Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

The Implicative Signification of Psychic Shock: A Psycho-Somatic Reading of Ibn ʿAbbās on Akbarnahu (Q 12:31)

Document Type : Original article

Author
Nabi Allah Sadrifar
Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Studies, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/naghdeara.2026.584798.1398
Abstract
This study addresses a long-standing tension in the interpretation of Qurʾān 12:31 (Sūrat Yūsuf), where the women of Egypt respond to Joseph with the verb akbarnahu and cut their hands. The dominant exegetical tradition reads the term as denoting cognitive awe or wonder (iʿẓām). A report attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās, however, links it to a physiological reaction, specifically bleeding (ḥayḍ). This apparent contradiction has led most classical commentators, including Ṭabarī, to reject the report on grammatical and lexical grounds. The present article argues that this interpretive impasse stems from a confusion between two levels of signification. Drawing on the principles of uṣūl al-fiqh (Islamic legal theory) concerning implicative signification (al-dalālah al-iltizāmiyyah), and supported by findings from modern neuroscience, the study proposes that Ibn ʿAbbās’s report does not redefine the word’s primary meaning. Rather, it describes a biological consequence of severe psychological shock. The sudden encounter with Joseph’s beauty serves as a complete cause (ʿillat tāmmah) producing two concurrent physiological effects: acute stress-induced hemorrhage and stress-induced analgesia. The article thus offers a psychosomatic reading that preserves the lexical meaning of akbarnahu while integrating the exegetical reports into a coherent scientific framework. This reading is developed within a framework that accepts the theological presuppositions of Islamic exegesis and does not claim theological neutrality.
Keywords
Sūrat Yūsuf
Implicative Signification in the Qurʾān
Psychosomatic Reading
Stress-Induced Hemorrhage
Stress-Induced Analgesia
Subjects
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Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis
Volume 7, Issue 1 - Serial Number 13
September 2026
Pages 157-176

  • Receive Date 03 June 2026
  • Revise Date 10 July 2026
  • Accept Date 11 July 2026