Topical Unity of the Verses of the Quran in the Balance of Criticism

Despite various and numerous topics existing in many of the verses of the Quran, which in the first glance seem to be evident, some contemporary Quran researchers believe that a single purpose and topic lies behind this apparent multiplicity and variety, and that there is an inevitable and unbreakable bond among all the verses of a sūra. They regard this feature – topical unity – to be one of the superior miracles of the Quran and expedient to the Divine rhetoric and wisdom. Although many attempts have been made by the advocates of this theory for proving the "topical unity of the verses of the Quran", there are weaknesses and deficiencies in the reasons they have presented which hinders the acceptance of this theory. In this article, the reasons and evidences of this theory are critically reviewed. Besides the deficiencies existing in the reasons provided by this theory, there are other shortcomings that attest to the refutation of the theory of topical unity, such as lack of reassuring standards; risk of interpretation by personal opinion; difficulty of reaching the main topic in each sūra of the Quran; absence of referential indication in the Quran and the words of the infallible ones (ma‘ṣūmīn); and the many differences in the topics that the advocates of this theory have introduced for every sūra.