Antonymy in the Holy Quran from a Linguistic and Exegetic Perspective

Abstract

     Antonymy is an opposition-based relation where two words suggest opposite meanings or references. Arab traditional grammarians have long been interested in semantic and sense-related relations in Standard Arabic. Drawing on a Quran-informed traditional linguistic perspective, this paper analyzes antonymy as presented in selected Quranic verses following a centuries-long Arabic linguistic scholarship of grammar and meaning. Many expressions and references in the Quran have a twofold meaning. To highlight this issue, this paper elaborates on the meaning differentiation of certain antonymic expressions as manifested in selected Quranic verses. To achieve this aim, the paper reviews and survey several traditional Arabic linguists’ views on antonyms and how these views have shaped our understanding of present-day semantic relations. Standard Arabic scholarships in meaning have been widely investigated by both grammarians and exegetists. Such linguistic-religious correlation has caused a remarkable in certain Quranic interpretations. This paper, therefore, contributes to the interpretation of opposite meanings but from a religious perspective where antonyms are realized through several Quranic exegeses.