A Mythology of Juz' 30 of the Holy Qurʾān based on Roland Barthes's Theory: the Case of Surahs An-Nāziʻāt, ʻAbasa, Ash-Shams, and At-Tīn

Mythology, a sub-branch of semiotics as theorized by Roland Barthes, analyzes the style of sending messages and the implicit goals in the cultural codes of a text. This study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to analyze An-Nāziʻāt, Abasa, Ash-Shams, At-Tīn surahs in order to decode the implicit goals and ideologies they contain. The story of Musa and Firaun, the story of ignoring the request of the blind seeker of knowledge, the story of the Thamūd and cutting the hamstring of the camel loved by prophet Salih (AS), and finally Mount Sinai and God’s speech with Musa (AS) are identified as the four prominent cultural codes in these surahs. It can be concluded that these surahs are imbued with moral instructions and self-realization: An-Nāziʻāt preaches avoiding pride and one's following carnal desires; Abasa urges virtue based on the request and need of people who seek the truth, not based on the personal inclinations of the preacher; Ash-Shams asks people not to follow the majority of the society and highlights individual and ideological independence of each member of the society without being influenced by others; and At-Tīn recommends visiting the nature, particularly mountains, as necessary to improve the level of human insight and perception as well as a factor for self-realization and reconsidering one’s interactions with others.