Historiographical Analysis of the Quranic Word “Sarīm” in the Verse “Fa 'Asbahat ka al-Sarīm” in Early, Late and Contemporary Exegetical and Translational Sources

The word “sarīm” in the verse “fa 'asbahat ka al-sarīm” (Q. Qalam:20) is a word that the Persian and Latin translators, as well as the commentators, have not given the same meaning, such as night, dark night, barren black, barren, burnt and dark, razed to the ground, abandoned and deserted, and harvested and picked. Two narratives were also mentioned, one of which became the basis for some commentators and translators. In this study, the analytical method and historical-comparative linguistics are used to determine the causes of the different meanings of this word and to present the correct meaning. The study of the Semitic lexical sources and the course of the commentaries and the analysis of the narratives show that the lexicographers and commentators did not accurately determine the meaning of the word. The abundance of word meanings in the sources used by the commentators and translators is involved in this matter. According to the original meaning of this word, namely: cutting and cutting off the fruit of the tree, the suggested meaning is “to pick." The Jāhilī literature, the lexicons, the evidence of the Semitic languages and the context also confirm this.