Social significance in the interpretation of “Zahrat al-Tafasir” by Abu Zahra

Abstract

The relationship between language and society is an integral relationship. There is no society without language and no language without society. The Holy Quran has preserved this relationship for us in its most complete form. The Holy Quran has expressed the Arab society in general and the Islamic society in particular, in a language through which we were able to discover many of the advantages and disadvantages of this society. It also conveyed to us the directives that the Quran was keen to be in the interest of this society and the human societies that follow it. In this research, I was keen to stand on some of the features of this relationship between the Quranic word and the social meaning, using a contemporary interpretive corpus, namely “Tafsir Zahrat al-Tafasir” by the scholar Muhammad bin Abi Zahra. In his corpus, there is great linguistic effort and clear interest in the social aspect of language. He was interested - may God have mercy on him - in the social context and collecting linguistic and social evidence to reach the meaning of words and structures. This interest is nothing but a clear attention from the Sheikh to the importance of the social aspect in linguistic analysis. I was keen to highlight this aspect in this research. May God grant success.