نشریه پژوهش های قرآنی
سال سیزدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 56، پاییز و زمستان 1386)

The significance and the negative and positive functions of sexual instinct have turned it to one of the most pivotal discussions in various fields of knowledge. One of the issues that have not been independently delved into in this respect is the relationship and association between ḥijāb and chastity, which dealt with in the present article. Explanation of the concepts and definitions of ḥijāb and chastity, study of extreme and moderate Islamic viewpoints and attitudes concerning sexual instinct, are the introductory discussions and issues in this article.Among the pivotal topics addressed in this research are: studying and approaching various types of behaviors, speech, and clothing concerning ḥijāb; external conceptual connections, mutual impressions, and functions of ḥijāb and chastity such as psycho-economic, psycho-social, and psycho-familial functions; as well as procedures for reviving and promotion of ḥijāb and chastity, the value and religious status of ḥijāb and chastity, the distinctions and differences between ḥijāb and chastity in terms of concept; the external evidences and approaches for the individual and society to turn to and practice ḥijāb and chastity by.

This article is aiming at introducing and critically reviewing the new interpretations of ḥijāb. In this research, the interpretations of such scholars as ‘Ābid al-Jābirī, Muḥammad Shaḥrūr, Muḥammad Sa‘īd al-Qadāl, Muḥammad Sa‘īd al-‘Ashmāwī, ‘Abd al-Fattāḥ ‘Abd al-Qādir, and Aḥmad ‘Aqīla are presented.The main evidences of these heterodox thinkers in their new interpretations include: 1. common law and customs of the pagan Arabs, 2. legal decision principle, 3. vocabulary and statements in the verses, 4. occasions of revelation, and 5. verses of the Quran.The verses which have been studied in this writing include: verse 53 of Sūrat al-Aḥzāb; verse 31 of Sūrat al-Nūr; and verse 59 of Sūrat al-Aḥzāb. In the review of these viewpoints, the writer has made use of the occasions of revelation, the vocabulary of the verses, the verses of the Quran, legal decision principle, etc.

In this article the philosophy of ḥijāb (Islamic dress code) in light of the Quran is studied. The writer views ḥijāb as a reflection of modesty and chastity, and believes that modesty and chastity is an intrinsic human feature and stronger in women than in men. This innate feature is the basis of several suggestions from the Quran which are set forth in various verses, such as: men should guard their eyes [from lustful things], should cover up their privates, and should not trespass the private territory of families; women should guard their eyes, cover up their privates, avoid showing off, dancing, and speaking coquettishly, and do nor reveal their body and jewelry.The writer believes that ḥijāb is a mutual demand of both men and women and its philosophy is to be understood by studying its four innate requirements: modesty and make up in women, and dignity and lust in men; which if dealt with wisely and correctly, they would make feasible a pure and love-based marriage, a peaceful family life, and increasing friendship and kindness.

This article attempts to prove that modesty has an essential role in preserving and safeguarding the public chastity and that the ground should be laid for the reinforcement of modesty and decency along with the investment in the promotion of ḥijāb.First, the writer points out the notion of modesty as an innate disposition. Then, he goes on to talk about the first steps that endanger this virtue, believing that this first step is taken by the women and then strengthened by the men.Furthermore, he addresses the causes of motivation, and in the end discusses the approaches for preventing from perversions and nullifying the impacts of the above-mentioned causes.

As a culture, chastity demarcates the Muslim's character and conduct and teaches them how to be and how to live.Any society has a specific culture with predefined goals; the culture that the Quran presents to the Islamic communities is the culture of chastity which aims at creating sexual security for men and women, in achieving optimum human perfection. A great part of this magnificent culture is contained in ḥijāb.In other words, these two are inseparable, losing their real and genuine meaning without one another; ḥijāb without chastity is in itself a kind of cultural nudity in line with the promotion of perversion.In this article, the writer has given definitions concerning ḥijāb and chastity and then discussed their logical relation from the viewpoint of the Quran.

Ḥijāb, as some have presumed, is not merely a personal obligation; rather, it is an emotional, psychological, familial, and social issue, as well.In this article, the following topics are touched upon:1. The viewpoints and reasons of the theoreticians who believe ḥijāb to be merely a personal obligation, and reviewing them critically.2. The women's ḥijāb as a social issue from the viewpoint of the Quran.Although ḥijāb as being a social issue is provable from different viewpoints; in this article, it would be studied from the viewpoint of thematic relations of the verses in Sūrat al-Nūr.

After expressing the reasons for the necessity of a lexicology of ḥijāb, this article goes on to deal with the definition of tabarruj al-jāhiliyyat al-ūlā (the primitive pre-Islamic adorning) as a Quranic phrasing. At first, the writer explains the concept of primitive Jahilīyya with a review of the Arabic poetry, lexicons, and books of interpretation; then goes on to discuss primary Jahilīyya, examining the following two viewpoints:1.Primitive Jahilīyya is a time period.2.Primitive Jahilīyya is a culture.In the end, he sets forth his own viewpoint by giving a definition of adorning.

In this article the interpretations of Arab orthodox thinkers and the establishment of these interpretations on the revelation occasions of ḥijāb are dealt with.In the Shī‘ī and Sunnī exegetical, narrative, and historical texts, seven occasions of revelation have been introduced for the verse 53 of Sūrat al-Aḥzāb. According to the revelation occasion of this noble verse, Jābirī, Mirnīsī, and ‘Ashmāwī do not view ḥijāb in the statement ﴾ask it from them from behind a curtain [ḥijāb]﴿ (Al-Aḥzāb, 53) in its commonly used meaning and regard the ordinance of ḥijāb as addressed to the Prophet (S.A.W.)'s wives, refusing to approve its generality.Verse 53 of Sūrat al-Aḥzāb has four occasions of revelation. With the use of this verse, the phrase ﴾‘an yu‘rafna﴿ (to be distinguished), and ‘Umar's harsh encounter with the veiled female slaves, Jābirī and ‘Abd al-Fattāḥ ‘Abd al-Qādir consider the reason for the ordinance of ḥijāb to be the distinction of the free women and their not to be harassed, and talk of "annihilation of ordinance due to the annihilation of cause" on the basis of the rule "ordinance is dependent upon cause".Verse 31 of Sūrat al-Nūr contains three occasions of revelation. ‘Aqla, Shaḥrūr, Jābirī, and ‘Ashmāwī have utilized the revelation occasion of this verse to introduce the "covering of bosom" as the only indicant of this verse.Upon reporting on each of these interpretations, the writer of the article goes on to review them and criticized the views of these thinkers with the criteria of their own acceptance.

This article studies the principles and historical backgrounds of the purposefulness theory of the sūras (chapters) of the Quran. The first part of the article deals with the explanation of the features of the purposefulness theory of the sūras. The writer maintains that the accurate elucidation of these features would answer many of the misinterpretations and oppositions raised against this theory.In the second part of the article, the principles concerning the purposefulness of the sūras are enumerated and, in this relation, the consistency of the principles of attractiveness in Divine and human words, the revealed structure of the sūras, and purposefulness of the Quran are pointed out.In the final part, the article addresses the historical course of this theory and examines its development process in reliable Shī‘ī and Sunnī interpretations from the seventh/thirteenth century to the present era.

This article reviews the critic's fault-findings against qiṣāṣ (retaliation). The writer divides the opponent's misconceptions into two categories. The first include the misconceptions targeted at the principle of qiṣāṣ and the second are the misconceptions that question the conditions of qiṣāṣ. In the first category the following misconceptions are addressed.1. Execution is the final legal penalty for murder and not only a punishment for it, 2. Qiṣāṣ is a means rather than an end, 3. Qiṣāṣ is not compatible with psychology and sociology, and 4. Amnesty of the murderer is better than qiṣāṣ.In the second part of this research, the precondition of social similarity, religious similarity, and gender similarity is studied and the misconceptions of the opponents of these three preconditions are set forth, with each being critically reviewed separately.

Interpretations of the Quran have always been regarded as the most widespread and diverse ground for expression of religious and epistemological thoughts; that is because the understanding of any interpreter of the blessed verses of the Revealed Book is normally different from his other counterparts.On the other hand, the study of the Quran's interpretations and the accurate explanation of the features and advantages of each one of them is a highly significant and necessary step toward a more correct, inclusive, and thorough understanding of this Holy Scripture.Laṭā’if al-Ishārāt written by Qushayrī, who is well-known for his precious Risāla, is one of the earliest interpretations which – given the personality and mystical wayfaring of its interpreter – deserves to be re-examined and deliberated on both because of its style and its exegetical principles and rules.We are attempting to undertake this critical task – however briefly – in the present article.

Sound traditions play a significant role in recognizing the Quranic concepts and interpretation of the verses. There are many verses whose interpretation has not been possible except by referring the traditions. Even the honorable interpreters who have chosen the "Interpretation of Quran through Quran" and regarded the verses as sufficient for interpreting other verses have practically found out the insufficiency of this method and have been forced to consult traditions for interpreting and explicating many of the Quranic verses.In the history of the Quran interpretation, however, sometimes traditionism has denied the interpreters permission to make adaptations in traditions, paving the way for the forged traditions and Jewish and Christian lore (isrā'īliyāt) to enter the translation and interpretation of the Quran.The story of denouncement of Sāmirī by the Prophet Moses (A.S.) – upon his return from his trip to Mount Sinai – which is stated in Sūra Ṭā Hā, is among the verses that are enveloped in a halo of forgeries and dust of superstition.Examining the related traditions and unique sayings in the verse, the article seeks to remove superstitions from its concept.

Mullā Ṣadrā's exegetical work, from among his other works, enjoys a special privilege in his Quranic approach. Ṣadrā regards explicit narration and thorough intuition as two fundamental bases of interpretation; thus, he neither approves the inflexibility of terms nor neglecting it; rather, he believes while maintaining the external meaning, the evidences of the facts and the inner meanings are to be dealt with, as well. Mullā Ṣadrā divides exegetical methods into four main groups and regards the method adopted by those firmly grounded in knowledge (al-Rāsikhūn fī al-‘Ilm) as to be the right method; that is the method of those who have attained the truths of the Quran with the light of the Prophethood and Wilāyat, free from the excess of the philosophers and the neglect of the traditionists. Mullā Ṣadrā considers the Quran to be the manifestation of the world of existence, containing the realms of the visible and the invisible. To his opinion, the Quran is a written copy of the universe and the existence as the simulation of the Quran. Thus, the Quran is understood only by those endowed with understanding through intuitive knowledge.

Writing has always been the best tool for recording thoughts and transferring knowledge; however, in many cases it requires gradual development so as to display the sounds of the words. For this reason, it has certain deficiencies, one of which is the existence of marks which are written but not read, and the second one is the existence of marks which are written but their sound is other than what has been set to be; and the third is the sounds that exist in speaking but there are no marks for them.The word's syllable in the Quran is almost in full conformity with speech except in cases that the long vowel marks (alif, wāw, yā’) seem to be omitted or added. In the present article, the status and significance of the Quran orthography among the Muslims and the differences between the Ottoman and Sulṭānī orthographies are dealt with.

This writing deals with the role and status of the Quran's culture in composing dissertations. First, the writer asserts the necessity of formulating the Quran's culture and the criteria observed in it; then, introduces the challenges in composing dissertations which include: finding a suitable subject, access to reliable references, accurate planning, finding the way to the concepts relevant to the subject, the lack of knowledge production, difficult and insufficient access to information, being uninformed about equivalent terms, and lack of comprehensive sources.In conclusion, the article touches upon the role of the Quran's culture in resolving the aforementioned challenges, and simplification of research and composition of dissertation, bringing up some examples and samples in this respect.