"Surat Al Qamar: A Textual Reading of the Text’s Focus and Its Sections"

Abstract

This study considers the text as an integrated linguistic unit, assuming the existence of a focusto which all sections of the text relate and belong, by means of several formal elements in the text such as: reference, coordination, and repetition, as well as, semantic elements that connect the text‟s sectionsto its focus. To test the hypothesis, the researchers have chosen the Holy Quran, for its text fully invests linguistic capacities, and varies in presentation methods. More specifically, they zoom in on Surat Al-Qamar due to the fact that it contains many Quranic narratives, andattempts to highlight the similarities and the analogies between these narratives and the focus of the surah, as well asthe extent of relation between the surah‟s closure and its focus. The study concludes that there is a focus from which other sectionsof the surah originate and to which they relate back, by means of formal and semantic links distributed throughout the surah.