Evaluation of the Two Rules of “Words Are to be Understood According to Their General Meaning, Not Special Meaning in a Case” and “Adaptation” in the Field of Verses of Noble Characteristics and Virtues

The two rules of “words are to be understood according to their general meaning, not special meaning in a case” (Arabic: العبره بعموم اللفظ لا بخصوص المورد, romanized: al-ʿibratu bi-ʿumūmi al-lafẓi la bi-khuṣūṣi al-mawridi) and “adaptation” (Arabic: الجری و التطبیق, romanized: al-jary wa al-taṭbīq) are among the rules of interpretation that are used in many books of Qurʾānic studies and exegesis. In this sense, the verses that have the generality of the words but have a specific reason will be generalized to similar cases. The channel of these two rules are also verses that have a general word and a specific (particular) cause. The main questions of the present study are as follows: What is the difference between these two rules? What are the characteristics of both rules and what is the feasibility of these two rules under the verses of noble characteristics (Arabic: الفضائل)? The results of the present study inform that the rule of “words are to be understood according to their general meaning, not special meaning in a case” is more specific than the rule of “adaptation” and is only related to the verses that have sabab al-nuzūl (Arabic: سبب النزول, cause of revelation). However, the rule of “adaptation” is related to verses that may have a cause of revelation and riwāyāt (Arabic: روایات, lit.: narrations) have found examples for the verse and generalized it to others. These two rules are not meaningful in the realm of the verses of noble characteristics and virtues, and they cannot be applied in similar cases later than the cause of revelation, because they do not have conceptual development and applicability. In this study, the two aforementioned rules and the criticism of data have been examined using the library method for gathering content, the documentary method for quoting views, and the descriptive-analytical method.