Men and Women in the Holy Qur’an: A Semantic and Grammatical Analytical Study

Abstract

This research addresses the topic of men and women in the Holy Qur’an from grammatical and semantic perspectives. The two words occur frequently throughout the Qur’an, carrying specific meanings in each context. The terms men and women are not always used to indicate gender alone; rather, the word women may refer to a wife, a daughter, or others, and the same applies to the word men. The study begins by defining the terms men and women linguistically and terminologically, presenting their lexical meanings as recorded in Arabic dictionaries, followed by their technical definitions, clarifying the distinction between man and male and between woman and female. It then examines the semantic implications of men and women in the Qur’an through the analysis of selected Qur’anic examples, supported by exegetical opinions and the role of linguistic context in determining meaning, as well as the grammatical function and its effect on interpretation. The research concludes with several findings, the most important of which is that the linguistic and grammatical contexts play a major role in determining the meanings of men and women in Qur’anic verses. Moreover, these words sometimes denote gender, while in other contexts they convey specific meanings associated with particular attributes or situations.