A SEMANTIC AND THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE STORY OF IBRĀHĪM IN THE QUR’ĀN: FAMILY, PARENTS AND ANCESTORS

• Published in: Religion & literature 2017-10, Vol.49 (3), p.49-76
• Main Author: Alhassen, Leyla Ozgur
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0888-3769; 2328-6911

In this study, I use a semantic and thematic analysis to explore the Qur’ānic narrative portrayal of Ibrāhīm and his promise to seek forgiveness for his father. In the Qur’ān, Ibrāhīm’s father worships idols and Ibrāhīm questions his faith and encourages him to stop this practice. When his father refuses to and threatens Ibrāhīm, Ibrāhīm tells his father that he will seek forgiveness for him (19:41-49). He does indeed seek forgiveness for his father (14:41 and 26:86). However, verse 9:114 and 60:4 clarify that Ibrāhīm seeks forgiveness for his father because he promised he would do so, even though it is not acceptable to ask for forgiveness for polytheists (9:113). In this study, I attempt to understand what narrative purpose is served by portraying Ibrāhīm’s promise to seek forgiveness for his father and then the story’s reframing this in its other iterations. I use a text-internal approach to this question, by which I mean that I look at relevant Qur’ānic verses on the topic in addition to comparing various stories about Ibrāhīm in the Qur’ān and the ways that these stories can be categorized, based on Ahmad Obeidat and Toshihiko Izutsu’s concepts of “good” and “bad.” I also look at commentaries of the Qur’ān to see how commentators have interpreted these clarifications; the commentaries serve as examples of reader-responses to the text. Through this analysis, we see that an interplay of literary portrayal and linguistic choices works to depict Ibrāhīm in the Qur’ān as a model forefather, father and son, and the story of Ibrāhīm seeking forgiveness for his father furthers this portrayal.