Intra-Surah Coherence in Surah al-Rahman: Reconsidering Its Purpose, Structure, and the Coherence of Its Verses

Abstract

Research on Qur’anic coherence faces the challenge that many studies have examined the correspondence among verses merely in terms of connections between adjacent verses and textual fragments, without offering a systematic model for identifying the unified purpose of a surah and the structural relationships governing its complete set of verses. Accordingly, the principal question of the present study is through which mechanisms and operational indicators the intra-surah coherence of Surah al-Rahman can be demonstrated and how the coherence of its verses can be explained in light of the surah’s central purpose. The necessity of this research arises from the need for studies of Qur’anic coherence to move beyond exclusively verse-centered analyses and toward examining the surah as a coherent discursive unit. Using discourse analysis and presenting operational models for examining coherence in Surah al-Rahman, the present study investigates this issue. The findings indicate that the surah’s central purpose is to explain and remind its audience of God’s universal mercy. Its verses represent this purpose through legislative and creational blessings, the creation of humankind and the universe, the governance of the cosmic order, eschatological warnings, and promises of Paradise. Furthermore, the interconnection of thematic units; the structural division of the surah according to the two realms of this world and the Hereafter and the two domains of earth and heaven; the rhetorical and mirror-like correspondence among the blessings; and the thirty-onefold repetition of the verse, “So which of your Lord’s blessings will you both deny?”, constitute the most significant evidence of the surah’s structural, semantic, numerical, and rhythmic coherence. Consequently, Surah al-Rahman possesses a purposeful and non-random system whose components collectively serve to elucidate God’s universal mercy and invite humankind and jinn to acknowledgment, gratitude, and attentiveness to their eschatological destiny. Therefore, the models proposed in this study may serve as practical frameworks for advancing studies of Qur’anic coherence from a verse-centered to a surah-centered approach.