Saj'

Sadsch ʿ (Arabic سجع, DMG saǧ ʿ ) is a form of the Arabic rhymed prose, which is primarily used in the Quran use. The seal has the use of rhyme together, but it is not subject to the strict criteria of the meter. Already at the beginning of the 9th century the rhymed prose was a popular literary style in the drafting of letters, sermons ( chutba ), speeches and in the prefaces of literary works. Characteristic is also the style of medieval adab literature and the maqama. It was also popular in the Persian and Ottoman literature.

In the post-classical and modern Arabic literature, the rhymed prose is rare. One last important example of the literary style is primarily the band verses of the 19th century.

Sadsch ʿ in the Quran

Especially, the resulting in the Meccan period of Muhammad Koran text with its short verses characterized by this form of speech. But overall, all acids and fragments of suras in rhymed prose are drawn up. The sound effect of the Qur'anic rhymed prose illustrates the Qur'an translation by Friedrich Rückert. Sura 90, verses 1-16 are:

"Shall I swear by this city? At the sower and his seed! We created man to hard fact. Does he think that no one violence has on him? He will say: Oh, how much good I trod! Does he think that no one has seen him? Who has it prepares the eyes? And the lips widened him? And at the crossroads guided him. But he did not climb the high edge. You know what is the high edge? To solve the prisoners' band; To dine when the famine in the land, the wise, the anverwandt you, the poor, the unknown to you. "

The verses of Sura 96, which are understood in the Islamic tradition as the framework for the first experience of revelation of Muhammad, read in the translation of the Orientalists Hubert Grimme as follows:

" Recite in the name of men, you created from the bloody seeds! Recite! He is the Esteemed, The taught by the pen, what still heard no human ear. But man is stubborn type, Non heeding that he respected him. But once the ride leads to God. "

According to the latest findings of research Koran, the Koran text takes a " middle position between poetry and prose " one, as the suras are understood both as Versreihen, on the other hand, as a set of rows.

The German orientalist Theodor Nöldeke In his still seminal study to language of the Koran. I. The Koran and the ' Arabiya represented the stylistic peculiarities of the Qur'anic oratory using numerous examples and argue that Muhammad's handling of the Sadsch ʿ in many respects has faults and often do not reach the level of contemporary or early Islamic poets. The often observed repetition of rhyme words, the final sentences of the verses were therefore " often just to fill the Reims or at least to a certain rounding ". And: " Des, if ever so imperfect rhyme because the speech had much forced to be done [ ... ]. Muhammed has certainly meditating a lot about the content of his revelation, before he gave it to light, but little about their shape. "

Mohammed was by his opponents often referred to as "the poet " because you felt the linguistic form of the Koran as a poetic form. In contrast to poetry but to change in rhymed prose rhyme often; this is also observed in the Koran. Most rhymes in the language of the Qur'an go to a closed syllable with a long vowel (- ūn, īn, -ad, - ār etc). In the Koran exegesis the Koranic language is not considered poetry and only sporadically as a rhetorical rhymed prose; Rather, we speak of separation units of the verses that correspond to the function of the rhymes in general as well.

Stylistic devices of rhetoric

In the literature außenkoranischen Saǧ ʿ has become the " characteristic form of all eloquence " and was regarded as "a kind of poetic expression ." In Islam rhymed prose is used in healing spells and even the Prophet Muhammad ascribed protection prayers. The latter also found in the canonical collections of hadith input. How can one speak Mohammed:

" Allahumma inni a ʿ Udu bik min ʿ ILmin lā ʿ yanfa wa - min qalbin lā ʿ yaḫša wa - ʿ lā ainin tadma ʿ "

"Lord God, I seek refuge with you prior knowledge which does not benefit before ( the ) heart that is not humble in mind ( the ) shed no tears "

At the same time the religious doctrine warns against talking intercessions in Saǧ ʿ because its origins lie in pagan antiquity.

The different Verwünschungsformen of enemies and political rivals has also argued in rhymed prose. The famous al - Muhtar ibn Abī ʿ Ubayd at- Ṯaqafī, the leader of the revolt of the Aliden 685-687, Lord of Kufa often spoke in rhymed prose; dreaded his sayings have been preserved, especially in at- Tabari and al - Baladhuri. The directed against his enemy Asmaa ʾ ibn Ḫāriǧa curse he formulated with powerful words, as an example of the ʿ Arab Saǧ in profane literature read as follows:

" La tanzilanna nārun mina -sama ʾ s tasūquhā rīḥun ḥālikatun Dahma ʾ Hatta taḥriqa Dara Asmaa wa ʾ ʾ al Asmaa "

"Verily, fire will come down from heaven accompanied by pitch-black, dark wind until it burns the house of Asmaa ʾ and his family. "

Characteristic of this form of language is that it is not subject to the strict rules of the metric, but as prose, here as a curse, impressed by the rhymes that are caused by the omission of the grammatical endings in final position of the last word at the end of lines. As Asmaa ʾ learned from this curse, he said: " There is none remaining, when the lion has roared. " Then he left his residence Kufa and migrated to Syria.

It should be noted that rhyme prose - was already in pre-Islamic times as an expression of religious testimony - as well as the poetic form of the Raǧaz. This language forms one has, however, already condemned in the Umayyad period as the (primitive ) language of the Bedouins; For in one, recorded by al - Baladhuri episode leaves you the dreaded in Iraq governor Al- Hajjaj ibn Yusuf († 714 ) over a in this style - here raǧaz - say speaking Arabs: " I heard al - Ḥaǧǧāg when he on the Minbar spoke of Wasit as follows: damn, this slave of B. Hudhail! By God, he has read not a word of what God had revealed to Mohammed. What he says is nothing more than Raǧaz of the Bedouins. By God, I would have caught him, I would have drenched the earth with his blood " The Iraqis he insulted with words that end with the rhyme -AQ from the word Irāq. :

" Yā ahla ʾ l - Irāq wa - ahl - aš šiqāq wa - ahl at - nifāq wa - l - ʾ ʾ masāwi aḫlāq "

" Iraqi citizens People of Zweitracht People of hypocrisy and the vile character species. "