Terminological research in Quranic studies: scientific pillars and methodological problems

The purpose of this study is to understand the methodology of Quranic terminological studies and explain its interpretative significance. It also analyzes the new knowledge of Quranic research and its historical efforts, from being an analytical to an objective study, while opening new horizons that stem from dealing with the words of the Holy Quran, not only as Arabic words, but also as concepts and terms with a contextual significance. This study is based on the historical experiences of three interpretative schools in the Islamic world: the Indian School and its Imam, Abdul Hamid Al-Farahi; the Shami School and its Dean, Ahmed Hassan Farhat; and the Maghrebian School and its pioneer, Shahid Al-Busheikhi. The latter proposes five pillars of the terminological study: the statistical study, the lexical study, the textual study, and the conceptual study, as well as the terminological presentation and its definitions, characteristics, relations, coordination, derivatives, and issues. From this point of view, this study attempts to follow the most important cognitive foundations of research in Quranic terminology, which revolves around a tripartite conceptual reference: the Quranic source, the rationality of the methodology, and the realism in practice. The Quranic source represents the objective directed by the conceptual research and its textual field. The methodological rationalism evokes two basic dimensions: the methodology of the Quranic research and the methodology of the conceptual lesson in Arabic and Western literature. For the applied realism, it expresses the extent to which reality and its issues are present in the conceptual research, which gives it functionality, feasibility, and practical effectiveness. These foundations will resolve the methodological issues of terminological research, which intersects with the general understanding of humanities and Islamic studies. In addition, it deals with problems related to the aspect of the terminological research itself, as a Quranic and theological lesson on the one hand and as a terminology lesson on the other hand. The pivotal problematic of the terminology study accrues to its Quranic source, its methodological rationalism, or its realism. Therefore, it is related to the text, the methodology, or the reality. As many obstacles and restraints as these problems are, they are also the signs of growth that stimulate the terminological studies to prove their efficiency, effectiveness, and eligibility to carry the textual integrity and the methodological performance, as well as to solve the problems of the contemporary reality.