“The Essence of Meaning”, Accounts & Criticisms

The “Essence of Meaning” theory, sometimes referred to as “Setting words for general meanings”, has a mysticalphilosophical origin and is considered by the scholars as a solution for solving the Quran verses and Hadiths ambiguities. Exploring the books of mystics, philosophers and commentators, shows that many famous Islamic scholars have used this theory. Some of them called this theory as “the main key of understanding” or “the principle of understanding the secrets of Quran”. According to this prominent theory, The meanings of the “Words” are wider and more general than what is supposed to be. The result of this semantic generalization is to achieve deeper layers of meanings while adhering to the Apparent meanings of words, free of figurative elements and metonymy. This article seeks to answer the question of What are the different versions of this theory and can it be methodically analyzed and proved or not?