The relation between the language of the Quran and science

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant professor, Interdisciplinary Quranic Studies Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University

Abstract

The true interdisciplinary study needs knowledge and mastery in three levels of epistemological, methodological and linguistic requisites. The linguistic level is one of the most important fundamental levels in science, which needs to be considered in interdisciplinary communication. Two major approaches about the language of the Qur’an are considered by researchers till now: philosophichermeneutics and textual. Muslim researchers are interested in the former approach and orientalists frequently incline to the latter. Although the relation between the language of the Qur’an and the language of science with text-oriented approach is less frequently taken into account. Considering the foresaid approach in this article, the author studies the differences between the language of the Qur’an and the language of science and classifies them into five categories: 1. The use of ambiguity and linguistic amphibology; 2. The use of analogy, metaphor and metonymy; 3. Holism and polysemy; 4. The application of the language of sermon and dialogue; 5. The application of verbal complexity. The use of these five linguistic features of the Qur’an is to a large extent different from their use in science. It thus causes complexity in the relation between the Qur’an and humanism on the one hand and experimental sciences on the other.

Keywords


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