Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Identifying the Historical Referent of the Alast Verses: Revisiting the Intertextual Interpretation of the Dharr Verse

Document Type : Original article

Author
Seyyed Hossein Karimpour
Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Education, Rudsar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rudsar, Iran.
10.22034/naghdeara.2026.583478.1395
Abstract
This article critiques the theory that the “Dharr Verse” (Q. 7:172) refers Quranic “Verses of Alast” (Q. 7:172–174) refer to the covenant of Joshua with the Children of Israel, as proposed by Jaʿfar Nekūnām in his intertextual reading of the Dharr verse. It examines Nekūnām’s evidence from context, parallel Quranic passages, and the Hebrew Bible, and argues that each line of evidence is inconclusive. The immediate context of Q. 7:172 does not require a Mosaic-era setting, and the Joshua covenant, which encompasses all Israelite tribes, conflicts with the verse’s restrictive language. The article proposes instead that the Alast verses elaborate the Mīqāt narrative of Q. 7:155, in which seventy Israelite elders meet God, experience a life-threatening convulsion, and are restored. Seven verbal, semantic, and functional parallels between the two accounts—including the taking of life, direct divine-human dialogue, resistance, impending destruction, plea for deliverance, attribution of responsibility, and pedagogical purpose—support this identification. The study concludes that the Mīqāt offers a more coherent and textually grounded historical referent for the Alast verses than the covenant of Joshua.
Keywords
The Covenant of Alast
Mīqāt of the Children of Israel
World of Dharr
Covenant of Joshua
Intertextual Exegesis
Subjects
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Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis
Volume 7, Issue 1 - Serial Number 13
September 2026
Pages 177-204

  • Receive Date 30 May 2026
  • Revise Date 25 July 2026
  • Accept Date 25 July 2026