An Ontological Analysis of the Inimitability of the Qur’an with Emphasis on the Foundations of Transcendent Theosophy and Mullā Ṣadrā’s View on the Luminous Existence of the Qur’an

The question of the Iʻjāz and inimitability is one of the most fundamental theological and philosophical issues in the Islamic tradition, often explained through concepts such as eloquence, rhetoric, and linguistic structure. Despite the importance of these approaches, the question of the Qur'an's Iʻjāz underlying and ontological cause still requires a deeper philosophical explanation. The present study aims to present an ontological analysis of the Qur’an’s Iʻjāz by examining Mullā Ṣadrā’s perspective within Transcendent Theosophy, especially the theory of luminous existence. The research method is descriptive-analytical, based on analyzing the philosophical concepts of Transcendent Theosophy and applying them to the reality of the Holy Qur’an. The findings indicate that, according to the principles of the primacy and gradation of existence, the Qur’an, before being a linguistic and historical text, is an existential and luminous reality that, at its highest level, is present in divine knowledge and, through the process of descent, appears in Arabic words. Any attempt to imitate the Qur’an, even assuming outward verbal similarity, lacks existential grounding and causal relation to divine knowledge and therefore cannot be considered a true instance of the "Like" in the challenge verses.[۱] Accordingly, the inimitability of the Qur’an is not merely the result of human inability to produce linguistic imitation but is rooted in the difference between the Qur’an’s existential level and the existential realm of human beings. The innovation of this research lies in explaining the Qur’an’s Iʻjāz not as a rhetorical or merely guiding phenomenon but as an ontological reality arising from the specific mode of the Qur’an’s existence, an explanation that opens new horizons for philosophical rereading of the Qur’anic Iʻjāz in contemporary studies.

کلیدواژه ها:

Qur’anic Iʻjāz ، Challenge (Taḥaddī) ، luminous existence ، Mullā Ṣadrā ، transcendent theosophy ، ontology of the Qur’an ، Divine Speech