Discourse Emphasized with Particles in Surahs that Begin with Oaths: A Semantico-Syntactic Study

Abstract

Linguistic studies of Qur’anic vocabulary are primarily concerned with elucidating the nature of linguistic iʿjāz (inimitability), and the syntactic dimension constitutes a foundational pillar in this endeavor. There can be no true understanding of the Qur’an’s linguistic miracle without a detailed linguistic analysis of the interrelations among its words and structures.

This study aims to shed light on emphatic discourse in the Qur’an introduced through particles resembling verbs (ḥurūf mushabbaha bi-l-fiʿl), particularly the particle inna and its variant with a fatha on the hamza (i.e., anna), as they appear in Surahs that begin with an oath. The analysis is conducted from both syntactic and semantic perspectives.

The research starts at the syntactic level by exploring the structural composition of these emphatic constructions, as governed by the rules of Arabic sentence formation. It then examines the specific use of these forms within Qur’anic discourse in terms of their communicative and rhetorical impact on the audience, seeking to uncover the informative and persuasive function embedded within each instance of emphasis—linguistically in general and within the Qur’anic text in particular.

Among the key findings is that the Surahs beginning with oaths not only share overarching structural patterns in their openings, but also converge at the microstructural level. The linguistic construction of emphatic discourse using inna serves to confirm the very truths already emphasized by the initial oaths.