Semantics of Quran’s Words in Tafsir al-Mizan

Abstract

Transmission of God’s purposeful discourse is done through different sciences and methods. One of literary methods to understand God’s discourse is semantics. Therefore, as Quranic words played key roles in expansion of its meaning, the examination of this method deems necessary. This paper aims to investigate the meaning of the words of the Quran in Tafsir al-Mizan, and applies a descriptive-analytical research method with a Quranic approach to investigate the existing differences in Quran’s words and finally concludes that changes have been made in some Quranic words before and after the descent in a way that some Quranic words had almost the same meanings before the descent; however, they undergone some changes during the descent such similarity in meanings, expansion, integration, and so on. Also, some changes were made in some Quranic words after the descent. The study shows that Allameh Tabataba’i’s book was written based on the principles and rules of some other works such as Tafsir Majma al-Bian and Koshaf.

Keywords

• Quran; Semantics; vocabulary; Semantic evolution; Tafsir al-Mizan