The Koran was born as an oral document, in a largely preliterate society -- many Muslims maintained that the Prophet himself was without letters. This “scripture”
(as we call it, with print-culture bias) is in its natural element when recited
aloud in public, by an expert in cantillation (tajwîd).
The language of the text itself lends itself naturally to such vocal performance, since,
although it is not poetry (the verses are of greatly disparate length, and
there is no meter), and though the verses to not exactly rhyme in a way characteristic of English or German, they do (one might say) chime, showing assonance and consonance.
Readers of translations (or, strictly, “versions” or
“interpretations”, as Muslim scholars insist) of the Koran, get no sense of
this. Nor should such
a “chiming” version be undertaken in any rhyme-rich language, for the work as a
whole. Still, to give a flavor of
it, here is an imitation or rhyming impression of the opening prayer of the
Koran, the fâtiha:
To
thee -- to thee -- our voice we raise --
Lord
of the Worlds -- in hymns of praise.
Fount
of all mercy till End of Days,
Thee
we entreat, our staff and stays.
Show
us the straight path, midst welter of ways:
not
that of the curse’d, nor of him who strays.
*
The canonical Latin prayers of the Historical Church do not rhyme, nor show meter. From the Creed:
Credo
in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem cæli et terræ,
visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem cæli et terræ,
visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
But the later, popular prayers of the Middle Ages often do. Here is the Stabat mater, which is trochaic
tetramater and in strophic form:
Stabat
Mater dolorosa
Iuxta
crucem lacrimosa,
Dum
pendebat filius.
Cuius
animam gementem
Contristatam
et dolentem
Pertransivit
gladius.
O
quam tristis et afflicta
Fuit
illa benedicta
Mater
unigeniti
Quae
maerebat et dolebat.
Et
tremebat, cum videbat
Nati
poenas incliti.
*
For verse translations (in English, French, and German) of
St. Francis’ hymn to Brother Sun, try this:
