پژوهش نامه قرآن و حدیث
پیاپی 21 (پاییز و زمستان 1396)

‘Surah coherence’ is an important aspect of the Quranic language, which, due to its unique role in interpretation, has been highly regarded by commentators and Quranic scholars, especially over the last half a century. According to this theory, each surah is centered around a main issue in such a way that all the topics of the surah create an all-encompassing unity. The present study intends to examine the role and effect of this theory in interpretation through a comparative study of two works of interpretation, i.e. Allameh Tabatabai’s al-Mizan and Sayyid Qutb’s Fi Zilal al-Quran, and to introduce and categorize its functions in the field of interpretation. These functions can be divided into structural, contextual, cognitive, positive, explanatory, and evaluative types. Based on the obtained results, Allameh Tabatabai has properly utilized the explanatory and evaluative functions of belief in ‘surah coherence’ in al-Mizan following a special explanatory-critical approach. Adopting a dominant positive attitude in his commentary, Sayyid Qutb has made serious attempts to prove the subject unity of surahs and illustrate the coherence and unity between their verses.

One of the most well-known jurisprudential rules whose enforcement in the Islamic community can lead to significant results is ‘the nafy-e sabil rule’. Among these results, we can point out the permission for non-Shiites to take elective positions in modern Islamic states. This article seeks to deliver an accurate, conceptual description of this rule, scrutinize its coverage in relation to the doubtful cases, and scrutinize the authorization or lack of authorization to extend it to elective positions in modern states. The proofs of the Islamic jurists and commentators on this rule are either verbal or non-verbal. Verse 141 of the Surah al-Nisaa and the hadith ‘Nothing equals Islam in significance.’ are among the verbal arguments signifying that unbelievers do not dominate Muslims on the Day of Judgment. The first non-verbal argument of the jurists in favor of this rule is the jurists’ consensus of opinion whose being documentary can be verified. The second non-verbal argument raised by the jurists is that the dignity of Islam requires the denial of the domination of unbelievers over Muslims. The latter is the most authoritative argument for the nafy-e sabil rule. However, it is doubtful whether the jurisprudential arguments in favor of this rule can be extended to all positions in modern states as each one of these positions has its own specific definition and function, and since, according to the chosen opinion in rational demonstrations, no rule can be extended to all doubtful cases, it is not possible to associate these positions with the traditional concepts using the nafy-e sabil rule and prevent non-Shiites from holding these positions.

Numbers have a special place in different cultures. In each culture, a number or certain numbers symbolize good things or bad ones. The number forty / arba’een is one of the numbers that has a special place in Arabic culture. The issue addressed in this paper is how the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and the Imams (a.s.) used the capacity of this number to promote the goals of Islam. Using the descriptive-analytic research method, this issue is dealt with in this paper. The obtained results revealed that the number forty / arba’een was more often known as the age of growth and perfection in Arabic culture before Islam. The Prophet (p.b.u.h.), however, made every attempt to eliminate such a belief. By counseling with the youth and giving responsibility to them, on the one hand, and mentioning such numerous examples as saving forty hadiths, forty rewards for one act, eating a food for forty days, etc., on the other, the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) caused this conventional belief to be diminished. The Imams (a.s.) utilized the capacity of the number forty / arba’een in another way. They used this number to give direction to the mourning of Imam Hussein (a.s.) and framed the pilgrimage of arba’een as a symbol of Shia over a span of 200 years.

The Resurrection is one of the important issues to which a significant portion of Quranic verses are devoted. Persuasion denotes transmitting the message to the audience, changing his / her attitude and, consequently, changing his / her behavior. The question the present article seeks to answer is: ‘What is the Quran's persuasion method for transferring the concept of resurrection to humans?’ The following results were obtained by searching the resources related to the communications science and the verses related to the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment: first, the Quranic messages were delivered to the people by the Prophet (p.b.u.h.). Then, the attention of the audience was caught. Next, using various statements, God formulated the messages in such a way that the receiver could understand them, accept the result, not to forget the new attitude, and eventually adopt some kind of behavior compatible with the Resurrection.

The achievements of the scientific community that impact on our ways of thinking and living are influenced by its attitude. Attitude and insight denote entering the field of gnosis by relying on a kind of predetermined framework. The first pillar of each action is gnostic knowledge, and since the human soul is naturally inclined towards corporeal faculties, for it to act moderately, it has to be under the care of human intellect with a framework of revelatory teachings. Such an intellect produces all the human sciences based on monotheism, which are other factors of correct attitude. The practice of such a belief and insight is realized under the Divine virtue through the creation and strengthening of a firm state in human soul.

Underlining the word enzar in the Holy Quran, providing an explanation of the lexical meaning of this term, and exploring its semantic features in Quranic applications, the present research work presents a comprehensive definition of this term to promote the status of this concept in its training application from a ‘training method’ to a ‘training principle’.