Clarification of the Orientalists’Viewpoint “on the Discontinuity of the Verses of the Quran” and Its Criticism

he issue of coherence and thematic unity between the verses of each surah has always been one of the most important and challenging issues. Orientalists such as Goldziher, Richard Bell and Régis Blachère have expressed their opinions in this field more than other orientalists and have raised the suspicion of anxiety, instability, irregularity and boring verses of the Quran. In the following article, after explaining the claims of the Orientalists in the mentioned issue, based on the criteria of the connection of the verses which are defined and presented in the valuable commentary of al-Mizan, using the descriptive-analytical method, the answer to the said doubt has been given. The most important criteria for the coherence of the verses of each surah from the perspective of Allama Tabatabai are: using the context of the verses, proving the sovereignty of a single purpose in the verses of each surah, the existence of composition and type of sentences; Summarizing the contents at the end of a few verses, the confrontation between the beginning and the end of the surah and the relationship between the beginning and the end of the verse through the expression of a divine tradition. Based on the opinions of Allamah Tabatabai in Tafsir al-Mizan, the summation of ten indicators or criteria for the connection of verses is considered to be a novel and innovative aspect of this article.