The Impact of the Reader’s Culture on the Production of Linguistic Meaning in Light of Reception Theory: Juz’ ‘Amma as a Model

Abstract

The study focuses on the interpretations produced by the reader when engaging with the Qur’anic text and its exegetical implications for each passage. The reader referred to in this study corresponds to one of the types of readers identified within Reception Theory, which emphasizes the creation of an interactive relationship between two fundamental elements: the reader and the text. In this context, the reader employs their intellectual capacities to understand and interpret the text according to their cognitive background, which naturally differs from one reader to another.

Reception Theory is considered one of the modern critical approaches, with Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser among its most prominent founders. This theory significantly transformed the traditional conventions of reading texts. There is no methodological issue in applying it to the Qur’anic text, which constitutes a central focus of this study.

Accordingly, the research examines the role of the recipient when encountering a particular text: how the text is interpreted, whether such interpretations vary from one reader to another, and to what extent these interpretations may converge or differ. If interpretative transformations and variations were absent, the text would become static—an idea emphasized by theories of reading and reception. It should be noted, however, that these interpretative variations do not undermine the semantic coherence of the Qur’anic text. The meaning derived by the reader remains within the legitimate interpretive framework established by Islamic scholarship.

The multiplicity of readings of the Qur’anic text prompted this study to compile and analyze examples drawn specifically from Juzʾ ʿAmma. The research therefore focuses on seven Qur’anic verses, grounding their semantic interpretation through reference to classical lexicons and Qur’anic exegesis (tafsīr) works.