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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