نشریه رهیافت هایی در علوم قرآن و حدیث
سال پنجاه و سوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 107، پاییز و زمستان 1400)

The word "Ethm"(sin; in Arabic: اثم) with its 48 frequencies in the Holy Quran, is a key concept in the semantic field of the sin. In comparison with other concepts in this field, it has been used in more diverse contexts and semantic relationships. Neglecting the origin of this word and its semantic subtleties in the Quranic verses, lexicologists and commentators have considered it as same as other words in the semantic field of sin. Given the semantic opacity of the word Ethm in the Holy Quran, it is necessary to study this concept semantically. By using semantic methods such as etymology and syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, this article aims at analyzing Ethm semantically. Etymology confirms the components of "convergence", "delay", "intentionality", and "filthiness" in the word Ethm; the latter component refers to the idea of "essential badness" and the valuation of this concept before the advent of Islam. Investigating the syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations shows that Ethm is different from other concepts in the field of sin in the Quran; this word consists of two components of "falsehood," and "invalidity" and often refers to thoughts and sayings. Also, this word has two usages; in the domain of "relationship with God" in the context of the prohibitions, and the field of "human and social relations" in the context of participation in lies and the Forbidden.

One of the common features of religious texts is their high frequency of abstract and metaphysical concepts. Hence, they are full of metaphors that link between abstract and unknown conceptual domains and concrete and familiar ones. The findings of cognitive linguists show that establishing this link facilitates understanding of abstract and unknown concepts. In this study, we will explore the metaphorical use of the word light in the Qur'an by adopting a cognitive semantics approach, using Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Double-ground Metaphoric Chain (DGMC). In this descriptive-analytical research, ten Quranic interpretations written in five interpretive methods were used to determine the readings and referents of light in the Quran. Results show that, in 40 cases (out of 43 cases), light is used metaphorically to conceptualize several concepts. According to several referents mentioned for light in ten Quranic representations, 63 conceptual metaphors were found, in which, light is used as source domain. Furthermore, in seven cases, light is used as both source and target domain; i.e., as a central concept in a double-ground metaphorical chain.

Knowing the requirement of the speaker and the audience as well as the purpose of the conversation is effective in understanding the Quranic speech acts. Searle's theory of speech acts in pragmatics conforms with the secondary and literary purposes in semantics (Ma'ani). Searle has divided the effects of these speech acts into "Illocutionary effects" and "Perlocutionary effects". The perlocutionary effects are the subsidiary results of all the speech acts. Indirect speech acts need common background information between the speaker and the audience that is both linguistic and non-linguistic, and the audience perceives the conversation and its underlying concepts by relying on the rationality governing his verbal communication. The speaker's use of indirect expressions that means politeness in the speech has an important position. Using a descriptive-analytical method and based on the situational context of the verses, this study examines some direct and indirect speech acts. There are assertive, expressive, and directive acts in the conversations of Pharaoh, Moses, and the sorcerers through strategies of the speech. For example, when Pharaoh decided to destroy Moses' divine invitation, he asked the sorcerers for help and, by adopting a positive strategy, used the directive act to empower their magic and waited for his expected perlocutionary effects. Still, after the miracle of Moses, the sorcerers represented their expressive act toward the One God. Also. They reacted to the Pharaoh's threatening action with the speech strategies of the explicitness and declaration of faith in the One God. In other words, they didn't show any perlocutionary effects that he expected.

Commentators have expressed different views about those who are the referents of Divine promises in verse 55 of Surah al-Noor and each of them has usedvarious arguments to prove his opinion. Using a descriptive-analytical method, in this study, their comments and arguments have been collected and criticized. The findings show that in determining the instances of the promised ones in this verse, the commentators of two Islamic sects have generally adopted two approaches: specification of certain individuals or times and generalization. In other words, in the first approach, some of them have considered a specific group or time as the purpose of the promise in this verse; some Sunni exegetes have introduced the Two Scholars (Abu Bakr and Umar) or the four caliphs as the intention of this verse or have commented that this verse will be fulfilled on the Day of Resurrection. Still, in this study, their arguments were rejected. On the contrary, some Shiite commentators have limited the purpose of this verse to the household of the Prophet (Ahl al-Bayt) or the time of reappearance of Imam Mahdi (AS); this comment does not seem to be correct too, and instead of an exclusive referent, the reasons of these Shiite exegetes indicate the most perfect instance for this verse. The second approach also suggests that, unlike the first category, some of the exegetes of the two Islamic sects not only have not regarded this promise to be specific to a special person or time but also believed that whenever the conditions of faith and good deeds arise, this promise will be fulfilled. By examining their evidence, in this study, this view was preferred as the correct one. So, the innovation of this article is related to collecting all the comments in this regard and rejecting the popular Sunni view as well as suggesting that the famous Shiite perspective is comparative and not interpretive. In other words, the popular Shiite view isn't the explicit purpose of this verse; instead, it is the most perfect instance of the meaning of this verse. Also, the preferred view of this study, more than the famous Shiite perspective, can create unity between Shia and Sunni.

In the customary conversations, discovering the speaker's intention depends on the comprehension of all evidence. In the same way, to achieve the correct understanding of the Quranic sentences and verses, all the attached indications as well as the verses context should be considered.  However, regarding each of the Quranic phrases, some have claimed that besides the contextual meaning, there is a trans-contextual meaning too; it can be obtained by separating the phrase from the context and other indications. According to this view, many meanings can be obtained from separated phrases that are considered as the divine objectives of the Holy Quran. So, it is necessary to evaluate the validity of this claim. The findings of this study suggest that only those trans-contextual meanings are regarded as valid that are within the framework of the linguistic denotations and the rational rules of the generalization. Of course, the validity of such meanings is not exclusively related to the Holy Quran and they are considered valid in all the human texts and speeches. Also, like any human text and speech, trans-contextual meanings that are unregulated and obtained from separation of a Quranic phrase and verse from its context have no scientific and religious validity. Moreover, the evaluation of the given arguments of the theory of independent semantics of the Quranic phrases indicates that concerning the unregulated trans-contextual meanings, these arguments can't prove the claim.

The expository (Bayani) exegesis is a new school in the Quran exegetical method in the contemporary age that follows the classical and ancient literary ways of the Quran interpretation. Instead of Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Asad Abadi and especially Mohammad Abduh, Amin al-Khouli (1895-1966) is known as the founder and theorist of this exegetical school. He believed that the main and first goal of the interpretation is the genuine and absolute understanding of the Quran without considering any other preconditions. So, he proposed general principles and rules in the semantics of the words and verses of the Holy Quran. Bint al-Shati was his disciple, companion, wife, and follower. It has been stated in the introduction of the "Al-Tafsir al-Bayani" book that she has committed herself to implementing Amin al-Khouli's principles and tried to use them in her interpretation. In this study with emphasis on surah al-Alaq, the result of this commitment, the accordance of the theory with the practice, and the conformity of her interpretation with those principles were examined. The findings show that in the cases such as the interpretation according to the revelation order, thematic interpretation, semantics of a word through investigation the similar lexicons, etc., she has not implemented her and al-Khouli's principles in the exegesis and only committed to them theoretically.

Discussion about the interpretation and poetics methods is one of the interesting subjects in the academic literary studies in the contemporary period and many schools have emerged in this field. Formalism is one of the first schools of literary criticism in the present time. It maintains that the meaning of a text is discovered through knowing its form and purpose. Similarly, some of the interpretive studies on the Holy Quran are about the ways of its reading and interpretation and in this regard, several methods have been introduced by Islamic commentators. Structural Interpretation is one of these approaches that has received considerable attention in the field of Quranic studies in the current decade. According to this method, the meaning of surah is dependent on its purpose, and by analyzing the structure of the surah, its purpose and meaning can be discovered. Since the scientific study of a theory includes its comparison with other scientific views, it is necessary to compare this method with other criticism schools such as formalism. So, in the present study, the principles of the structural interpretation and its practical approach were compared with the formalist critique and their similarities, and differences were represented.

The concept of female angels in the Qur'an has caused many difficulties for the modern Qur'anic scholars. Mentioning this concept in a conversation with the polytheists in a Meccan surah (al-Najm) can only be justified if the polytheists were already familiar with it. However, no evidence for this femininity is found not only in the pre-Islamic literature of Arab people but also in Christian and Jewish texts. This issue confuses the perception of angels as the daughters of Allāh and also causes difficulties in their relation to Arabian goddesses. The main questions are as follow: what is the origin of the female angels? How did the polytheists perceive the angels as female beings and with what justification did they consider the angels as the daughters of Allāh? What connection is there between these angels and Arabian goddesses that are al-Lāt, al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt? One of the views presented in this regard, whose sparks also go back to G. Howting, is that the concept of female-angels can only be rational based on the basis of a combined model, instead of one-component conformity. Especially in relation to a group of Mesopotamian Jews who identified the stars and other cosmic bodies with angels. According to this view, if the three aforesaid names in the Quran (al-Lāt, al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt) are used to refer to the celestial objects, and if the polytheists associate them with the angels, the problem of the Quran's disputation with the polytheists seems understandable.

In hadith collections of the two Islamic sects, there are narrations about the life (Seerah) of the prophet. According to these traditions, the Messenger of God struck a person (intentionally or accidentally) and asked the beaten man to pardon him or retaliate. Some scholars have used these narrations as evidence in several jurisprudence branches of Shia. Still, these narrations should be cited after evaluating their isnads and texts. So, by using a descriptive-analytical method, this study aims to examine their authenticity. The findings show that both the texts and the isnads of these narrations are subject to criticism. Accordingly, there are six narrations on this issue; only one of them has an authentic isnad and the remained chains of the transmitters are distorted and weak. Also, their contents can be criticized both collectively and individually. The collective critiques are 1- the disorder in narrations, 2- conflict with the infallibility of the Prophet, and 3- conflict with the jurisprudential rule stating that there is no retaliation for a hit that doesn't cause injury. Individual critiques are related to the first and second narrations; their contents are in conflict not only with the jurisprudential rule of two Islamic sects referring to the intentional injury as the condition of retaliation but also at least with the definite Sunnah. Also, the third to sixth narrations are contrary to the verses and traditions referring to the moral life of the Prophet such as his good temper, kindness and compassion, forgiveness, and humility in interacting with people.

Nahdj al-Balagha is an epistemic literary masterpiece. So, its structure has the potential of analyzing from the perspectives of new approaches to literary criticism, such as poststructuralism. Using this approach with the main focus on dual contrasts can be a step toward using the new methods of analyzing the text in the field of Islamic studies and interdisciplinary research. On the other hand, it leads us to a new understanding of the text. Based on the poststructuralism theory, this study aims to explore the dual contrasts of silence (Somt) and speech (Notgh) in Nahdj al-Balagha.  Accordingly, the keywords of this semantic field were extracted and two basic words of the silence and the speech were examined in different contexts. The findings show that contrary to the common idea that assumes the speech as positive, in an uncommon view, Imam (AS) has considered the silence that means pithy sayings as a positive and valuable phenomenon, as well as causing dignity, effective, a sign of the wisdom and one of the ways to the thought completion.

The creation of woman in the second chapter of Genesis and the first verse of Surah al-Nisa has been related to "the bone of the man" and "the single soul", respectively. At first glance, the meaning of these two texts seems very irrelevant. So, first of all, in this study, regarding verses 21 to 23 of the second chapter of Genesis and the expression of "the single soul" in the first verse of surah al-Nisa, the different views were analyzed. Then other usages of the phrase "being out of the same bone and flesh" in the Old Testament as well as the word "soul" in the Quran were examined and it was shown that concerning the creation of the woman, the Torah and the Quran are compatible and express a similar concept. The findings indicate that the denotations of the creation of the woman from the man's rib in the Torah as well as from "the single soul" in the Quran refer to a common essence in the creation and, consequently, to the sincere and loving relationships and interdependence between spouses. Also, considering the similar usages in the Old Testament and the Holy Quran show that this relationship is accompanied by a kind of covenant and mutual loyalty too.

A common link is a narrator whose name is repeated in the isnads of hadiths. It has an effective role in identifying the sources of a narrative work and should be seriously considered in the isnad analysis. So, in this article, first, a systematical model was proposed for identifying the sources of narrative works. This pattern is based on analyzing the role of a common link in isnads and using other effective components. Then it was used in discovering the sources of the narratives of "Ali ibn Ibrahim from his father from Muhammad b. Abi Umayr from Hammad b. Uthman from Halabi from Imam Sadiq (AS)"; this is one of the most repetitive Isnads in al-Kafi. The results of this study are first, the development of the mentioned pattern based on the common links for finding the sources of narrative works, and second, identification of the sources of Koleyni in a repetitive isnad of the al-Kafi traditions by using its four common links, namely Ali b. Ibrahim, Ibrahim b. Hashim, Ibn Abi Umayr, and Hammad b. Uthman and analyzing their roles.