Analyzing the Meaning of the Word "al-ʿUjb" in the Qurʾān: a Critical Approach

The different applications of the words of the Qurʾān sometimes provide different meanings. This applications sometimes do not change the general meaning of the Quranic verses; But they make it difficult to understand the subtleties of the Qurʾān's meanings and reveal weak points in understanding the meaning. One of the roots of words whose different meanings have sometimes created far-fetched translations and interpretations is root <ʿJB> (usually means amazing), which can be seen in several verses of the Qurʾān. Most Arabic and Persian commentators and translators have interpreted it as “surprise”. A small number of commentators have also tried to interpret some of the usages of this root as “pleasant” and the like by distinguishing between different passages. This latter understanding is usually seen among the translators of the Qurʾān in European languages. The lack of a clear rule to distinguish the meaning of this root in its various applications has caused confusion. The present study is devoted to the analysis of the meaning of words derived from this root, and it is based on a descriptive-analytical method to examine this article lexically and morphologically, and by reviewing the commentators' opinions about the verses containing this article, its correct meaning in each explains its application. The achievement of this study is to evaluate this rule: the root <ʿjb> in all of it's application as an abstracted triple verb (al-Thulāthī al-Mujarrad) only means “surprise”; but in the case of Mazīd verbs, it is possible to have both meanings: pleasant and unpleasant, which of course, according to the context of the verse, the correct meaning is extracted.