The Work of Al-Isfahani Named “Mufradat Alfaz al-Qur'an” in the Correct Understanding of Quranic Words

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Abstract

A proper understanding of the Qurʾān is closely linked to identifying the meanings that its words conveyed during the period of revelation and transmitting those meanings accurately to subsequent generations. While the first recipients were able to comprehend these meanings naturally owing to the linguistic and cultural environment in which they lived, later generations required historical and linguistic inquiry to attain the same understanding. For this reason, from the earliest period onward, scholars such as Muqātil b. Sulaymān, al-Akhfash, al-Farrāʾ, and Abū ʿUbaydah authored works devoted to explaining the meanings of Qurʾānic vocabulary. Among these, al-Rāghib al-Isfahānī’s Mufradat Alfaz al-Qur'an occupies a distinguished position. This study examines al-Isfahānī’s efforts in this work to determine the meanings of Qurʾānic words and to render them comprehensible for later generations. The findings demonstrate that the author substantiated the meanings of words by drawing upon variant Qurʾānic readings (qirāʾāt), Prophetic traditions (ḥadīth), the stylistic features of the Arabic language, and Arabic poetry, while presenting alternative meanings together with their underlying justifications. Furthermore, he incorporated synonymous and antonymous expressions, evaluated lexical items within their textual context as well as in their worldly and eschatological dimensions, and offered detailed explanations of the relevant Qurʾānic verses. Al-Isfahānī’s multidimensional approach may therefore be regarded as a comprehensive endeavor both to determine the authentic meanings of Qurʾānic vocabulary and to make those meanings accessible to audiences across different historical periods.