Prophet's Wives

Started by Amira, July 23, 2017, 10:57:04 AM

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Amira

Salam,

This is for Brother Joseph Islam. I was going through "Aggressive Mistranslations to Enslave Women," and you said the root for "and stay in your homes" is q-r-r. It's actually waqar, w-q-r, from "dignity," and Lane's Lexicon proves this. Lane's Lexicon cites W-Q-R as the correct root, and imperative is "wa qirna fi buyutikunna"--it should be read with a kasra not a fatha. Proof:

http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000214.pdf

Go to the 3rd column at the top. It says clearly in Arabic, "wa QIRNA fi buyutikunna," for the root w-q-r. You have the wrong root word in your article. The correct imperative form of q-r-r is "aqrarna" and early jurists including Tabari noted this.

So you're right, the translation should read "and sit with dignity/graveness/uprightness in your homes" rather than restrictively rendering it as "stay in your homes and never leave," BUT your root verb was incorrect. Lane's clearly shows that the root is in fact from waqar, dignity.
"Narrated Buraydah ibn al-Hasib: I heard the Apostle of Allah say: In eloquence there is magic, in knowledge ignorance, and in poetry wisdom"

"Historically, what is or isn't mainstream (in Islam) has always been a function of power, not of truth." (Iyad El-Baghdadi, Arab Spring activist)

Amira

Reference

http://quransmessage.com/articles/aggressive%20(mis)translations%20of%20the%20quran%20to%20enslave%20women%20FM3.htm

And yes Lane's notes both readings, qirna and qarna, in the paragraph I pointed out. But the primary reading is from root Waw-Qaf-Ra. The other reading, from root Qaf-Ra-Ra, is cited as a "contraction" of the correct grammatical imperative, indicating that it's unlikely this one is correct.
"Narrated Buraydah ibn al-Hasib: I heard the Apostle of Allah say: In eloquence there is magic, in knowledge ignorance, and in poetry wisdom"

"Historically, what is or isn't mainstream (in Islam) has always been a function of power, not of truth." (Iyad El-Baghdadi, Arab Spring activist)

Joseph Islam

Dear Amira,

Wa alaikum assalam

I note that your second post is a more clarified post. Jazak Allah Khair for that.

I also respectfully note that Edward Lanes does indeed note both points of view and I am not sure if 'contraction' amounts to one being 'incorrect / wrong'.  As you know, other, even more recent concordances place the root as mentioned in the article.

However, the gist of the article was to obtain the best meaning of the word and I understand in that you are agreed. I also trust that given some of the intended brevity of some of the articles, the focus of the article is not always to share the diversity of views of the early commentators, unless the article is written for such a purpose (Please kindly see [1] below as an example).

However, thank you for raising this. This thread will undoubtedly serve as an addendum / additional discussion to highlight what you kindly raise for other readers to remain informed on this matter.

Regards,
Joseph


REFERENCE:

[1] WASHING OR WIPING THE FEET IN WUDU (ABLUTION)?
http://quransmessage.com/articles/washing-wiping%20FM3.htm
'During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act' 
George Orwell

Amira

Thank you for the reply
"Narrated Buraydah ibn al-Hasib: I heard the Apostle of Allah say: In eloquence there is magic, in knowledge ignorance, and in poetry wisdom"

"Historically, what is or isn't mainstream (in Islam) has always been a function of power, not of truth." (Iyad El-Baghdadi, Arab Spring activist)


Amira

Salam, yeah I saw that thread earlier! I was also going through the index on Project Root List (which I believe you created?) and it was listed under QRR. Both roots I mentioned seem to work, and early readings of the Quran show that grammarians have been disputing this for a long time.

I would translate it something like this: "And abide with dignity/content/uprightness in your homes, and do not make an excessive, extravagant display (of anything, wealth, beauty, greed)"--and 'tabarruj' here denotes  conspicuous or provocative show-offy-ness.
"Narrated Buraydah ibn al-Hasib: I heard the Apostle of Allah say: In eloquence there is magic, in knowledge ignorance, and in poetry wisdom"

"Historically, what is or isn't mainstream (in Islam) has always been a function of power, not of truth." (Iyad El-Baghdadi, Arab Spring activist)