Investigation into the Polysemy of "Walī" and "Mawlā" in the Holy Quran

The words "Walī" and "Mawlā" and their derivatives possess a high frequency in the Holy Quran. Muslim scholars have enumerated different meanings for each and have interpreted the related Quranic verses based on them. It seems, however, that there is some excessiveness in assigning these meanings and we can reduce the practical meanings of these words based on analyzing semantic components of their root. In addition, the most frequent meaning of these words implying guardianship and patronage on the one hand and obedience and submissiveness on the other, which has an important role in Quranic discourse, has not attained its deserving place in Quranic-lexicography literature and other Quranic scholarships. Furthermore, "Mawlā" has had various cultural senses in pre-Islamic era which should be taken into consideration when analyzing its meaning in some Quranic verses. The author has profited from certain semantic ideas in accomplishing this study and besides consulting lexicography literature, has not neglected the cultural senses of the terms in the Arabic culture contemporary with the advent of Islam.