نشریه قرآن شناخت
سال دهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 19، پاییز و زمستان 1396)

Towhid (monotheism), which means believing in the unity of God, is established when its effects appear in the behavior of the people in society. This paper attempts to explain the most important factors of monotheism and the general process of monotheism in society based on verse 29 of Fath chapter and the analysis of the other verses related to thematic interpretation method. The research results show that factors such as following the Messenger of Allah, rigor and solidity against infidels, kindness to believers, paying attention to prayer and spirituality, and continuous effort to consolidate the foundations of Muslims’ dignity and power are among the most important factors of monotheism. On the other hand, the process of establishing monotheism in society begins by accepting divine authority, and continues by avoiding servitude to tyranny and reliance on oppressors, endurance against the enemies’ seditions, relying on inner abilities, seeking help from the Friend of God and asking for divine support.

The existence of several possibilities of interpreting some of the Quranic verses has raised the doubt about the ability of grasping the meaning of Quranic text, i.e. at first, the meaning of the words of the author was missing but over the time, different ideas were presented about their meaning. Of course, thanks to God, the wise author of the Quran, the meaning of the Quran is fixed, and the disagreement among the interpreters about the meaning is due to their lack of knowledge. However, the fact that there are various views about the meaning of Quranic verses cannot be ignored. This paper does not address the reasons why there are differing views, but it seeks to show the results of these diverse viewpoints. Using a descriptive analytical method and focusing on these main issues relating to beliefs, education and interpretation the paper reviews the benefits of the existence of the possibilities of interpreting some verses. On the basis of these three areas, the various possibilities of interpretation have effect on the ideological aspect of Muslims and educational and ethical effects, as well. Moreover, according to interpretive logic, they exert effect on provoking discussions on the methodology of interpretation.

The Quranic words "Ruh, Nafs, Qalb, Fuad, and Sadr" refer to the second dimension of man. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this paper discusses whether these words refer to onething or to various things, and analyzes the views of commentators, especially Allameh Tabatabai, Ayatollah Misbah Yazdi and Ayatollah Javadi Amoli to present a new criterion for distinguishing between the aforementioned words. The research result shows that this abstract matter is called Ruh before joining the body, and it is called Nafs after joining it.
Also, these two words are distinct from the three words: Qalb, Fuad and Sadr. These three words have the same meaning as Nafs or Ruh in their common use, but when used in association with attributes, they refer to the levels of human spirit or soul; or Ruh and Nafs may refer to the whole truth of man, but Qalb, Fuad and Sadr are qualities that do not refer to the whole truth of man despite being united with Nafs and Ruh.

The Quranic words cannot be dissociated from one another, and their precise meaning is properly understood from the elaborate system of the relations among them. Using a semantic- linguistic approach, the present study seeks to explain the term "Takfir". First, while studying the literal and idiomatic meanings of "Takfir"and its derivations, it deals with the concepts of association and substitution related to this word in order to reach a conclusion about the constituents of the meaning components of "Takfir", and then, it examines the shades of meaning of "Takfir". The outcome of studying the concepts that associate with and substitute for "Takfir" suggests that there is a significant relationship between the two concepts of Ghofran (forgiveness) and "Takfir". Therefore, Ghofran can be considered as a substitute for "Takfir". Faith, righteous deeds, repentance, piety, jihad and emigration can be among the constituents of each of Takfir and Ghofran. Also, in addition to the concept of Ghofran, the concepts of reform, removing, giving pardon and effacing fall in the same semantic domain of “Takfir”.

One of the most common perspectives in cognitive linguistics is the theory of "conceptual metaphor" that can be used in religious studies. The present study begins with an introduction to the metaphor and theory of conceptual metaphor. Then, examining the concept of "lisan" in the holy Quran by resting on the theory of conceptual metaphor, this study examines the effect of this view on understanding religious propositions. According to the research findings, six conceptual metaphors have been detected in the given verses, in which language and the actions related to it, such as knocking, receiving (understanding), closing and opening, testifying, and twisting are used to conceptualize such ideas as showing hostility, sarcasm, ridiculing, fluency in speech and the like (which are of high degree of abstraction and cannot be considered as basic human experiences).

The holy Prophet (PBUH) has a high status in Islam and it is incumbent on every one to honor him. For various purposes such as preventing any kind of chaos in Islamic society, recognizing the Prophet's high station and maintaining his true and legal status, Islam has administered punishments for blasphemers who speak in an offensive way about the Prophet. From the perspective of the Holy Quran and Islamic Fiqh, the punishment for those who speak in an offensive way about the holy Prophet of Islam are: futility of their deeds, their getting into the abyss of disbelief and apostasy, their entrance into the abyss of fighting against God and the Prophet corruption on earth and their being subject to Divine curse and torture. This paper examines the unfounded claim that punishing those who speak in an offensive way about the Prophet is against freedom of speech. Moreover, along with the question of the punishment administered for those who abuse the Prophet, some other issues are discussed in Islamic Fiqh such as the consensus of the Shite and Sunni Faqihs on killing the person who abuses the Prophet and the role of such components as secondary and governmental rules, belief, compulsion and the state of being purposeless, all of which indicate the unlawfulness of abusing the Prophet and are regarded as the measures which Islam takes to prevent it.