The Linguistic Reanalysis and Reinterpretation of Qur’ānic Verse 37 of Sūrat al-Qiyāmah

Al-Balushi, Rashid

doi:10.52541/isiri.v61i2.2340

Research Article (Vol. 61(2)) 2022

The Linguistic Reanalysis and Reinterpretation of Qur’ānic Verse 37 of Sūrat al-Qiyāmah

Islamic Studies

1 Cited by 40 References Full access

Abstract

Qur’ānic verses have always received new interpretations in light of new historical evidence or scientific discoveries. This paper argues for the thesis that Qur’ānic verses may also receive new interpretations in light of novel construal of their linguistic properties. It proposes new interpretations of verse 37 of sūrat al-Qiyāmah (Resurrection, 75:37) based on a reanalysis of its structure, which leads to re-identifying what was traditionally construed as a verb as an adjective. The paper presents the traditional (standard) interpretations of verse Q. 75:37 and provides three new interpretations. It then argues for the legitimacy of the new interpretations, based on evidence from the Qur’ān and sunnah.

Keywords: Qur’ān; linguistic reanalysis; reinterpretation; construal; verb; adjective

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The Linguistic Reanalysis and Reinterpretation of Qur’ānic Verse 37 of Sūrat al-Qiyāmah

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English

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30 Jun 2022

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10 Nov 2026

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10 Nov 2026

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Islamic Studies

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Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad

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61 (2)

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191-214

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References 40

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Al-Andalusī, ‘Abd al-Ḥaqq b. Ghālib. Al-Muḥarrar al-Wajīz fī Tafsīr al-Kitāb al-‘Azīz. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2001.
Al-Andalusī, ‘Alī b. Aḥmad b. Ḥazm. Rasā’il Ibn Ḥazm. Beirut: al-Mu’assasat al-‘Arabiyyah, 1987.
Al-Baghawī, al-Ḥusayn b. Mas‘ūd. Ma‘ālim al-Tanzīl. Riyadh: Dār Ṭaybah, 1989.
Al-Balushi, Rashid. “On the Subject of ‘Yashā’’ in Some Qur’ānic Verses,” Journal of Islamic Research 33, no. 2 (2022): 596-616.
Al-Bayhaqī, Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn. Al-Jāmi‘ li Shu‘ab al-Īmān. Riyadh: Maktabat al-Rushd, 2003.
Al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad b. Ismā‘īl. Al-Jāmi‘ al-Ṣaḥīḥ li ’l-Bukhārī. Cairo: al-Maṭba‘ah al-Salafiyyah, 1980.
Al-Dimashqī, ‘Umar b. ‘Alī b. ‘Ādil. Al-Lubāb fī ‘Ulūm al-Kitāb. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1998.
Al-Fayrūzābādī, Muḥammad b. Ya‘qūb. Al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ. Beirut, Mu’assasat al-Risālah, 2005.
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Al-Majaydah, Basil Omar Mustapha. “Athar Ikhtilāf al-I‘rāb fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Karīm.” master’s thesis, Islamic University, Gaza, 2009.
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[1] Abou-El-Enin, Hassan S. Scientific Miracles of the Qur’ān: With Signs of Allah in the Heavens and on the Earth. Pittsburgh: Dorrance Publishing Company, 2009.

[2] Aitken, R. John, et al. “The Correlates of Fertilizing Capacity in Normal Fertile Men.” Fertility and Sterility 38, no. 1 (1982): 68-76.

[3] ALAC [Arabic Language Academy in Cairo]. al-Mu‘jam al-Wasīṭ . Cairo: International Sunrise Press, 2004.

[4] Al-Andalusī, ‘Abd al-Ḥaqq b. Ghālib. Al-Muḥarrar al-Wajīz fī Tafsīr al-Kitāb al-‘Azīz. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2001.

[5] Al-Andalusī, ‘Alī b. Aḥmad b. Ḥazm. Rasā’il Ibn Ḥazm. Beirut: al-Mu’assasat al-‘Arabiyyah, 1987.

[6] Al-Baghawī, al-Ḥusayn b. Mas‘ūd. Ma‘ālim al-Tanzīl. Riyadh: Dār Ṭaybah, 1989.

[7] Al-Balushi, Rashid. “On the Subject of ‘Yashā’’ in Some Qur’ānic Verses,” Journal of Islamic Research 33, no. 2 (2022): 596-616.

[8] Al-Bayhaqī, Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn. Al-Jāmi‘ li Shu‘ab al-Īmān. Riyadh: Maktabat al-Rushd, 2003.

[9] Al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad b. Ismā‘īl. Al-Jāmi‘ al-Ṣaḥīḥ li ’l-Bukhārī. Cairo: al-Maṭba‘ah al-Salafiyyah, 1980.

[10] Al-Dimashqī, ‘Umar b. ‘Alī b. ‘Ādil. Al-Lubāb fī ‘Ulūm al-Kitāb. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1998.

[11] Al-Fayrūzābādī, Muḥammad b. Ya‘qūb. Al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ. Beirut, Mu’assasat al-Risālah, 2005.

[12] Ali, Abdullah Yusuf, trans. The Holy Qur’ān. New Delhi: Goodword Books, 2007.

[13] Al-Khāzin, ‘Alī b. Muḥammad al-Baghdādī. Tafsīr al-Khāzin. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2004.

[14] Al-Majaydah, Basil Omar Mustapha. “Athar Ikhtilāf al-I‘rāb fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Karīm.” master’s thesis, Islamic University, Gaza, 2009.

[15] Al-Nīsābūrī, al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad. Gharā’ib al-Qur’ān wa Raghā’ib al-Furqān. Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1996.

[16] Al-Qaḥṭānī, Sa‘īd b. ‘Alī b. Wahf. Ḥiṣn al-Muslim. Riyadh: King Fahd National Library, 2006.

[17] Al-Qurṭubī, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad. Al-Jāmi‘ li Aḥkām al-Qur’ān. Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risālah, 2006.

[18] Al-Rāzī, Muḥammad Fakhr al-Dīn. Tafsīr al-Fakhr al-Rāzī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1981.

[19] Al-Sa‘dī, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b. Nāṣir. Taysīr al-Karīm al-Raḥmān fī Tafsīr Kalām al-Mannān. Riyadh: Dār al-Salām, 2002.

[20] Al-Samarqandī, Naṣr b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad. Tafsīr al-Samarqandī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1993.

[21] Al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān. Al-Itqān fī ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān. Medina: King Fahd Complex for Printing the Holy Qur’ān, 2005.

[22] Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr. Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī. Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risālah, 1994.

[23] Chomsky, Noam. Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris, 1981), 29-39.

[24] Culicover, Peter W. Principles and Parameters: An Introduction to Syntactic Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

[25] Darwazah, Muḥammad ‘Azzah. Al-Tafsīr al-Ḥadīth: Tasfīr al-Suwar Ḥasab al-Nuzūl. Cairo: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Kutub al-‘Arabiyyah, 2000.

[26] Guessoum, Nidhal. “The Qur’an, Science, and the (related) Contemporary Muslim Discourse.” Zygon 43, no. 2 (2008): 411-31.

[27] Hornstein, Norbert, Jairo Nunes, and Kleanthes K. Grohmann. Understanding Minimalism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

[28] https://goldenquran.org/ar/quran/578?quranCopy=4&aya=37&sora=75&details=show&section=tafseer.

[29] Ibn Kathīr, Abū ’l-Fidā Ismā‘īl b. ‘Umar. Book of Evidences: The Miracles of the Prophet (P.B.U.H). Translated by Ali Mwinyi Mziwa and Ibn R. Ramadhan. Mansoura: Dār al-Ghad al-Jadīd, 2004.

[30] Ibn Kathīr, Ismā‘īl b. ‘Umar. Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-‘Aẓīm. Riyadh: Dār Ṭaybah, 1999.

[31] Ibn Zangalah, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad. Ḥujjat al-Qirā’āt. Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risālah, 1997.

[32] Itani, Talal, trans. Quran in English, ed. A. Beirut: ClearQuran, 2014.

[33] Koji Chiba et al., “The Varicocele: Diagnostic Dilemmas, Therapeutic Challenges and Future Perspectives.” Asian Journal of Andrology 18, no. 2 (2016): 276-81.

[34] Muhammad Sarwar, Quran: English Translation (online).

[35] Muslim b. al-Ḥajjāj. Ṣaḥīḥ. Cairo: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1991.

[36] Naik, Zakir. The Qur’ān & Modern Science (Compatible or Incompatible?). London: Dar al-Salam, 2014.

[37] Nursi, Bediüzzaman Said. Prophet Muḥammad and His Miracles. New Jersey: The Light, 2006.

[38] Stickney, Helen. “From Pseudopartitive to Partitive.” Conference Paper, 2007. 406-15.

[39] Stickney, Helen. “The Emergence of DP in the Partitive Structure.” PhD diss., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009.

[40] The Qur’ān: English Meanings. Jeddah: Al-Muntada Al-Islami, 2004.

The Linguistic Reanalysis and Reinterpretation of Qur’ānic Verse 37 of Sūrat al-Qiyāmah

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References 40