The Persian who recognised his Lord in Arabic Grammar

إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لَآيَاتٍ لِّأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding. [ʾĀl-ʿImrān: 190]

I have stated before that Muslim intellectuals should endeavour to recognise the Creator in whatever field they study. This is the purpose of knowledge. Serving humanity and using one’s degree to acquire wealth to distribute as charity is certainly good. However, it is not the primary purpose of knowledge. The purpose of knowledge is to recognise your Creator.

The most proper Noun

Arabic grammarians discussed the division of nouns in terms of common and proper nouns. It was agreed that هم – hum – they – is the most common noun. Its application is so vast and general it can encompass so many, it is really the least specific of all nouns. Hum is indeed a most nebulous creature.

Technically speaking hum may not be used until a reference is given of who is being referred to. I imagine the Arabic grammarians of days past would be amazed at how nebulous the English “they” has become, way beyond what they considered for hum. Consider how many conversations mention an all-encompassing “they” without once referencing a solid identity. “They should pass a law to…” Who is this they? Why do you not say “parliament”? “They should add this into the syllabus” “They should build a road.” “They should do something about all this crime” They, they they…..etc.

On the other end of the scale انا – ana – I – was defined as the most specific proper noun. It refers to the most specified individual about whom there is no sharing of identity. I am myself, I am nobody else.

Seybawayh was a Persian. He was born in Hamadan, Persia. He did not know Arabic and had to learn it. Yet he became one of its greatest masters. In response to the above discussion, he disagreed that ana is the most specific proper noun. For to each person ana is him or herself. Out of a million people each is an ana, thus there are a million ana. What then is the most specific and proper of nouns? Seybwayh made a declaration which is so deep in import, I cannot fully convey what little I understand from this mental titan. He averred, “Allāh is the most proper of nouns!” For Allāh is One, Absolute. There is no sharing whatsoever in the identity of Allāh, which is possible in “I” or “me”.

This single sentence so profoundly affected me, I wept more in thinking over it than over lengthy spiritual discourses.

Some Food for Thought

• Consider how a non-native speaker mastered Arabic and was then studied for centuries. The early Muslims would not have accomplished much had they had the racism – open and hidden – which contemporary Muslims suffer from.
• Every field is a means of recognising Allāh, even grammar.
• “Allah is the most proper of nouns” reflects pure monotheism. By believing and living a life of Monotheism, it is but natural that what filled the inner being of Seybwayh would flow from his pen.
• Seybawayh did not arrive at this conclusion solely due to his own mental acumen. Such brilliant insights are the fruits of a civilization built by Muḥammad صلى الله عليه وسلم who initiated not just a revolution in deeds, which has become our sole focus, but a revolution in the mental outlook of humanity. It was such a revolution, that a descendant of a people who married their biological mothers before Islam, now had such a mind coloured with Islamic thought, by which he recognised his Creator in another people’s grammar. Is there any other culture which had such a constant love relationship with Allah, that for them there was recognition of Allah, not just in places of worship, but in their engineering, their navigation, their architecture, their astronomy, their chemistry….their grammar?

Salutations and peace be on he who built such a civilisation.
سليمان الكندي
Twitter: @sulayman_Kindi