A Semantic Study of the Word " Sakina" in the Holy Quran and Sacred Jewish Texts

The Quranic word "Sakina" is used only six times in three chapters of the Quran. According to Muslim commentators and translators of the Quran, the word "Sakina" is often translated as "calmness and tranquility" and is formed from the root "Sakan". Arab lexicographers have sometimes stated the same meaning for this term, and some other times, they have chosen other equivalents based on related narrations. However, there are a few translators who have suggested different meanings. Therefore, the existence of differing views and lack of a criterion for preferring one equivalent to the others, has made it difficult to gain a correct understand of this Qur’anic term. Using a historical-comparative method, the present paper conducts a careful study on this term in related sources, its true meaning and equivalent. The study shows that the word "Sakina" has a common origin and meaning with its uses in sacred Jewish texts. Although we cannot definitely consider this term as being borrowed from Syriac or Hebrew languages, abundant semantic and applied similarities of these two words in the Quran, and Jewish narrations and sacred texts indicate its specific religious meaning. Therefore, "Sakina" is the "divine glorious presence and manifestation" which believers experience in certain circumstances.