وریا حفیدی

The Qur'an, like other holy books, has smaller sections that are called "Surahs" based on the Qur'anic verses. The significant and privileged position of the Qur'an is accepted by all Islamic religions, and the effort to preserve this position, along with the divinity of its words, has caused most of the debates that refer to the structure of the Qur'an to be considered Tawfīqī (non-arbitrary) matters. The arrangement of the verses and the scope of the Surahs is one of the things that there is a consensus on their being non-arbitrary; However, there are two general views regarding the naming of the Surahs of the Qur'an. Most of the Qur'anic scholars believe that based on narrative and rational reasons, the naming of Surahs is one of the non-arbitrary matters; while some experts have considered it as a matter of ijtihād2. The acceptance of each point of view will have different jurisprudential effects. This research is of a qualitative type and has investigated the mentioned issue through a descriptive-analytical method based on content analysis. This study by inferring the arguments of both views and relying on the historical analysis of the stages of naming the Surahs of the Qur'an, has preferred the view of Ijtihādī-oriented naming. Of the most important jurisprudential effects of accepting ijtihād in naming Surahs of the Qur'an is the permissibility of accepting new names for Surahs, the point that the Qur'anic names do not imply the valuing of people or the subject, the impossibility of inferring jurisprudential rulings by referring to the names of the Surahs or proving the virtue of names, etc.