The Relevance Of Early Arabic Poetry For Qur’Anic Studies Including Observations On Kull And On Q 22:27, 26:225, And 52:31

Abstract

This chapter elaborates on the concept of the kull, a construction that is exceedingly common in the poetry of the time, but appears only very seldom in the Qur'an. Although infrequent, poetic style does occasionally show up in verses from the Qur'an, as in Q 22:27, in which a stylistic device appears which is found most typically in early Arabic poetry. Early Arabic poetry is in its totality more important for Qur'anic studies than has generally been acknowledged, primarily because the corpus of poetry forms an important background against which the Qur'an emerged. The chapter ventures a further interpretation of the much discussed verse from the Surah of the Poets, Q 26:225. Finally, knowledge of early Arabic poetry allows us to recognize in Q 52:31 an ironically used quotation from poetry that is put into the mouth of the opponents of Muhammad. Keywords: early Arabic poetry; Muhammad; poetic kull; Q 22:27; Q 26:225; Q 52:31; Qur'an