A Comparative Study of the Purposes of Suras in the Quran in Al-Mīzaān and Fī zalāl al-Quran

One feature of contemporary works in the exegesis of the Quran is the supposion that verses of each Sura has a purposeful order—enabling the scholar to find out the main purpose of each Sura. This helps the interpreter of the Quran to have a comprehensive view of the relevant Sura as a whole, providing a systemac, interrelated interpretaon of the Sura. As a consequence, the miraculous nature of the Sura will be demonstrated. Allameh Ṭabāṭabāʾī and Sayyid Quṭb are among the scholars who have somemes concerned themselves with the purposes of Suras. In this paper, we will examine their views in this regard in order to discover the commonalies, and disncons, between their methods of providing the purposes of Suras. Their principles include: the orders of the verses of Suras are not knowable by deducon, rather there are fixed orders to be discovered, there is a miracle in the way verses are interconnected, and the text of the Quran is rhetorical. The purposes of Suras are discovered by the principle of contexts and that of the interconnecon of the first and the last verses.