مریم جان نثاری

Examining and recognizing divine names and attributes has been the focus of theologians and commentators since long ago. In the meantime, the word Qarīb is one of the divine attributes and one of the key words of the Holy Qur’an, which has the highest frequency among the 92 derivatives of nearness. A special application of all these cases is found in verse 17 of Surah Nisá, which has various opinions expressed by translators and commentators below it. By examining different interpretations and exploring the relationship between this word and the content of the verse and the verses before and after it, it seems that this word is in the position of an adjective and not a temporal adverb. This perception in the context of the verse prompted the author to investigate the connection of the word Qarīb in verse 17 of Surah Nisá and its neighboring verses by using the method of usage and relying on interpretative sources and by specifying the components and elements of speech. After the investigations, it seems that one of the divine attributes based on the layers of texture, i.e. intra-lingual texture and extra-lingual texture, in this verse of the Holy Qur’an, according to the action intended by the speaker, is the attribute Qarīb.