Manifestations of Norm Evasion in the Blessed Sūrat al-Nāzi‘āt Focusing on Shklovsky’s Model

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student in Arabic Language and Literature, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan

10.22081/jqr.2025.71287.4187

Abstract

Sūrat al-Nāzi‘āt is one of the prominent examples in the Holy Qur'an that, by utilizing various norm evasion methods, expresses profound divine concepts in an effective and artistic way. Norm evasion, a concept derived from the theories of Russian formalism, means changing the usual structures to create novelty and distinction. In this article, norm evasion has been examined at four levels: phonetic, lexical, syntactic, and semantic in Sūrat al-Nāzi‘āt. At the phonetic level, the use of repetition of consonants and vowels and specific phonetic patterns strengthens the melody of the text. At the lexical level, the use of specific and unusual words has led to semantic distinction. At the syntactic level, unusual linguistic structures and diversity in the arrangement of statements amazes the audience. At the semantic level, using novel images and prompting deep and multi-layered meanings challenge the audience's understanding. Conducted with a descriptive-analytical method, the present research shows that the defamiliarization  in Sūrat al-Nāzi‘āt, in addition to aesthetics, conveys deep divine messages with a greater impact.

Keywords

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 08 March 2025
  • Revise Date: 08 April 2025
  • Accept Date: 17 April 2025
  • Publish Date: 22 December 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics