Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Al-Raḥmān as a Proper Noun for God: A Semantic Study

Document Type : Original article

Author
Mohammad Ali Khavanin Zadeh
Assistant Professor at the Department of Qurʾān and Hadith Studies, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/naghdeara.2024.195675
Abstract
Following Allāh and Rabb, Al-Raḥmān emerges as the most frequent name of God in the Qurʾān. In addition to the Basmalah and Q1:3, Al-Raḥmān is extensively used, particularly within the middle Meccan Surahs. With the acceptance of the perspective of Muslim scholars, where Al-Raḥmān is an exaggerated form of raḥmah (mercy) and a descriptor of God, the issue at hand revolves around the semantic difference between Al-Raḥmān and the descriptor Raḥīm, which is also derived from raḥmah and is an exaggeration regarding God. This is especially evident in the Basmalah and some verses such as Q 41:2, where both are mentioned together. The answer to this issue lies in understanding that Al-Raḥmān is not an exaggerated descriptor of God, meaning an exaggeration of His mercy, but rather it is a proper noun, and like the name Allāh, indicates the essence of God. The first part of this research employs a historical approach and applies comparative Semitics, while the second part adopts a structural approach grounded in Qurʾānic usage. Multiple pieces of evidence are presented to establish Al-Raḥmān as a proper noun. Notabely, its consistent usage as a definite noun in Semitic languages, and its exclusive application in the Qurʾān referring to God are highlighted. The coexistence of definiteness and specificity in reference underscores Al-Raḥmān as a proper noun for God.
 
Keywords
The Most Beautiful Names of God (al-ʾAsmāʾ al-Ḥusnā)
al-Raḥmān
Structural Semantics
Historical-Comparative Linguistics

Subjects

  • Holy Qurʾān.
  • Ibn Bābwayh, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī, al-Tawḥīd, Qom, Jamāʿat al-Mudarrisīn, 1398 SAH [Persian].
  • Ibn ʿArabī, Muḥyi-ddīn, Kashf al-Maʿnā ʿan Sirr ʾAsmāʾ Allāh al-Ḥusnā, Qom, Manshurat-e Bakhshayesh, 1419 AH [Arabic].
  • Beheshti, Fahime and Zare˓, Moḥammad, "al-Raḥmān", Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, 1393 SAH [Persian].
  • Pākatchī, Aḥmad, "Raḥmān", The Great Islamic Encyclopedia, 1398 SAH [Persian].
  • Palmer, Frank, Semantics:A New Outline, Persian translation by Kurosh Ṣafavī, Tehran, Ketab-e Mād, 1391 SAH [Persian].
  • Tirmidhī, Muḥammad b. ʿIsā, al-Sunan, Cairo, Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1403 AH [Arabic].
  • al-Ḥājj, Muhammed ʿAlī and Faqʿas, ʾAhmed ʿAlī, “Naqsh Jabal Dhabub: Naqsh Jadīd bi-Khaṭṭ al-Zabur al-Yamāniyy,” Majallat al-ʿIbar 2, 2018 [Arabic].
  • Khalīl b. Aḥmad, Kitāb al-ʿAyn, Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1424 AH [Arabic].
  • Khavānīn Zādeh, Moḥammad Alī, A Semantic Study of the Most Beautiful Names of God in the Holy Quran, Tehran, Imam Ṣādiq, 1390 SAH [Persian].
  • Khavānīn Zādeh, Moḥammad Alī, A Semantic Study of the Name ‘Rabb’ and Its Position in the Semantic System of the Holy Quran, Ph.D. Thesis Defended at the University of Tehran (Farabi Campus), 1394 SAH [Persian][1].
  • Khavānīnzāde, Moḥammad Alī, “A Historical Semantic Study of the Word ‘Rabb’,” Linguistic Research in The Holy Quran, vol. 4, issue 2, 1394 SAH [Persian] b. DOI. 20.1001.1.24233889.1394.4.2.5.5
  • Khavānīn Zādeh, Moḥammad Alī, “Rabb”, The Great Islamic Encyclopedia, 1398 SAH [Persian].
  • Khavānīn Zādeh, Moḥammad Alī, “Religions of Late Antique Arabia: A Review Based on the Material Evidence”, Āyene-ye Pazhuhesh, vol. 35, issue 205, 1403 SAH [Persian].
  • Robin, Christian Julien, 1400 Years of Kingdom in Pre-Islamic Arabia. Selection, Translation, and Research by Moḥammad Alī Khavānīn Zādeh, Tehran, Hekmat, 1401 SAH [Persian].
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. Ḥassan, Majmaʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, Beirut, al-ʾAʿlamī, 1415 AH [Arabic].
  • Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr,Jāmiʿ Al-Bayān, Cairo, Dār Hijr, 1422 AH [Arabic].
  • ʿAbd al-Bāqī, Muḥammad Fuʾād, al-Muʿjam al-Mofahras li-ʾAlfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, Beirut, al-ʾAʿlamī, 1420 AH [Arabic].
  • Lyons, John. An Introduction to Linguistic Semantics. Persian translation by Hossein Vale, Tehran, Gam-e-No, 1385 SAH [Persian].
  • Muqātil b. Sulaymān, Tafsīr Muqātil b. Sulaymān, Beirut, Dār ʾIḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1423 AH [Arabic].
  • Abou-Assaf, A., Bordreuil, P. and Millard, A., La Statue de Tell Fekheriye et son inscription bilingue assyro-araméenne, Paris, 1982.
  • Al-Jallad, Ahmad, “A Pre-Islamic Basmala: Reflections on Its First Epigraphic Attestation and Its Original Significance,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 52, 2022a.
  • Campbell, Lyle, Historical Linguistics: an Introduction, Cambridge, MA, 1999.
  • Davis, Avrohom, The Metsudah Siddur: A New Linear Siddur with English Translation and Anthology of Classic Commentaries [Sidur Metsudat Avraham], 1: Daily Prayers. New York: Metsudah Publications, 1981.
  • Greenfield, Jonas C., “From ’lh Rḥmn to Al-Raḥmān. The Source of a Divine Epithet.” In B. Hary, J. Hayes and F. Astren (eds.), Judaism and Islam: Boundaries, Communication and Interaction, pp. 381-393, Leiden, 2000.
  • Gorea, Maria, “From the Aramaic raḥmānāʾ to raḥmānān and al-raḥmān,” Millennium 20/ 1, 2023.
  • Hartman, L. F. and Sperling, S. D. “God, Names of.” In Skolnik, Fred and Berenbaum, Michael (eds.), Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Vol. 7, New York, 2007.
  • Healey, John F., “The Kindly and Merciful God: on Some Semitic Divine Epithets.” In M. Dietrich and I. Kottsieper (eds.), “Und Mose schrieb dieses Lied auf،”Studien zum Alten Testament und zum Alten Orient: Festschrift für Oswald Loretz zur Vollendung seines 70، Lebensjahres mit Beiträgen von Freunden, Schülern und Kollegen, pp. 349-356, Münster, 1998.
  • Kiltz, David, “Statue aus Tell Fekheriye - TUK 607.” InTexte aus der Umwelt des Korans, von der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, mit Beiträgen von Sebastian Bitsch, Vasiliki Chamourgiotaki, Emmanouela Grypeou, Dirk Hartwig, Nestor Kavvadas, David Kiltz, Yousef Kouriyhe, Mohammed Maraqten, Adrian Pirtea, Veronika Roth, Johanna Schubert und Nicolai Sinai، Betaversion: Stand 30.3.2024.
  • Lieberman, Saul, Tosefet Rishonim, Jerusalem, 1937[2].
  • Misgav, H. “The inscriptions of the En-Gedi synagogue,” In Porath Y. (ed.), The synagogue at En-Gedi, pp. 83-97, Jerusalem, 2021.
  • Müller, Walter W., “Neuinterpretation altsüdarabischer Inschriften: RES 4698, CIH 45+44, Fa 74,” Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 36/ 1, 1976.
  • Naveh, J., On Stone and Mosaic، The Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Ancient Synagogues, Jerusalem, 1978.
  • Nebes, Norbert, “A New ʾAbraha Inscription from the Great Dam of Mārib,” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 34, 2004.
  • Nebes, Norbert, “The Martyrs of Najrān and the End of the Ḥimyar: On the Political History of South Arabia in the Early Sixth Century.” In A. Neuwirth, N. Sinai, and M. Marx (eds.), The Qurʾān in Context: Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qurʾānic Milieu, pp. 27-59, Leiden, 2010.
  • Nehmé, Laïla, “The Religious Landscape of Northwest Arabia as Reflected in the Nabataean, Nabataeo-Arabic, and Pre-Islamic Inscriptions.” In Fred M. Donner and Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee (eds.), Scripts and Scripture، Writing and Religion in Arabia circa 500-700 CE, pp. 43-86, Chicago, 2022.
  • Oden, R. A., “Baʿal Šamēm and ʾĒl,” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 39/ 4, 1977.
  • Rabinowitz, Louis Isaac, “God, Names of (Rabbinical Names of God).” In Skolnik, Fred and Berenbaum, Michael (eds.), Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Vol. 7, New York, 2007.
  • Robin, Christian J. “Quel judaïsme en Arabie?” In Christian J. Robin (ed.), Le judaïsme de l’Arabie antique، Actes du Colloque de Jérusalem (février 2006), Judaïsme ancien et origines du christianisme 3, pp. 15-295, Turnhout, 2015.
  • Robin, Christian J., “I، L’Arabie préislamique.” In Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi and Guillaume Dye (eds.), Le Coran des historiens, Vol،.I, pp. 51-154, Paris, 2019.
  • Robin, Christian J., “Les noms du Dieu unique dans les religions de l’Arabie préislamique,” Communio 45, 2020.
  • Robin, Christian J., “Judaism in Pre-Islamic Arabia.” In Phillip I. Lieberman (ed.), The Cambridge History of Judaism, pp. 294-331, Cambridge, 2021.
  • Robin, Christian J., “Arabie antique : variations dans la manière de nommer le Dieu unique.” In J.-N. Robert (ed.), Hiéroglossie III : persan, syro-araméen et les relations avec la langue arabe, pp. 139-170, Paris, 2022.
  • Robin, Christian J. and Rijziger, Sarah, “‘The Owner of the Sky, God of Israel’ in a New Jewish Ḥimyaritic Inscription Dating from the Fifth Century CE,” Der Islam, 95/ 2, 2018.
  • Skolnik, Fred and Berenbaum, Michael (eds.), Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Vol. 19, s.v. “Targum”, New York, 2007.
  • Sperling, S. David, “Bible, Translations; Ancient Versions; Syriac Aramaic: Peshitta and Other Versions.” In Skolnik, Fred and Berenbaum, Michael (eds.), Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Vol. 3, New York, 2007.
  • Stein, Peter, “Himyar und der Eine Gott: Südarabien in den letzten zwei Jahrhunderten vor dem Islam, ” Orientalia 79, 2010.
  • Wald, Stephen G., “Tosefta” in Skolnik, Fred and Berenbaum, Michael (eds.), Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Vol. 20, New York, 2007.

 

[1]. https://ut.ac.ir/fa/thesis/36695.

[2]. https://www،sefaria،org/ Tosefta_Bava_Kamma_(Lieberman).

Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis
Volume 4, Issue 2 - Serial Number 8
March 2024
Pages 101-140

  • Receive Date 17 April 2024
  • Revise Date 29 April 2024
  • Accept Date 07 May 2024