On the Arabic language
'It is also a language the centrality of which to a whole culture is matchless in that (as Jaroslav Stetkevych, author of the best modern book on the language itself has put it), "Venus-like, it was born in a perfect state of beauty, and it has preserved that beauty in spite of all the hazards of history and all the corrosive forces of time". To the Western student "Arabic suggests an idea of almost mathematical abstraction. The perfect system of the three radical consonants, the derived verb forms with their basic meanings, the precise formation of the verbal noun, of the participles -- everything is clarity, logic, system, and abstraction. The language is like a mathematical formula." But it is also a beautiful object to look at in its written form; hence the enduring centrality of calligraphy in Arabic, which is a combinatorial art of the highest complexity, ever closer to ornament and arabesque than to discursive explicitation.'
Thus Edward Said (1935 - 2003) has described the Arabic language in its classical (and modern standard) form (to be differentiated from the many colloquial dialects to be found around the Arab world). Read the full article, Living in Arabic, here. Even with my limited skills in the language, I can appreciate what Said says. The nature of Arabic is such that even when Osama bin Laden delivers his premonitions to the "infidels" and "crusaders", I cannot help but be awed at the eloquence and beauty of his words.
In the same article, Edward Said says that 'Arabic is Islam and Islam Arabic at some very profound level.' Many might disagree, but the centrality of Arabic to the Islamic tradition and history can hardly be overemphasized. The "primary texts" of Islam - the Quran and the narrations of and about the Prophet Muhammad - can only be completely understood and interpreted in their original Arabic; translations are considered only approximate and unable to convey the meaning perfectly. All of the early literature in Islamic law, philosophy and history is in Arabic and no one is tradtionally considered a scholar of Islam if he or she does not have the command of the classical Arabic language. The language and the religion are inextricably tied, and the spread of one has always inevitably lead to the understanding and acknowledgement of the other.
Today, the majority of the people of the world who consider themselves Arabs do so not because of a genealogical link to the original inhabitants of the Arabian peninsula but because of their common linguistic heritage post Islamic expansion in their lands. Thus Egyptians, Bedouins, North Africans, Syrians and Arabicized black Africans are all ethnic Arabs despite their different ancestries and vast cultural differences. The Arabic language primarily (along with the common Islamic heritage) is the raison d'etre of the 22-member Arab League, which defined an Arab as 'a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic speaking country, who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic speaking peoples.'
This diversity among the Arabs might be one of the reasons why the Arab countries, since the establishment of the nation-state world order in the wake of the demise of the supra-state of the Islamic caliphate, have largely failed in efforts towards greater political integration and strategic co-operation. Nevertheless, the common Arabic language bond has persisted, and with Arabic television channels beaming via satellite to homes from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Indian Ocean, this bond can only grow stronger. No wonder then that both the seductive, hazel-eyed and fair-skinned television announcer in liberal Lebanon and the dark-complexioned, traditionally-robed newsreader in ultra conservative Saudi Arabia begin their broadcasts by extending greetings to Al-Watan El-Arabi - the Arab Homeland.
5 comments:
There is a massive technical literature about bilingualism, but what I've seen of it simply cannot deal with the aspect of actually living in, as opposed to knowing, two languages from two different worlds and two different linguistic families.
This is a deep insight from Said.
I'd actually extend it in the case of children of (Muslim) immigrants (and perhaps others) to say that we've always grown up on the margins of two worlds, and so have never really been been able to "live in" either language. Despite knowing in many cases two (or more) languages, we've never really been even unilingual in terms of cultural literacy.
(This phenomenon, I think, is somewhat more pronounced in North America than it is in other parts of the Muslim diaspora.)
I think part of this can be attributed to the Muslim discourse in the West which has tended to portray religion as only genuine if it is beyond culture, because cultural specificity compromises ummatic "unity".
These are just jumbled thoughts, but there are other reasons too, I think. For us, eloquence has no longer become what Vico describes as "wisdom speaking", but rather angry desk-pounding with a few Qur'anic verses (preferably quoted in Arabic) thrown in to establish the speaker's "Islamic leader" credentials. Unfortunately, that seems to pass quite well for eloquence today. And so, there's a lack of appreciation for knowledge/wisdom and anything of substance. Most of us are content to take our Islamic knowledge (and, of course, there really is no other kind of knowledge worthy of the name) from conferences designed to motivate/inspire, rather than think/explore/understand.
So, who's going to ISNA?
I wonder if it wouldn't be incorrect to think that I have, to an extent, 'lived' in one language without knowing it, and known two others without living in them.
In one sense, the phenomenon of religion beyond culture is of course widespread among Muslims, but in another, there is a clear culture attached to this kind of religous practice. The effort to emulate literally the example of the Prophet is a culture of its own, albeit a rather plain and colourless one, lacking largely in any kind of art or literature, including appreciation of the same. I think what you say in your final point about eloquence is a manifestation of this.
However, believe it or not, Osama bin Laden comes about as close to eloquent as you can get - his use of metaphors and analogies, and idioms and exhortations and admonishments, makes listening to or reading his words a pleasant exercise.
He's not the angry desk-pounding type, and in his address to the American people aired on Al-Jazeera in November 2004, there was not a single verse from the Quran that he cited. Here's how he ends:
Finally, it behoves you to reflect on the last wills and testaments of the thousands who left you on the 11th as they gestured in despair. They are important testaments, which should be studied and researched.
Among the most important of what I read in them was some prose in their gestures before the collapse, where they say: "How mistaken we were to have allowed the White House to implement its aggressive foreign policies against the weak without supervision."
It is as if they were telling you, the people of America: "Hold to account those who have caused us to be killed, and happy is he who learns from others' mistakes."
And among that which I read in their gestures is a verse of poetry. "Injustice chases its people, and how unhealthy the bed of tyranny."
As has been said: "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure."
And know that: "It is better to return to the truth than persist in error." And that the wise man doesn't squander his security, wealth and children for the sake of the liar in the White House.
In conclusion, I tell you in truth, that your security is not in the hands of Kerry, nor Bush, nor al-Qaida. No.
Your security is in your own hands. And every state that doesn't play with our security has automatically guaranteed its own security.
And Allah is our Guardian and Helper, while you have no Guardian or Helper. All peace be upon he who follows the Guidance.
And all this expressed so compactly in Arabic:
وأخيرا يحسن أن تتدبروا وصايا الألوف الذين فارقوكم يوم الـ11 وهم يلوحون في يأس، وهي وصايا ملهمة ينبغي أن تخرج في بحوث ودراسات، وإن من أهم ما أقرأه نثرا في تبريحات قبل السقوط قولهم: كنا مخطئين عندما تركنا البيت الأبيض يفرض سياساته الخارجية على المستضعفين بلا رقيب، وأنهم كانوا يقولون لكم: أيها الشعب الأميركي حاسبوا الذين تسببوا في قتلنا، والسعيد من وعظ بغيره. ومما أقرأه شعرا في تلويحاتهم أيضا:
البغي يصرع أهله والظلم مرتعه وخيم
وقد قيل "درهم وقاية خير من قنطار علاج". واعلموا أن الرجوع إلى الحق خير من التمادي في الباطل، وأن العاقل لا يفرط بأمنه وماله وبيته من أجل كذاب البيت الأبيض.
وفي الختام أقول لكم وأصدقكم القول إن أمنكم ليس بيد كيري أو بوش أو القاعدة، إن أمنكم هو في أيديكم وإن كل ولاية لا تعبث بأمننا فهي تلقائيا قد أمنت أمنها. والله مولانا ولا مولى لكم.
والسلام على من اتبع الهدى.
(Source: Al-Jazeera)
The effort to emulate literally the example of the Prophet is a culture of its own
I think this is true, but only in the (admittedly standard) sense that culture is simply "anything that people do." I have in mind something else, which I probably won't articulate very well, but by which I mean a living culture that is a very *organic* part of how we come to become who we are.
Attempts to emulate the Prophet really exist in most Muslim cultures, but they are often tempered enormously by the mores and pragmatics of the local context. The phenomenon that I think you have in mind is, in my view, mostly contrived, in a puritanical attempt to re-create the Prophet's-life-as-it-was-then in the here and now. I'd venture to say -- and I could be wrong -- that this is a very Western phenomenon, and where it happens in Muslim countries it is in conscious contrast to the prevailing cultural norms. I think the Subcontinent is a good example of the latter, perhaps Talibanesque Afghanistan too.
The desk-pounding and the like are a Western thing too, I think. Though there are no shortage of fiery sermons in the Muslim world, Islam is so embedded in those cultures that there are plenty of opportunities to gain an Islamic education of some substance. And I think that's why there is a corresponding ability to distinguish between (traditionally) sound opinions about religion and the rhetorical excesses.
Unfortunately, however, all that seems to stop in the case of politics, where emotional appeals are all the rage (excuse the pun).
I understand what you mean and I think we are on the same page with respect to how, in the mindset of Muslims (huge generalization here), the correspondence between being "Muslim" and being of a certain culture plays out.
It has been the case that specific cultures of traditionally Muslim countries like Pakistan, Egypt, Malaysia etc. have been considered acceptable for co-existence with Islamic practice, while this allowance has not been granted to Western culture (not completely without reason, one should mention), as you said.
It wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that as of late, the same disdain and inadmissability of Western culture is spreading towards traditional cultures as well, at least with respect to certain aspects of those cultures. I blame the Salafist movement which has gained considerable ground in traditionally non-Salafist, Hanafite and culture-oriented Muslim societies (I'm thinking primarily of Pakistan). The very idea of returning to the pristine state of the time of the Prophet and his immediate successors implies pruning away historical (which of course includes culture and language) additions to Islam and Muslims in an effort towards mass producing a single "Muslim" model. This is what it means to have a united Muslim nation. (The fight for a universal convergence on the beginning and end of Ramadan is an example of this.)
Earlier today, I had an interesting encounter that is tangentially relevant to this discussion and the post that began it. I was introduced to a friend's dad, and this is an approximation of how our conversation ensued after the preliminary niceties.
Friend's Dad: Do you speak Arabic?
Me: A little.
FD: Why? We should all know how to speak Arabic! This is not something small. This is Muhammad, this is Islam!
Me (growing uncomfortable): Yes.
FD: Arabic is very important. It is not, er, Hindi, or Egyptian, or Lebanese. This is Muslim!
Me: Yes... in sha' Allah when I have kids I'll make sure they learn Arabic.
FD: Yes! But not for me or you. This is for Islam. Every Muslim should know Arabic.
I mumbled some words in agreement, and thankfully the conversation shifted to another subject after that.
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