Intentionality and Understanding the Qur'anic Text in Toshihiko Izutsu: Methodology and Significance

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which Toshihiko Izutsu’s semantic approach is capable of capturing the intentionality of the Quranic discourse and uncovering the Speaker’s communicative intent. The scholarly significance and necessity of this inquiry lie in testing the adequacy of synchronic structural analysis when applied to sacred scripture, determining whether relying solely on internal linguistic relations can truly grasp the pragmatic purposes of revelation without engaging living communicative contexts. Adopting a descriptive-analytical methodology, the research critically evaluates Izutsu’s semantic fields and conceptual networks in light of Qur’anic textual evidence and occasions of revelation. The findings reveal that while Izutsu’s project exhibits remarkable descriptive efficacy in mapping the Qur’anic worldview through relational semantics, its structural confinement prevents it from capturing dynamic intentionality and the variation among addressees. Furthermore, confining meaning to a synchronic network obscures the historical progression between the Meccan and Medinan phases, underscoring the necessity of an integrative paradigm that bridges the rigor of internal semantic analysis with the depth of contextual and hermeneutical evidence to achieve a comprehensive understanding of textual intentionality.

This study employs a critical-analytical methodology as a framework for examining the semantic premises and procedural limitations of Toshihiko Izutsu’s approach to the Quranic text. The primary corpus for this research consists of the core semantic works upon which Izutsu built his Quranic project—specifically his two seminal books, *God and Man in the Quran* (2008) and *Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Quran* (2002)—alongside an inductive review of the network of concepts and semantic fields through which he articulated his synchronic vision.