An Attempt to Discover the Structure of Surah Ya-Seen Using a Phenomenological Approach

The structural view of Quranic surahs has come into the focus of the commentators and scholars of the Quran in contemporary times. This emerging trend in the field of Quranic commentary requires the strengthening of its theoretical underpinnings and the discovery and development of effective practical methods. The present article attempts to examine the efficacy of the phenomenological approach, as a new approach to the structural commentary of the Quran, in discovering the structure of Surah Ya-Seen. This approach can be effective in unraveling the structure of the Quranic surahs by removing the presuppositions based on the unstructured view and accumulated in the traditional commentary, which covertly interfere with the commentary process and impede a structural view on the Quran. This phenomenological encounter reveals that the central theme in Surah Ya-Seen is that "everything is included in imam-e mobin (Guarded Tablet)". This surah has five parts, the first one of which points out that Prophet Mohammad (p. b. u. h.) was delegated as a prophet to warn his people about this concept. In other parts of the surah, Allah explains this concept in the form of the story of a nation in the development course of humanity, mentioning divine signs in the world in natural phenomena and describing the conditions of the resurrection in the Hereafter. The last part of the surah, as a conclusion, depicts this concept across the universe. According to these explanations, the meaning of the phrase "everything is included in imam-e mobin” has three conceptual components: accomplishment, domination of power and facilitation of work, and inclusivity and pervasiveness.