PAZHUHESH-DINI (RELIGIOUS STUDY)
Year:2020 | Volume:- | Issue:40|Papers Count:12

“ Infaq” is one of the most prominent individual-social guiding principles of the Quran, which is referred to as financial piety as opposed to doctrinal and devotional piety. The high frequency of infaq verses in the divine discourse indicates its special importance to God, so much so that it has been mentioned as a way to save man from the inner diseases of the soul, such as miserliness, avarice, etc., and it paves the way for the purity of the soul. Based on syntagmatic relations, infaq co-occurs with many words in the divine verses. Relying on the descriptive-analytical method, the present article deals with the semantic components of infaq based on the positive and negative differentiation of elements while extracting some of the words which co-occur with infaq. The findings reveal that the word infaq co-occurs with some ethical and doctrinal concepts with positive emotional denotation such as faith, piety, benevolence, goodness, trustworthiness, lucrative business, etc., and creating semantic relationships at the sentence level, it forms such semantic components as practical faith, creation of personal and social security and health, theism, reinforcement of moral values, moderation, etc. Each one of these lexical relations denotes special meaning subtleties and literary imagery of infaq, and in turn indicates the coherence and cohesion of the words and meanings in the divine discourse, so much so that the lack of attention to the highlights in syntagmatic relations will reduce the precise and deep understanding of words.

For Johann Galtung (a Norwegian sociologist and peace scholar), peace and violence are at odds, and peace cannot be achieved if there is violence. Cultural and structural violence are the two main obstacles to achieving lasting peace in societies and at the international level. Cultural violence refers to those aspects of culture that justify or legitimize violence, and religion can be a source of cultural violence. Structural violence refers to discrimination, deprivation and institutionalized prohibitions in society; structural violence lies in structures and is reflected in the unequal distribution of power, resources, and opportunities. The present study is of qualitative type and uses the descriptive-analytical method to review the Quranic verses related to peace and violence in order to find out the view of the Quran on these two issues (based on the definition and classification of Johan Galtung). In this regard, the Quranic verses related to the principles of Islam, Islamic ethics and spirituality, the purpose of the mission of the divine prophets and the methods of inviting people to religion are selected and their relationship with peace and violence is examined. Moreover, the characteristics of taghut (false deity) and the social structure of the society ruled by pharaohs are compared with the components of structural violence, and it is concluded that the principles of Islam and the Quranic-Islamic teachings are peace-oriented and anti-violence, and they are strong foundations for cultural peace, but they refute cultural violence and structural violence and are not compatible with them.

Semiotic studies are among the most up-to-date studies in the contemporary world, and cultural semiotics is one of its most important approaches. Yuri Lutman is one of the founders of cultural semiotics who has developed the “ insider and outsider” paradigm. According to this model, whatever is not ‘ insider’ is inevitably ‘ outsider’ and vice versa! Today, utilization of up-to-date knowledge is an important way for analyzing religious texts. Nahj al-Balaghah is one of the texts in the context of which historical trends can be scrutinized using up-to-date knowledge. One of important movements in the history of Islam is the Khawarij about whose acts various reports have been given in Nahj al-Balaghah. This descriptive-analytical study seeks to apply the “ insider and outsider” paradigm to the Khawarij movement based on the propositions of Nahj al-Balagah and to examine the acts of the followers of this movement on the basis of this paradigm. Analysis of how this movement was formed and the acts of its followers during the history on the basis of “ insider and outsider” method indicates that it is a multi-faceted and intricate process.

The idea of Satan is recognized in line with the theological and ontological elements in the Torah and the holy Quran. What the Torah narrates about Satan lacks consistency and existential unity, and giving a different, natural and abstract configuration of Satan, this religious text represents him as a being with a variety of functions. In the pre-Islamic view, Satan is said to have a mythical nature under the system of worshiping the Supreme Lord, and the Torah offers a divergent narrative about Satan as a conscious, benevolent, far-sighted, examining and deceitful being who is assumed to be independent of God and have a special function and who came to be known as a result of the way the Torah appeared in a historical process and in co-existence and interaction with civilizations (Mesopotamian) and in connection with their discourse systems. But in the monotheistic approach of the Quran, Satan is introduced in a new way. In the narrative of the Torah, the lineage of Satan has a mythical divine nature, and he is said to have the dual function of earthly discipline under the Supreme God, but the Quran introduces Satan as a creation of God, who enjoys the attribute of authority and consistent functions (tempter, misleading, . . . ). Using the syntagmatic and paradigmatic semantic method and its related components, this article looks into the lineage of Satan in terms of what it is and what functions he has in the texts of the Torah and the holy Quran, and tries to reveal its narrative differences.

Having authority in reciting the Quran appeared with the emergence of differences in reciting the Quran in the second half of the first century and the first half of the second century AH. The Islamic scholars of the following centuries, influenced by ibn-Mujahidchr('39')s Kitab al-Sabchr('39')a and his move to limit the recitation of the Quran to only seven ways, took into account recitation authority within the framework of argumentation and reasoning in recitations along with offering criteria and methods, and then they embarked upon selecting the correct recitation. Relying on the historical-analytical approach, the present study attempts to explicate the scientific criteria for selecting the correct recitation from among the criteria of the scholars of the past and the present (concordance between the recitation of a reciter and the general Muslim recitation or public recitation, correspondence between the recitation and the calligraphy of Othman Taha’ s mus-haf concordance between the recitation and the rules of the Arabic language, and lack of contradiction between the recitation and rational arguments) and the narrative, literary, interpretive and writing methods of their authority that embrace some positive effects (including textual survival of the Quran, formation of various criteria for choosing the correct recitation, the development of the science of recitation, the promotion of reasoning in accepting or rejecting recitations, the richness of the Quranic literature, the role of the Arabic Language in paving the way and the development of syntax, and the impacts on interpretive and jurisprudential sciences) as well as negative effects and harms (including the reciter’ s autocratic opinion and individual judgement, the reciter’ s self-praise in Arabic literature and gaining fame, the reciterchr('39')s weakness in Arabic literature, lack of knowledge of Arabic rules, and the Orientalists’ giving doubts about the alteration of the Quran momentum and their casting doubts about denying the divinity of the Quran).

The word daraba is one of the most complex words in the Arabic language, which according to some of the earliest philologists is used to refer to all actions. Therefore, a precise understanding of the meanings of daraba in the Quran and finding its semantic components requires a methodological study. Structural semantics is one of the methods of Quranic studies which deals with extracting hidden meanings in a text considering a network of conceptual relations. The present study is based on syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations and seeks to discover the semantic components of daraba using the constructivist approach. An attempt has been made to explain the semantic status of daraba in the Quran through the semantic analysis of the words that are in the same semantic field as daraba and in the two syntagmatic and paradigmatic axes. The semantic components of “ daraba” extracted through syntagmatic relations are: to connect, to join, to close, to leave, to turn away from, to entangle, to unfold, to surround, to change, external emergence, power and weight. The semantic components to go, to cut, to turn away from, to surround, to cover, to squeeze and to entangle were further extracted through the paradigmatic axis of “ daraba” .

The existence of morally delicate points in the verses of the Quran is indicative of the importance of obligation to moral virtues to God. In a passing look, the verses of the revealed prescripts may seem to be purely legal and punitive. However, their closer examination shows that they fully match moral standards. Among the most prominent examples of the ethical orientations of the holy Quran are the verses related to the difficult and unfavorable conditions of relationships between individuals such as jihad, retaliation and divorce. In this article, we seek to examine where fiqh and ethics meet in the prescripts and divorce verses. The subject of divorce has been mentioned in numerous verses in al-Baqarah, al-Talaq, al-Nisa, al-Ahzab. God has emphasized adherence to moral standards in all the interactions of couples. In todaychr('39')s society, the marital life style and separation style of people do not conform to Sharichr('39')ah laws. Careful observance of the Islamic prescripts and delicate ethical considerations related to the subject of divorce can greatly reconcile and reunite couples. It needs to be noted that none of the current translations, commentaries and laws have fully taken these delicate ethical considerations into account. This article deals with the prominent ethical points of the revealed divorce prescripts related to eddeh, giving back nafaqah (alimony), giving gifts, paying for breastfeeding, etc.

“ Semantic development” is an issue related to lexicology, and it is apparently a new issue which is different from similar issues that are often confused with it. “ Semantic development” does not mean polysemy in the sense that a word has several different meanings. Rather, it denotes the inclusion and development of the meanings of a word along its very original semantic root. This linguistic capacity existed in the pre-Islamic period, too; however, with the advent of Islam, it became clearer, and words became more extended and developed with this view in Islamic culture, and new concepts were introduced in the language of the holy Quran and narrations. Therefore, Ahl al-Bayt (a. s. ) have provided examples of semantic development in interpretive narrations considering both interpretive and didactic perspectives. The most important factor in recognizing semantic development in the holy Quran is the context of the verse, and due to this, it seems that many interpretations and equivalents, especially in the translations of the Quran, are not exact equivalents and in some cases are incorrect. For example, understanding the difference between the atmospheres of verse 127 of Surah al-Achr('39')raf and verse 4 of Surah al-Qasas requires accepting the semantic development in the verse of Surah al-Achr('39')raf. However, most commentators and translators, due to the similarity of these verses, have ignored the context and have not perceived such semantic development and tried to resort to justification in explaining the difference between the two contexts, but in the semantic development of this glorious verse, qatl means killing the spirit of thought in man, and istihya’ refers to removing modesty of women in society.

Miraculousness or inimitability is one of the important issues of the Quran, which initiated from the second half of the second century (AH) and reached its full extent of growth and development until the eighth century (AH). Al-Fanari is one of the prominent figures in the field of interpretation sciences of the Quran who has studied and refined this important issue. Shams al-Din al-Fanari is the author of Ein al-A’ yan Commentary with a mystical approach. In his view, a miracle is an extraordinary act that is accompanied by tahaddi (to challenges people to do something extraordinary) without meeting with any opposition, and it is different from keramat (an extraordinary thing that some ordinary people do and is not accompanied by challenging people to do something extraordinary) and erhas (the occurrence of extraordinary acts that take place before the claim of prophecy and as an introduction to it). Compared to the scholars before him, al-Fanari has two new approaches to miracle in his commentary: first, the miraculousness which belongs to the Quran itself, and second, the miraculousness which is related to prohibiting people from using the power of opposing the Quran, not from the opposition itself despite having the power. The findings of this study reveals that al-Fanari, in addition to being in agreement with other scholars in the field of miracles, has also had some novel ideas and thoughts, the most outstanding of which is a completely mystical analysis of the authorities of the Prophet of Islam (p. b. u. h. ) and his power to present miracles, as well as an analysis of the nature of order with its five components.

Verse 17 of Surah Hood is one of the verses that has been debated among scholars due to its connection with the welayat of Imam Ali (a. s. ) and also the ambiguity in the examples of the concepts “ shahed” , “ bayyinah” and “ the holder of bayyinah” . The data of the present study were collected using library sources and processed using the comparative-analytical method. Following an examination of the intellectual and doctrinal principles and the approaches of Allameh Tabatabaei and Rashid-Reza, as well as the intellectual backgrounds of these two Shiite and Sunni commentators, the examples of the above-mentioned concepts have been discussed. Based on this, Allameh Tabatabaei, relying on extra-textual and intra-textual arguments, believes that the example of “ shahed” , in terms of application, is Imam Ali (a. s. ) and “ bayyinah” refers to absolute divine insight. He further believes that the sentence «أفَمَنْ کانَ عَلی بَیِّنَهٍ مِنْ رَبِّه» applies to the Messenger of God (p. b. u. h. ), and he does not consider “ the holder of bayyinah” to be exclusive to the Messenger of God. On the contrary, Rashid-Reza believes “ bayyinah” refers to rational authority and natural illumination and “ the holder of bayyinah” refers to those who do not want anything in their life except the pleasures and ornaments of the world. He further holds that the Quran is one of the examples of “ shahed” .

The purpose of the present research work is to study the structural and semantic evolution and development of the word nazr (a vow or commitment to carry out an act) and its derivatives in Hebrew, Arabic and Syriac languages with a focus on the reports of the Quran, the Old Testament and the New Testament using the historical and comparative-analytical methods. The derivatives of the root nazr have been used with two meanings in the Holy Quran: ‘ to vow to carry out an act’ and ‘ to intimidate’ . However, this word has merely been used with the meaning of ‘ to vow to carry out an act’ in Hebrew language and in the Old Testament, as well as in Syriac language and in the New Testament, and no mention has been made of the meaning of ‘ intimidation’ in them. Studies show that as we get closer to the age of Islam, the root of this word takes on a second meaning, i. e. intimidation.

In Islamic teachings, many examples of crime control methods are reflected in the behavior, actions and language of the Infallibles (a. s. ), all of which can be categorized under an independent system of thought called the Islamic discourse of crime control. In the present study, an attempt has been made to compare and contrast this discourse and other common discourses in the field of social crime control using Laclau and Mouffechr('39')s theory of discourse. The statistical population of the study includes Islamic texts including the holy Quran, Nahj al-Balaghah and various narrations from the Infallibles, as well as historical texts related to law schools, all of which have been selected purposefully. The results of the analysis indicate that since the structure of the Islamic discourse of crime control has been founded upon "monotheism", the Islamic discourse is distinguished from other discourses in defining, demarcating and controlling crimes. The Islamic discourse, with its comprehensive and all-inclusive reflection of the requirements of criminology, is compatible with human spirit and nature and is applicable to all human beings, both in the Islamic system and in other systems.