Salaam Mazhar,
This is a great point, and why I keep repeating the verse about the planets "swimming" in space. This obsession with forcing one sole meaning onto words in the Quran is futile and ignores the poetic nature of the Book where words are frequently given metaphorical non-literal uses.
Salaam Wakas,
Quran could have clarified if sjd meant physical prostration in 4:102 by saying something similar...
The Quran could have clarified lots of things, and yet it didn't. It didn't clarify what it meant by swimming, running, fighting, nor did it clarify many verses on punishments. Why should the Quran 'clarify' the meaning of a word that everyone already knows? The answer is the opposite - the Quran clarified the non-physical uses of the word which everyone already knew and accepted as being physical. The same way the Quran clarified that "swimming" SBH does not literally mean swimming in water, despite everyone knowing perfectly well that that's what it means.
By your standards and treatment of sujood we should now have to reinterpret yasbahu because God never clarifies that it also means swimming in water.
Or perhaps in 17:107-109 could have mentioned being on the ground in some way.
It
does clarify that. You've just ignored it because you are forcing your own interpretation onto the verses. The meaning of being on the ground is absolutely clear in these verses, and even your idol Mustansir Mir takes this position. I don't know how God could've made it clearer without writing out specifically "get onto the ground people". Sujood is paired with KHRR throughout the Quran.
Anyone who has read Quran434.com will know otherwise. I relied significantly on Quranic usage, its internal logic etc.
You analyzed every occurrence of the word DRB to argue that DRB can mean something other than 'strike'.
Now you have overwhelming evidence that KHRR means to physically fall, and you ignore it.
Wrong. See 25:73, which is even quoted in my sjd article.
This can easily be interpreted as a physical action. It goes both ways, but I think the physical action here is a better interpretation.
I interpret it as criticizing the people who go to pray whilst thinking about what they had for lunch that day, or what they want to do. You see these people in the mosques, they do some lightning prayer and leave. The context of the verse is an extended description of the characteristics of the righteous people. Then this verse says:
Those who when they are reminded of their Lord's signs, they do not fall deaf and blind thereat.Literal: they do not fall on the reminder/verses deaf and blind
I interpret this as a continuation of the description of the righteous people. We are told that the righteous are the ones who stay late into the night in sujood and qiyaam, they pass by trivial talk with dignity, and they do not prostrate when they are reminded to without heart and khushoo3 in a mechanical fashion.
I don't know how else to interpret this verse in a non-physical manner. You argue that KHRR means to be humbled elsewhere in the Quran. How is one humbled deaf and blind? Or the other interpretation is to "fall" on the verses (ayat) as if to attack them. Again, not in line with the context at all. In your article you state that it means to fall on the verses - ie: read them without care, as if deaf and blind. This is ok, it fits, but I don't consider it the correct interpretation.
Clearly the intention here is to warn against mechanical prostration and prayer done without heart. That is why the non-righteous simply "fall" at hearing God's verses, whereas the righteous fall in sujood - because it is not sujood without the emotional component, otherwise it simply becomes falling to the ground deaf and blind.
But let's assume that it does not mean physical falling for the sake of avoiding an argument about this particular verse - we are still left with 6 out of 7 incidences where KHRR definitely means falling.
If we remove all the verses that have KHRR Sujjadan and 17:109, we are left with 7 occurrences.
Of those occurrences KHRR means to physically fall each and every time except for this one that you don't want to interpret as falling. 38:24 is not 100% clear, so let's exclude that. And 34:14 means both falling down and death. (The worm gnaws at his staff so he falls (dies)).
So - we have 6 out of 7 occurrences that
clearly mean physical falling, with only 1 verse that is unclear and can be both.
So by your standards, this is a pretty clear indication of what KHRR means.
In the exampels you gave, can you clarify if they have the same structure as the example we are discussing in 17:107, quote from article:
i.e.
idiom + accusative word
When I find an idiom followed by an accusative adjective I'll let you know. Off the top of my head I can't think of any.
But let's summarize what we know -
1. Like swimming, running, and other Arabic words, the accepted definition of Sujood to pre-Islamic Arabs is prostration. We have examples of pre-Islamic poetry that clearly shows us they thought Sujood = prostration. From the Encyclopaedia of the Quran, Vol. 4 Page 219:
Sujūd was known among the peoples of the Middle East in pre-Islamic times as a gesture of respect at royal courts and as an act of adoration in Christian worship. Pre-Islamic poetry cites a few examples of prostration (sujūd) before a tribal chief in recognition of his superiority and as an expression of one?s submission (cf. Tottoli, Muslim attitudes, 5-34).
The act of prostration hurt the pride (q.v.) of the Arabs (Q 25:60; 7:206; cf. 16:49; 32:15; 68:42-3) because it appeared to them as a humiliating gesture and an alien practice (cf. Kister, Some reports, 3-6).2. KHRR is used as physically falling in every single other case (or all except one if we accept your contention regarding 25:73)
3. Idioms where the action happens and a non-literal word is added for intensity are common. (I'm so hungry I can eat a horse, it is raining cats and dogs, etc.)
4. The phrase is falling
to the chins. lil-adhqaani. Not 3alaa al-adhqaani, which would be the normal way to say it in arabic.
5. We have an actual recorded example of this phrase as a popular Arab saying. It was common enough and well known enough to end up in Lane's Lexicon as an idiom! Lane specifically recorded for us examples of trees and stones falling to their chins!
6. You've challenged me to explain how the idiom could work and I have explained it. In turn, please explain verses such as 19:58
إِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُ الرَّحْمَن خَرُّوا سُجَّدًا وَبُكِيًّاYou are arguing that sujjadan is a metaphor, or a non-literal meaning of the accepted word, whereas bakiyyan (crying) is literally physical crying. God never clarifies how to cry, just as he never clarifies how to perform sujood, and relies on our knowledge of the language. So either we must assume that one is literal and one isn't, or that SJD did not originally mean prostration and there has been a massive conspiracy to get people to perform physical prostration when the original word had no such meaning.
7. The Quran pairs SJD with KHRR
repeatedly. 12:100 (kharruu lahu sujjadan), 17:107 (yukhirruuna lilidhqaani sujjadan), 19:58 (kharruu sujjadan wa bakiyyaa), 32:15 (kharruu sujjadan) - why is God using the word "fall" throughout the Quran with SJD to a bunch of people who think SJD means prostration??
8. If the point of KHRR is to express humility in 17:107 and 17:109 and elsewhere, then why not use the many words used in the Quran already for humility?? Why repeat KHRR with sujood so many times instead of saying "humble yourselves sujjadan" ? There are many choices, for example DR3, KHBT, KHSH3, 3NW,
Peace