Explaining Proofs of Extensibility of Meaning in interpretation of the Holy Koran

Abstract

Extensibility of the meaning of words means expanding the range of instances of words so that the new meaning is in the line with the original state of the word and connected to its original meaning. Interpreters of the Quran have practiced this technique in their interpretations of the Quran in the form of batn [latent meanings of the Quran that are revealed], interpretation, and jary [the conclusively of the Quran’s verses, meaning that the scope of the meaning of verses is not limited to the determinate instances at the time of revelation] and have presented various proofs for the validity of this technique. This technique allows benefiting from the text and meaning of the Quran to the highest possible capacity and prevents improper interpretations. In fact, this technique unfolds the miraculous verbal aspect of the Quran. This paper tries to discuss and expound the most important reasons provided by proponents of this technique that have been extracted from creditable interpretation books. The reasons include: attending characteristics of the speaker (God Almighty), development of man’s perceptive faculty in the course of history, different talent and capacity of human beings in each epoch and referring to traditions of descendants of the Prophet of Islam who have applied this technique in interpretation of Quran’s verses.

Keywords: Meaning extension, words of the Quran, interpretation technique, verbalizer of the Quran