The semantic examination of the divine specific mercy in Quran

Abstract

Semantic examination of Quranic words is considered one of the new methods of studying Quran. this approach tends to identify Quran 's view on an issue through semantically analyzing Quranic keywords. The subject of this article is the divine mercy. The divine mercy enjoys two permanent streamlines in the world of existence: the general and specific mercy. By cause of the general mercy the whole creation came into existence and by that of the specific one it reached its ultimate perfection. Human being's salvation which is his adapting the divine names and attributes is only possible by the means of the specific mercy. The objectives pursued in this study is semantically examining the specific mercy in order to identify the collocations and substitutions of the keywords in the literal context of the verse with the aim of reaching the deep concept underlying the words and comprehending the consistency of quranic teachings and its systematic organization of thought. Responding to the criticizes of the orientalists who claim that Quran does not cherish from a consistent system of thought is one of the implications of this study. As an example the collocations of the word monotheism, contemplation and thought ,faith and piety and love with divine mercy in the verses 163-165 of sura al- Baghara indicates that man by his constant contemplation on the signs of Allah in the nature opens the doors of divine specific mercy on himself, believes in Allah and gradually reaches the monotheism status in order to get strength by his intimacy and love for god ; while those neglect to the divine signs in creation, denounce monotheism and conclusively will suffer from the divine torments and be deprived of the divine specific mercy.

Keywords

• keywords: quran
• semantic field
• the general mercy
• the specific mercy
• perfection
• guidance
• disappointment
• grace