Salaam. Continued from here and here. I came across the words 'rhyming prose' in the following posts: 1, 2. I didn't know that they were a technical term for a literary device. This is the page, which wikipedia quotes almost in toto. Is it true that RasulAllah (peace be upon him) disliked rhymed prose, as the page states? From another site: http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter6/Ch_6_52.htm The Qur'an is in prose. However, it does not belong in either of the two categories. It can neither be called straight prose nor rhymed prose. It is divided into verses. One reaches breaks where taste tells one that the speech stops. It is then resumed and "repeated" in the next verse. (Rhyme) letters which would make that (type of speech) rhymed prose are not obligatory, nor do rhymes (as used in poetry) occur. This (situation) is what is meant by the verse of the Qur'an: "God revealed the best story, a book harmoniously arranged with repeated verses (mathaniya).It raises goose pimples on the skin of those who fear their Lord." 1420 God also said: "We have divided the verses." 1421 That is why the ends of the individual verses are called "dividers" (fawasil).They are not really rhymed prose, since the (rhyme) which is obligatory in rhymed prose is not obligatory in them, nor are there rhymes as in poetry. The name "repeated verses" (mathani)isgenerally used for all the verses of the Qur'an, for the reasons mentioned. It is used in particular for the firstsurah, because of the prominence (of repeated verses) in it, just as the (general) word "star" is used for the Pleiades. Therefore, the (first surah)was called "the seven repeated (verses)." 1422 One may compare what the Qur'an commentators have said in explanation of the fact that the first surah is called "the repeated (verses)." One will find that our explanation deserves the preference. From the above and from what you stated in this post I conclude that we cannot say anything other than that the Qura'n consists of verses. How would we describe it in arabic? jazakAllah. Wassalaam.
