The Concept of “Poetry” by Quran Interpreters: Presence and Determinants of the Concept

Abstract

This research aims to trace the concept of poetry, in works by the Holy Quran interpreters who interpreted it as technical term. The research utilized the analytical-inductive approach to identify the presence of this concept and determinants thereof in the perceptions of interpreters regardless of their intellectual orientations and sects, as this paper approaches it from a literary perspective. The research is significant as it extrapolates a problematic literary concept in different texts. One finding is that this concept appeared in their books only since the sixth century AH onward, but not before, because poetry in the view of the ancients was one of the axioms known to Arabs, for which no definition was needed. The concept determinants were not complete at first; rather, it kept developing in the interpreters’ perceptions until it settled on clear determinants in their knowledge. The influence of Arab critics in their terminology of poetry was clear in many of the determinants of this concept among interpreters.

Keywords: interpreters/commentators, concept of poetry, determinants.