Quranic Discourse Revisited: An Inquiry into the Nature of Quranic Discourse in the Light of ‎the Qur'an & Hadith and in the Scholarly Literature

Abstract

Qura’n translation critics’ current approach to the nature of the language of the Holy Qur’an, ‎regulating their treatment of the subject of Qur'an translation, implies their consideration of ‎the Holy Text as belonging to (a combination of) text-types already structured within human ‎discourse. The present study was undertaken to probe into the nature of the Quranic text, ‎focusing on its specific discourse features. To further this aim, three sources (the Qur'an, ‎Hadith, and the scholars’ literature) were studied, and the Qur'an’s self-descriptions were ‎investigated, followed by the analysis of discourse strategies employed by the Qur'an for ‎textual development. The findings support our hypothesis that Quranic discourse cannot be ‎categorized under the same types as already defined in the fields of linguistics/translation ‎studies. It was concluded that the taken-for-granted implication that the Holy Text fits into ‎pre-defined discourse realms calls revisiting so that a better mutual understanding can be ‎brought about regarding such long-held debates as (un)translatability; also, it was suggested ‎that fields such as ‘Qur'an linguistics’ and ‘Qur'an Translation Studies’ are deemed necessary ‎if more objectivity is aimed at in Qur'an translation criticism.‎