Literal-Intertextual Analysis of Verse Number 6 of Chapter 81(Al-takwir) of Holy Quran: A Dreamlike or a Reasonable Phrase?

According to Abdolkarim Soroush there are some dreamlike expressions and phrases in the Holy Qura’n. As he suggests, they should be interpreted as the dreams of the Prophet rather than the very word of the Almighty God as the commentators have assumed up to now. Among the evidences he suggests to prove his idea is the Verse 6 of Chapter 81 when God says: “when the oceans boil over with a swell”. Due to the literal potential of the word “سجر ” from the early beginning up to now Muslim scholars have interpreted the verse in several ways understanding it as normal. Dr. Soroush, however, presumes that the verse means: when the oceans are set afire or aflame which, according to him, is a dreamlike and surreal phrase. This article studies different meanings of the root سجر from a philological point of view along with an intertextual study of the root in Arabic poems before Qur’an and contemporary with it. The study suggests that when the root سجر accompanied with words like sea, well, lake, river and so forth it means concepts such as raising, swelling, disappreance, mixing or boiling of water. However, the sense of raising up is more common among others. All these possible meanings for the word سجر are very common and reasonable in the framework of philological and literal standards. Therefore, there is no reason to count the phrase in the verse out of ordinary and common framework of Arabic language. This means that the verse is, in no way, evidence in favor of the idea of Qur’an as dreams of the Prophet.