A Linguistic Study of Reading the Word " غرفه" in the Quranic Verse " excepting one who takes [from it] in the hollow of his hand"

Regarding the articulation of the word Ghorfa (ÛÑÝå) in the Quranic Verse indeed Allah will be testing you with a river. So whoever drinks from it is not of me, and whoever does not taste it is indeed of men, excepting one who takes [from it] in the hollow of his hand (Quran, 1: 249) there are discrepancies. Some readers articulate it as Ghorfra, some others articulate it as Gharfa. Abu Amr believes that the amount of water contained in one’s hand is called Gharfa and the water contained in a container is called Ghorfa; therefore, he accepts the articulation of Gharfa and Kasaei refers to the linguistic register of the verse and states: if instead of the verb Ightaraf, the verb Gharaf was used, I articulate it Gharfa. This issue indicates that the meaning of words and linguistic discussions have effects on the mode of reading a text. The present study is to analytically investigate the meanings of Gharfa and Ghorfa by investigating lexical, phonetic, interpretative, and narrative resources using a descriptive method. Analyzing the mentioned resources in illustrating the meaning of these two words indicates how lexicographers and Quran readers can have relations with each other. Lexicographers by stating the meaning of these two words, assign the discrepancies in the meanings of these two words to Yunus, the disciple of Abu Amr of Basra, and Fara’, the disciple of Kasaei. Therefore, this hypothesis that sometimes lexicographical ideas of scholars are influenced by the articulation of those who read the Holy Quran is reinforced. The findings of the present study indicated that there is no scientific and firm reason for confirming one of the articulatory aspects of these two words, and the reasons assigned to articulatory aspects can be criticized. The narratives about the register of the verse only clarify that this word means the amount of water in the hands of somebody (Gharfa), and in the holy verse, regarding the fact that the word Ightaraf (ÇÛÊÑÇÝ) is used versus Shorb (ÔÑÈ), this word refers to drinking once.