درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

This study examines a recent letter by Ayatollah Khamenei addressed to university students in the United States who are actively participating in protests against U.S. foreign policy and its support for the Zionist regime. The central research objective is to analyze the discourse structures within the letter to determine how they function in advancing specific messages within a defined ideological framework. Additionally, the study explores how the letter constructs notions of power and identity, and how these constructions may influence public perception. Employing James Paul Gee’s discourse analysis methodology (2014, 2018), the study investigates both the textual and ideological dimensions of the letter. The findings highlight several key themes: the dichotomy between political entities (e.g., the Zionist regime versus Palestine), the praise of American students for supporting the people of Gaza, and the advocacy for Palestinian human rights in the pursuit of peace and independence. These themes are embedded within the broader context of global political conflict. The analysis also identifies multiple identity constructs, including the U.S. government and its political allies, American youth and student activists, Muslims, the Axis of Resistance, and the oppressed, particularly women and children, in occupied Palestine. Through this discourse, the letter seeks to persuade, commend, and galvanize American students, urging them to remain on what is portrayed as “the right side of history”.

One of the internal divisions of the Qur’anic text is the rukūʿ , which, as a semantic unit, provides significant potential for rereading the text and uncovering new interpretive levels. Nevertheless, this division has been largely neglected in many contemporary Qur’anic codices and rarely addressed in Qur’anic studies. The present study aims to propose and apply an approach of Qur’anic interpretation based on rukūʿ analysis, focusing on the tenth rukūʿ of Surah al-Naḥl (Q. 16:71–76). Conducted through a descriptive-analytical approach, the research proceeds in three stages: first, elaborating the proposed approach of understanding the Qur’an through rukūʿ units; second, applying this approach to the tenth rukūʿ of Surah al-Naḥl as a paragraph-like semantic unit; and third, assessing the findings by comparing them with the exegetical categorizations of other commentators. The results indicate that verses 71–76 of Surah al-Naḥl form a structurally and thematically coherent passage that can be identified as an independent semantic unit. Within this framework, the topic sentence, supporting statements, transitional sentence, and concluding sentences were identified. Furthermore, a comparative critique of three exegetes’ approaches revealed that neglecting rukūʿ divisions in existing commentaries has often led to semantic discontinuity, disruption of textual coherence, deviation from the surah’s main objective, and reader confusion. Accordingly, it can be concluded that a rukūʿ -based reading of Qur’anic surahs not only highlights the thematic independence of each semantic unit but also ensures their internal coherence and contributes to identifying the overarching purpose of the surah. This approach may thus serve as an effective model for Qur’anic exegesis and a means of avoiding the interpretive challenges resulting from fragmented exegetical categorizations.