The Linguists on This Verse
The scholars of the Arabic language51 mentioned this verse and explained it. In Lisanu l-'Arab52, for example, this is summarized as follows:
﴿ورجلاً سَلَماً لرجل﴾: وقُرئ ﴿ورجلاً سالِماً لرجل﴾ ... والمعنى أَنّ مَن وحَّدَ اللَّه مَثَلُه مَثَلُ السالم لرجلٍ لا يَشْرَكُه فيه غيرُه ومَثَلُ الذي أَشرَك اللَّهَ مَثَلُ صاحبِ الشُّرَكاءِ المتشاكسِينَ.
...and a man who belongs exclusively to a single master (wa-rajulan salaman li-rajul). It has also been read as53: (wa-rajulan saliman li-rajul) …
This means: The one who affirms the oneness of Allah is like someone who belongs exclusively to a single master. This owner has no partner.
And the one who associates partners with Allah54 is like someone who belongs to several quarrelsome masters.
Ibnu Mandhur is considered one of the most well-known linguists in Islamic history due to his comprehensive dictionary of the Arabic language. However, he lived relatively late and thus belonged to the later authors, known as the muta'akhirin. Since he is familiar to most people, he has been mentioned here, but this should not be understood to mean that the creed followed by Ibnu Mandhur fully aligned in every respect with the authentic teachings of the early generations.
Nevertheless, this very aspect reveals an interesting fact: the statement of Ibnu Mandhur shows that the original linguistic meaning of the word Islam was still considered quite self-evident even for the later linguists.
Even though this understanding was still generally present at the time, numerous false concepts had already crept into the beliefs of people in the Islamic world over many centuries. The fact that the primary linguistic meaning of the word Islam was still generally conveyed in this way reinforces its original meaning.
It is entirely clear that Ibnu Mandhur did not invent anything new on his own but merely conveyed the content of the narrated Arabic language. Therefore, if he mentioned this meaning, it can undoubtedly also be found in earlier dictionaries. For the sake of brevity, however, the statement of Ibnu Mandhur will suffice here, along with the previously compiled explanations from various dictionaries regarding the relevant words and roots.
Notes
- Refer to the early Arabic dictionaries from the first centuries under the root s-l-m: Tahdhibu l-Lughah. A similar text to the one cited below can be found there. ↩
- Under the root s-l-m. Lisanu l-'Arab is perhaps the most well-known classical dictionary of the Arabic language. The North African author Ibnu Mandhur (630–711 AH / 1232–1311 CE) attempted to compile all the important dictionaries that preceded him in this book. ↩
- There are different readings of this verse. These various readings of the Qur'an (al-qira'at) are not different versions of the Qur'an, as might mistakenly be assumed. Some people intentionally present it this way in an attempt to cast doubt on the authenticity of the Qur'an. However, as already mentioned, serious historians are fully aware that such attempts are meaningless. The fact that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم recited certain passages of the Qur'an in different ways and permitted this practice is explicitly mentioned in numerous narrations. These various hadiths are so numerous that they undoubtedly constitute completely authentic narrations (also referred to as tawatur ma'nawi). In most cases, the different readings differ in terms of vowel markings. The meaning usually remains the same or very similar. When there are different meanings in the authentic readings, the verse encompasses all the meanings of these readings. This verse serves as a good example to illustrate this concept. The widely known seven mutawatir readings became associated with the following individuals: Nafi', Ibnu Kathir, Abu 'Amr, Ibnu 'Amir, 'Asim, Hamzah, and al-Kisa'i. The most common reading is that of 'Asim, which is also consistently used as the basis in this book. The individuals mentioned are by no means the originators of these readings, nor the founders of schools. Nor are they individuals who narrated these readings through a single chain of narration. Rather, these readings were well known among the scholars and, depending on the region, also among the general population. However, because the other scholars of that time agreed that these individuals recited correctly, the readings spread under the names of these scholars as a means of identification. In our example, aside from the reading “salaman”, there is also “saliman.” This reading was narrated by Ibnu Kathir and Abu 'Amr. From the previous explanations of these words, it is clear that both of these readings carry the same meaning. ↩
- In the Arabic text, at-Tabari here uses the word ashraka. ↩