Investigating Verbal Similarities in the Glorious Quran

Abstract

This study focused on and aimed at studying verbal similarities in the Glorious Quran. It investigated this recurrent phenomenon in the Quran as one of its linguistic miracles in an attempt to eliminate the misconception of similarities in Quranic verses and to respond to atheists who consider these similarities as pointless repetitions that do not serve any rhetoric functions. The study also referred to translation of similarities in the Quran as indispensable to communicate the Divine message to Non-Arabic Muslims as well as Non-Muslims around the world to investigate the degree of accuracy and effectiveness of renditions the different shades of meanings of similarities. For this purpose, selected Quranic verses including similarities have been extracted from the entire Quran for assessment process. The study revealed that there is no repetition in the Quran and that no similar word can be replaced by its counter word whatever is the degree of similarity. The study also revealed that a partial translation loss exists in translating syntactic and rhetoric aspects of similar verses due to linguistic or cultural complexity. The study recommends translation of the Quran to be based on Quran exegeses and conducted by a committee of experts in the different branches of knowledge related to the Holy Quran such as language, culture, history and sciences of the Quran. Finally, the study encourages learning Arabic, the language of the Quran, to read and understand the Quran in its original language to have a perfect and full awareness of its Divine message.