A Comparative Study of the Views of Lexicographers and the Ahl al-Bayt (a) in the Field of Quranic Semantics

The household (ahl al-bayt) of the Prophet were the most wellversed of all people in the Qurʾān and one of their roles in explaining the Holy Qurʾān was defining the meaning of its words. In the present paper, by focusing on exegetical traditions from the Ahl al-Bayt (a), six specific roles [played by them] have been inferred in relation to the semantics of Qurʾānic terms. It has also been confirmed that in the vast majority of exegetical traditions by the Ahl al-Bayt (a) on the meaning of individual words, the explication of the apparent meaning of the Qurʾānic terms is not their goal. Hence, the meanings that have
been elucidated for words in the Qurʾān are, according to most of these traditions, different from what has come by way of the works of lexicographers. However, most of these definitions can be harmonized with what is found in lexicons and the exegeses of the other sects.