Quranic Knowledge Research

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

Publication Ethics

Indexing and Abstracting

Related Links

FAQ

Peer Review Process

Journal Metrics

News

reviewers 2024-2025

"Semantic analysis of nearness to God in the Holy Qur'an with an emphasis on succession relations"

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor and Faculty Member, Department of Quran and Islamic Resources, Faculty of Islamic Education and Thought, University of Tehran

2 Assistant Professor, Allameh Tabataba’i University.

3 Student at Level 4 of Islamic Teachings and Quranic Sciences

Abstract

Semantics studies the evolution of word meanings within linguistic context. “Nearness to God” is one of the Qur’anic concepts whose semantic analysis is especially important for organizing the semantic network of Qur’anic vocabulary and for understanding the scripture’s discourse about relation with God. This study, using a descriptive-analytical method, seeks to identify and organize the vocabulary related to “qurb” and to explain how the meaning of this lexical item has developed within the framework of succession relations.

The concept of “qurb” — in addition to reflecting the human relationship with the Lord — encompasses a wide range of senses, including spatial, temporal, relative, hierarchical (status), custodial/servitorial, and power-related proximity. The results show that direct derivatives of the root q-r-b — such as aqrab, qarīb, qurbān, and qurabāt — are predominantly employed within the semantic domain of drawing near to God, whereas vocabulary related to “nearness” in non-religious senses appears as expressions of proximity that are not directed toward God.

Among the conceptual successors of “qurb,” words such as danā (to draw near), ḥaḍr (presence/attendance), walī (ally/guardian), zulf (tress/close proximity in occurrence), and muḥīṭ (encompassing/surrounding) were identified; these respectively cover the domains of physical/spatial closeness, legal and social proximity, nearness in the occurrence of an event, rank and station, and the notion of encompassing or surround. Furthermore, a subset of Qur’anic vocabulary can be regarded as indirect successors of “qurb,” and may be classified among expressions that describe the pathways of attaining proximity to God.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References
The Holy Qur’an
Al-Azharī, M. (2000 AD/1421 AH). Tahdhīb al-Lughah. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth.
Amin, S. N. (1982 AD/1361 SH). Makhzan al-ʿIrfān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Muslim Women Movement.
Azimah, S. (2007 AD/1386 SH). Qur’anic Lexical Semantics. (Sayyidī, H. Trans). Mashhad: Astan Quds.
Baqeri, M. (1995 AD/1374 SH). Introduction to Linguistics. Tabriz: University of Tabriz.
Eijson, J. (1992 AD/1371 SH). Foundations of Linguistics. (M. Fāʾiḍ, Trans). Tehran: Negah Publications.
Faḍlullāh, M. (1998 AD/1419 AH). Tafsīr Min Waḥy al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-Malāk.
Farāhīdī, Kh. (1989 AD/1410 AH). Kitāb al-ʿAyn. Qom: Hijrat.
Fayḍ Kāshānī, M. (1994 AD/1415 AH). Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī. Tehran: Ṣadr.
Fayḍ Kāshānī, M. (1997 AD/1418 AH). al-Aṣfī fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Islamic Propaganda Publishing House.
Hosseini Hamadani, M. (1983 AD/1404 AH). Bright Lights. Tehran: Lutfi Bookstore.
Ḥusaynī Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīmī, H. (1984 AD/1363 SH). Tafsīr Ithnā ʿAsharī. Tehran: Miqat Publications.
Ḥusaynī Shīrāzī, M. (2003 AD/1424 AH). Taqrīb al-Qurʾān ilā al-Adhhān. Beirut: Dār al-ʿUlūm.
Ibn ʿArabī, M. (2001 AD/1422 AH). Tafsīr Ibn ʿArabī. (S. Rabāb, Ed). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Ibn ʿĀshūr al-Tūnisī, M. (1984 AD). al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr. Tunis: al-Dār al-Tuniyyah lil Nashr.
Ibn Durayd al-Azdī, A. (1987 AD). Jamharat al-Lughah. Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn.
Ibn Fāris al-Qazwīnī al-Rāzī, A. (1978 AD/1399 AH). Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lughah. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr.
Ibn Manẓūr, M. (1993 AD/1414 AH). Lisān al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
Ibn Sīda al-Mursī, A. (2000 AD/1421 AH). al-Muḥkam wa al-Muḥīṭ al-Aʿẓam. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah.
Izutsu, T. (1982 AD/1361 SH). God and Man in the Qur’an (Semantic Study of the Qur’anic Worldview). (A. Aram, Trans). Tehran: Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies.
Javadi Amoli, A. (2007 AD/1386 SH). Raḥīq Makhtūm. (H. Parsaniya, Ed). Qom: Isra.
Javadi Amoli, A. (2013 AD/1393 SH). Raḥīq Makhtūm. (H. Parsaniya, Ed). Qom: Markaz Nashr Isrāʾ.
Javadi Amoli, A. (2014 AD/1394 SH). International Foundation of Revelatory Sciences of Isrāʾ.
Javadi Amoli, A. (2018 AD/1398 SH). Tasnīm: Exegesis of the Holy Qur’an. (A. Abedini, Trans). Qom: Isra.
Javar Shakiyan et al. (2023 AD/1402 SH). "Ontological Analysis of the Reality of Nearness from the Perspective of Transcendent Philosophy and Islamic Mysticism in the Thought of Ayatollah Javadi Amoli." Journal of Islamic Wisdom. No. 1.
Jawharī, I. (1983 AD/1404 AH). al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm lil Malāyīn.
Kāshānī, M. (1957 AD/1336 AH). Manhaj al-Ṣādiqīn. Tehran: ʿIlmī Bookstore.
Khorramshahi, B. (1998 AD/1377 SH). Encyclopedia of the Qur’an and Qur’anic Studies. Tehran: Doostan.
Majlisī, M. (1982 AD/1403 AH). Biḥār al-Anwār. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth.
Makarem Shirazi, N. (2000 AD/1421 AH). al-Amthāl fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Imam Ali b. Abi Talib School.
Mughnīyah, M. (2003 AD/1424 AH). Tafsīr al-Kāshif. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah.
Murtaḍā Zabīdī, M. (1993 AD/1414 AH). Tāj al-ʿArūs, Beirut: Dār al-Fikr.
Nekoonam, J. (2011 AD/1390 SH). An Introduction to Qur’anic Semantics. Qom: Faculty of Uṣūl al-Dīn.
Noresideh, A. et al. (2012 AD/1391 SH). "Semantic Study of the Word "Walī" in the Qur’an," Journal of Arabic Literary Criticism. No. 7.
Qaʾiminiya, A. (2020 AD/1399 SH). Semantics. (Volumes 1 & 2). Qom: Seminary and University Research Institute.
Qummī Mashhadī, M. (1948 AD/1368 SH). Tafsīr Kanz al-Daqāʾiq. Tehran: Ministry of Islamic Culture.
Qurbani Laktarashani et al. (2019 AD/1399 SH). "Disjunction or Continuity between God and Human: A Semantic Study of "Qurb" Texts in the Qur’an." Journal of Qur’anic Linguistic Research. 9 (17).
Qurṭubī, Sh. (1964 AD/1384 AH). al-Jāmiʿ li Aḥkām al-Qurʾān. Cairo: Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyyah.
Rāghib Iṣfahānī, H. (1991 AD/1412 AH). al-Mufradāt fī Gharīb al-Qurʾān. Damascus–Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm.
Safari, K. (2008 AD/1387 SH). Introduction to Semantics. Tehran: Soureh Mehr.
Ṣāḥib ibn ʿAbbād, I. (1993 AD/1414 AH). al-Muḥīṭ fī al-Lughah. Beirut: ʿĀlam al-Kutub.
Shariʿatmadari, J. (1993 AD/1372 SH). Commentary on the Qur’an Based on Tafsīr Nemooneh. Mashhad: Astan Quds Razawi.
Sharif Lahiji, M. (1994 AD/1373 SH). Tafsīr Sharif Lahiji. Tehran: Dad.
Subhani, J. (n.d.). Mafāhīm al-Qurʾān. Qom: Iʿtimad.
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, M. (1996 AD/1417 AH). al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Teachers Society.
Ṭabrisī, F. (1952 AD/1372 AH). Majmaʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Naser Khosrow.
Taleqani, M. (1983 AD/1362 SH). A Ray of the Qur’an. Tehran: Publishing Joint-stock Company..
Ṭayyib, A. (1958 AD/1378 AH). Aṭyab al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Islam Publications.
Ṭurayḥī, F. (1955 AD/1375 AH). Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn. Tehran: Murtazavi Bookstore.
ʿUkbarī, A. (n.d.). al-Tibyān fī Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān. Riyadh: Bayt al-Afkār.
Zamakhsharī, M. (1986 AD/1407 AH). al-Kashshāf. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī
Quranic Knowledge Research
Volume 16, Issue 62
September 2025
Pages 77-95
Files
Share
How to cite
Statistics