Identifying Key Concepts of the Surah through Corpus-Based Analysis: A Case Study of Surah al-Shawrā

Clarifying semantic coherence in a Qur’anic Surah, as a fundamental and challenging task, requires the identification of its key concepts. Most commentators use qualitative methods for this purpose, which may be influenced by their theoretical tendencies and individual mentality. Corpus-based analysis with quantitative and statistical methods can provide objective evidences that are relatively unbiased and provide a firm base for qualitative analysis. In this research, the keywords of a Surah are identified through corpus analysis and a coherent model is developed by analyzing their denotations and key concepts. In a case study of Surah al-Shawrā, it is proved that, in addition to the concepts of “revelation and prophecy” which have attracted the attention of commentators, this Surah implies to the concepts of “absolute power and authority” and “guardianship” of God in higher layers. Also, in fact, the concepts of “revelation and prophecy” are instances of the realization of the former concepts.