Isharat al-Ijaz

Isharat al-Ijaz fi Mazann al-Ijaz (Signs of Inimitability in the Sites of Conciseness) is an Arabic Quranic commentary by Badi al-Zaman al-Nursi (d. 1379 AH / 1960 CE), dedicated to demonstrating the structural and rhetorical inimitability (al-i'jaz al-nazmi) of the Quran Isharat al-Ijaz+1.

Composition and Context

The work was composed in the first year of World War I while al-Nursi was serving on the front lines of combat against invading forces Isharat al-Ijaz+1. Dictated and recorded in valleys, mountains, and occasionally on horseback amid active battlefield conditions, it was written entirely from memory without access to reference libraries or classical commentaries Isharat al-Ijaz+1.

Al-Nursi produced the text during his biographical period known as the "Old Said" (al-Sa'id al-Qadim), employing an exceptionally concise and elevated style tailored to the comprehension of his advanced students Isharat al-Ijaz. Although he initially intended this volume to initiate a multi-part commentary—with the first part dedicated to structural inimitability and subsequent volumes devoted to other aspects of the Quran's miraculous nature—the disruptions of wartime prevented the completion of the wider project Isharat al-Ijaz.

Method and Scope

The commentary focuses primarily on the Quran's compositional order (nazm), examining how inimitability manifests in the intricate harmony between surahs, verses, sentences, words, and individual letters Isharat al-Ijaz+1. Al-Nursi integrates Arabic rhetoric (balaghah), grammar, morphology, formal logic (mantiq), and theology (usul al-din or kalam) to unpack Quranic meanings and establish Islamic creedal doctrines on rational and philosophical foundations Isharat al-Ijaz+1.

In scope, the extant work covers Surat al-Fatihah and the opening section of Surat al-Baqarah, providing extensive rhetorical analyses of the passages addressing believers, disbelievers, and hypocrites Isharat al-Ijaz+1. Al-Nursi also prefaced the book with methodological treatises addressing the necessity of collective scholarly bodies for authoritative Quranic interpretation in modern times Isharat al-Ijaz.

Reception and Editions

The work was translated into Turkish and studied closely among al-Nursi's circle of students (Tullab al-Nur) Isharat al-Ijaz+1. In later life, al-Nursi noted that despite his shift into his "New Said" phase, he considered the analytical rigor of the commentary an enduring achievement of his early period Isharat al-Ijaz. Scholars such as Sadr al-Din Yuksel al-Bitlisi (writing in 1378 AH) commended its analytical depth and its extraction of delicate rhetorical nuances composed under dire combat conditions Isharat al-Ijaz.

The Arabic text has been published in modern critical editions, notably one edited and annotated by Ihsan Qasim al-Salihi (completed in 1407 AH / 1987 CE and published in Iraq in 1409 AH / 1989 CE), featuring an introductory study by Muhsin Abd al-Hamid Isharat al-Ijaz+1.