Quran and Hadith Studies

Quran and Hadith Studies

The Semantics of Justice in Human Creation with Emphasis on Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations in Surah al-Infiṭār

Document Type : Research Article

Author
Fazeleh Mirghafoorian
Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Studies, Women's Campus of Imam Sadiq University, Tehran. Iran.
10.22067/jquran.2025.91105.1780
Abstract
This study explores the meaning of the term ʿadl (justice) in human creation by analyzing its syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, examining how associated and substitutive terms expand or restrict its meaning. Using a descriptive–analytical method, relevant verses across the Qurʾan are collected and analyzed. The findings show that ʿadl as a descriptor of human creation appears only in verse 7 of Surah al-Infiṭār, accompanied by the terms creation (khalq), proportioning (taswiyah), and composition (tarkīb). Analysis of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations in verses 7–8 of Surah al-Infiṭār and other Qurʾanic occurrences reveals that ʿadl represents the third stage of human creation and conveys two semantic dimensions: first, God’s granting humans the ability to distinguish between good and evil and to choose between them; second, the creation of each human as male or female, establishing balance in gendered creation and arranging spiritual and physical components accordingly. Khalq represents the first stage of creation involving precise measurement (taqdīr), while taswiyah denotes the second stage, signifying the establishment of monotheistic inclination.
Keywords
Surah al-Infiṭār
semantics of justice
human creation
syntagmatic relations
paradigmatic relations
cognitive semantics
Subjects
ʻAbd al-Jalīl, Manqūr. ʻIlm al-Dalālat Uṣūluh wa Mabāḥith fī al-Turāth al-ʻArab.  Dimashq: Itiḥād al-Kitāb al-ʻArab, 2001/1421.
Azharī, Muḥammad. Tahdhīb al-Lugha. Beirut: Dār Ihyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʻArabī, 2001/1421.
Bāādab Barzgar, Aʿẓam va Muḥammad ʿAlī Kāẓimītabār. "Maʻnāshināsī ʿAdl dar Qurān Karīm". Hamāyish Biyn al-Milalī Taḥqīqāt Kārburdī dar Ḥawzah Qurān va Ḥadīth, vol. 2 (2022/1400): 187-202.
Bājī, Nuṣrah va Qāsim Bustānī. "Bīnā Mataniyyat (Tanāṣ) Vāzhih-yi ʻAdl biyn Zabān va Qurān". Muṭāliʻāt-i Qurānī, no. 32 (winter 2018/1396): 95-114.
Bayḍāwī, ʻAbd Allah. Anwār al-Tanzīl wa Asrār al-Taʾwīl. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī.1997/1418.
Fakhr Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn ʻUmar . al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī, 1999/1420.
Farāhīdī, Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. al-ʻAyn. Qum: Dār Hijrat, 1989/1409.
Fatḥī, Ṣadiq va Muṣṭafā Ṣabāḥ al-Janābī.  Dirāsa Uslūbiya li-Sūrah al-Infiṭār ʻalā al-Mastawī al-Lughawī, 2017/1395.
Fīrūzābādī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub-i ʿIlmīyya, s.d.
Geeraerts, Dirk. Naẓarīyih-hā-yi Maʻnāshināsī Vāzhigānī. translated by Kūrush Ṣafavī, Tehran: Nashr ʻIlmī, 2014/1393.
Ibn Durayd, Muḥammad. Jamhara al-Lugha. Beirut: Dār al-ʻIlm. li-l-Malāyīn, 1987/1407.
Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad. Muʿjam  Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Qum: Maktab al-Aʿlām al-Islāmī. 1984/1404.
Muṣṭafavī, Muḥammad Ḥasan. Al-Taḥqīq fī Kalamāt al-Qurān al-Karīm. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub-i ʿIlmīyya, s.d.
Palmer, Frank. Nigāhī Tāzih bi Maʻnāshināsī. translated by Kūrush Ṣafavī. Tehran: Kitāb Mād, 1996/1374.
Pūr Mawlā, Sayyid Muḥammad Hāshim va Marjān Ghulāmī. "Maʻnāshināsī Vāzhih ʻAdl dar Qurān Karīm bar Mabnāy Ravish Izutsu".  Pazhūhish-hā-yi Qurān va Ḥadīth, no. 1 (spring and summer 2016/1394): 1-23.
Qāʾimīnīyā, ʻAlī Riżā. Maʻnāshināsī Shinākhtī Qurān. Tehran: Pazhūhishgāh Farhang va Andīshih-yi Islāmī, 2012/1390.
Qāʾimīnīyā, ʻAlī Riżā. Maʻnāshināsī. Qum: Pazhūhishgāh Ḥawzah va Dānishgāh, 2022/1400.
Ṣāfī, Maḥmūd. al-Jadwal fī Iʿrāb al-Qurān wa Ṣarfahu wa Bayānu Maʻa Fawāʿid Naḥwīya Hānah. Dimashq:  Dār al-Rashīd, 1997/1418.
Shuʿayrī, Ḥamīd Riḍā. Mabānī Maʻnāshināsī Nuvīn. Tehran: Intishārāt Vizārat-i Farhang va Irshād-i Islāmī, 2003/ 1381.
Ṭabarī, Muḥammad. Jāmiʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, 1992/1412.
Ṭabarsī. Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. Majmaʻ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Tehran: Nāṣir Khusrū, 1994/1372.
Ṭabāṭabāyī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Beirut: Mūʾassisa Aʻlamī li-l-Maṭbūʻāt. 1970/1390.
Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn. Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn. Tehran: Murtażavī. 1997/1375.
Zamakhsharī, Jār Allah. Tafsīr al-Kashāf ʿan Ḥaqāʾiq Ghawāmiḍ al-Tanzīl. Riyāḍ: ʻUbaykān, 1998/1376.
Send comment about this article
Enter Name.
Enter a valid email address.
Enter a vaid affiliation.
Enter comments (At leaset 10 words)
CAPTCHA Image
Enter Security Code Correctly.
Quran and Hadith Studies
Volume 57, Issue 2 - Serial Number 115
Autumn & Winter 2025-2026
February 2026
Pages 273-297

  • Receive Date 05 December 2024
  • Revise Date 26 July 2025
  • Accept Date 06 September 2025