Joy in the Qur’an: A Semantic Study with a Contemporary Renewed Vision

Abstract

The study aims to highlight the indications of joy in the Qur’anic verses through a contemporary renewed vision, since most researchers have described joy in terms of its concept and types without linking the verses of joy to its categories within the framework of a contemporary renewed perspective. The researcher adopted a descriptive semantic approach with a contemporary renewed vision and reached many findings, the most important of which are the following: the linguistic definition of dalālah (signification) is stronger than the terminological definition, as it guides toward bringing forth the obscure idea from the signifier, whether the idea is ancient or contemporary. Joy in the Qur’anic verses is not merely a feeling but rather an ethical stance that works to define and renew the relationship of the human being with his Lord and his society. The verses of legitimate joy indicate that joy opens horizons for knowledge, universal moral values, political awareness, spiritual loyalty, and existential liberation. The verses of blameworthy joy indicate that joy reveals psychological illnesses such as partisanship, psychological justification, civilizational arrogance, and schadenfreude.