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Hail is an atmospheric rainfall with a complex mechanism. The Greeks were among the pioneers of knowledge in ancient times and they termed “hail” as “frozen rain” (Anaximander) and “instant freezing of water and moisture” (Aristotle, n.d.). These two meanings are inconsistent with current scientific facts. The Noble Qurʼan is the most authentic text to encourage Muslim believers to think about creation and strengthen their faith in the eternal power of the Creator. For instance, the mechanism of hail falling has been expressed in the verse (Q.24:43) with specific and gradual indications. In this research, first, by library method, different explanations of this verse were obtained from valid interpretive sources and then, the scientific findings of meteorologists and climatologists on hail were extracted from reference scientific texts on atmospheric sciences. In the third stage and based on comparative method, the scientific rules were placed next to interpretations to test the novelty and degree of the allusions of this verse. We found that the stages of hail falling included:“invisible water vapor rises from the sea,” “water vapor ascends into the atmosphere,” “reaching the condensation stage,” “cloud formation,” “convergence of ascending currents,” “formation of cumulonimbus cloud,” “growth of hailstones during successive ascents and descents by adsorption and freezing of ice needles,” and finally “their fall down over ground” respectively. Meanwhile, the steps in the Noble Qurʼan are mentioned in verse (Q.24:43) in the following order:“clouds movement slowly,” “clouds convergence,” “clouds accumulation,” “the formation of mountain-like clouds,” and “hail falling from the clouds.” The results also showed that likening cumulonimbus cloud in the verse (Q.24:43) to “mountain” have four respects that were beyond the comprehension of the people at the time of the revelation of the Qurʼan. Nowadays, these features are known to stationary and satellite meteorological instruments. These four characteristics are “cloud layer temperature,” “their constituent phase,” “troughs and ridges inside the cloud” and “cloud height up to the tropopause.” Based on these four characteristics, the Noble Qurʼan considered the cloud of cumulonimbus as similar as “mountains.” Meteorologists divide any cumulonimbus cloud into three floors, including cold at the bottom, super-cold at the top and intermediate in the middle. We find these three floors in the same way in the high mountains. These floors are the current rivers (liquid phase), snow and ice reserves (solid phase) and in the middle region a combination of two liquid and solid phases, namely water and ice. Images from the cumulonimbus from above the atmosphere show dark and deep valleys and light and raised ridges. The fourth feature is to be said, none of the surface phenomena are as high as the mountains. Finally, meteorological findings show that it is the only cumulonimbus that rises from the ground to a height of 12,000 meters and more. 

Due to the fact that the Arabic language abounds in words with similar meanings, eloquence in speech or writing calls for the accurate choice of words. The Holy Quran is characterized by the use of words and morphemes in absolute precision, which accounts for part of its beauty and elegance.  This study addresses the proper use of Fe’l, Amal, and Son’ in the Quran, as three semantically close concepts all of which lie in the area of meaning of the verb ‘do’. The study is conducted through a descriptive-analytic method. First, with reference to Arabic dictionaries, the meanings of these words and their nuances are presented. Then, a number of representative verses are extracted from the Quran to show the elegant application as well as the verbal secret of those individual words.  According to the results, the word Amal is used in contexts where something is regularly done by preplanning and with pain. The word Fe’l refers to an action for getting something done or made typically for a short time, but it is on no regular basis, either planned or unplanned. The word Son’, however, is reserved for cases that are done with skill, care, and consciousness of consequences. The word also involves a degree of secrecy. As it is found, since Amal refers to an action which involves toil and trouble, it is never used for God in the Quran. What the Book uses in this regard are the words Fe’l and Son’. This verbal token can be taken as one of the linguistic miracles of the Holy Quran.

The ability to read fluently is a critical skill for language learners in foreign language contexts. Learning to read Arabic texts for Persian language learners is not an exception. The importance of this reading is more recognized when these learners are faced with religious texts including the holy Quran. Iranian readers of the Quran have many difficulties in uttering and pronouncing Arabic words and letters which blocks their fluency. Traditional approaches toward reading fluency such as teacher model have not been very successful. Therefore, the current research has investigated the effect of dynamic assessment on promoting learning fluency of Iranian learners of Arabic. Deeply rooted in mediated interaction and learning in zone of proximal development (ZPD), dynamic intervention is a new instructional strategy toward language learning. The current research has adopted an inventory of mediational strategies (Aljaafreh and Lantolf, 1994) of interventionist dynamic assessment to intervene learning hotspots and promote fluency of intermediate Quranic learners of teacher training centers in Qum. To this aim 20 students were selected through convenience sampling and their scores were compared in a quasi-experimental design. These students were assigned to two experimental groups where one of them underwent dynamic intervention while the other was recruited in a traditional teacher modeling course. Their scores in the post-test were analyzed through t-test. The findings showed that dynamic intervention promoted reading fluency of Iranian Quranic readers more than traditional approaches. Dynamic intervention can be replaced with traditional instructional methods by Iranian Quranic teachers and promote reading fluency significantly.

Fables of the Ancients? Folklore in the Qur’an is Alan Dundes’ first published work on an Islamic subject. The author introduces “Oral-Formulaic” theory and uses it to examine the Qur’an from a literary point of view with primary emphasis on oral and verbal (as distinct from written) aspects of language. Dundes uses general concepts of oral literature such as narration, transmission forms, recitation, divine origin and revelation. In Dundes’ account, there are specific features of oral literature, which can verify the folkloric nature of the Qur’an. These features include: proverbs, folk tales and ancient myths. The advantages of Dundes’ work as discussed in this article include: a new approach to understanding the terms “folklore” and “myth”, high accuracy in locating the repetitions in the Qur’an, accurate references to the similarities between the Qur’an and the Christian holy scripture and using the right order of chapters (Surahs) and Verses. The disadvantages of the book consist of: numerous typographical errors, wrong or incomplete references, insufficient use of Muslim writers’ works, incorrect interpretations, bringing up unnecessary theological subjects, making inconsistent statements, comparing three Qur’anic tales with Aarne -Thompson index and ignoring certain Islamic premises.

Due to the important status of martyrdom in the context of Islam and Muslim thoughts, especially Shiites, some orientalists such as Wim Raven have sought to write works in this field. Throughout an article published as "Martyr" in the Encyclopedia of the Qur''an, Raven has explored the meaning of martyrdom and its genealogy, using the books and articles by other western scholars, especially Goldziher and Wensinck. According to them, he believes that "martyr" in The Qur''an means "witness" and "hearer of confession", and that reference of the term to the concept of "being killed in the path of Allah" is the result of a semantic transformation that occurs in the Old Testament and the use of "shahīd" in the sense of martyr owes to hadith literature. Orientalists believe that the term "shahīd" in the sense of martyr is a loan and post-Qur''anic word whose root is derived from the Syriac origin of Sahda. In the present article, with a descriptive-analytical approach, after examining Raven''s semantics discussions and outlining his viewpoints and sources, we have considered the semantics of "martyrs" in lexical and Islamic books and then analyzed Orientalists'' viewpoints in this regard. According to the historical analysis of the usage of the word "shahīd" in the sense of "the killed", its application is traced back to the outward contiguity of the concept of the killed with the basic meaning of the word "shahīd" (witness and presence). That is to say, due to the adjacency of the presence some of the killed on the battlefield and their practical witness to the faith of God and the Prophet, the concept of "being killed" is linked to "the presence", and gradually, this contiguity has led to the independent usage of the word "shahīd" in the sense of "the killed".