A Linguistic Study of Reading the Word “غرفة” in the Quranic Verse “excepting one who takes [from it] in the hollow of his hand”
نویسندگان
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Quranic Sciences and Fiqh, University of Shiraz, Iran.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Quran and Ahlulbayt Teachings, Faculty of Ahlulbaytm, Uiversity of Isfahan, Iran
doi
چکیده
Regarding the articulation of the word “Ghorfa” (غرفة) in the Quranic Verse “indeed Allah will be testing you with a river. So whoever drinks from it is not of me, and whoever does not taste it is indeed of men, excepting one who takes [from it] in the hollow of his hand” (Quran, 1: 249) there are discrepancies. Some readers articulate it as “Ghorfra”, some others articulate it as “Gharfa”. Abu Amr believes that the amount of water contained in one’s hand is called “Gharfa” and the water contained in a container is called “Ghorfa”; therefore, he accepts the articulation of “Gharfa” and Kasaei refers to the linguistic register of the verse and states: if instead of the verb “Ightaraf”, the verb “Gharaf” was used, I articulate it Gharfa”. This issue indicates that the meaning of words and linguistic discussions have effects on the mode of reading a text. The present study is to analytically investigate the meanings of “Gharfa” and “Ghorfa” by investigating lexical, phonetic, interpretative, and narrative resources using a descriptive method. Analyzing the mentioned resources in illustrating the meaning of these two words indicates how lexicographers and Quran readers can have relations with each other. Lexicographers by stating the meaning of these two words, assign the discrepancies in the meanings of these two words to Yunus, the disciple of Abu Amr of Basra, and Fara’, the disciple of Kasaei. Therefore, this hypothesis that sometimes lexicographical ideas of scholars are influenced by the articulation of those who read the Holy Quran is reinforced. The findings of the present study indicated that there is no scientific and firm reason for confirming one of the articulatory aspects of these two words, and the reasons assigned to articulatory aspects can be criticized. The narratives about the register of the verse only clarify that this word means the amount of water in the hands of somebody (Gharfa), and in the holy verse, regarding the fact that the word “Ightaraf” (اغتراف) is used versus Shorb (شرب), this word refers to drinking once.