A Formalist Analysis of Lexical Layers in Surah Al-Aḥzāb

Formalistic analysis is one of the new methods in studying a text by examining the characteristics of the text in phonetic, lexical and syntactic layers, which leads to the discovery of the main topic and the worldview dominant in the text. It can be said that formalist analysis in the lexical layer of Qur’anic surahs is a way to discover the relation between the form and content of the surah and an approach to discover the main topic of the surah. The current study, as a formalistic analysis of the lexical layer of Surah Al-Aḥzāb, aimed to answer the question of what the main topic of SurahAl-Aḥzāb is and how the words used in this surah relate to the main topic. In order to discover the main topic, the contexts of this surah, and the key ayahs and words in each of them were examined. Moreover, in the lexical layer, the characteristics of the words used in the text and their connection with the main topic of this surah were explored. The findings show that obedience is the main topic of SurahAl-Aḥzāb and it was found that the meaningful use of other key words such as piety, covenant, Ahl al-Bayt, Yaʿṣi and Sallimū confirms and strengthens the main topic.