Review

Reviewed Work(s): Le Festin: Une lecture de la sourate <italic>al-Mâ'ida</italic> / ‫ﺩﺭﺍﺳﺔ ﻋﻦ‬

‫ ﺳﻮﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺋﺪﺓ‬by Michel Cuypers and ‫ﻣﻴﺸﻞ ﻛﻮﻳﺒﺎﺭﺱ‬
Review by: Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau and ‫ﺳﻴﻠﭭﻲ ﺑﻮﺍﺳﻠﻴﭭﻴﻮ‬-‫ﺁﻥ‬
Source: Journal of Qur'anic Studies , 2007, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2007), pp. 119-123
Published by: Edinburgh University Press on behalf of the Centre for Islamic Studies
at SOAS

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 Book Reviews 119

entire oeuvre, that he harboured intense scepticism on the utility of the mind in the
conventional sense of reason. The path of the ratiocinative faculty (tarlqat al-nazar
wa'l-istidlal), as such, does not, for Fakhr al-DIn, lead to truth or salvation. This fits
perfectly, not only with the scepticism, but also with the nominalism for which this
thinker is well known. What he commends to us in the end is instead a Sufi
methodology, a path of knowledge based on inner purification and spiritual
discipline (tarlqat al-tasfiyya wa'l-riyada). Certainty is in the end only attainable
through direct contact with supramundane realities by way of the cathartic and
meditative practices of the Sufi path - a kind of mystical empiricism (p. 200). It is
surely to be pondered carefully that two of the superlative minds of medieval
Sunnism - al-Ghazali and al-Razi - both ended by indicating this path as the
conclusion of their extraordinary intellectual endeavours. The author of this volume
deserves our humble thanks for his exertions in very considerably clarifying al
Razfs evolving views on ethics and related inquiries. In so doing, Ayman Shihadeh
has brought into significantly sharper focus the true character of this most
challenging, often infuriatingly uncandid, intellectual genius.

Toby Mayer

Le Festin: Une lecture de la sourate al-Md'ida. By Michel Cuypers. Rhetorique

semitique. Paris: Lethielleux, 2007. Pp. 453. 23.00.

In Le Festin, Michel Cuypers of the Institut Dominicain d'Etudes Orientales in

Cairo, gives a clear demonstration of the potential usefulness for Qur'anic textual
studies of 'rhetorical analysis', a method which uses relations of symmetry at
different levels of a given text to reveal the logic on which it is constructed. In this
case, that logic obeys the rules of a 'Semitic rhetoric' that differs from 'Greek
rhetoric', and which seems to structure many texts of the ancient Near East (the New
and Old Testaments of the Bible, some Akkadian texts and some hadiths). The
'Semitic' rhetorical method was first used in the field of Biblical studies, and its
principal theorists include Roland Meynet who, along with others, has also applied it
to the Sunna. Michel Cuypers here employs this paradigm in an analysis of Surat al
Ma3ida, attempting - on the basis of its rediscovery of the 'Semitic' structure of the
text through relations of symmetry and rules of rhetoric peculiar to ancient Near
Eastern texts - to answer the question: 'Are the different fragments which make up
[the text] brought together according to a specific logic which would supply the text
with coherence and unity?' (p. 13).

Rhetorical analysis involves decomposing the text into units from its lowest levels
up, on the basis of various kinds of symmetry (be they on a lexical, morphologic,
syntactic, rhythmic or discursive level, whether parallel or in opposition). In order to

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 120 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

show the different symmetrical links, the researcher establishes several tables
presenting the same portion of text at different levels on the basis that, because of
this multi-level complexity, the structure of the text is generally not immediately
apparent to the reader. According to Cuypers, Tn proceeding from a global vision,
one inevitably risks making an arbitrary choice between several possible structures.
Thus one must imperatively go through the austere and arduous work of re
establishing the structures starting from the smallest and proceeding to the biggest,
clearly distinguishing the different levels of the text, in order to be sure of accuracy
in decomposing the text into its various units, and in the relations between these
textual units' (pp. 412-13).

The operation of decomposing the text is based on an analysis of how the textual
structure obeys the rules of rhetoric. For instance, it is a rule of Semitic rhetoric that
the theme of the centre of one system will often reappear on the periphery of a
corresponding system. This, and all the other rules of symmetry, explains why the
reader, in his line by line reading, often notices the reappearance of a particular word
a few lines further on. This method thus has a more objective basis than a thematic
decomposition, and it is clear that one of its points of interest lies in its refutation of
the accusation of disorder that is often laid against the Qur'anic text. It also allows us
to see the unity of a passage: that is, to see what is to be read together, what has been
put in a conspicuous place, what is comparative, and perhaps what may have been
placed in the structure purely for the structure's sake. What is more, this method
enriches the contributions of other types of analysis in an entirely novel way.

Michel Cuypers' work has led him to distinguish two sections in Surat al-Ma?ida\
Section A (Muslims, Jews and Christians faced with the covenant, Q. 5:1-71) and
Section B (Call for the Christians to enter into the covenant, Q. 5:72-120), forming a
concentric structure (p. 365). A full chapter is devoted to analysing each 'sequence',
with subdivisions dealing with its various 'passages'. Then the analysis turns to the
higher levels: from the sequence to the 'sub-section', then to the 'section', and
finally to the entire sura. At each stage the author presents the text of the passage,
any questions of vocabulary that may arise, the structural composition as
rediscovered by his analysis, interpretative issues, and finally, where occasion
demands, the interscriptural context. He then re-arranges the text under examination
in several tables, displaying by typographic means the different types of symmetries
at the various levels. One would have liked to see these tables presented in Arabic
(rather than in French, as is the case), since the analysis is necessarily done from the
Arabic: this would have allowed one to more clearly see the rhymes and assonances.
The last chapter reviews the approach used by the author, following which is an
appendix, pp. 399^416, that deals with the issue of the coherence of the Qur'an
through the history of exegesis.

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 Book Reviews 121

Throughout his discussion Cuypers complements his use of rhetorical analytical

theory with classical and modern exegesis, and Biblical intertextuality so that Le
Festin presents a threefold analysis of each passage of the sura. The author tells us
(on p. 383) that his initial intentions in writing this work were 'to examine whether
and how a long sura, such as Surat al-Ma3ida, was structured, and what
interpretation might arise from the structure of the text as established', but that 'it
soon became apparent that an intertextual analysis was required to complement this'.
One could argue that if the author is obliged to complement his rhetorical analysis
with other methods, and by comparison with other texts, this might indicate that the
rhetorical analysis alone can not bear any fruit. This is undeniable; but what would
the technical analysis of a text amount to without any concern for the meaning of
that text? Rhetorical analysis allows the data supplied by other types of analysis to
be brought together in a new way, and it is precisely this new combination which is a
genuine key for the understanding of the text.

A criticism that can be made of Semitic rhetoric is that at the lower levels of the text,
the process of decomposition as operated by different researchers might yield
different results. For instance, one scholar might hold that a part of the text is made
up of two 'pieces': the first of two 'segments', the second of three segments;
whereas another might consider that the first piece has three segments and the
second two segments. The researcher, after all, has no choice but to proceed
tentatively. But it seems clear that at the higher levels there are no problems of this
kind, since, once the different passages (or sequences, etc.) have been clearly
delimited, thanks to the meticulous study of the lower levels, then the symmetries at
the higher level come to confirm these delimitations.

The reader could be excused occasional doubts concerning the symmetrical links
between elements made by Cuypers, especially when this symmetry concerns the
meaning of words or expressions. Syntactic or phonetic symmetries are more readily
identified than symmetries of meaning, and in some cases only one of the different
possibilities offered by classical exegesis is compatible with these. Cuypers
sometimes has recourse to an interpretation informed by intertextuality in identifying
symmetries of meaning. But in general, throughout his book, the technical
competence of the study and the exactness of the higher level symmetries show that
these structures are really present, and are drawn from the text itself.

The rhetorical analysis of Le Festin can thus be seen to be of real assistance in

understanding Surat al-Ma3ida. For instance, ayas 47-50 in the centre of Sura 5
(Cuypers' sub-section A4 'Muhammad, judge of the Jews and the Christians')
present a break in style and semantics which have traditionally been viewed by
classical Muslim thinkers as resulting from specific 'occasions of revelation'
developed subsequently, and by various Western scholars as 'displaced verses'.
Semitic rhetoric, by contrast, shows that the centre is the key to understanding the

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 122 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

text that surrounds it: one of the rules of Semitic rhetoric is that 'at the centre [of a
concentric system] there is often a change in the development of the thought, and an
antithetical idea is introduced. Then, the first development is resumed and is pursued
until the system is completed' (p. 22). Thus, through the application of Cuypers'
paradigm, it becomes apparent that the basis on which Muhammad can judge the
Jews and the Christians (i.e. the main theme of sequence A4) is the law of retaliation
(an idea that has been placed in the centre of the overall sequence A (Q. 5:1-71)).

What is more, a text constructed according to Semitic rhetoric puts the elements it
wants to emphasise in the centre of a concentric system. In Surat al-MaJida, one
finds in the centre of these systems elements that enunciate universal principles,
while peripheral elements deal with circumstantial and specific matters. It follows
that, when interpreting the text, the same weight should not be attached to all ayas:
for instance general considerations on the possibility that pious Jews, Christians and
Sabeans may be saved, as they are situated in the centre of passage Q. 5:65-71,
would be of more value than the surrounding polemics, and the global structure of
Sura 5 shows that it is not 'a mere series of anti-Jewish or anti-Christian polemics'
but that 'it establishes the foundations of what could well become a genuine
'Qur'anic theology of religions' (p. 20).

Cuypers' analysis leads him to observe the specific way the Qur'an uses Semitic
rhetoric. For instance, he remarks that in the Qur'an the rhythm is often tertiary, that
there is an overwhelming preponderance of concentric constructions at all levels of
the text, and that 'the Qur'an has a way of employing Semitic rhetoric which is most
often very evident... the abrupt change of subjects, the frequent change of person ...
are indicators of the composition of the text' (p. 385). He also points out that the use
of peremptory and conclusive turns of phrase which are often in contradiction with
one another is a common device of Biblical language; these need not be read
literally, and neither is it necessary to have recourse to a system of abrogation. All
that is required is to '"know what speaking means" in Semitic language' (p. 385).

For Cuypers, the fact that Sura 5, usually considered the last or penultimate sura to
have been revealed, is composed according to the same rhetorical structure as those
early Meccan suras he has studied in previous works supports his hypothesis: that
the entire Qur'an is composed according to the rules of Semitic rhetoric. One may
wonder, then, whether the structures of the suras were maintained when they were
brought together. Was there a work of redaction - and did this work of redaction also
follow the rules of Semitic rhetoric (which might explain the fact that sometimes a
specific word employed at the end of a sura occurs at the beginning of the following
sura)? These questions are linked to the recent conclusions and suggestions of
researchers such as Angelika Neuwirth, Mathias Zahniser, Ahsan Islahi, Mustansir
Mir and Neal Robinson on the unity of the sura and its specific literary style.

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 Book Reviews 123

Alongside the findings of his rhetorical analysis, Cuypers notes that the Qur'an itself
invites an intertextual study, and therefore looks for the texts to which the Qur'anic
passages under examination refer. And he goes further still: he posits that the
comparison with Biblical texts also informs the structure of these texts. It seems that
the Qur'anic text 'rewrites' in its own specific way some Biblical passages, just as
some Biblical texts 'rewrote' some earlier Biblical texts. It even seems that the
Qur'an is aware of some of the re writings of earlier Biblical texts as they occurred in
later Biblical texts. This intertextual research is done step by step, gropingly, as for
example with the story of Cain (p. 166): the intertextual relationships are quite
complex, and it is to Cuypers' credit that his approach to them is serious and
profound. He even risks some comparisons, as when he compares the small number
of Jews who joined Islam to the 'small remainder' of the elect mentioned in the
Bible (p. 106). Indeed, Cuypers suggests an approach to intertextual studies that
includes structural comparison.

In conclusion, it seems clear that the author's methodology does not consist merely
of an ideological transposition of some elements of Biblical exegesis to Qur'anic
exegesis, but of the objective employment of tools that have proved useful both for
the Bible and the Qur'an: Semitic rhetoric and a respectful intertextual analysis. Yet
Le Festin does not have the barrenness of style one might expect in the technical
presentation of such a method. Rather, the reader has the pleasure of discovering a
fully-fledged exegesis of the fifth sura, supported notably by a rich intertextual
analysis drawing from Biblical tradition, in which the data resulting from the
rhetorical method are constantly compared to - and enriched by - those of classical
and modern Islamic exegesis, and which clearly complements the recent
developments in Qur'anic textual studies that conceive suras as textual units.

A translation of Cuypers' book into Arabic is currently under proposal in Morocco.

An English translation, too, is much to be desired, inasmuch as it would draw the
attention of both specialists in Qur'anic studies and Muslim exegetes to the potential
use in their research of Semitic rhetoric and intertextuality involving structural
comparison.

Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau

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