In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects words, sentences, phrases, or clauses. [1]
Coordinating conjunctions, also called coordinators, are conjunctions
that join, or coordinate, two or more items (such as words, main
clauses, or sentences) of equal syntactic importance. [2] In English, "And" is one of the most widely used coordinators, which is used to connect non-contrasting items or ideas. [3]
The closet coordinator to "And" in the Arabic language is "wāw" (و),
and that is why the Quran translators almost always use "and" when
translating wāw from Arabic to English. There are however differences in
the usage of wāw in Arabic and "and" in English that could result into
misinterpretation of some verses. In this article, we explain one of the
usages of wāw and show that how it offers a different interpretation of
some verses that are typically assumed to imply Hadith as a pillar of
Islam.
1. Coordination of specific on general
In English (and many other languages) using "and" implies two separates entities. In Arabic however wāw also have many other usages. One particular usage of wāw that we discuss here is to fist mention something general followed by the wāw coordinator and then something specific that was already included in the general term. [4] In Arabic this is called coordination of specific on general [5]
An example of this usage of wāw is the following verse:
[Recall] when We took a pledge from the prophets, and from you and from Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus son of Mary, and We took from them a solemn pledge, (33:7)
in which Noah, Moses, etc. are obviously specific examples of the prophets, which are coordinated by wāw (translated as "and") from the general notion of prophets. There are other cases where detecting this usage of wāw needs more attention:
"whosover is an enemy of God and His angels and His message-bearers, including Gabriel and Michael, [should know that,] verily, God is the enemy of all who deny the truth." (2:98)
Here Gabriel and Michael are obviously specific examples of the angels and that is why in Arabic they are coordinated with wāw--and the translator has added the term "including" to emphasis on that. It is not hard to see that the other usages of wāw in this verse are also coordinating specific cases of "being an enemy of the God" as it would not make sense to be an enemy of the God but befriend his angels and his messengers! In fact the verse conveys the fact that being an enemy to the Gabriel and what is being revealed through Gabriel is indeed the same as being an enemy of the God himself, and these two notions are not separate from one another. The evidence that supports this understanding is the verse before in which "being enemy of Gabriel" is the expression that is used to refer to the deniers of the revelation:
SAY [O Prophet]: "Whosoever is an enemy of Gabriel" -who,, verily, by God's leave, has brought down upon thy heart this [divine writ] which confirms the truth of whatever there still remains [of earlier revelations], and is a guidance and a glad tiding for the believers-: (2:97)
This ambiguity in the usage of wāw could sometimes lead to different interpretations. For example in this verse:
Those who have attained to faith and do righteous deeds incur no sin by partaking of whatever they may, so long as they are conscious of God and [truly] believe and do righteous deeds, and continue to be conscious of God and to believe, and grow ever more conscious of God, and persevere in doing good: for God loves the doers of good. (5:93)
Some scholars [4] interpret "doing righteous" as a specific example of "being conscious of the God", as one would do righteous if she is conscious of the God, which depends on how one understands the principle notion of "being conscious of the God".
Here we review some other cases of wāw in Quran and show that in reading those if we consider wāw as coordinator between an example and its general form, then we would reach an interpretation different from that of the mainstream's.
2. Obeying the God wāw the Prophet
There are examples in Quran in which two imperative sentences are separated by wāw while the latter sentence is a direct consequence of the former and cannot be viewed as two separate entities. For example in this verse:
And, indeed, even before [the return of Moses] had Aaron said unto them: "O my people! You are but being tempted to evil by this [idol] -for, behold, your [only] Sustainer is the Most Gracious! Follow me, then, and obey my bidding!" (20:90)
The imperative sentence "follow me" and "obey my bidding" are coordinated with wāw in Arabic, and it is not hard to see that "obeying" is a more specific case of "following" as it would not make sense to follow Moses and yet not obeying his bidding. In this view, the interpretation would be that Moses telling them if they are truly following him then they should obey his bidding as well. In fact this particular translator was aware of this point and has added the term "then" to emphasis on that.
In the following verse also the two imperative sentences of "be wary of the God" and "obey me" are coordinated by wāw.
So be wary of Allah and obey me. (26:108)
But it does not make sense to view them as two separate entities as one cannot be wary the God and yet disobey Noah. In fact Noah is telling the people surrounding him that if they are wary of the God then they should obey him too. Similarly, we can see the same pattern in the following verse:
Say, ‘Obey Allah and the Apostle.’ But if they turn away, indeed Allah does not like the faithless. (3:32)
where the prophet is telling the people surrounding him to obey the God and to obey him and coordinates these two with wāw. Here also the prophet implies that obeying him is as obeying the God and thus names obeying him as a specific implementation of obeying the God. This interpretation is consistent with other verses in Quran:
Whoever obeys the Apostle certainly obeys Allah; and as for those who turn their backs [on you]; We have not sent you to keep watch over them. (4:80)
in which obeying the prophet is explicitly named the same as obeying the God, as they are not two separate entities.
Many mainstream translations of this verse however translate wāw simply as "and" in English in which this subtle point is lost and the readers are led to interpret the "obeying the God" and "obeying the prophet" as two separate entities, which does not make much sense. The mainstream interpretations justify this separation by interpreting "obeying the God" as obeying the commands of the God in Quran and "obeying the prophet" as obeying the commands of the prophet covered in Hadith. Using this interpretation many argue that even though Quran does not directly talk about Hadith as a pillar of Islam, it still indirectly refers to it since using Hadith is the only sensible interpretation of obeying the prophet for us how are living in many centuries after. This interpretation is however quite remote and as we showed above it makes more sense to not see these two as two separate entities and in that case there is no need for such remote interpretations to justify the separation.
Appendix:
Refer to this article for more discussion on whether Quran implies Hadith or not.
For further discussion about the scope of commands in Quran refer to the scope article.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_(grammar)
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_(grammar)#Coordinating_conjunctions
[3] http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/and
[4] http://articles.islamweb.net/media/index.php?page=article&id=193981
[5] عطف الخاص على العام
1. Coordination of specific on general
In English (and many other languages) using "and" implies two separates entities. In Arabic however wāw also have many other usages. One particular usage of wāw that we discuss here is to fist mention something general followed by the wāw coordinator and then something specific that was already included in the general term. [4] In Arabic this is called coordination of specific on general [5]
An example of this usage of wāw is the following verse:
[Recall] when We took a pledge from the prophets, and from you and from Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus son of Mary, and We took from them a solemn pledge, (33:7)
in which Noah, Moses, etc. are obviously specific examples of the prophets, which are coordinated by wāw (translated as "and") from the general notion of prophets. There are other cases where detecting this usage of wāw needs more attention:
"whosover is an enemy of God and His angels and His message-bearers, including Gabriel and Michael, [should know that,] verily, God is the enemy of all who deny the truth." (2:98)
Here Gabriel and Michael are obviously specific examples of the angels and that is why in Arabic they are coordinated with wāw--and the translator has added the term "including" to emphasis on that. It is not hard to see that the other usages of wāw in this verse are also coordinating specific cases of "being an enemy of the God" as it would not make sense to be an enemy of the God but befriend his angels and his messengers! In fact the verse conveys the fact that being an enemy to the Gabriel and what is being revealed through Gabriel is indeed the same as being an enemy of the God himself, and these two notions are not separate from one another. The evidence that supports this understanding is the verse before in which "being enemy of Gabriel" is the expression that is used to refer to the deniers of the revelation:
SAY [O Prophet]: "Whosoever is an enemy of Gabriel" -who,, verily, by God's leave, has brought down upon thy heart this [divine writ] which confirms the truth of whatever there still remains [of earlier revelations], and is a guidance and a glad tiding for the believers-: (2:97)
This ambiguity in the usage of wāw could sometimes lead to different interpretations. For example in this verse:
Those who have attained to faith and do righteous deeds incur no sin by partaking of whatever they may, so long as they are conscious of God and [truly] believe and do righteous deeds, and continue to be conscious of God and to believe, and grow ever more conscious of God, and persevere in doing good: for God loves the doers of good. (5:93)
Some scholars [4] interpret "doing righteous" as a specific example of "being conscious of the God", as one would do righteous if she is conscious of the God, which depends on how one understands the principle notion of "being conscious of the God".
Here we review some other cases of wāw in Quran and show that in reading those if we consider wāw as coordinator between an example and its general form, then we would reach an interpretation different from that of the mainstream's.
2. Obeying the God wāw the Prophet
There are examples in Quran in which two imperative sentences are separated by wāw while the latter sentence is a direct consequence of the former and cannot be viewed as two separate entities. For example in this verse:
And, indeed, even before [the return of Moses] had Aaron said unto them: "O my people! You are but being tempted to evil by this [idol] -for, behold, your [only] Sustainer is the Most Gracious! Follow me, then, and obey my bidding!" (20:90)
The imperative sentence "follow me" and "obey my bidding" are coordinated with wāw in Arabic, and it is not hard to see that "obeying" is a more specific case of "following" as it would not make sense to follow Moses and yet not obeying his bidding. In this view, the interpretation would be that Moses telling them if they are truly following him then they should obey his bidding as well. In fact this particular translator was aware of this point and has added the term "then" to emphasis on that.
In the following verse also the two imperative sentences of "be wary of the God" and "obey me" are coordinated by wāw.
So be wary of Allah and obey me. (26:108)
But it does not make sense to view them as two separate entities as one cannot be wary the God and yet disobey Noah. In fact Noah is telling the people surrounding him that if they are wary of the God then they should obey him too. Similarly, we can see the same pattern in the following verse:
Say, ‘Obey Allah and the Apostle.’ But if they turn away, indeed Allah does not like the faithless. (3:32)
where the prophet is telling the people surrounding him to obey the God and to obey him and coordinates these two with wāw. Here also the prophet implies that obeying him is as obeying the God and thus names obeying him as a specific implementation of obeying the God. This interpretation is consistent with other verses in Quran:
Whoever obeys the Apostle certainly obeys Allah; and as for those who turn their backs [on you]; We have not sent you to keep watch over them. (4:80)
in which obeying the prophet is explicitly named the same as obeying the God, as they are not two separate entities.
Many mainstream translations of this verse however translate wāw simply as "and" in English in which this subtle point is lost and the readers are led to interpret the "obeying the God" and "obeying the prophet" as two separate entities, which does not make much sense. The mainstream interpretations justify this separation by interpreting "obeying the God" as obeying the commands of the God in Quran and "obeying the prophet" as obeying the commands of the prophet covered in Hadith. Using this interpretation many argue that even though Quran does not directly talk about Hadith as a pillar of Islam, it still indirectly refers to it since using Hadith is the only sensible interpretation of obeying the prophet for us how are living in many centuries after. This interpretation is however quite remote and as we showed above it makes more sense to not see these two as two separate entities and in that case there is no need for such remote interpretations to justify the separation.
Appendix:
Refer to this article for more discussion on whether Quran implies Hadith or not.
For further discussion about the scope of commands in Quran refer to the scope article.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_(grammar)
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_(grammar)#Coordinating_conjunctions
[3] http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/and
[4] http://articles.islamweb.net/media/index.php?page=article&id=193981
[5] عطف الخاص على العام
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