur’an was a common, though not requis ite, feature.40 Qur’anic cita tion became more frequent, even de rigueur, in later sermons. Its applic a tions became tightly circum scribed and its func tions were modi fied accord ingly. In a work titled Adab al- kha�īb (Rules for the Preacher), the eighth/four teenth- century scholar Ibn al- A��ār (d. 724/1323) summar ised the rules for Friday and Eid sermons, and he included among them mandat ory cita tion of Qur’anic verses, as well as specific verses to be cited.41 He also proscribed the cita tion of poetry. By Ibn al- A��ār’s time, extem pore speeches and sermons were, by and large, a thing of the past. In this respect, Qur’anic cita tion in the late medi eval period was primar ily litur gical, and the testi mo nial func tion appears to have become less relev ant. The mnemonic func tion of Qur’anic cita tion in sermons,

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although still valid, oper ated in an ancil lary fashion in a society which had become liter ate and writing- oriented. Today, the Friday khu�ba in several parts of the world contin ues the formu laic legacy of the middle period. However, polit ical and religio- polit ical speeches of some Muslim leaders, such as those of Hasan Nasrallah of Lebanon, have a dynamic and indi vidu al ised engage ment with Qur’anic mater ial, continu ing to draw on its early testi mo nial func tion.

NOT E S

1 Tahera Qutbuddin, ‘The Sermons of Alī Ibn Abī �ālib: At the Confluence of the Core Islamic Teachings of the Qur’an and the Oral, Nature-Based Cultural Ethos of Seventh Century Arabia’, Anuario de Estudios Medievales 42, no. 1 (2012), pp. 201–28, passim.

2 Tahera Qutbuddin, ‘Khu�ba: The Evolution of Early Arabic Oration’, in Beatrice Gruendler, ed., Classical Arabic Humanities in their Own Terms: Festschrift for Wolfhart Heinrichs on his 65th Birthday (Leiden, Brill, 2008), p. 180.

3 See defin i tions and discus sions of the term adab in Francesco Gabrieli, ‘Adab’, EI2, vol. I, pp.  175–6; Azartash Azarnoosh and Suheyl Umar, ‘Adab’, EIsl, vol. III, pp. 1–21; Alshaar, chapter 1, pp. 6–16 in this volume.

4 Gregor Schoeler, The Oral and the Written in Early Islam, tr. Uwe Vagelpohl, ed. James E. Montgomery (London, Routledge, 2006), pp.  40–42; idem, The Genesis of Literature in Islam: From the Aural to the Read, tr. Shawkat M. Toorawa, rev. edn (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2009), pp. 47–50.

5 Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 1–15.

6 ‘Ubi sunt’ is a Latin phrase meaning ‘Where are they?’ 7 This is a refer ence to Sūrat al-Infi�ār (Q. 82:4). 8 Abū’l-�asan Mu�ammad b. al-�usayn al-Ra�ī, Nahj al- balāgha, ed. �usayn

al-A lamī, comm. Mu�ammad Abduh (Beirut, Mu�assasat al-A lamī, 1993), sermon 223, p.  470. Also cited in Abū Abd Allāh Mu�ammad b. Salāma al-Qu�ā ī, Dustūr ma�ālim al-�ikam wa ma�thūr makārim al- shiyam, ed. and tr. Tahera Qutbuddin as A Treasury of Virtues: Sayings, Sermons and Teachings of �Alī, with the One Hundred Proverbs of al-Jā�i� (New York, New York University Press, 2013), 3.1.1 and 3.1.2, pp. 67–9; Abū Bakr A�mad b. Marwān al-Dīnawarī, al-Mujālasa wa jawāhir al-�ilm, 38 vols (Beirut, Dār Ibn �azm, 2002), vol. I, p. 364; Abū �āmid Mu�ammad b. Mu�ammad al-Ghazālī, I�yā� �ulūm al- dīn, 4 vols (Beirut, Dār al-Ma rifa, n.d.), vol. III, pp. 212–13; Abū’l-Qāsim Alī b. al-�asan Ibn Asākir, Tārīkh madīnat Dimashq, ed. Mu�ibb al-Dīn al- Umarī, 80 vols (Beirut, Dār al-Fikr, 1995), vol. XXXXII, p. 500; Abd al-Ra�mān b. Alī Ibn al-Jawzī, �ifat al-�afwa, ed. Ma�mūd al-Fākhūrī, 4 vols in 2 (Beirut, Dār al-Ma rifa, 1979), vol. I, p. 322; Shihāb al-Dīn A�mad b. Abd al-Wahhāb al-Nuwayrī, Nihāyat al- arab fī funūn al- adab, ed. Mufīd Qumay�a, 33 vols in 15 (Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al- Ilmiyya, 2004), vol. V, pp. 249–50; Jalāl

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al-Dīn al-Suyu�ī, Jāmi� al- a�ādīth, ed. Abbās A�mad �aqr and A�mad Abd al-Jawād, 21 vols (Beirut, Dār al-Fikr), vol. IV, hadith 8609, pp. 443–4; Alī b. Abd al-Malik al-Muttaqī al-Hindī, Kanz al-�ummāl fi sunan al- aqwāl wa’l- af �āl, ed. Ma�mūd al-Dumyā�ī, 18 vols in 10 (Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al- Ilmiyya, 1998), vol. XVI, p. 84. NB: All trans la tions, includ ing those of Qur’anic verses, are my own.

9 Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (London, Routledge, 1982), p. 34.

10 See William A. Graham, Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 79–115.

11 Abū’l- Abbās Mu�ammad b. Yazīd al-Mubarrad, al-Kāmil, ed. Mu�ammad Abū’l-Fa�l Ibrāhīm, 4 vols (Cairo, Dār al-Fikr al- Arabī, n.d.), vol. III, p. 330; Izz al-Dīn Abd al-�amīd b. Hibat Allāh al-Mu tazilī Ibn Abī’l-�adīd, Shar� Nahj al- balāgha, ed. Mu�ammad Abū’l-Fa�l Ibrāhīm, 20 vols (Cairo, Dār I�yā� al-Kutub al- Arabiyya, 1965), vol. IV, p.  156; A�mad Zakī �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab fī’ l-�u�ūr al-�arabiyya al- zāhira, 3 vols (Cairo, al-Maktaba al- Ilmiyya, 1933–34), vol. II, p. 451.

12 For a detailed study of the ta�mīd genre, see Aziz K. Qutbuddin, ‘Ta�mīd: A Literary Genre? A Study of the Arabic Laudatory Preamble with a Focus on the Fatimid-�ayyibī Tradition’ (Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, 2009); and idem, ‘A Literary Analysis of Ta�mīd: A Relational Approach for Studying the Arabic-Islamic Laudatory Preamble’, in Bruno De Nicola, Yonatan Mendel and Husain Qutbuddin, eds, Reflections on Knowledge and Language in Middle Eastern Societies (Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010), pp. 63–89.

13 The first sentence (man yahdi’llāhu fa- lā muilla lahu) is modi fied from the Qur’anic verse in Sūrat al-Zumar (Q. 39:37): wa man yahdi’llāhu fa- mā lahu min muil lin. The second sentence (wa man yulili’ llāhu fa- lā hādiya lahu) is modi fied from four identical Qur’anic verses in Sūrat al-Ra�d (Q. 13:33), Sūrat al-Zumar (Q. 39:23 and 36) and Sūrat al-Ghāfir (Q. 40:33): wa man yulili’ llāhu fa-mā lahu min hādin.

14 See Wadād al-Qā�ī, ‘The Impact of the Qur’an on the Epistolography of Abd al-�amīd b. Ya�yā al-Kātib (d. 132/750)’ (chapter 11), pp. 341–79 in this volume.

15 These verses are cited in the ta�mīd open ings of sermons attrib uted to (1) Muhammad – see Mu�ammad Ibn Is�āq and Abd al-Malik Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al- nabaw iyya, ed. A�mad �ijāzī al-Saqqā, 4 vols. in 2 (Cairo, Dār al-Turāth al- Arabī, n.d.), vol. II, p. 318; Amr b. Ba�r al-Jā�i�, al-Bayān wa’l- tabyīn, ed. Abd al-Salām Mu�ammad Hārūn, 5th edn, 4 vols (Cairo, Maktabat al-Khānjī, 1985), vol. II, p. 31; Abū Umar A�mad b. Mu�ammad al-Andalusī Ibn Abd Rabbih, al-�Iqd al- farīd, 7 vols (Beirut, Dār I�yā� al-Turāth al- Arabī, 1999), vol. IV, pp. 52–3; Abū Bakr Mu�ammad b. al-�ayyib al-Bāqillānī, I�jāz al-Qur�ān, ed. A�mad �aqr (Cairo, Dār al-Ma ārif, 2010), p.  130; �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab, vol. I, pp. 152, 155; (2) Abū Bakr (d. 13/634) – see Ibn Abd Rabbih, al-�Iqd al- farīd, vol. IV, p. 57; (3) al-Ash ath b. Qays (d. 40/661) – see Ibn Abī’l-�adīd, Shar� Nahj al- balāgha, vol. II, p. 214; �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab, vol. I, p. 358; and (4) Yazīd b. Mu āwiya (d. 64/683) – see Ibn Abd Rabbih, al-�Iqd al- farīd, vol. IV, p. 82.

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16 Ibn Abī’l-�adīd, Shar� Nahj al- balāgha, vol. V, p.  190; �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab, vol. I, p. 359. The words ‘the earth and’, which appear in the full Qur’an verse between ‘created’ and ‘the heavens’ have been elided in this speech.

17 Ibn Abī’l-�adīd, Shar� Nahj al- balāgha, vol. V, p.  190; �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab, vol. I, p. 359.

18 Abū Ja far Mu�ammad b. Jarīr al-�abarī, Tārīkh al- rusul wa’l- mulūk, ed. Mu�ammad Abū’l-Fa�l Ibrāhīm, 10 vols (Cairo, Dār al-Ma ārif, 1960–69), vol. VI, p. 424; English trans la tion by I.K.A. Howard, The History of al-Tabari Vol. XIX: The Caliphate of Yazīd b. Mu�āwiyah, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, 40 vols (Albany, State University of New York Press, 1990), p. 123.

19 See, for example, Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Mu�ammad Abd Allāh b. Yūsuf Ibn Hishām (Shar� Shudhūr al- dhahab, comment ary by Mu�ammad Mu�yī’l-Dīn Abd al-�amīd [Beirut, al-Maktaba al- A�riyya, 1992], p.  21) citing the verse Q. 4:86 from Sūrat al-Nisā� to testify that diptote nouns take the accus at ive marker fat�a in the genit ive case.

20 See, for example, Qur’an verses in Sūrat al-�āqqa (Q. 69:4–8), Sūrat Ibrāhīm (Q. 14:9–17) and Sūrat al-�ajj (Q. 22:42–5). See the Quss sermon in Jā�i�, al-Bayān wa’l- tabyīn, vol. I, pp.  308–9. Similar ubi sunt ques tions are also present in pre-Islamic poetry; see, for example, al-Aswad b. Ya fur al-Nahshalī’s Dāliyya in al-Mufa��al b. Mu�ammad b. Ya lā al-�abbī, al-Mufaaliyyāt, ed. and tr. by Charles Lyall as The Mufaaliyyāt: An Anthology of Ancient Arabian Odes, 3 vols (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1921), vol. I, pp. 445–6.

21 See, for example, speeches by these four orators: (1) Amr b. al- Ā� (d. c. 42/663) – Abū’l-�asan Alī b. al-�usayn al-Mas ūdī, Murūj al- dhahab wa ma�ādin al- jawhar, ed. Sa īd Mu�ammad al-La��ām, 5 vols (Beirut, Dār al-Fikr, 2000), vol. III, p. 18; (2) Abū Bakr – Abū’l- Abbās Mu�ammad b. Yazīd Mubarrad, al-Ta�āzī wa’l- marāthī, ed. Khalīl al-Man�ūr (Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al- Ilmiyya, 1996), p. 130; (3) al-Ma�mūn (d. 218/833) – Ibn Abd Rabbih, al-�Iqd al- farīd, vol. II, p. 22; and (4) Umar b. Abd al- Azīz (r. 98–101/717–20) – ibid., vol. III, p. 193. The phrase is also commonly used in non- orator ical speech.

22 Jā�i�, al-Bayān wa’l- tabyīn, vol. II, p. 6.23 Is�āq b. Ibrāhīm al-Kātib, al-Burhān fī wujūh al- bayān, ed. A�mad Ma�lūb

and Khadīja al-�adīthī (Baghdad, Ma�ba at al- Ānī, 1967), p. 194.24 Richard Lanham, Analyzing Prose (New York, Charles Scribner, 1983),

pp. 122–39 and passim.25 Wā�il b. A�ā�, Khu�bat Wā�il b. �A�ā�, from a MS written in the hand of

Mu�ammad b. Yūsuf al-Lakhmī, dated 587/1191, in Abd al-Salām Hārūn, ed., Nawādir al- makh�ū�āt, Vol. I (Beirut, Dār al-Jīl, 1991), p. 148; A�mad Miftā�, Kitāb Miftā� al- afkār fī’ l- nathr al- mukhtār (Cairo, Ma�ba at Jarīdat al-Islām), 1314/1896, p. 271; �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab, vol. II, p. 502.

26 Abū Ismā īl Mu�ammad b. Abd Allāh al-Azdī al-Ba�rī, Kitāb Futū� al-Shām, ed. W.N. Lees (Calcutta, Baptist Mission Press, 1851), pp.  448–9; �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab, vol. I, p. 261.

27 Na�r b. Muzā�im al-Minqarī, Waq�at �iffīn, ed. Abd al-Salām Mu�ammad Hārūn (Cairo, Maktabat al-Khānjī, 1981), p.  10. The sermon is also cited by Abū �anīfa A�mad b. Dā�ūd al-Dīnawarī, al-Akhbār al-�iwāl, ed. I�ām Mu�ammad (Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al- Ilmiyya, 2001), pp.  219–20; and Ibn

335

Qur’an Citation in Early Arabic Oration (Khut.ba)

Abī’l-�adīd, Shar� Nahj al- balāgha, vol. III, pp. 103–4. The Qur’an refer ence is a modi fied quote from Sūrat al-Mu�minūn (Q. 23:115), Do you think we have created you without purpose, and that you will not return to us (a- fa-�asibtum annamā khalaqnākum �abathan wa- annakum ilaynā lā turja�ūn), and Sūrat al-Qiyāma (Q. 75:36), Does the human being think that he will be left without direc tion, with loosened [reins] (a- ya�sabu’l- insānu an yutraka sudan).

28 Minqarī, Waq�at �iffīn, p. 10; Dīnawarī, al-Akhbār al-�iwāl, pp. 219–20; and Ibn Abī’l-�adīd, Shar� Nahj al- balāgha, vol. III, pp. 103–4.

29 Ibn Abī’l-�adīd, Shar� Nahj al- balāgha, vol. I, pp.  346–7; �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab, vol. II, p. 295.

30 �abarī, Tārīkh, vol. VI, p.  216; �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab, vol. II, pp. 459–60.

31 �abarī, Tārīkh, vol. IV, p.  436; also in Ra�ī, Nahj al- balāgha, sermon 165, pp. 341–2, and sermon 21, p. 79; Izz al-Dīn Abū’l-�asan Alī b. Mu�ammad Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil fī’ l- tārīkh, ed. Abd Allāh al-Qā�ī, 11 vols (Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al- Ilmiyya, 1994), vol. III, p.  85; Ismā īl b. Umar Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wa’l- nihāya, 15 vols in 8 (Beirut, Maktabat al-Ma ārif, n.d.), vol. VII, p.  227; Shihāb al-Dīn Abū’l- Abbās al-Qalqashandī, �ub� al- a�shā fī �inā�at al- inshā�, ed. Abd al-Qādir Zakkār, 14 vols (Damascus, Wizārat al-Thaqāfa, 1981), vol. I, p. 258.

32 Jā�i�, al-Bayān wa’l- tabyīn, vol. II, pp.  299–300; Ibn Abd Rabbih, al-�Iqd al- farīd, vol. IV, p. 124; �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab, vol. II, p. 181. Qur’an cita tions in the oration – Sūrat al-Qa�a�, Q. 28:1–6: �ā� Sīn Mīm; those are the signs of the clear book. We narrate for you a section of the report of Moses and Pharoah, present ing the truth for people who believe. Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and divided its people into groups. One group of them he humi li ated; he would slaughter their sons and spare their women; he was one of the disbe liev ers. But it was our will to bestow our favour upon those who were humi li ated in the land, and to make them leaders, and to make them heirs; and to estab lish them in the land, and to let Pharaoh and Hāmān and their armies exper i ence through them the very thing against which they sought to protect them selves (�ā’ Sīn Mīm; tilka āyātu’l- kitābi’l- mubīn; natlū �alayka min nabā�i Mūsā wa fir�awna bi’l-�aqqi li- qawmin yu�minūn; inna fir�awna �alā fī’ l- ari wa ja�ala ahlahā shiy a�an yasta�ifu �ā�i fatan minhum yadhab bi�u abnā�ahum wa yasta�yī nisā�ahum innahu kāna min al- kāfirīn; wa nurīdu an namunna �alā’l- lad�ina’ stu�ifū fī’ l- ari wa naj�a lahum a�im matan wa naj�a lahum al- wārithīn; wa numakkina lahum fī’ l- ari wa nuriya fir�awna wa Hāmāna wa junūdahumā minhum mā kānū ya�d harūn).

33 Mas ūdī, Murūj al- dhahab, vol. III, p.  11. Qur’an cita tions in this oration – Sūrat al-Nisā�, Q. 4:59: If you quarrel about anything then refer it to God and his messen ger ( fa- in tanāz a �tum fī shay�in mina’l- amri fa- ruddūhu ilā’llāhi wa ilā’l- rasūli); Sūrat al-Nisā�, Q. 4:83: If they had referred it to the messen ger and the people in command among them, those who derive [its mean ings] would have known them (wa- law raddūhu ilā’l- rasūli wa ilā ūlī’ l- amri minhum la�alimahū’lladhina yastan bi�ū nahū minhum); Sūrat al-Anfāl, Q. 8:48: [Satan made all their doings seem good to them, and said,] ‘No one can over come you this day, for I shall protect you!’ – but when the two armies came within sight of each other, he turned on his heels and said, ‘I am not respons ible for you. I see

Tahera Qutbuddin

336

some thing that you do not see’ (lā ghāliba lakumu’l- yawma mina’l- nāsi wa- innī jārun lakum fa- lammā tarā�ati’ l- fi�atāni naka�a �alā �aqibayhi wa qāla innī barī�un minkum innī arā mā lā tarawna); and Sūrat al-An�ām, Q. 6:158: Believing will be of no avail to any soul who did not believe before, or who, while believ ing, did no good works (lā yanfa�u nafsan īmānuhā lam takun āmanat min qablu aw kasabat fī īmanihā khayran).

34 Jā�i�, al-Bayān wa’l- tabyīn, vol. II, pp. 126–9. The other Qur’an verses he cites are in Sūrat al-Kahf (Q. 18:45), Sūrat al-Najm (Q. 53:31), Sūrat Hūd (Q. 11:15–16), Sūrat al-Shu�arā� (Q. 26:128–9) and Sūrat al-Anbiyā� (Q. 21:104). This same sermon is attrib uted to Alī b. Abī �ālib in Qu�ā ī, A Treasury of Virtues, 3.1.1, pp. 66–7.

35 Ibn Abd Rabbih, al-�Iqd al- farīd, vol. IV, p.  108; Mas ūdī, Murūj al- dhahab, vol. III, p. 152; �afwat, Jamharat khu�ab al-�arab, vol. II, pp. 295–6.

36 For Alī’s sermon, see Ra�ī, Nahj al- balāgha, sermon 218, pp.  456–61. Two other sermons of a similar format are ascribed to Alī, one on Q. 24:37 (Sūrat al-Nūr): They are men who are not distrac ted by trade or commerce from worship ping God (rijālun lā tulhīhim tijāra tun wa- lā bay�un �an dhikri’llāh) (ibid., sermon 219, pp.  462–4); and another on Q. 82:6 (Sūrat al-Infi�ār): O human, what has distrac ted you from your noble Lord? (yā ayyuhā’l- insānu mā ghar raka bi- rabbika’l- karīm) (ibid., sermon 220, pp.  464–7). For al-�asan al-Ba�rī’s sermon, see Jā�i�, al-Bayān wa’l- tabyīn, vol. III, p. 69.

37 See, for example, Abū Na�r Hibat Allāh b. Mūsā al-Mu�ayyad fī’l-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, al-Majālis al-mu�ayyadiyya, 8 vols; vols 1–3 ed. �ātim �amīd al-Dīn (Oxford, World of Islam Studies, [1975–2005]), passim; vols 4–8, MSS, Tayyibi Da wat librar ies, Mumbai and Surat.

38 See, for example, Hugh Latimer, ‘The Sixth Sermon Preached before King Edward, April Twelfth, 1549: Quaecunque scripta sunt, ad nostram doctri nam scripta sunt. Rom. xv. 4. All Things That are Written, They are Written to be Our Doctrine’. Available at http://anglican his tory.org/reform a tion/latimer/sermons/edward6.html. For details of Christian expos it ory preach ing, see Otis C. Edwards Jr, A History of Preaching (Nashville, TN, Abingdon Press, 2004).

39 For texts and an intro duc tion to Fatimid khu�bas in the fourth/tenth, fifth/elev enth and sixth/twelfth centur ies in North Africa and Egypt, see Paul Walker, ed. and tr., Orations of the Fatimid Caliphs: Festival Sermons of the Ismaili Imams (London, I.B.Tauris in asso ci ation with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2009). For details of khu�bas in the sixth/twelfth through the ninth/fifteenth centur ies in al-Andalus, see Linda Jones, The Power of Oratory in the Medieval Muslim World (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987).

40 See Jā�i�, al-Bayān wa’l- tabyīn, vol. I, p. 118.41 Alā� al-Dīn Alī b. Ibrāhīm al-Dimashqī Ibn al- A��ār, Kitāb Adab al- kha�īb, ed.

Mu�ammad b. al-�usayn al-Sulaymānī (Beirut, Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 1996), pp.  127–9. He char ac ter ises the ‘pillars of the sermon’ (arkān al- khu�ba) as praise of God, bless ings on the Prophet, exhorta tions to piety and obed i ence, cita tions from the Qur’an and prayers for the believ ers.

337

Qur’an Citation in Early Arabic Oration (Khut.ba)

Appendix of Qur’anic Verses

Sūrat Yūnus (Q. 10:30)

�� �� ��� �� �� � ������� ��� �� � �� �� ������ �� �� �� ���� �!���� ��� ��� ��� �" �# � $� �� %�� &' ( ��)� �" �!*+�� �� �, �� �)�- ��.��

/� 0��1 2 � 3

p. 318

Sūrat Āl �Imrān (Q. 3:140)

�, �� �4 &�� 56�1 7� 8 �� 9 ��)� �� �� �: 9 ;� 56�1 7� �" �< �= = �> 3�0�.���?� � �)� @ �A B�� # ����� : ��� �8� �3�*+)� � �� �� �

p. 319

Sūrat al-�aff (Q. 61:9)and Sūrat al-Tawba (Q. 9:33)

�C1 �# �D �A ��� &' ( ��)� �@3�� �� EF : �# ��G �B� �, �� ��� � �����/� 0� ���1 �H �> ��)� C�1 �� �� � �� �, &� ��� �@3 &:�)�- � $

p. 320

Sūrat �ā Hā (Q. 20:4–6)

- � $� �@EI > �J�1 �)�/�- � �K ��)� �LE � E > �=�)� ' � M�� � �� �LE � E > �=�)�N�;�� �� �, ��/� EF� 2 ��)� �O�1 K ��)�

/� EF1 �4 �)� � �( ��� � ��� > �# �A B�� � �� �P��*+)�N�;

p. 320

Sūrat Yūnus (Q. 10:71)

�� �� �Q �7)� �" �R� ST �> �U� �" �< �A � $� �" ���1 ����� �@ �< 3�*+� �" �R�/� 0��1 �D ���*+�� �N ��.�

p. 321

Sūrat al-A�rāf (Q. 7:196)

-��� 2 3� � �! �� V� 2 �< ��)� W�X ��Y�Z ��)� �, �� �)� NI &A �� �� �0�.��/� @A �(��� �[�)

p. 321

Sūrat Hūd (Q. 11:61) �C�1 �A U� �,EI ��.�� �@ &�� �" �< ��� �� , �� �)���� �: �� �$)��8 �� 9 E3�

� #A �;� �" ��1 > �K 2 ��) �� �P��*+)� @ &�� �" ���� H���� � �!�5\A �] ��� 5\3�1 7�N&B� �0�.�� �, �A ��.���� �� �B� ��� �" �R� �C��1 � �̂ 2 ��G ;�

/

p. 323

Tahera Qutbuddin

338

Sūrat al-�alāq (Q. 65:5)

�, �� �" �D �K �3 �� �, ��� _ &A �� �, � $� �1 & < �3� , �� �)� �' �2 3�@ ��/�S�1 �̀ ��

p. 325

Sūrat al-Mā�ida (Q. 5:100)

0�� �( �� � ��� �" �< �� K �� �V� � ���*+��N��a��� 3� , � ����� �9 ���� p. 325

Sūrat al-Zalzala (Q. 99:7–8)

S�1 �A M��b� c� W� 9 �4 ��� �� > �K 3�@ > ;��/��C1 3�S�d1 e��b� c� W� 9 �4 ��� �� > I �K 3�@ � ��/��C1 3

p. 325

Sūrat al-�Ankabūt (Q. 29:64)

��� ��� �� �� �� �0� � A ( ��)� N �# �� b1 �M�*+)� � �: �)� �0�.� ��/� 0� �> � �K 3

p. 326

Sūrat al-�āffāt (Q. 37:171–3)

/� @A �� ��1 �> ��)�� � ��� � �K ���� �2 > �� �� �� 9 � �� �: 9 � ���" �# ��� � : �̀ � �0�.� ��/� 0��� �[ > ��)� �" �# �� �" �# ���.��

/� 0� �� ��� ̂ ��)

p. 326

Sūrat al-Tawba (Q. 9:84)

�" �9 ��*+��S�: B��� L� ���" �# � &�� �: J��� E- � $� &� [���*+����� ��� � �� �, ��� �� �� �, �� �G �B�����1 �� �" �# ���.�� �C�1 �� 7� E- � $�

/� 0� �9 ��� ;� �" �! �

p. 327

Sūrat al-Anfāl (Q. 8:26)

�P��*+)�N�;� 0� � K �Q 2 �= ��� 5�A �� 7� �" �2 ���� �c�.���� ���1 ���c) ��" ��: �3�� �� �" ��� ��� ;� �?� � �)� �" �< �f g 2 3�0��� 0� �;� g ��

�" �< �� K �� �L� � &A �f�)� @ &�� �" �< 7h ���C�1 �[ �B��/� 0��1 �< �H �

p. 328

Sūrat al-Qa�a� (Q. 28:58)

d *+.��"! �: �K B� �@ ��� �@ < �= ���"�� �"# � ��= �� � �� �2 ;�/�@AR����� �@(��� d ����SijA �7

pp. 329–30

339

Qur’an Citation in Early Arabic Oration (Khut.ba)

Sūrat al-Taghābun (Q. 64:16)

�" �2 �K f 2 ��)�� �� , �� �)���� �9 ��) p. 330

Sūrat al-Takāthur (Q. 102:1–2)

/�1 �B� 9 > ��)� �" ��� �h� E- �2 J�/��1 �R� �< �2 �)� �" ��� # ���� p. 330

Sūrat al-Zumar (Q. 39:37)

k� �Q ���@ ��� �, ��� > ;� �, �� �)� �: �# 3�@ � � p. 333, n. 13

Sūrat al-Ra�d (Q. 13:33)Sūrat al-Zumar (Q. 39:23, 36)Sūrat al-Ghāfir (Q. 40:33)

��� !� �@ ��� �, ��� > ;� �, �� �)�� �� �Q �3� �@ �� p. 333, n. 13

Sūrat al-Mu�minūn (Q. 23:115)

� �A ��.�� �" �<���� ��S� 4 � $� �" ��� �9 � M�� > ����� �" �2 �� �= ( ;���/� 0� �K ̀ �1 ���*+

p. 333, n. 27

Sūrat al-Qiyāma (Q. 75:36)

FS: ��� l1 �2 �3�0��� �0� =� �.* �+�� �\ = �( 3�� p. 333, n. 27

Sūrat al-Nisā� (Q. 4:59)

�W� ���1 �) �� �, �� �)�- ��.�� �C� ���1 ;� �m �N e�N�;� �" �2 �$h� ��0�.� ; p. 335

Sūrat al-Nisā� (Q. 4:83)

�" �# � ����1 ���*+)�N�� ��a�� E- ��.� �� �W� ���1 �)�- ��.�� �C� ��� �� � ���" �# � ��� �, �� �f �� � 2 �= 3� @3 �Z ��)� �, > �� K �

p. 335, n. 33

Tahera Qutbuddin

340

Sūrat al-Anfāl (Q. 8:48)

5� ̀ �N&��.� �� �?� � �)� @ ��� 8 �� A ��)� �" �< �� \��� U�*+��, �A � �9 $� E- � $� n < �� �0� 2 _ � ��)� �Lm��1 ��� �> � ;� �" �<����

0 ��1 ��*+�� �� EF��� �N ���.�� �" �< � &��5m �Y�1 B�N&��.�� W� 7 �

pp. 335–6, n. 33

Sūrat al-An�ām (Q. 6:158)

@ ��� �� ��m� �@ �< �� �" ��� # � E > 3�.��S�= � �� �o 3�*+�S�1 �A M�� # � E > 3�.�� �N �;� �� � = �� ����� �� �� 7

p. 336, n. 33

Sūrat al-Nūr (Q. 24:37)

�, �� �)��1 ���c�@ $� 5o �A B�*+��5b� ]��� �" �#A �# �� ����*+� 5W� ̀ � p. 336, n. 36

Sūrat al-Infi�ār (Q. 82:6)

/��"3�1 < ��)� �&B1 �B� l�1 U�� �� �@ E =� �.*+)�� # �3�� E3 p. 336, n. 36