الاختلاف في دلالة "ثم" العاطفة على الترتيب و أثره في التفسير

الملخص EN

This research deals with the coordinating conjunction "thumma" with regard to its indication of sequence, the dispute of scholars about it, and its influence on their exegesis of some verses of the Qur’an.

These include the verses highlighting the creation of Heavens and Earth, the settling on the throne, and the creation of Adam, Eve and their descendants.

Since "thumma" is a coordinating element of a broad sense of meaning, some grammarians have restricted it to denote sequence of time with brief duration in-between while others have treated it like wa (and) as a coordinating conjunction denoting overall coordination regardless of order.

However, some exegetists broadened its denoting of sequence- not only chronological order or incorporeal order (i.e., no specific duration)- to include the informative order (which givespriority to what is important to be mentioned first), order ofcredit( primacy of what is important due to credit) and order of rank ( primacy of what is higher in rank).

Accordingly, the understanding and explicating of some verses of Qur’an differ.

What has led the exegetists of Qur’an to consider "thumma" carefully and give it denotations of sequence other than those approved by grammarians was the gap between the grammarians’ treatment of "thumma", which may not be able to meet the requirements of all its denotations to explicate some verses of the Qur’an, and its real uses in the Holy Qur’an.

It is reasonable to attribute grammarians’ narrow views in relation to ‘thumma’ and the wider views of exegetists to the fact that exegetists are preoccupied with studying and preserving the Holy Qur’an.

This has resulted in showing various meanings and uses of "thumma" which grammarians have overlooked; on account of their rare occurrence compared with the way it is used in the Holy Qur’an.

The reason for this is that grammarians have discussed "thumma" and its function as a sequencing conjunction by referring only to one line of poetry by a late poet, from the point of view of the age which could be used in linguistic disputation.

Was this use of "thumma" to indicate different meanings of order deduced from the Holy Qur’an or did Arabs know that usage of "thumma" as found in the Holy Qur’an, but grammarians are those who overlooked that? This question is waiting for more thorough investigation of Arabic prose and poetry in order to answer the question: Is it overlooked by grammarians or deduced from the Holy Qur’an? This research has raised this question.

This research includes an introduction which highlights the terminology and key linguistic terms of the research.

The first section sheds light on two topics: the first is about the grammarians' description of the coordinating conjunction "thumma", and the second focuses on the types of sequence along with their definitions and some examples.

The second section discusses six verses of the Qur’an under three titles: the creation of Heavens and Earth, the settling on the Throne and the creation of Adam, Eve and their descendants; then, Istighfar (asking forgiveness from Allah) and repentance; and a conclusion showing some findings and opinions.

The research has concluded that first; "thumma" has a main denotation (the basic) which is the indication of order with some duration in-between.

Second, it has secondary denotations generated and identified by context, such as the indication of the informative order, order of credit, and order of rank.

Did Arabs know these denotations of "thumma" other than the chronological order or was that deduced from the Holy Qur’an? This question awaits more quantitative and descriptive studies of Arabic prose and poetry