Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur'ānIssa J. Boullata This volume studies how the literary elements in the Qur'an function in conveying its religious message effectively. It is divided into three parts. Part one includes studies of the whole Qur'an or large segments of it belonging to one historical period of its revelation; these studies concentrate on the analysis of its language, its style, its structural composition, its aesthetic characteristics, its rhetorical devices, its imagery, and the impact of these elements and their significance. Part two includes studies on individual suras of the Qur'an, each of which focuses on the sura's literary elements and how they produce meaning; each also explores the structure of this meaning and the coherence of its effect. Part three includes studies on Muslim appreciations of the literary aspects of the Qur'an in past generations and shows how modern linguistic, semantic, semiotic, and literary scholarship can add to their contributions. |
Contents
Spirit Gender and Aural Intertextuality | 3 |
Q 37 as a Point of Intersection | 56 |
Formulaic Features of the PunishmentStories | 77 |
The Qurānic Symbolism | 117 |
The Mysterious Letters of the Qurān | 125 |
Referentiality and Textuality in Sūrat alHijr Some Observations | 143 |
A Study of the Story of Joseph | 173 |
Reflections on the Dynamics and Spirituality of Sūrat alFurqān | 188 |
The Aesthetic Reception of the Qurān as Reflected | 255 |
A Study of Ibn Qutaybas Tawil | 277 |
The Case of alSharif alRaḍī | 292 |
Studies in the Majāz and Metaphorical Language of | 310 |
Sayyid Qutbs Literary Appreciation of the Qurān | 354 |
372 | |
391 | |
Sound Meaning | 228 |
Common terms and phrases
Abū Ubayda accounts aesthetic Al-A'raf al-Baqara al-Hijr al-Qiyama al-Qur'an al-Raḍī al-Radi's al-Raḥmān al-Sharif alā Allah analysis angels appears Arabic beginning Beirut believe brothers Cairo Coherence commentary concept context Dār discourse discussion divine elements ellipsis example exegesis exegetical expression Fawātiḥ Fi Zilal al-Qur'an formulas of address God's groups of punishment-stories human Ibid Ibn Hisham Ibn Kathir Ibn Qutayba idhā interpretation intertextuality irony Iṣlāḥī Islam isti āra Joseph Kitāb language linguistic literary llāhi Lord Madyan majaz Majāzāt meaning Meccan messengers metaphor Moses Muḥammad Muqatil Muslim mutashābihāt Neuwirth Noah occurs passage phrase prayer pronoun Prophet punishment qawm Qur'an Qur'ānic recitation reference religious revelation rhetorical rhyme says Sayyid Qutb schematic form scholars Scriptural semantic sound figures spirit story structure sūra Surat Ta'wil Tafsir tahajjud term textual Thamud thematic unit theme topic tradition transition translation unbelievers verse word Yawm