Quranic Sciences and Tradition

Quranic Sciences and Tradition

A Semantic Reappraisal of ʿAdhāb and Wathāq in Sūrat al-Fajr An Etymological, Morphological, and Contextual Analysis Based on Qur’anic Evidence

Document Type : Research Paper

Author
Assistant Professor of Islamic Education, Rudsar Branch, Islamic Azad University
10.22059/jqst.2026.415829.670658
Abstract
Verses 25–26 of Sūrat al-Fajr have long been discussed with regard to the semantic relationship between ʿadhāb (punishment) and wathāq (bondage/restraint), as well as their connection with the concept of life expressed by li-ḥayātī within the context of the verses. Employing a descriptive-analytical approach, this study revisits these verses through historical etymology, morphological analysis, examination of Qur'anic readings (qirāʾāt), and contextual interpretation. The findings indicate that the root ʿ-dh-b (ʿayn-dhāl-bāʾ) was associated in the earlier layers of the Arabic language with meanings such as purification, clarification, and removal of impurities. On this basis, taʿdhīb should not be understood merely as punishment but can also be interpreted as a process of removing spiritual impurities and purifying the self. Likewise, the verb yūthiqu (یُوثِقُ), which occurs only once in the Qur'an, can, in light of the semantic potential of the ifʿāl form (bāb al-ifʿāl) and contextual evidence, be interpreted as denoting the removal of wathāq, that is, the release of bonds that constrain the human soul. Accordingly, taʿdhīb and īthāq may be regarded as two complementary stages of a single process of existential transformation: purification from impurities and liberation from constraints. The novelty of this study lies in explaining the semantic coherence between these two verbs on the basis of the pattern of “removal and elimination” (salb wa-izāla) and in offering a semantic-existential reading of the concluding verses of Sūrat al-Fajr, whereby ʿadhāb acquires its meaning in relation to the human return to authentic life.
Keywords
Subjects

Holly Quran
Abū Ḥayyān al-Andalusī, Muḥammad b. Yūsuf (1999). al-Baḥr al-muḥīṭ fī al-tafsīr. Dār al-Fikr. (in Arabic)
al-Ālūsī, Maḥmūd b. ʿAbd Allāh (1994). Rūḥ al-maʿānī fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm wa-l-sabʿ al-mathānī. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. (in Arabic)
al-Azharī, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad (2001). Tahdhīb al-lughah. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. (in Arabic)
al-Baghawī, Ḥusayn b. Masʿūd (1999). Maʿālim al-tanzīl fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. (in Arabic)
al-Dānī, ʿUthmān b. Saʿīd (2005). al-Taysīr fī al-qirāʾāt al-sabʿ. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. (in Arabic)
Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar (1999). Mafātīḥ al-ghayb. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. (in Arabic)
Fayḍ-i Kāshānī, Mullā Muḥsin (1994). Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī. Intishārāt al-Ṣadr. (in Arabic)
Ibn al-Athīr, Mubārak b. Muḥammad (1988). al-Nihāyah fī gharīb al-ḥadīth wa-l-athar. Muʾassasah-ʾi Maṭbūʿātī-yi Ismāʿīliyān. (in Arabic)
Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq b. Ghālib (2001). al-Muḥarrar al-wajīz fī tafsīr al-kitāb al-ʿazīz. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. (in Arabic)
Ibn ʿĀshūr, Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir (1999). al-Taḥrīr wa-l-tanwīr. Muʾassasat al-Tārīkh al-ʿArabī. (in Arabic)
Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad (1984). Muʿjam maqāyīs al-lughah. Maktab al-Iʿlām al-Islāmī. (in Arabic)
Ibn Juzayy, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad (1995). al-Tashīl li-ʿulūm al-tanzīl. Dār al-Arqam b. Abī al-Arqam. (in Arabic)
Ibn Kathīr, Ismāʿīl b. ʿUmar (1998). Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. (in Arabic)
Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad b. Mukarram (1993). Lisān al-ʿArab. Dār Ṣādir. (in Arabic)
Ibn Sayyidih, ʿAlī b. Ismāʿīl (2000). al-Muḥkam wa-l-muḥīṭ al-aʿẓam. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. (in Arabic)
Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh (2017). Tafsīr-i Tasnīm. Isrāʾ. (in Persian)
al-Jawharī, Ismāʿīl b. Ḥammād (1997). al-Ṣiḥāḥ: Tāj al-lughah wa-ṣiḥāḥ al-ʿArabiyyah. Dār al-ʿIlm li-l-Malāyīn. (in Arabic)
Malikī, Muḥammad Bāqir (1993). Manāhij al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Vizārat-i Farhang va Irshād-i Islāmī. (in Arabic)
Maybudī, Rashīd al-Dīn (1992). Kashf al-asrār va ʿuddat al-abrār. Amīr Kabīr. (in Persian)
Muqātil b. Sulaymān (2002). Tafsīr Muqātil b. Sulaymān. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. (in Arabic)
Muṣṭafawī, Ḥasan (2009). al-Taḥqīq fī kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-karīm. Markaz Nashr Āthār al-ʿAllāmah al-Muṣṭafawī. (in Arabic)
al-Naḥḥās, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad (2000). Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. (in Arabic)
al-Qummī, ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm (1984). Tafsīr al-Qummī. Dār al-Kitāb. (in Arabic)
al-Qurṭubī, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad (1985). al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān. Intishārāt-i Nāṣir Khusraw. (in Arabic)
Rāghib Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad (1991). Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān. Dār al-Qalam. (in Arabic)
al-Ṣāḥib b. ʿAbbād, Ismāʿīl (1993). al-Muḥīṭ fī al-lughah. ʿĀlam al-Kutub. (in Arabic)
Ṣādiqī Tihrānī, Muḥammad (1986). al-Furqān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān bi-l-Qurʾān wa-l-sunnah. Intishārāt-i Farhang-i Islāmī. (in Arabic)
Sayyid Quṭb, Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn (1991). Fī ẓilāl al-Qurʾān. Dār al-Shurūq. (in Arabic)
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn (1996). al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Manshūrāt Jamāʿat al-Mudarrisīn. (in Arabic)
al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr (1991). Jāmiʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Dār al-Maʿrifah. (in Arabic)
Ṭālaqānī, Sayyid Maḥmūd (1983). Partav-ī az Qurʾān. Shirkat-i Sahāmī-yi Intishār. (in Persian)
al-Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd b. ʿUmar (1987). al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl. Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī. (in Arabic)