An Analysis of Al-Tahaddi Ayahs Based on Norman Fairclough's CDA Approach

Norman Fairclough's critical discourse analysis is an important theory of discourse analysis. While expressing the relationship between the internal and external evidences of the text and relying on linguistic forms and signs, this theory seeks to examine the dominant power of society and the space in which the literary work is formed through the three axes of description, interpretation and explanation, and to read through some kind of ideological concept beyond the text. Given the importance of Al-Tahaddi Ayahsin the miracle of the Qur’an and various interpretations of these ayahs, the necessity of a new reading is felt. Using a descriptive-analytical approach and based on the analysis of Fairclough's critical discourse analysis, the present study concluded that at the «description» level, the key words used to describe and critique the speech and behavior of the polytheists with varying frequency in the context of Al-Tahaddi Ayahs have played a central role in the representation of the ideology governing the society, and serve as a comprehensive and accurate reflection of the circumstances of the society in the era of the coming down of the Qur’an. The level of «interpretation» is a combination of textual content and contextual knowledge, consistent with historical mutual action that shows how social structures describe and define discourse as social action. At the level of «explanation», the Qur’anic rhythmical order and rhetoric are the most important factors in people's trying to emulate the Qur’an. However, the social relations of the era of the descent and the extratemporal dimensions of the Qur’an have also been influential in the revelation of the ayahs.