A Comparative Re-Reading of the Quran Interpreters' Views of the 11th Verse of the Sura Faussilat

  In the field of Quran scholarship, one of the controversial topics concerns the phenomenon of language as referred to in the Holy Quran, that is to say, whether it was real or symbolic. One of them concerns the 11th verse of the Sura Fussilat which some Quran interpreters regard it as a real language, while others, mostly the modern ones, have interpreted it as a symbolic language. The present paper seeks to discuss various aspects of language and language use and concludes that it has had two levels of signification. The first-rate level is concerned with what the common reader stands, and the second-rate level concerns what the knowledgeable reader may find out therein. In other words, the first-rate level is a symbolic language, while the second-rate level pertains to the real sense of the verse that pertains to percolation of knowledge and understanding in and to all the creation.