فصلنامه پژوهش های ادبی - قرآنی
سال چهارم شماره 2 (پیاپی 14، تابستان 1395)

This case study is intended to review and analyze the literary and content structure of Ayah al-Tathir (Purification Verse). Some scholars see the content of this ayah unconditioned and from the perspective of divine legislation will, they have considered Prophet Muhammad's (SAW) wives in particular and his household in general included as referent of this ayah while some other scholars believe that rijs means inner rijs and tathir refers to inner tathir. In the present study, we, from a literary perspective, first explicated the words 'rij's and 'tathir' with respect to philologist's and exegete's ideas as unconditioned. Then, using internal evidence and considering the pronoun shift from feminine to masculine, (from you NOT from them, [i.e. the women]; purify you NOT purify them, [i.e. the women]) and since all the pronouns used in the seven ayahs are not harmonious with each other, we excluded the Prophet's wives from Ayah al-Tathir. Furthermore, with regard to the content, because Prophet's wives are addressed with admonition while the address in Ayah al-Tathir is respectful, we deemed this as a sign of a lack of register unity and concluded that will means divine legislation will and Ahl al-Bayt refers to their luminous souls and tathir means saving them from any improper thing and against true human virtues.

Word research is one of the methods used in thematic exegesis for unearthing and eliciting the Quranic theory, which has recently attracted a lot of attention particularly in linguistics and semantics because it can, through analyzing words in the Quranic semantic network, provide new meanings of words that although in cases show overlaps with prior meanings belonging to networks outside the Quranic one, in others it can present meanings that are innovative and specific to the Quranic perspective. Such new meanings lead to the semantic expansion of words. The present study intended to analyze the word 'estehza' using a descriptive-analytical method and drawing on philological studies as well as analyzing syntagmatic and paradigmatic patterns of words.
The results indicated that the word 'estehza' has semantic associations with some creedal and moral concepts and this has been the cause of the semantic expansion of this word in the Quran. Although the lexical dictionary meanings 'mockery' and 'disparaging' are also used in the Quran, words find new meanings in the light of monotheism, which is the main axis of Quranic ayahs. As a result, new compound phrases such as ridiculing (estehza) Allah emerge. The syntagmatic placement of estehza with kofr (infidelity) and nifaq (hypocrisy), and its replacement with sakhera and zaheka turned out that we have two types of approved and disapproved estehza in the Quran. While the former is meant by Allah to train and inform the believers of the disbeliever's ridicule, hence a kind of punishment for them, the latter signifies the infidel and the hypocrite's belittlement and unconcernedness. These semantic relations were highlighted, clarified semantically, and beautified structurally through literary subtleties and artistic imagery from the logical to the sensible, and other literary and phonetic devices. This indicates the coherence and consistency between words and meanings.

Today, new horizons have been opened up in the study of the Quranic text due to the expansion of text linguistics. Coherence is one significant criteria in the textuality of a text and it has become very important in text linguistics and can be analyzed at various levels. One of the most obvious manifestations of cohesion in the holy Quran is the phonetic cohesion that due to the pauses between ayahs establishes an inseparable connection between ayahs through creating relations and coordination. Therefore, because of the prominent position of phonetic rhyme in the relation and integration between ayahs and since phonetic rhyme has mostly attracted interest in the traditional rhetoric, the present study aimed to investigate the cohesive function of rhyme in several surahs of the Quran using a descriptive-analysis method. The results showed that the phonetic function of rhyme has a very crucial role in the connection and integration of ayahs which together with other cohesive devices give cohesion to the surah's whole texts.

the Quran has undoubtedly had a fundamental role in the creation, evolution and development of rhetorical sciences. The study of literary text in each era of Persian literature reveals verbal and semantic aspects in creating rhetorical images and rhetorical embellishment. To elaborate the role of the Quran in the evolution and development of rhetorical embellishment and to find relevant Quranic evidence, also in order to perform a new exploration for puns, and more familiarity with the poetry of great poets of Azerbaijani style and the Quranic influence on them, this study analyzed Quranic puns in the poetry of three famous poets belonging to this style, i.e. Khaqani, Nezami, Qatran Tabrizi. In this regard, we achieved twenty types of Quranic puns in the poetry of these poets.

In ayah 69 of surah Ya-Sin, Allah declares that the Holy Prophet (SAW) is absolved from poetry when He says: "And We have not taught him (Muhammad) poetry, nor is it meet for him. This is naught else than a Reminder and a Lecture making plain." The fact that why in this ayah, besides the denial of teaching poetry to the Prophet (SAW), even his very soul is considered absolved of poetry is a point about which commentators have offered different opinions. Analyzing the word "poetry" denotatively and connotatively as well as pointing out the beliefs of Arabs at the era of the Quran's revelation, the present study analyzed this ayah and concluded that the specific viewpoint of revelation-era Arabs towards poetry and the belief in the role of demons in the inspiration poets draw from poems is the reason of absolving the Prophet (SAW) and the Holy Quran form poetry because demons do not deserve to be mediators in the revelation of the Holy Quran to the Prophet (SAW) nor the Prophet deserves to receive the Holy Quran as "poetry" from demons.

Literary semiology of personality is a branch of linguistic semiology by means of which deeper and more accurate knowledge about personality's implications can be obtained. The Holy Quran as the most prominent literary text is full of linguistic signs, one of which is the many characters that are directly referred to. Pharaoh is one of the most repetitive figures in the Quran. Thus, a semiological study of this character can lead to understanding the nature, the concepts, and the implications behind his personality. The present study, based on the French semiologist Philip Hamon’s personality semiology, analyzed Pharaoh’s personality in the Quran with respect to signifiers (name, syntactic position, pronouns and rhetorical dimension) and signifieds (adjectives, verbal action and behavioral action). The results proved that the name, the titles, and the description of Pharaoh's personality are in line with his fictional function. Because of the link it established between semiology and hermeneutics thus providing a deeper understanding of Pharaoh’s personality, this study can help in realizing the nuances of the Quranic words usage.

Today it is observed that cultural and Islamic civilization heritage has been given a new form and represented, within the modern framework, as the innovations of the Western world and the result of Western scholars and theorist's thought. However, studies show that part of what is called the Western innovation is our own Islamic heritage clothed anew and returned to us. One such case is 'very short story' which is considered the product of the Western literature in the contemporary era. According to the common belief, very short stories are a response to the conditions in the closing years of the twentieth century in the Western literature and Formalism made the first remarks about very short story. Then, writing very short stories crossed the borders of other nation's literatures. These are while we can see a number of examples with features of very short stories in the Holy Quran. Such stories are sometimes a part of prophet's lives and sometimes they capitalize on a certain social phenomenon, thereby pursue educational and guiding aims. One Quranic example of such stories is in Surah Nahl, ayahs 58 and 59, where the evil practice of burying girls alive is heavily criticized in a very short story in fewer than two lines. The existence of such fine examples of very short stories totally undermine the claim that such stories are innovative and have their roots in the Western literary tradition.