نشریه شبهه پژوهی مطالعات قرآنی
سال سوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 5، پاییز و زمستان 1400)

Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH), an influential scholar of the Salafi religion, one of the critics of the theory of the womb and interpretation, rejected the Shiite interpretations and believed that the narration of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that the Qur'an has a noon and a womb was fabricated by the Shiites. It has not been narrated by any trusted narrator in narrative societies; Accordingly, in order to answer this doubt, by descriptive-analytical method by explaining the correct concept of ventricle and interpretation, proving ventricle and interpretation from the perspective of verses and analysis of narrations about the ventricle and interpretation of the Qur'an from a different perspective has not been done. The findings of the research show that the clarification of the narrations in the books of the two sects has proved the existence of esoteric layers for the verses of the Qur'an, and the difference of attitudes in explaining the nature of the ventricles and interpretation has caused differences of views.

The word "Dhan" (uncertainty) is one of the key words in the Holy Quran, which is important from different religious, moral and jurisprudential aspects. One of the wide-ranging issues about this word is the difference in its conceptualization in different Quranic contexts. There are three main views on this. According to the common view, many commentators and researchers have considered the main meaning of Dhan to be uncertainty; but they have interpreted this word as certainty, especially in the ten verses, contrary to the appearance of these verses, because they did not consider the main meaning of Dhan in these verses. This research tries to critically examine the interpretation of Dhan and Yaqin in the verses of the Holy Quran using analytical-descriptive method. Believing in verbal miracles and the wise use of words in the verses of the Holy Qur'an, makes it difficult to accept such an interpretive view on these verses. Based on this, in the first step, it has examined the lexical reports and critically analyzed the evidence and reasons of the linguists. Because the lexical reports have been the basis of interpretive analyzes many times and have shown that the main meaning of Dhan is seen in all the uses of this lexical item. Besides, the poetic evidence presented in proving the concept of knowledge and certainty for the word Dhan can be explained with the very original meaning of it, which is uncertainty. Then, based on this lexical analysis, it has investigated the lexical concept of Dhan and its interpretation in different verses with emphasis on the context of the verses. Finally, it has become clear that the use of Dhan with its original meaning can be defended in all the verses of the Holy Qur'an and is in full accordance with the context of the verses.

One of the most recent Qur'anic researches of Orientalists is the Encyclopedia of the Qur'an edited by Oliver Leman. The present article examines the article "Aisha" written by Oliver Leman in the Qur'an encyclopedia. In this article, regardless of other opinions, the author expresses the content regarding Aisha and Khadijah if they were virgins or widows when they married the Prophet, which should be examined the opposing opinions in every case. He considers Aisha to be the only virgin wife of the Prophet, and in his opinion, Khadija married the Prophet when she was 40 years old. After that, he has investigated the age of Aisha when she married the Prophet according to Sunni sources and considers Aisha to be a 6-year-old girl while marring the Prophet. In the present research, which was compiled by descriptive-analytical method, each of the cases of Aisha being a virgin, Khadijah being old when she married the Prophet, and the Prophet marrying a young child have been criticized. The findings of the research indicate that by referring to Sunni sources regarding the Prophet's marriages with Khadijah and Aisha, the Orientalists consider the issues in which there is a historical disagreement, so strong that in their opinion, there is no room for discussion about it. However, there are opposing opinions in this area that the author of the article should have mentioned.

In the Holy Qur'an, there are many and seemingly conflicting descriptions of human beings. On the one hand, he is described by characteristics such as divine nature, equipped with the power of reason, free will and choice, honored with divine dignity, blessed with divine grace, etc., and on the other hand, he is repeatedly criticized for qualities such as ingratitude, hopelessness, weakness, hurriedness, greediness, stinginess, ungenerousness, intolerance, insufficiency and so on. Where do these differences come from and how can harmony be achieved between the relevant verses? This article has taken a step in the direction of their unification while explaining these characteristics with descriptiveanalytical method. Therefore, it was found that this apparently conflicting collection places human being in the Best Make (Ahsan’i Taqweem). A group of verses on human characteristics refers to the stage of human development, and in this sense, it is caused by divine creation, it is not condemned, and principally not subject to the moral evaluation; but in the post-creation stage, when it comes to choice and free will, then issues like duty, valuation, reward or punishment are raised. Man is indebted to all these features in his forward journey. In the struggle of the entirety of these characteristics, the human being reaches the highest of the high (A’la Illiyyin) or the lowest of the low (Asfal al-Safilin), and all this is in line with how he chooses.

One of the important issues regarding the cognition of the Quran is the scope of its comprehensiveness. This issue has been the concern of scientists since the beginning of Islam, and some of them have occasionally addressed this issue under the title of human expectation from religion. In general, the viewpoints regarding the realm of religion and the comprehensiveness of the Qur'an can be divided into three main viewpoints; Minimum, moderate and maximum. Some enlightened religious thinkers, with the idea of minimal comprehensiveness, have expressed doubts about the scope of the prophet's mission and the Qur'an. They consider the realm of religion and the Qur'an to be the answer to religious issues only and limited to the affairs of the hereafter (God and the resurrection). They think even the worldly reformation of human life to be far from God's affair. And they consider the arrangement of people's lives by the prophets as a form of lowering the position of the prophets to the level of political and social elites. The claims and reasons of religious intellectuals do not agree with what is in the Qur'an and religious texts on various issues of human life, including political, economic, cultural, social, legal, etc., and their intellectual reasons are also against their ideas. This article uses a library method and a descriptive analytical approach with the aim of examining the views of some religious intellectuals with an emphasis on the thoughts of Mohandes Bazargan regarding the comprehensiveness of the Qur'an, with clear reasons in order to reject the aforementioned doubt, about the convergence, alignment and the clear presence of the Qur'an with human life in this world. It has also discussed the involvement of the Quran and religion in the guidance of people and defended the moderate approach. And by presenting various arguments from religious verses and traditions, it has come to the conclusion that religion and the Quran are not only the answers to religious issues and to regulate the relationship between human being and God, but rather, many of the worldly human affairs and issues, including government, law and politics, social justice, fighting against oppression and arrogance, and the rules of benefiting from the existence and natural system, etc., are in the domain of religion and the Qur'an.

Among the stories that contain some allegorical verses (Mutashabihat) in the Holy Quran is the story of Benjamin being confined by Prophet Yusuf (AS), which is mentioned in the 69th to 79th verses of Surah Yusuf. The ambiguities in these verses, which can be resolved by referring to the decisive verses (Muhkamat) are: the accusation of theft against apparently innocent people in public by a prophet and his resort to lie in order to implement his plan. The findings of the research, based on the interpretations of the Two Sects (Sunni and Shia) and some subtle precisions of the commentators, show that the prophet Yusuf (AS) did not make any accusations against his brothers in this case, did not slander them, and did not tell any lies in this regard. The meaning of "Innakum la’Sariqoun" [You indeed are thieves] (Yusuf/70) is their theft of Yusuf from his father during his childhood, which his brothers had really done; so the brothers of Yusuf were thieves and it was necessary to disgrace them in public. Almighty God also implemented a plan through Yusuf (AS) to bring about the necessary punishment for his brothers. The method to achieve the wanted result in this paper is a comparative study among different interpretations from which has been extracted the material that supports the infallibility of the Prophets, that was obtained through analysis and description.

One of the doubts raised about the Prophet's (PBUH) dealings with the Jews is the Prophet's order to kill some Jewish poets. Those who raise this doubt want to insinuate that the Prophet (PBUH) did not have the capacity to tolerate his opponents, so he has used violence to achieve his goals. In this research, the killing of four Jewish poets by Muslims, namely "Abu 'Afak, Asma' Bint Marwan, Abu Rafi' and Ka'b Ibn Ashraf" has been investigated by descriptive-analytical method and using rational and narrative reasons. The results of this research show that in the case of Abu 'Afak and Asma', the Muslims did this without the permission of the Prophet (PBUH), and in two other cases, it is stated in the sources that the Prophet (PBUH) was aware of the decision of the Muslims to kill Abu Rafi' and Ka'b Ibn Ashraf. And even if we say that he ordered to kill them, this was justified; because these people had launched heavy propaganda against the Prophet (PBUH) and Muslims with their poetry, which was then, the more winning weapon than a war weapon; Therefore, the satire of these poets against the Prophet (PBUH) and Muslims had created many problems for the Islamic society and provoked the enemies against the Islamic society, especially in unifying all the enemies in the war of Ahzab. As a result, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) had the right to think of a plan to prevent the continued invasion of Jewish poets.

The specialized view of the Orientalists on the teachings of the Holy Quran shows the necessity of a methodical and critical look at their studies. Especially, some of them have adopted a particular method in determining the examples of some verses. Reuven Firestone is one of the authors of the encyclopedia of the Holy Quran, who has written some of its entries. In these entries, he has commented on the "Zhabih" (sacrificed child) of the Prophet Ibrahim (AS) and, contrary to the opinion of most Islamic scholars, he believes that Ibrahim (AS) wanted to sacrifice "Isḥāq" (Isaac) - his second son. According to him, most of the previous commentators of the Qur'an share the same tendency and belief in this regard. The present study challenges Reuven Firestone's opinion by examining, analyzing and criticizing the content of the entry "Isḥāq" from the Quran encyclopedia and examines the methodology of the mentioned entry and why Firestone insists on Isaac to be the sacrificed child. The findings of the research show that in addition to the contradiction between the Torah and the Gospel of Barnabas in determining the example of sacrifice, the context of the verses of the Qur'an fits with the sacrifice of Ismail. Besides, the hadiths related to the sacrifice of Ismail, came with valid chain of documents and reliable sources, unlike the narrations related to the sacrifice of Isaac, which, in addition to the interruption of the chain of transmission, are faced with the weakness of the narrators.

An article entitled "Sur'at al-Daw' fil-Qur'an al-Karim" [The Speed of Light in the Holy Qur'an] by D. Muhammad Dodah has been published in the book "Al-Kawn wal-Ijaz al-Ilmi fil-Qur'an" [The universe and scientific miracles in the Qur’an] and several other sources in different languages. He has obtained a number very close to the speed of light of 299,792.5 km/s based on an interpretation of the 5th verse of Surah Sajdah and performing mathematical calculations. In this article, the calculation mistakes of the Dodah's method are stated as follows: The mistake in calculating the length of the moon's orbit, the mistake in comparing a thousand years to twelve thousand astronomical months, and the mistake in adjusting the average speed of the moon. Also, the basic errors in his calculations include: the wrong explanation of the verse, the dependence of the calculation quantities used in Dodah's calculations on time, and on the contrary, the speed of light being independent of time, as well as the high sensitivity of the final value, which were investigated in this paper. In addition to checking the errors in his method and the authenticity of the astronomical data used by him, referring to reliable sources.

One of the most important miraculous aspects of the Holy Quran, which has attracted the attention of non-Muslims and Orientalists in addition to the Quran scholars, is its verbal or literary miracle. Zakaria Botros, an Egyptian-born priest who is known for his critical approach towards Islam and the Qur'an, in an article, has denied the miracle of the Qur'an's expression by citing several verses that he claims do not conform to the written rules of Arabic literature. This denial is based on the doubt of the incompatibility of the verses of the Qur'an with the written rules of Arabic literature and the doubt of the authority of the written rules to evaluate the verses of the Qur'an. The conclusion of the current research is that there is no inconsistency between the written rules of Arabic grammar and the verses of the Qur'an, and the doubt of incompatibility between the two is the result of a lack of accurate knowledge of the grammar rules. Also, the rules of Arabic literature were compiled after the compilation of the Holy Quran and by referring to the verses of this divine book, to prevent mistakes in its reading and understanding. Therefore, the validity of the written rules depends on the harmony with the verses of the Qur'an. Thus, the doubt about the validity of written rules for evaluating the Holy Quran is contrary to obvious historical facts, so, knowing and paying attention to the true position of the Holy Quran and the written rules of Arabic literature, reveals the invalidity of the doubt.

One of the important issues in the field of women's studies is woman's testimony; therefore, its accurate investigation is an important step in the direction of raising the sublime concepts of Islam, dignifying woman, and removing the doubt of the inequality of the rights of woman and man. And because of the importance of this issue, it has long been the focus of Muslim and non-Muslim researchers. Some of the authors of the Leiden Qur'an Encyclopedia, referring to verse 282 of Surah Al-Baqarah, have raised doubts on the issue of women's testimony and considered the unequal number of women and men in testifying as a discrimination in law and (an indication to) lack of women's memory, by comparing Islamic jurisprudence to the Talmud. This article tries to answer these doubts with a descriptive-analytical method through the library sources. And it has reached the results that in Islam, men and women have duties and rights which have been legislated wisely and in an equal manner and based on their interests. And the issue of women's testimony, is among their legitimate duties and it is completely optional so the difference in number with man does not mean woman's lack of memory or discrimination and inequality of rights. In some cases, only woman has the right to testify. Onesidedness in the use of sources, presentation of superficial and conjectural analysis, incorrect comparison between the Quran and Talmud, and confusion of Orientalists in legal issues have led to their incorrect view on the women's testimony.

Throughout the history of Islam, the ill-wishers have been casting doubts about the transmission of the Quran at different levels of descriptive and recommendatory propositions as much as possible, with different accusations like being quoted from previous texts, lack of miracles, lack of compatibility with modern science, and so on. Such doubt-casting was intended to make the Quranic teachings and thoughts unidentified. The response of the revelatory text and the religious believers over the time was due to the suggested methods of the doubters. In the modern world, with the discovery of new components in line with the human-centered discourse circle, such as freedom and its incompatible categories with belief, expression and opinion, some doubt-casters have claimed its absence in the Holy Qur'an. The author of the book “Critique of the Quran” using anthropocentric thought and liberal vision, has denied the existence of the freedom of non-Muslim preaching under the Islamic rule. However, the expansion and dissemination of Islamic culture through propaganda activities with behavioral and normative modeling of desirable teachings and prevention of anomalies in line with the negation of harm in the process of human perfection is based on the propositions of the Islamic religion. The present research, with a critical approach to the text of the book “Critique of the Quran” and with a descriptive and analytical method, has searched for the author's neglecting of the freedom of preaching in the discourse system of the Holy Qur'an, and emphasized the existence of this component in the revealed text, and accordingly, it reached the conclusion about this kind of prohibition in the revealed text to be pointless.

In recent decades, Orientalists have made many efforts in studying and examining Islamic sources. Of course, these efforts are sometimes investigative and sometimes biased, and one of their important movements is the compilation of the Leiden's Qur'an Encyclopedia. The present paper, using the descriptive-analytical method as well as Qur'anic and narrative evidence and referring to the interpretations of the Two Sects (Sunni and Shia), has reviewed the entries of the revelation types related to the prophets (PBUTH) in the Leiden's Qur'an Encyclopedia. The problems with the entry are organized in two structural and content sections. The structural problems of the entry are manifested in loss of order, and lack of connection between topics and their content. Content problems generally include: Making mistakes in understanding the words and appearance of Quranic verses, error in interpretation of verses, mistakes in reasoning and drawing conclusions from it. The author of the mentioned entry tried to question the authenticity of the revelation by bringing expressions such as: the prophetic experience of Muhammad, the ambiguity and contradictions in the verses of the Quran, the honest dream of Muhammad and presenting incorrect interpretations of the verses and relying on unreliable sources. The most important critique is about this entry