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Phonosemantics in Sura Al-Saffat





While looking for the next sura to read, I came across one that drew me because of it's title “Ranged in Rows”. The title struck me for 2 reasons. I liked the alliteration in the title, it rolled off the tongue. I also was curious as to what exactly was (a)ranged in rows.
So, why “ranged” and not “arranged”? My first thought was that of course the angels are always arranged by Allah. They have no will of their own. Then I thought, ranged reminds me of an artillery range which again is fitting with the first image of a stellar battleground. As soon as I typed “ranged” into google the first 3 things that pop up are ranged training, ranged weapons, ranged armour all have to do with runescape. The rows bit is I think  referring to the hierarchy of angels. The first being on the “front lines” to protect any eavesdropping on the “higher assembly”.
I then turned my attention to the psychological effect of sound symbolism in the first 10 lines. Alliteration helps to create the cadence of the Qur'an which is most beautiful sounding and cannot be duplicated. The first alliteration is the repetition of the letter /r/. We often make the sound /r/ when we are angry (ie: grrr). The opening lines describe the angels anger at being called daughters of God. “By those angels, ranged in rows who rebuke reproachfully and recite God's word” The sound of /r/ also indicates urgency and speed. (think of a car revving rrrr rrrr rrrr). I picture stars in the angels' hands spinning and whirring getting ready with accelerating speed to be thrown at shaytan's minions.
As the battle begins we find repetition of the sound /p/ and /s/. The description is of the actions of battle: “pelted from every side, driven away they will have perpetual torment. If any of them stealthily snatches away a fragment, he will be pursued by a piercing flame.” The repetitive sound of /p/ is like the action of spitting (pft pft pft). The angels “spitting stars” at the demons. It also mimics the sound of arrows being shot through the air. The /s/ sound mimics the sound of a snake – a classic symbol of evil. A hissing sound used to describe shaytan's minions trying to steal pieces of heaven in order to uncover the speech of the “higher assembly”. It's interesting how /p/ and /s/ alliteration is alternated so as to give an effect of back and forth battle.
After all this, I thought but I'm analyzing a translated version. Is there alliteration in the Arabic text and if so, what are the psychological effects? It turns out yes there is alliteration of the same lines in Arabic although the letters alliterated are different. Take a listen to this recitation of those lines in Arabic:

I heard the repetition of the sound /s/ and /f/ followed by several /a/ sounds and finally the letter Kof. Since I'm a pure beginner when it comes to the Arabic alphabet, I had to research Kof. I asked a native Arabic speaker about this letter. He said – it is classified phonetically as a glottal stop. A kind of choking sound made at the back of the throat. When he hears this sound, it makes him “think and stop”. Kof is alliterated in line 10.

**archived from March 2016 sorry if this is a repeat :)

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