Role of Context and Objectives of the Surah in Shaping the Episodes of the Qur’ānic Narrative

Abstract

The Qur’anic way of presenting the story of Lot and his people is distinguished by repetition, summation, elaboration, elision, brevity, similarity, and variation. This article suggests that every episode of the narrative of Lot differs from the others in the series through its ownidentity, which is acquired from the surah in which it appears. Thus, each episode is woven into its own specific and general framework. Although there are general and clear topics of the narrative as a whole, the topics and objectives of each surah have a very significant role in giving the narrative a specific shape within the surah. Accordingly, when a narrative/story is repeated in the Qur’ān, such repetition comes in response to a certain context or is in harmony with one of the objectives of the surah, either directly or by implication. Thus, repetition or implication becomes a necessity or at least a requirement for a religious or stylistic purpose. Hence, we find that all the episodes in the narrative of Lot and his people in the Qur’ān They are also in accord with the context and are suitable for the occasion. All the episodes in the narrative of Lot correspond with the context and the objectives of the surah. The episode of the people of Lot is closely associated and coherent with these contexts and objectives, and it is impossible to move any episode in the narrative from one surah to another, such is the fit of each episode to its context. In fact, such a shift in position would eventually lead to stylistic flaws related to the context and objectives of that surah. Each episode in the surah has its own characteristics that distinguish it from the rest of the Qur’ānic surahs.