Abd al-Qaher Jurjani's Theory of Nazm (Construction) and its Exploration in the Holy Surah al-Maryam (a.s.)

One of the most fundamental theories of rhetorics is Abd al-Qaher Jurjani's theory of nazm. This theory originated from the idea of the e’jaz (inimitability) of the holy Quran. It was developed by Abd al-Qaher Jurjani and became one of the most important disciplines in discovering the secrets of the inimitability of the Quran. Abd al-Qaher believes that rhetorics is a single discipline the subjects of which are categorized into different branches; hence, he called semantics nazm in Dala’el al-E’jaz. Abd al-Qaher’s theory involves rhetorics, syntax and criticism. He views a written work as a whole that cannot be valued unless the parts of speech are juxtaposed. With his theory, Abd al-Qaher managed to establish a basis and a criterion through which critics can evaluate the beauty of a work. On the basis of the same criterion, the holy Surah al-Maryam (a.s.) was analyzed using the descriptive-analytical method in the present study. The results revealed that the systematic syntactic and rhetorical structure of the holy surah has been established using the repetition, ellipsis, submission and postponement techniques, and all the words in this surah have been used in their proper positions and according to the general atmosphere of the surah.