A Stylistic Approach to Surah al-Yāsin Relying on Structuralist Views

Stylistics is a modern method that differentiates texts based on lexical and literary forms and investigates them based on the verbal construction to discover literary and aesthetics aspects in a given text. The Surah al Yāsin is a surah whose recitation has been highly recommended by Prophets and Imams for having innumerable benefits. As this surah's content is founded on three principles of monotheism (Tawhid), prophecy (Risalat), and resurrection (Maad), special lexical and literary forms are used to transfer these concepts. The present study, using a descriptive-analytical method, aimed at an analysis of phonological, syntactic and semantic levels, on the basis of stylistics and structuralist theories in order to find literary and aesthetic aspects of this surah and the relationship between the three levels with the general structure of the text. One of the most important results at the phonological level was the observance of space in ayahs, the application of the extension (āl-mad) phonemes of ā, ī, ū and two letters of Mīm and Nūn that make the surah rhythmic besides highlighting its content. At the syntactic level, informative style is used to remind realties like the rightfulness of Prophet Muhammad's first revelation and resurrection. In the interrogative style, hamza “¸” is used more frequently which intends confession and the reprimand of the infidel. In addition, at the semantic level, antonymy and synonymy have special purposes that are pointed out in the article's full text.