نشریه پژوهش های قرآنی
سال بیست و دوم شماره 4 (پیاپی 85، زمستان 1396)

In traditions, the quality of the revelation of the Holy Qur’an’s sūras has been reported in three ways of gradual and successive revelation, gradual and dispersed revelation of the verses of the sūra, and instantaneous revelation of the sūra. Despite the fact that all interpreters have pointed out the instantaneous revelation of some of the verses of the Qur’an, some interpreters while approving this notion have emphasized that many of the verses have been revealed in a dispersed way and according to specific circumstances and exigencies and then have been juxtaposed by the order of the Prophet or legal decision (ijtihād) of the companions. Providing some evidences, this article proves that the Holy Qur’an has been revealed sūra by sūra and the current viewpoint on the revelation of some of the sūras of the Qur’an in separate verses is incorrect. Furthermore, the doubts that the opponents of this theory have expressed on the theory of the sūra by sūra revelation are reviewed and critiqued. According to the research done in this article, the viewpoint of continuous revelation of the sūras enjoy strong proofs based on the Qur’an and hadith, but there are no acceptable proofs based on the Qur’an and hadith for the viewpoint of sūra by sūra revelation.

Rhyme of Qur’anic text (fāṣila) in the end of a verse has an important and sensitive status due to its dominance over the verse. This status is definitely effective in the interpretation of the verse. However, the basic question is, “What is the role and the function of fāṣila in the interpretation of the content of the verse?” To find the answer, the interpretations Al-Tibyān, Majma‘ al-Bayān, Al-Mīzān, Nimūna, and Tasnīm are consulted. In this research, eleven types of the functions for fāṣila have been identified, the most important of which can be referred to as: strengthening and confirming the exegetic viewpoints or critiquing and rejecting them, explanation of the verse with the help of fāṣila, demystification of the verse, receiving or confirming the verdict of the verse, or its representing the temporariness of the verdict. Although the subject of this paper has been novel, it seems necessary to add to these types by studying other interpretations.

Dating the sūras of the Holy Qur’an is very effective in cognizing them properly, choosing exegetic opinions, and rejecting the untrue statements. This task is in itself based on whether a sūra’s is Makkī or Madanī. Knowledge about the sūras’ being Makkī or Madanī takes many of the sūras to be definitely Makkī and a number of others to be undoubtedly Madanī; but it shows disagreement about a few sūras to be either Makkī or Madanī. Sūrat al-‘Ādiyāt is considered to be among the third group. Determining this sūra’s being Makkī or Madanī has on one hand faced difficulty and on the other deemed as necessary. The traditions on the order of revelation and occasions of revelation are varied for this sūra and, given the rules and regulations of distinguishing Makkī from Madanī, at first glance both seem to be probable. However, through studying the chains of transmission and texts of the traditions and careful application of the rules and regulation for identifying the sūras, it is proved that Sūrat al-‘Ādiyāt is Madanī. Considering it as being Madanī is both putting an end to the controversy about this sūra and putting a date on it, and finally, it would reveal one of the excellences of Imam Ali (A.S.), as well.

The “verses of alast”, which are known as the “verse of covenant” (āyat al-mīthāq) are among the most difficult and complicated verses that the interpreters are divided over its interpretation. The article, “The Covenant of Alast and Critique of the Interpreters’ Viewpoints …” is among the writings that have attempted to present their select viewpoint based on the latest investigations about the interpretation on “alast verses”. Nevertheless, it seems what is presented as the “realm of divine vision” is facing serious criticisms, to such an extent that it makes this viewpoint hard to accept. Thus, the present critical tries, with an analysis of the content of the above-mentioned article and while stating its strengths and weaknesses, to clarify the way to disengage from the complexities and difficulties of understanding and interpreting the verses in question. Deliberation and pondering on the phrases and single words of the verses is most important requisite for understanding the Qur’an; a requisite that the above-mentioned article has not been quite practically capable of achieving its real intention, despite paying attention to it.

Evaluation of historical reports and distinction of the pure from the impure is one of the concerns to the researchers of history. Since untrue, distorted, and fabricated traditions have found their way into the written sources, the sorting out and obtaining sound traditions is of utmost importance. With an analytic-descriptive procedure, this article is intended to examine the “presentation of the Qur’an” as one of the procedures for evaluating historical reports with reliance on the rules of scholarly critique – rather than textual proof – and elucidate its range of efficiency. In conclusion, it would be clarified that, as a historical-revelatory, ancient original, sound a free of the four obstacles (personal, tribal, expressive, and commonplace motives), the Qur’an is a scale for assessment of historical reports concerning the Great Prophet’s (S.A.W.) life, which the Qur’an has dealt with or the general Qur’anic descriptions of the Great Prophet (S.A.W.) are about them. Presenting the above-mentioned reports would enable the researchers to take those reports as sound, complete, rejected, or acceptable.

Different fields have been assumed for the scientific theorization of the Qur’an, such as: 1. Informing of the scientific facts that were later on proved by empirical science or have not been proved yet and are possible to be proved in the future. 2. Expansion or restriction of some scientific theories. 3. Improvement and completion of scientific perspectives. Now, the question is: What methods and procedures can be used for theorization of the Qur’an? In this respect, several methods can be counted for the Qur’anic theorization. Among them are discovery and inference, confirmation and completion, judgment and purification, reliance of the Qur’anic preconditions for establishing religious humanities, hypothesizing the Qur’an’s teachings, indirect impact, non-interference, and production of humanities supported by fundamental teachings of the Qur’an as theoretical presumptions. This article has studied each of the above procedures in line with the Qur’anic theorizations and introduced the superior procedure. Actually, the article would answer the question as to on what procedure the theorization of the Qur’an in the field of humanities is convincing and acceptable .

According to the Holy Qur’an, the Divine verses are of two types: unequivocal and ambiguous. The ambiguous have two features: 1. A pretext for the ill-hearted rabble-rousers; 2. Interpretability. Given the Qur’an’s emphasis on the existence of the ambiguous in it, a question has been raised as to what the secret of these verses in the Holy Qur’an is. In this paper, we have studied various answers of the respected Qur’an scholars and interpreters, critically reviewed all of them, and finally presented the appropriate answer.