In this short talk, Sheikh Nouman Khan reflects on the following verse from Surat Al-Baqarah showing the linguistic miracle in it. The Almighty Allah says:

That is the Book about which there is no doubt… (Al-Baqarah 2:2)

He begins his talk by raising a question which is, how does this verse go? The word ‘dhalika’ is a demonstrative pronoun means ‘that’. The logic says that “this book” is closer than “that book” as the later one means it is far way. What is interesting about the Qur’an is that we find multiple instances of not saying ‘that Qur’an’, but ‘this Qur’an’ in Arabic means ‘hadha’.

The word book in Arabic means ‘kitab’ comes from ‘kataba’ which means to write. The actual meaning of ‘kitab’ is that which is documented, that which etched or written. Now, where is the Qur’an written? Was it already written when it was being revealed? In its complete form, was it already in existence with Who? So the actual ‘book’ is where? Near or Far? So, it is appropriate to say, ‘that book’.

On the other hand, the word ‘Qur’an’ comes from qara‘ which means to read. Where is the reading taking place? Over here, so it is more appropriate to say, this recital.

Enjoy watching this interesting talk with Sheikh Nouman Khan.