The Narrative Analysis of the Holy Mary’s Story in the Holy Quran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. student of Quran and Hadith sutdies, Esfahan University

2 Associate Professor of Quranic Sciences and Hadith, University of Isfahan

Abstract

Abstract
One of structures of Qur’an to render its teachings is storytelling or narration. Like other Revealed Books, the holy Qur’an has also abundantly taken advantage of stories and narratives for teaching the inherent rules of universe to man, warning and annunciating him, and informing him of the stories of the predecessors and prophets. One of these Qur’anic narratives, is the story of Her Holiness Mary (as), being highly considered due to its inclusion of various ups and downs and extraordinary adventures such as a childbirth without a father or his speech in cradle. Many scientific attempts have been devoted to description, commentary and analysis of this story and other Qur’anic narratives, and many researchers have scrutinized various aspects of these stories by different literary, semantic, historical, and linguistic approaches. One of the new emerging approaches in the study of Qur’anic stories is “Narratology” and its distinguishing aspect from other approaches is that it studies the structure of a story and provides the possibility of methodological extraction of implicit meanings in it, considering the various aspects of a story such as narrator, characters, point of view, plot, etc.
The present article, reporting the narration of the Qur’an from the story of Mary, aims to answer the question of “how and to what extent do these components have role in analyzing the structure of this story?” The study indicates that despite the differences between Qur’anic stories and human ones in various aspects, the story of Her Holiness Mary has a plot similar to that of human stories and its structural pattern, with a slight difference, is applicable to that of common ones. The meaningful outcome of this reading is that Mary (as) has experienced many ups and downs in her life, but in all the hardships and happiness, an aider from God, the Almighty, has helped and saved her. In addition, through these difficult events, Mary (as) has been led to the position of being higher than other women in the world and she has achieved a special position before God, the Almighty.
 
 

Keywords

References

  1. The Holy Qurʼān.
  2. Abbasi A. A study of The Element of Plot Element. Pazhouheshnameh of Foreign Languages Faculty of the University of Tehran. N. 33, 1385 HS, 85-103.
  3. Abbasi A. Practical Narratology. Tehran: Shahid Beheshti University; 1393 HS.
  4. Azar AI. Elahi-Nameh of Attar in the Geremas’s Theory of Semiotic Functions and Gérard Genette’s Morphology. Vida Azad. Tehran: Sokhan; 1393 HS.
  5. BergerAA. Narrative in Popular Culture, Media, and Everyday Life. Tran: Muhammad-Reza Liravi. Tehran: Soroosh; 1380 HS.
  6. Bostani M. A Study of the Artistic Effects of The Qur’anic Tales. Musa Danesh. Mashhad: Astan-e Qods-e Razavi; 1376 HS.
  7. Bostani M. Islam and Art. Hussein Saberi. Mashhad: Astan-e Qods-e Razavi and Islamic Research Foundation; 1378 HS.
  8. Chatman SB. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. New York: Cornell University press; 1978.
  9. Gholamreza A. Structure of Narration in Qur’anic Tales. Quarterly Journal of Connectional Researches; year 17, 1389 HS, n. 4, 31-50.
  10. Horri A. Narratology in the British-American Critical Trend: “Introduction to the Book of Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film by Seymour Chatman”. Literal Critique; Year 2, 1978, n. 8, 193-208.
  11. Hosseini A. Artistic Bases of Qur’anic Tales. Qom: Islamic Reseaches Foundation of IRI Broadcasting; 1379 HS.
  12. Hosseini M. Morphology of Qur’anic Tales: Re-Reading of Twelve Qur’anic Tales. Tehran: Qoqnoos’ 1382 HS.
  13. Karamī M. Al-Tafsīr li-Kitāb al-Allah al-Munīr. Qom: ‘Ilmīyeh Publishing; 1402 AH.
  14. Kulaynī MBY. Al-Kāfī. Aliakbar Ghaffari and Muhammad Akhondi. Tehran: Dār Al-Kutub Al-'Islāmīyah; 1407 AH.
  15. Makarem-Shīrazī N. Tafsīr-e Nemuneh (Selected Exegesis). Tehran: Dār Al-Kutub Al-Islāmīyah; 1371 HS, 10th ed.
  16. Malboubi MT. A New Analysis of the Quranic Tales. Tehran: Amirkabir; 1376 HS.
  17. Ma'mouri A. Analysis of Narrative Structure in the Qur’an. Tehran: Negah-e Mu'aser; 1392 HS.
  18. Ma'rifa MH. Tale in the Qur’an. Tran: Hassan Kharqani. Qom: Tamhid; 1387 HS.
  19. Matin P. Fictional Literary in Iran Land (Translation of the Article Fiction in Iranica). With introduction by Ibrahim Younesi. Tehran: Amirkabir; 1383 HS.
  20. Mieke B. Narratology: Introduction of The Theory of Narrative. Toronto: University of Toronto press; 1985.
  21. Mirsadeqi J. Elements of a Tale. Tehran: Sokhan; 1390 HS.
  22. Muhammadi MH. Abbasi A. Samad, the Structure of a Myth. Tehran: Chista; 1381 HS.
  23. Murtaḍ AM. Fī Naẓarīyat al-Riwāyah. Kuwait: ‘Alam al-Ma'rifah; 1998.
  24. Okhovvat A. Grammar of Tale. Isfahan: Isfahan Publishing; 1371 HS.
  25. Parvini Kh. Analysis of Literal and Artistic Elements of Qur’anic Tales. Tehran: Farhang-Gostar; 1379 HS.
  26. Pourjavadi K. Translation of the Qur’an by Pourjavadi. Tehran: Islamic Encyclopedia Foundation; 1414 AH.
  27. Qarashī SAA. Tafsīr Aḥsan al-Ḥadīth. Tehran: Bi'that Foundation; 1375 HS.
  28. Rimmon - Kenan Sh. Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. Tran: Abolfazl Horri. Tehran: Niloofar; 1378 HS.
  29. Sabzevari Najafi M. Al-Jadid fī Tafsīr al-Qurʼan. Beirut: Dar al-Ta'āruf lil Maṭbū'āt; 1406 AH.
  30. Sabzevari Najafi M. 'Irshād al-Adhhān ilā Tasīr al-Qurʼan. Beirut: Dar al-Ta'āruf lil Maṭbū'āt; 1419 AH.
  31. Sadeqi Tehrani M. Al-Furqān fī Tafsīr Al-qurʼan Bil-Qurʼan. Qom: Islamic Culture Publications; 1406 AH.
  32. Salehi-nia Maryam. Holiness and Structure: A Glance at Comparative Narratology of Holy Texts. Tehran: Negah Mu'aser; 1394 HS.
  33. Shamsia S. Literal Critique. Tehran: Ferdows; 1381 HS.
  34. Ṭabāṭabāyī MH. Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr Al-Qur’an. Beirut: Mu'assisat al-'A'lamī; 1390 AH.
  35. Toolan MJ. Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction. Tran: Abolfazl Horri and Zohreh Rahideh. Tehran: Farabi Film Foundation; 1383 HS; 1st ed.
  36. Wallace M. Recent Theories of Narrative. Tran: Muhammad Shahba. Tehran: Hermes; 1382 HS.
  37. Webster R. Studying Literary Theary: an Introduction. Tran: Elahe Dehnavi. Tehran: Sepideh Sahar; 1382 HS.
  38. Zarrinkoob AH (compiler and translator). Aristotle and the Art of Poetry. Tehran: The Center for Translation and Publication of Books; 1337.
  39. Zuḥaylī W. Al-Tafsīr al-Munīr fi al-‘Aqīdah wal-Sharī’a wal-Manhaj. Damascus: Dar al-Fikr; 1411 AH.

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 06 July 2018
  • Revise Date: 09 October 2018
  • Accept Date: 29 October 2018
  • Publish Date: 23 October 2018

Share

How to cite

Statistics