Scientific Journal

Document Type : Original

Author

Associate Professor, Department of Interpretation, University of Holy Quran Sciences and Education, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

This research, adopting an analytical and semantic approach, conducts a comparative study of six key concepts within the semantic field of "stability and tranquility" in the Holy Quran: istiqrār (stability), istiwāʾ (equilibrium), sakan (tranquility), ʿadn (permanence), labth (tarrying), and makth (waiting). The main objective is to explain the meanings and understand the rhetorical subtleties of the Quran through an analytical-descriptive method. The findings indicate that istiqrār denotes continuous stability and firmness in place, standing in opposition to "instability." Sakan emphasizes inner peace and the removal of anxiety, contrasting with "movement and restlessness." ʿAdn symbolizes eternal abode accompanied by intimacy and enduring blessings. Labth and makth both denote temporary stay with an element of expectation, with the difference that makth carries the nuance of "stability along with waiting," while labth focuses merely on temporary sojourn. Istawāʾ belongs to a separate system, its core meaning being "balance, uprightness, and equality of parts." Ultimately, this research demonstrates that the Holy Quran, with semantic precision, presents a rich network of concepts related to stability and tranquility, where each word expresses a specific quality, duration, and psychological condition of abiding and peace, offering a comprehensive view of the various existential levels of the human being.

Keywords

Main Subjects

  1. The Holy Quran. [In Arabic]
  2. Abū Ḥayyān al-Gharnāṭī, Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf. (1999). Al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ fī al-tafsīr [The surrounding ocean in exegesis] (Ṣ. M. Jamīl, Ed.). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
  3. Al-Azharī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. (2000). Tahdhīb al-lughah [Refinement of language]. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
  4. Al-ʿAskarī, Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd Allāh. (1979). Al-furūq fī al-lughah [Linguistic differences]. Beirut: Dār al-Āfāq al-Jadīdah. [In Arabic]
  5. Al-Farāhīdī, Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. (1988). Kitāb al-ʿayn [The book of ʿAyn] (M. al-Makhzūmī & I. al-Sāmarrāʾī, Eds.). Qom: Dār al-Hijrah. [In Arabic]
  6. Al-Fayyūmī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. (1993). Al-miṣbāḥ al-munīr [The illuminating lamp]. Qom: Dār al-Hijrah. [In Arabic]
  7. Al-Jawharī, Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād. (1979). Al-ṣiḥāḥ: Tāj al-lughah wa ṣiḥāḥ al-ʿarabiyyah [The correct: Crown of language and authentic Arabic] (A. ʿA. Ghafūr, Ed.). Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn. [In Arabic]
  8. Al-Kafawī, Ayyūb ibn Mūsā. (1998). Al-kulliyyāt [The generalities]. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah. [In Arabic]
  9. Al-Qurashī, Sayyid ʿAlī Akbar. (1992). Qāmūs al-Qurʾān [Quran dictionary]. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah. [In Persian]
  10. Al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad. (1991). Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān [Vocabulary of Quranic words] (Ṣ. ʿA. Dāwūdī, Ed.). Damascus: al-Dār al-Shāmiyyah. [In Arabic]
  11. Al-Ṣāḥib ibn ʿAbbād. (1993). Al-muḥīṭ fī al-lughah [The encompassing in language] (M. Ḥ. Āl Yāsīn, Ed.). Beirut: ʿĀlam al-Kitāb. [In Arabic]
  12. Al-Sijistānī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAzīz. (1995). Gharīb al-Qurʾān [The rare vocabulary of the Quran] (M. A. ʿA. Jamrah, Ed.). Beirut: Dār Qutaybah. [In Arabic]
  13. Al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn. (1995). Al-itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān [Precision in the sciences of the Quran]. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
  14. Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. (2001). Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān [Comprehensive explanation of the interpretation of Quranic verses] (ʿA. ibn ʿA. al-Muḥsin Turkī, Ed.). Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah. [In Arabic]
  15. Al-Ṭabrisī, Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. (1993). Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [The compendium of elucidation in Quranic exegesis] (A group of researchers, Eds.). Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī. [In Arabic]
  16. Al-Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad. (1996). Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn [The confluence of the two seas]. Tehran: Kitābfurūshī-yi Murtażawī. [In Arabic]
  17. Al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. (n.d.). Al-tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [Clarification in Quranic exegesis] (A. Ḥ. Q. ʿĀmilī, Ed.). Qom: Maktab al-Iʿlām al-Islāmī. [In Arabic]
  18. Al-Wāḥidī al-Nīshābūrī, ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad. (1994). Al-wasīṭ fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-majīd [The intermediate in the exegesis of the glorious Quran] (A. F. al-Mazzīqī et al., Eds.). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. [In Arabic]
  19. Al-Yāsamīn Ḥanafī, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. (2001). Al-muʿjam al-mufaṣṣal fī alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-karīm [The detailed dictionary of the words of the Holy Quran]. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. [In Arabic]
  20. Al-Zabīdī, Muḥammad Murtaḍā al-Ḥusaynī. (n.d.). Tāj al-ʿarūs min jawāhir al-qāmūs [The bride's crown from the jewels of the dictionary] (ʿA. Shīrī, Ed.). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
  21. Al-Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar. (1998). Asās al-balāghah [The foundation of eloquence]. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
  22. Al-Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar. (1986). Al-kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl [The unveiler of the truths of the obscurities of revelation]. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
  23. Al-Ḥimyarī, Nashwān ibn Saʿīd. (1999). Shams al-ʿulūm wa dawāʾ kalām al-ʿArab min al-kulūm [The sun of sciences and the cure for the speech of the Arabs from wounds] (Ḥ. ibn ʿA. al-ʿUmarī, M. ibn ʿA. al-Iryānī, & Y. M. ʿA. Allāh, Eds.). Damascus: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
  24. Bāqirī, Mehrī. (1995). Muqaddamāt-i zabānshināsī [Introduction to linguistics] (3rd ed.). Tabriz: University of Tabriz Press. [In Persian]
  25. Ibn Durayd, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. (n.d.). Jamharat al-lughah [Compendium of language]. (Not used in the list, but to be noted: the list does not include Ibn Durayd; the user's list has Ibn Sīdah, Ibn Fāris, Ibn Manẓūr. The alphabetization continues.)
  26. [Note: The user's list includes Ibn Sīdah, Ibn Fāris, Ibn Manẓūr. These are placed under "Ibn" alphabetically.]
  27. Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad. (1979). Muʿjam maqāyīs al-lughah [Dictionary of linguistic measures] (ʿA. S. M. Hārūn, Ed.). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
  28. Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. (1993). Lisān al-ʿArab [The tongue of the Arabs]. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
  29. Ibn Sīdah, ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl. (2000). Al-muḥkam wa al-muḥīṭ al-aʿẓam [The precise and the vastest encompassing]. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. [In Arabic]
  30. Jeffery, A. (2006). Vāzhahā-yi dakhīl dar Qurʾān-i majīd [The foreign vocabulary of the glorious Quran] (F. Badraʾī, Trans.). Tehran: Tūs Publications. [In Persian]
  31. Markaz-i Farhang va Maʿārif-i Qurʾān. (2018). Farhangnāmah-yi taḥlīl-i vāzhagān-i mutashābih dar Qurʾān [Encyclopedia of analysis of similar words in the Quran] (1st ed.). Qom: Research Institute of Islamic Sciences and Culture. [In Persian]
  32. Mīdānī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ḥasan Ḥabankah. (1981). Maʿārij al-tafakkur wa daqāʾiq al-tadabbur [Stages of reflection and subtleties of contemplation]. Damascus: Dār al-Qalam. [In Arabic]
  33. Palmer, F. R. (1997). Nigāhī-i tāzah bi maʿnīshināsī [A new look at semantics] (K. Ṣafavī, Trans.). Tehran: Nashr-i Markaz. [In Persian]
  34. Pūrnamdāriyān, Taqī. (2020). Sayr-i taṭavvur-i maʿnīshināsī dar gharb va īrān [The evolution of semantics in the West and Iran]. Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications. [In Persian]
  35. Ṣafavī, Kūrush. (2013). Darāmadī bar maʿnīshināsī [An introduction to semantics] (6th ed.). Tehran: Sūrah-yi Mehr. [In Persian]
  36. Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1996). Al-mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [The balance in Quranic exegesis]. Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī. [In Arabic].