Semantic Analysis of the Term Shaqāva in the al-Qurʾān

This article aims to examine the use of the concept of shaqāva in the Qurʾān at semantic and contextual levels. The main problem of the study is that, although the concept of shaqāva as a multi-layered semantic field in the Qurʾān it is generally addressed in the literature within a narrow framework with superficial equivalents such as unhappiness, misery and bad ending. The importance of the study is that it evaluates the subject of unhappiness, one of the widespread problems of our age, from the perspective of the Qurʾān. Semantic analysis technique was used as the method in the research; the etymological origin of the concept, its uses during the Jāhiliyya, and close and opposite meanings were examined in detail. In addition, the verses in which the concept of shaqāva is used were analyzed in the light of the tafsīr literature; the possible causes of unhappiness were evaluated through the behaviors shown as the cause of shaqāva in these verses. According to the findings of the study, the concept of shaqāva expresses the feeling of deprivation arising from not being able to receive the reward of someone’s efforts.