Iltifāt and Narrative Voice in the Qurʾān: Grammatical Shifts and Nested Dialogue in Sūrahs 19, 20, and 18
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Jessica Mutter
Abstract
This article analyzes the Qurʾān’s use of an Arabic rhetorical device called iltifāt, the shift of person within a text. It addresses the way iltifāt has been interpreted by medieval Muslim exegetes and the implications of its use for the structure and cosmology of the Qurʾān. By analyzing the use of iltifāt in the Qurʾān, the article demonstrates that the qurʾānic narrator exclusively refers to itself in the first-person plural, and that shifts to other persons (e.g., first-person singular) signify shifts into nested dialogues, asides, and/or narratives within narratives. Furthermore, the way this narrator refers to earthly and heavenly beings suggests that this first-person plural narrator holds a distinct place in the Qurʾān’s cosmology, one that is linked to but distinct from God and other inhabitants of the heavens.
© 2023 the International Qurʾanic Studies Association
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Contents
- Obituary: Fred Leemhuis (1942–2021)
- The Variant Readings in Islamic Law
- The Inner-Qurʾānic Development of the Images of Women in Paradise: From the Ḥūr ʿĪn to Believing Women
- Bloody Wrath and Healing Touches: Joseph and His Brothers in Early Imāmī Shīʿī Tafsīr
- Iltifāt and Narrative Voice in the Qurʾān: Grammatical Shifts and Nested Dialogue in Sūrahs 19, 20, and 18
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Contents
- Obituary: Fred Leemhuis (1942–2021)
- The Variant Readings in Islamic Law
- The Inner-Qurʾānic Development of the Images of Women in Paradise: From the Ḥūr ʿĪn to Believing Women
- Bloody Wrath and Healing Touches: Joseph and His Brothers in Early Imāmī Shīʿī Tafsīr
- Iltifāt and Narrative Voice in the Qurʾān: Grammatical Shifts and Nested Dialogue in Sūrahs 19, 20, and 18
