Poetic License in al-Ṭabarī’s Quranic Commentary

Abstract

This study examines the passages in Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān, the quranic commentary of Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923), that address apparent violations of the ordinary rules of grammar and style for the sake of end rhyme. Analysis shows that al-Ṭabarī assigns importance to end rhyme in the Quran and recognizes the effects that it has on the text. The term he uses for this quranic phenomenon is al-tawfīq bayna ruʾūs al-āyāt “making the verse-final words match,” which justifies acceptable variations of the ordinary rules of Arabic for the sake of end rhyme. This differs from the term for poetic license in poetry, ḍarūra “necessity,” to which al-Ṭabarī also refers in several passages of his commentary. In al-Ṭabarī’s view, the latter concept rather serves to justify the use of forms and structures in poetry that do not meet the standard of eloquent Arabic speech and so would not occur in the Quran.