The Semantics of the Word Insane in the Holy Quran

In the Quran, the word “insane” and the like which have been reflected in the speech of prophecy deniers many times in different historical eras has been generally translated to “madness”, while this word has multiple and different meanings in different contexts. Terminological studying of this word and considering it in the words of philologists and commentators, this article has reached to this fact that contrary to popular perception that the meaning of the term is considered as “madness”, its true meaning is a person who is dominated by Jinn. We have come to this conclusion through descriptive semantics of the verses of the Quran that the word “insane” has been used in the Quran in different contexts in three meanings: “mad under the control of the Jinn”, necromancer under the control of the Jinn and “poet under the control of the Jinn”. Being charged with “insanity” by the people of the Prophet Noah (AS) is used in the first meaning and of Musa (AS) by the Pharaoh in the second sense, and of the Prophet of Islam by the idolaters of Mecca in the third meaning.