A Comparative Study of Views of al-Zamakhshari and Allama Tabataba'i on Comprehension of Qur'anic Interrogatives

Interrogative constructions or Istifham are among aesthetic Qur'anic styles employed to convey the truth and inform the audience. Predominantly, Qur'anic interrogatives imply goals and intentions beyond actual questions. Rhetoricians have associated several secondary meanings with istifham, including denial, derision, surprise, assertion, curtsy, intimidation, abasement, deprecation, caution, persuasion, pray, censure, mention, explain, evenness and negation. This study adopts a comparative method to investigate the views of al-Zamakhshari and Allama Tabataba'i regarding the comprehension of interrogative constructions in the Qur'an. Although, both exegeses render close interpretations of the secondary meanings of interrogative constructions, a few variations can be detected. Such variations as different interpretations and discounting of a secondary meaning by one or both exegetes. Certain factors can contribute to such different interpretations, the most important ones having to do with, inter alia, speech style, semantic and grammatical ellipsis, and target audience.