A Critical Analysis of the monopoly of Ibn Abi alAbsbah’s Categorization of the Distances (favasil) in Qur’anic Verses

The Wise Qur'an is the word of the Wise one. The end of each verse, or the distance, represents the miraculous features and unique rhetoric of the Book and plays an important role in the representing the beauty, orderliness and consistency of the verses. Each part of the Wise Book must be related to and in full harmony with what comes before and after that. The distance is not an exception. However, it is important to understand the nature of the aforesaid relationship and harmony. Ibn Abi al-Asbah (7th AH) believed that the distances were of four types: Tasdir, Toshih, Ighal, and Tamkin. However, given the breadth and diversity of distances, the question is whether the afore-said categorization can still be effective or some other categories can be added to it. It is noteworthy that some scholars have added new categories such as Tatmim, Takmil, and Tashim. In this article, we have critically analyzed the monopoly or non-monopoly of the aforesaid categorization of distances in Qur’anic verses.